That's how it is for a lot of people, and for them I recommend a 12 hour sleep cycle...12 hours light and 12 hours dark. We have to make choices, and I agree, it's better the bird has companionship and exercise than the optimal sleep schedule. What's important is that it has a sleep schedule. Erratic schedules are not advisable.

That's my opinion too, and I do have a fairly strict sleep schedule. I have a coworker who has been keeping birds for nearly 40 years and her birds are on a diet very similar to mine and we have the same work/commuting schedule, she keeps her birds flighted also, and right now both of her cockatiels are 21 years old (she also has a grey and a BG who are only around 10 yrs. and they are in beautiful feather).

I do what I can - I know it's not perfect though. Their diet is not the same all year round and I am constantly trying to learn and improve things where I can.

well, i don't know. i don't use FS lighting currently as my guys are out of their cages most of the day except sleeping. but they get 12 hours of sleep each night. i am not able to do dawn to dusk because of my work schedule, but i do the best i can. i try to keep a good and varied diet. ivy seems to have had pin feathers constantly since she came home, i don't know if it's a baby thing still or what.

Well, Sweetmarie answered the twilight question correctly but, if there is nothing you can do about your schedule, at least make it 12.5 hours of dark and 11.5 of light in the winter. The 12L/12D confuses them and they end up molting in the winter and/or the spring. And, believe it or not, even just half an hour makes a difference (I can point you to some scientific studies done about this, if you want) in their endocrine system.

I worked for a time in midtown Manhattan and, as I live in the Poconos, that meant a five hour commute daily so I had to leave my house at 4:45 am (in the dark, of course) and would come back at 7:30 pm (again, in the dark) but I managed to keep my birds to a strict natural daylight schedule because my birds are cage-less in a birdroom and I live in a very rural area where there are no lights on the streets... actually, there aren't even any streets LOL. I had the FS lights on a timer and would clean the cages at night with a small flashlight and put out fresh food in the morning also in the dark while my husband would feed them dinner at dusk. Not good because I couldn't check on the birds on a daily basis and the ones that are bonded to me missed me terribly and that bothered me no end. I fretted and fretted and fretted all the time. My husband checked on them every day but he would not know fluffed from plucked so that did not do much good although once he did realize a canary was sick. Thankfully, it was only a temporary situation and it did not last. But the point I'm trying to make is that I know how hard it is when one works full time. Unfortunately for us and for them, birds do regulate all their hormonal cycles by light so we need to make a very conscious and consistent effort to make it as close to nature as possible. It does for a healthier and happier bird in the long run.

As to losing or growing feathers all year round... that, to a certain extent is normal. A feather here and there is not a molt. Bird lose feathers for a variety of reasons, especially birds that are fully flighted and cage-free all the time like yours, Randi. The tear and wear is much higher than a bird that spends 22 hours of the day in cage. And tropical birds are more prone to this than temperate climate ones. But when the bird has pin feathers all the time or it finishes a molt only to start a new one in a matter of weeks or a couple of months, that is called soft molt and soft molt is never, ever good.

Molt is a natural process but it takes a lot of energy for a bird to replace feathers. It's a laborious and exhausting process from a physical point of view. The liver works overtime metabolizing all the protein needed to produce the new feathers and the kidneys are also overworked from eliminating the excess. And those pin feathers are quite itchy and pinchy and the discomfort puts them in a bad mood. It's one thing to go through it once a year and be done with the pesky thing but when it goes on and on and on, it can really make them testy and a testy parrot is a difficult parrot to deal with. And both the filtering organs (liver and kidneys) working overtime and the physical discomfort depress the immune system which makes fertile ground for any opportunistic bacteria, virus or fungus to take hold and that is the most dangerous part about it.

So, if in doubt, do a thorough evaluation of the situation and be objective and honest about it. And, if you think your bird is in soft molt or molting off-season on an annual basis, do try your very best to bring it as close as possible to a natural daylight schedule because that, and a reduction of protein in the diet, is the only thing that will stop it.

Bea, do you mind if I ask, where do you get your facts? I mean, you just seem armed with so many answers, I cant imagine why you arent a scientist or at least an author of some sort. I know that sounds a little snooty but its not my intent to deliver the question that way. I just dont know how else to ask it!

If I may jump in here (as I have asked this same question several times ), Bea gets much of her information from the same books, publications and resources utilized by your avian vet... that and a great deal of experience working with a variety of birds over a period of years. I have read some of the studies she has sent... they are not easy to get through. She will be happy to share with you anything specific she may have on hand if you want to research a topic more deeply.

Sure I would! I post all kinds of links on our website but once I tried that here and was told 'no links to other websites'.

As to my facts, I get them from veterinary manuals and scientific studies, mostly, but I also use my own experience to filter it. I do A LOT of research ALL THE TIME. I've been blessed with an insatiable curiosity, a knack for putting two and two together and the ability to find the needle I am looking for in a haystack of dry info.

I will try to post links that support what I was saying about photoperiodism right here. Let's see if they go through:

Seasonality in a temperate zone bird can be entrained by near equatorial photoperiods - NERC Open Research Archive

A Blog Around The Clock : Clock Tutorial #16: Photoperiodism - Models and Experimental Approaches

Brain and Behavior (IPHY 3730), University of Colorado at Boulder

http://lsweb.la.asu.edu/isae/POSTER%20file.htm

http://www.biology.vt.edu/faculty/moore/pdfs/34.pdf

Frontiers in Zoology | Full text | Control of annual reproductive cycle in the subtropical house sparrow (Passer domesticus):evidence for conservation of photoperiodic control mechanisms in birds

Photoperiodism in Birds

Reproductive asynchrony and population divergence between two tropical bird populations -- Moore et al. 16 (4): 755 -- Behavioral Ecology

http://www.princeton.edu/~hau/ReprintLinks/PRSL265.pdf

Thanks for the links, Bea! Lord, its gonna take me a while to wade through all that. Absolutely no problem with links to educational articles/studies, in fact we encourage it! All we insist on is that: And in addition, that any quoted material be properly credited. Thanks again!

i warned you, they are not easy to get through. I am supposed to be writing an article on light and avian health, and Beatriz sent me 2 pages of links, and after a quick look, my eyes started to cross.