UVA/UVB lighting, seasons, and Greys

[Carolina]

Hello everyone! I have been doing some research about CAGs, their native habitat, and full spectrum lighting. As most of you know, Dali came clipped and his molt has been very slow. His clip was bad and he does not glide, he drops like a rock (he chipped his beak). I want him to be flighted and am patiently waiting for his new feathers. The vet recommended full spectrum lighting with increasing hours to stimulate his molt. I want to share the information that I found but please know that I am not an expert in this subject and please do your own research before changing your greys' lighting.

 

First, let's start by the differences between daylight and sunlight. Daylight is all light, both direct and indirect, that we have daily. This is usually from sunrise to sunset. Sunlight is direct sun, when UV light is the highest, this includes infrared light, visible light, and UV light. This is usually around the hours before and after noon. As a nutrition practitioner, this rang a bell. The best times for us to get UVB to produce vitamin D is between the hours of 11am-3pm.

 

Now, our greys come from areas in Africa right by the equator. My research found that the Congo gets 12 hours and 6-7 minutes of daylight daily and only varies 1 minute during different months. How do their bodies know about seasonal changes? I think this has to do with sunlight and maybe weather. Here are the number of hours and minutes the Congo gets of sunlight, divided into months:

 

Jan: 05:19

Feb: 05:38

Mar: 06:01

Apr: 05:52

May: 05:56

June: 05:15

July: 04:03

Aug: 04:17

Sep: 04:11

Oct: 05:11

Nov: 04:44

Dec: 06:00

 

The difference of sunlight during the months must be what stimulates molting and other behaviors. Maybe this is what we should aim for, not just 12 hours of full spectrum lighting. What we have to watch for is the % of UV lighting per watts. Sunlight at zenith (the sun right above us) consists of 44% visible light, 3-5% UV, and 53% infrared (I got this info on wikipedia and the sources checked out). These diminish the moment the sun moves out of zenith. According to Dr. Michael Stanford (vet from UK with extensive research on UVB, vitamin D and calcium for greys), a bulb that provides 2.4% UVB is recommended for greys. I couldn't find any information about UVA and greys but, in general, it is recommended that parrots get 12% UVA. By using our greys' native habitat sunlight hours, we can try to imitate the sun and seasons.

 

A very simple way of doing this is to have 12 hours of full spectrum during the longer months of sunlight, and diminish them by 1-2 hours for the months with less sunlight hours. The more complicated way is to have various bulbs (varying UVA and UVB %s) and have them turn on at different times, imitating sunrise to sunset (similar to a reef tank).

 

I recently bought the FeatherBrite bulb for Dali and realized that it only has 4% UVA and 0.05%UVB, ugh. I will start out how my avian vet recommended and increase the amount of light in 30 minute increments weekly. She recommended to start at 8 hours and work my way up to 12. Eventually, I would like to have a multi-bulb system.

[danmcq]

I run my avian sun 5.0 lights 12 hours a day. Equatorial birds know seasons by weather changes, not the amount of daylight they receive. Non Equatorial birds know and react to season changes by both the change in daylight hours and the weather.

 

Varying the number of hours you provide light to a grey does not give it any instinctual breeding or molting queue. It is all about seasons/weather.

[Carolina]

Actually, from my readings on wild greys, it's a combination of both. In the wild, breeding season and molting usually starts at dry season, which runs June-November and coincides with the lower hours of sunlight but more hours of daylight because of less rain. Changes in both sunlight and daylight affect the hormone cycle in greys, specifically the pineal gland, which control molting and breeding. This has to do with wavelength changes in the light and time length of light. Equatorial birds are also very sensitive to daylight/sunlight changes, even 30 minutes is enough for their system to see a change. Now, this is just for molting and breeding but not vitamin D synthesis. Vitamin D synthesis occurs mostly from UVB rays and daily full spectrum lighting helps greys avoid low vitamin D, which can lead to hypocalcemia (seen too often in greys). Full spectrum lighting at 12 hours a day takes care of the UVB and vitamin D but it does nothing for the natural changes of light length that triggers hormones (melatonin) that control molting and breeding. Weather does play a part in this, too. I am lucky enough to live in a tropical location and take him out during wet season to get rained on (he loves it). I was just missing the changing cycles of light length to stimulate his molting. All this information I got online from scientists that study wild greys and avian vets. I also had a very long chat with a local avian vet about this. BUT, like everything else in science, nothing is 100%...a study may come out challenging all our current opinions on this matter.

[danmcq]

Thanks Carolina. Your posts are full of good information to consider. I appreciate the time you took to research it and compose it in to a very good reading format. Seemingly small changes of a few minutes of daylight and uva/uvb strength could certainly be detectable to their systems and trigger molting and breeding times. There is so much to study that is still unknown. I wish there was more scientists available to perform a long and detailed study of greys in the wild. It would certainly help us grey owners to provide an optimum human environment and diet.

Edited August 21, 2013 by danmcq

[Dave007]

******* Dali came clipped and his molt has been very slow. His clip was bad and he does not glide, he drops like a rock (he chipped his beak). I want him to be flighted and am patiently waiting for his new feathers. The vet recommended full spectrum lighting with increasing hours to stimulate his molt. ********

 

Natural molting and *molting* that happens with an jury such as a very bad clip are 2 different things. In order for a bird to regain a full set of unclipped feathers, that bird must first lose many dead feathers in order for new ones to replace them. Since there's no particular order or time concerning the length of those damaged (clipped ) feathers comin in, new feathers growing in to replace clipped feathers may not come in in the right order or placement. Certain feathers should be on top of other feathers. Other feathers should be under other feathers. Certain feathers should be along side of feathers, but that doesn't mean that the new feathers that are all growing in will position themselves in the right areas because other feathers that need to be under or over or along side may not be there yet. Many times, a bird will pull out feathers that aren't in the right correct place because of pinching and discomfort. Raising or lowering sunlight, daylight, UVB or UVA levels, isn't gonna help those bad feathers die quicker or dislodge or make new ones grow in more quickly. Many people have birds that have gone through bad clips and they'll be the first ones to say that it took quite a long time before those feathers to come in in their proper order. They'll also say that their bird's feathers seem to be coming in nicely when all of a sudden certain new feathers that just grew in are lying on the bottom of the cage. It's just a lucky day when all of a sudden, all the feathers are back in in their proper order and positioning. Also, the skin needs to be conditioned in order for that to happen.

Parrots in the wild don't have clipped wings. Parrots in the wild don't stay in sunlight very long. Actually, very few birds of any species (softbills, hardbills, hookbills in the wild will stay in sunlight very long.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Dave007

[Carolina]

Dan, you would think that there would be more information on greys. They are one of the most common parrots kept as pets and yet research on their captive habitat is very limited. I really think this has to do with people not knowing about their high intelligence and social interactions. There are still people recommending a seed diet! Ugh. Even wild greys are not researched enough. Their numbers are plummeting in the wild and they are close to being classified as endangered. Unfortunately, very little is known about their life and habitat.

 

Dave, what I was told by my avian vet and what I found from my research is that the pineal gland controls a grey's molt (and breeding). The pineal gland responds to changes in daylight hours and by increasing the amount of hours slowly, it would help trigger his normal molt. We are trying to achieve a cyclic change seen throughout the year in the amount of daylight hours. A grey's pineal gland is on a circadian clock, which is heavily influenced by daylight hours. In vitro studies also show that avian pineal glands respond to temperature and magnetic fields, maybe there's a connection between those two and the pineal gland's control of migration in migratory birds. The Hardarian gland found in their eyes is what senses the amount of daylight and this is then sent to the pineal gland. Probably having full spectrum on during your location's daylight hours is a good idea to assist the bird's circadian clock. In nature, the intensity of sunlight varies with the sun's position, this is why I was suggesting a lighting system that mimics the changes of UVA/UVB availability. I have not found any studies that focus on the pineal gland and UVA/UVB changes. Anyways, I know not all his feathers will be molted and it will take close to 2 years for him to have all his feathers and be fully flighted. I have spoken to local grey owners and those that have their birds outside have to clip their wings almost twice a year because of how quickly they molt out. I am guessing this is due to their exposure to our wet and dry season and changes in daylight hours. Also, wild parrots don't need to stay in direct sunlight very long. Humans only need about 20-30 minutes in direct sunlight to produce enough vitamin D, I am guessing it should be less for parrots. I imagine that Dr. Stanford's recommendation of 2.4% UVB for greys must come from the average that wild greys get.

 

Like I said before, I am not an expert in this and I am just sharing current information that I found. We are still finding out new information about greys. We are constantly trying to do what is best for them. Opinions will always differ, just look at how opinions have changed about pellet food and clipped wings. Some of us are still having the debate about raw foods, whole foods, and pellets...while others are still debating clipped vs not clipped. At the end, all we can do is take in the information that we have and make a decision that we think will benefit our greys. The problem with the information out there is that most of it is not species specific. This is a huge problem because, for example, macaws and greys have very different needs. For example, hypocalcemia is more common in greys than in macaws. A recent study showed that increasing UVB lighting for greys helps with both vitamin D and calcium levels. Scientists are still not sure why hypocalcemia is more common in greys but more studies are planned. Interestingly, there is an inverse relationship between melatonin levels (released by pineal gland) and calcium but I am trying to find more information and studies.

While continuing my research, I found another study by Dr. Stanford and he points out the greys' breeding season actually differs depending on where they are located. West African greys breed November-April, East African greys breed June-July, and those in Zaire July-December....interesting.

I also found how adequate protein levels (amino acids) are essential for healthy feathers and molting. Melatonin is synthesized from tryptophan, an amino acid.

Anyways, just wanted to share the information that I found.

[VStar Mama]

I wonder if the different breeding months correlates to an abundance of a particular regional food source so that the parents have as much access to food in order to increase the chances of chick survival.

[Carolina]

Maybe it coincides with the fruit season from the oil palm?...