The dark of winter Barrie Shutt

[milliej]

Should this be in budgie health? And BARRIE SHUTT where are you I have a particular reason for 'shouting' Barrie's name as he lives not too far from me and my question is.....

Because we're having so much rain here in Cumbria and it's dark for much of the day, do my budgies need to have a light on most or all of the day?
The are house budgies in the sitting room and we have a large front window and french doors at the back but it still seems dark to me and I need a light to read.

I hope they aren't suffering although they don't seem to be, because of the lack of sunshine?

thanks for any help or advice

[nat]

Mine have the room light on from 8am - 8pm as the room they are in is really dark. The room light however is pretty dull so they also have a UVB tube on from 10am- 3pm. In the spring I start to increase the UVB light hours to up to 12 hours a day and don't bother with the room light. For the macaws in the livingroom I have got a UVB bulb in the normal light socket which is on from 1.30pm until 8.30pm. When I had a budgie that was in a perpetual moult the vet told me to reduce daylight hours significantly during the winter to help stop the moulting as long as there was enough light until about 8pm for them to see to go down for a last feed. Hope thats some help :-)

[Shirls]

Jan 7, 2013 14:45:06 GMT milliej said:

Should this be in budgie health? And BARRIE SHUTT where are you I have a particular reason for 'shouting' Barrie's name as he lives not too far from me and my question is.....

Because we're having so much rain here in Cumbria and it's dark for much of the day, do my budgies need to have a light on most or all of the day?
The are house budgies in the sitting room and we have a large front window and french doors at the back but it still seems dark to me and I need a light to read.

I hope they aren't suffering although they don't seem to be, because of the lack of sunshine?

thanks for any help or advice

You can always PM Barrie, go to the little envelope on the left of one of his threads and you can send him a personal message. He will always answer!! ;D

[samwiseg]

Hi Milliej

You might want to have a look here as I asked the same question on the forum not long ago:

budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=budgiehealth&action=display&thread=4721

Hope that helps!

[milliej]

Thanks folks, I've put one of those lamps into our standard lamp and will leave it on. Goes against the grain because my mam, no matter how dark, wouldn't allow a light on until 4 p.m. probably a hang up from the war years! Who knows.... but the weather is very poor here just now, yesterday and today there was a blanket of mist right across town, grey and damp, awful! So I've left the light on in the sitting room .

[Hezz]

Jean, I feel we ARE going back to the war years!!! I spent my whole life with my father walking around behind us all turning off lights, after we went from a generator to over-head electricity lines ............ and now my hub is doing the same thing, because of the cost of electricity!! Walk out of the room to go to the loo and come back to your lights turned out!!!

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

I am going to shock you all now by confessing that I have always left the landing light on overnight in case the kids get up to the loo or anything- so they don't stumble around in the dark.
In my defence I have a prepayment meter for electricity so I've already paid for it beforehand and it is obviously a low energy bulb. It's leaving the telly on when you're not in the room watching it that gets me moaning at my lot!

[milliej]

Jan 8, 2013 9:43:03 GMT Hezz said:

Jean, I feel we ARE going back to the war years!!! I spent my whole life with my father walking around behind us all turning off lights, after we went from a generator to over-head electricity lines ............ and now my hub is doing the same thing, because of the cost of electricity!! Walk out of the room to go to the loo and come back to your lights turned out!!!

;Doh goody I'm not alone then, even my daughter does this, the cost of utilities is expensive here but not lights my husband tells me, it's the central heating and washing machines etc. Things that use heat! So I don't feel so bad about leaving the light on now

[milliej]

Jan 8, 2013 9:58:45 GMT sarah*glittergirl2212 said:

I am going to shock you all now by confessing that I have always left the landing light on overnight in case the kids get up to the loo or anything- so they don't stumble around in the dark.
In my defence I have a prepayment meter for electricity so I've already paid for it beforehand and it is obviously a low energy bulb. It's leaving the telly on when you're not in the room watching it that gets me moaning at my lot!

Ah yes, I think thats a good idea and I'd probably do the same if I had kids at home or grand-children! Funny tho my husband often leaves the tele on in the kitchen then goes upstairs to his computer and never turns his computer off until bed time. Different priorities

[Hezz]

Different priorities, I couldn't agree more! While moaning about the electricity bill climbing each quarter, mine is still going out and buying more things that plug in!

[Deleted]

Eheheh, I always find it funny that my grandparents need the light on to get to the kitchen when I can walk around the house when it's pitch black and not bump into anything. My great granddad was one of those people who would turn the light off after you. He would also steal your saucers to wash up when you lifted up your tea cup and as soon as you stood up he would be plumping up the cushions. Bless, I don't think he meant anything by it but it does seem like he was trying to get rid of people quickly XD

The cost of energy is atrocious these days. I'm trying to use the laptop from the battery more, but I guess it takes as much energy to recharge it anyway :/