full spectrum lighting??

[Pocket Angels]

I was reading through posts and saw someone recommend full spectrum lighting for IRNs? Do they absolutly need this special lighting? Do all birds need it? I have owned cockatiels for 12 years and never used one, should I get it for my IRN? :aiwebs_01

[Monica]

Quite right about that! FSL is used for birds inside the house to improve their feathers, provide the beneficery light needed from the sun to break down vitamens in the body, improve health. You can search for all the posts by Joel (he's a big fan of FSL) or check out some websites...

You'd probably recognize FSL as the special lights used over reptile enclosers. I'll provide a few links for you to get started on the subject...

http://groups.msn.com/ParrotsParrots.../lighting.msnw

http://www.thebirdbrain.com/html/lighting.cfm

http://www.quakerville.com/qic/fslighting.asp

And to let you know, if you use this too often or too close, there could be some negative effects such as on the birds behavoir and even for the fact that some birds will go into breeding behavoir with too much FSL. That is why it's best not to use it more than 3 hours a day.