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Hello All- I am new to upatsix and glad to be here! Vitamin D!? I was told recently at a store that we absolutely needed a special ($90) light so that our new Parrotlet would get vitamin D. Now I know about vitamin D in humans and that live cells under our outer dead skin transforms something from the natural light to make vitamin D, which makes for healthy bones. Too much sun in the tropics, or too little in the arctic areas, can kill you and hence we have skin tones according to where our ancestors came from. Feathers, on the other hand, are not live, they are dead but look nice, and you have to remove a lot of feathers to get to bird skin. Therefore, I really don’t believe the salesperson who tried to say many things, like the store was the only place to by the right food. The question is, does anybody know of a valid reference source that explains how birds transform sunlight into vitamin D or how they might otherwise get it if they were living in the wild, or even that they must have it? Bones-vitamin D-calcium, yea yea yea. But where’s the proof? Responses are very appreciated. I’ll post some other questions in the correct locations. Tom

Hi Tom and welcome to up at six. You can buy florescent UV light bulbs at Home Depot for around $6.00 and a fixture for about $12.00. Also on the market are regular screw in UV bulbs for around $20.00 to $23.00.

Tom

Sorry, I can't exactly help with your questions... but wanted to say that some people see that their birds have brighter feathers, and become more active with a full spectrum/UV light. Of coures, you could try skipping the light and taking the bird outside in a cage or harness for 30+ minutes a day, and a way to get out of the sun if it's too warm. Simply put, sunlight through most windows and screens tends to screen out the beneficial parts of the rays... i.e. if you have stuff in front of windows that doesn't fade, it's not good for the birds! (older windows, before 1980 something? may be fine though)

There are some specific things needed for when you look for a proper UV light for birds (tube lights supposedly better than regular bulb types), but sadly I wasn't able to retain that information... so if you do go out and buy a light fixture, you ought to research the best types for birds... in once case, someone bought a UV light sold for birds, but something in it was too high, and it practically burned her two cockatiels eyes... thankfully she stopped using it in time, and got medicine for their eyes! Another person had an itchy bird and had to stop using the light...

Point being, research the proper light to get before buying!

With proper nutritional food your bird will get vitamin D. If you are interested in breeding, these lights are great. Otherwise if your house is sunny you should be fine.
Good Luck!

I try to put my birds outside in the sunlight but tey hate sunlight? They hide from it!I take them outside but let them in the shade?

Just like us and our children, our birds can bake in too much sun when they're not used to it. I pick the times to take mine out, choosing times when the temp/humidity is low enough that they aren't stunned by it, used to living in air conditioning as they are. And I let them get used to the sun in gradual increments, a little more each day. I drape a small towel over part of the cagetop so they can escape the sun if they need to, and I'm right there watching to see if and when they do. If they do, I give them a spray bath and usually that keeps them cool for another 10 minutes.

It's a matter of going slowly and not letting them get too hot. Gradually they get more used to it and can comfortably tolerate it for longer. But they don't need a lot of sunlight to get the vitamin D they need. Just a few minutes every few days is good for them. They don't even need that if they're eating a good quality pellet.

Ok thanks

The 2nd paragraph of this article is the most relevant to your question: http://users.mis.net/~pthrush/lighting/hotspots.html If you need help determining whether your birds' diet is healthy, we can help you.