coloured lights and behavioural modification

[wagga]

Over the last couple of months I have been testing 2 of the 600mm LED fluros on the fish tank using a garden 12 volt light power supply. My wife noticed that the lights had a slight strobe effect which was magnified by the fish tank water. They were effecting her eyes and was giving her a headache. I had not previously noticed this effect when using the solar panel and battery setup. I wondered if this would be problem with the aviary birds.

Last night I finally checked the power supply, it is a 12 volt DC setup, and found out that the LED fluro is 12 volt AC. I was advised that this would cause the strobing effect, something to do with wave lengths blah blah blah, problem solved they said. In researching this I found websites indicating that in the poultry industry they use certain colours of light to enhance optimum growth and behaviour patterns.
http://ps.fass.org/content/76/3/452.full.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; dated 1997 Poultry Science 76:452–457, I realise that this is a old paper but its what triggered the following idea.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/ ... -and-light" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , gives examples of colour light usage in poultry.


I believe that trials of blue and red lights might have some benefit for our birds reducing stress, weight gain and possible temporary aggression modification. For example juvenile gouldian's during there moulting period or after transporting/quarantine for weavers.
Both of these times are very stressful for the birds and I was wondering if there has been any clinical studies carried out on parrots or finches using coloured lights.
What are you thoughts on this idea?

[Fincho162]

Don't specifically know of any clinical studies but the benefits of red light globes in rearing quail chicks and in hospital cages we have known about for yonks as it promotes "normal" sleep patterns.

A hospital cage with 'normal' light tends to make the birds sleep-deprived whereas simply placing a red globe in it works wonders.
Proof? Best I can do is a tale of 2 hospital cages. At Gunnedah sale one year a mate from Sth Oz and I both purchased a hospital cage from the late Kevin Thompson. My mate rang me a few weeks later and said the "blasted thing" made his bird dopey and listless looking even if only egg-bound..............suggested he change the bulbs to red globes and no more probs...........hardly scientific proof but worked for us!!!!!!!

[Niki_K]

Excerpt from Hunt et al 2001

There is growing evidence that ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths play an important role in avian mate choice. One of the first experiments to support this idea showed that female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) prefer UV-reflecting males to males whose ultraviolet reflection has been removed. The effect was very strong despite little or no UV reflection from several plumage areas. However, it is not clear how the importance of the UV waveband compares to other regions of the bird-visible spectrum. We tested whether the response of female zebra finches to the removal of male UV reflection is greater than to the removal of other wavebands. We presented females with a choice of males whose appearance was manipulated using coloured filters. The filters removed single blocks of the avian visible spectrum corresponding closely to the spectral sensitivities of each of the zebra finch’s single cone classes. This resulted in males that effectively had no UV (UV−), no short-wave (SW−), no medium-wave (MW−) or no long-wave (LW−) plumage reflection. Females preferred UV− and SW− males. LW− and MW− males were least preferred, suggesting that female zebra finches show the greatest response to the removal of longer wavelengths. Quantal catches of the single cone types viewing body areas of the male zebra finch are presented for each treatment. Our study suggests it is important to consider the role of the UV waveband in avian mate choice in conjunction with the rest of the avian visible spectrum.

[Niki_K]

A lot of the studies utilising red and blue lights have primarily been carried out on migratory birds, and have found that red light disrupts magnetic orientation. Haven't found much to do with coloured light in finches tho.

[wagga]

Finch 162, The red globe in the hospital box is a good tip that everyone should write down.
Niki-K, Were you apart of the Zebra finch studies here in Australia. The Ultraviolet vision and band-colour preferences in female zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata is some heavy reading for this time of the day. Brings back memories of uni when researching this subject.

[Niki_K]

I've done a lot of reading on colour bands but wasn't part of the research group that did work on it. There have been several studies on zebbies re: effect of colour on sexual selection that show females find males with red/orange leg bands more attractive (possibly also pink, but I'd have to look that up- I know there's a huge effect in fairy wrens when males are banded with pink bands; both they and their partner become convinced that the male is optimal to the extent that the male changes his plumage colouration [unpublished data]). So I try to band my boys with so-called 'warm' colours (red, orange, pink and yellow) to avoid possible stress to the female, as they can become stressed if kept in a breeding cage with a male they find unattractive. Try to stay away from greens and blues on your males.
Bear in mind that this is only for zebra finches; I don't know how or if other finch species would be affected.

I had a quick search for any studies utilising coloured lights in finches, but couldn't find any. I don't know if there's any published data on it, but red light decreases stress in dunnarts and kiwi. I believe in the dunnarts case (if I remember rightly), they can't see the red lighting so they believe its dark.

[Diane]

How interesting about the leg bands. Will have to do some research in my breeding records to see if that stacks up with a pair of gouldians that just wouldn't pair successfully. I know its not a big enough sample but if it tallys up I'm game to try selective banding with the sexes for the next few seasons to see how it goes.

[jusdeb]

I was under the impression red UV lights are damaging to the eyes thus use the purple night lights for heat ....