# night light good or bad?



## scuba0095 (May 23, 2006)

Hello

Having night lights beside your pigeon coop good or bad? YEsterday i bought an outdoor night lamp and put it beside the coop the light lit up the whole coop and the pigeon was able to fly around whenever it wanted. Is this a good thing or bad ?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I can't think of a reason right off why it would be bad. Any creatures that are out at night obviously don't need a light to get around and find whatever they are looking for and it may be that if something else came around your loft MAYBE the birds would see it and be able to get away??


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## christina11 (Jan 20, 2006)

I have a small light In my shed but I dont leave it on all night because I always get scared of fires or shocks. 

But if its water proof and for shur safe I dont see any reason for not leaving it on either.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I have heard something about having the light on all night does affect the pigeons sleep habits and schedule but you'll just have to look into it. You're primarily using it to scare away nocturnal predators. That's healthier than the alternative as you now know.

Pidgey


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*Bad::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::*

SCUBA, Light is a controling facter in molting.By giving light you will speed up the molt,this is done by racing homer people but they have a system that they follow.By giving extra light you are messing with the birds natural molting cycle,and adding stress to the birds,and stress is the first step leading to sickness,which we all try to avoid GEORGE


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I don't know about stress being something "which we all try to avoid." If that were so, I'd steer clear of this Sick & Injured section...

Anyhow, I was going to say that I leave the light on in my loft all the time so that they can see if any predators get in and can fend them off or run for safety (the birds that can't fly). They seem to molt at the same time every year without change. Of course, it's one small incandescent bulb and doesn't put out that much light. 

Also, didn't scuba say in the other thread that the light was hooked to a motion detector? Is the light on all the time or only when motion is detected?

Pidgey


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Pigeons live by natural guidelines of sunlight and sunset. They usually go to roost before dark. I like my birds to sleep during that time, but when the lights go on inside the house they stir. I think it does mess up their sleep habits and lack of sleep can be a factor in stress. 

Darkness is conducive to good sleep and therefore good health in pigeons. Is that why one of the conditions on rehabbing a sick or injured bird is to put the bird in a room with subdued light? 

When we kept our birds in the garage the day the hurricane came thru (all windows were boarded), they quieted right down when we turned off the light, as soon as we turned it on they started fussing and fighting again.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I think mine must be used to having the light on all the time.

As to keeping them in the dark for rehabbing, I'd have to say that it depends on the bird. When we were trying to fix Skippy up (emaciated, worms, coccidiosis, paratyphoid--one sick pigeon) she couldn't keep herself warm and had to stay under the heat lamp that was barely 12 inches above her for almost three months. If you turned it off, she literally fluffed up and didn't like it. I'd try it for a couple of days and she'd start going downhill again. In her case, it really was a lifesaver.

Pidgey


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Unless this is a BRIGHT BRIGHT light that makes the yard look like the sun is shining, I don't think it's going to be a factor in the birds molting. We use the light system every year, but our loft is lit up like daytime for the extra hours. It's not just some little subdued light so that they can see........it's 75 and 100 watt lights on all over the loft. I don't think it would be any different than haveing a full moon every night. Again, just depends on how bright this light is AND I guess how open the loft is. Our loft is like a building with windows but a loft that is say three sided with a completely open front.........that MIGHT make a difference.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

We have no lights in the aviary but a neighbor has a bright area light that shines even into our yard into the aviary. Doesn't seem to bother ours. We can hear them sometimes "fussing" and talking during the night but I think they'd do that if it were pitch black.  

Also, many of the ferals roost around buildings where there are street lights, signs, parking lot lights (which can be really bright).


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Lady Tarheel said:


> We can hear them sometimes "fussing" and talking during the night but I think they'd do that if it were pitch black.



you THINK right........... our back yard is pitch black dark and you can hear the cocks carrying on. I don't think they really "sleep" in the traditional sense of the word.........


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Oddly, I have been getting 'Night Birds' the last week...

Ferals who are members of the casual flock I feed every day...where it used to be they all left at dusk, but now, some several roost on the eve...

I was working outside last night, doing something on a work bench next to the wall and had the outside light on, and a few of them flew down to the ground and stood there looking up at me as if to say, "Uhhhh, well? some Seeds please?" This at like 1:00 A.M. or so...

So I put some Seeds out for them and more flew down and they all had fun with it.


Phil
Las Vegas


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## mountainstorm (May 3, 2006)

I have a night light in my bathroom that I leave on (it turns off when there's another light source). I figured it was similar to moonlight, or even the lights from street-lights, or some highway overpasses have lights that come on at night.

Rach


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2006)

*observation*

I don't know if this really has much to do with the main question of this thread, but I thought I would mention that I do notice ferals sleeping near lights on the side of buildings. I don't know if they like the light, or like the little bit of warmth from the lights, or maybe they are there for reasons having nothing to do with the lights.

Monica


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I've always thought that the birds actually like a little bit of light if they're not going to be up on a really secure perch. Some studies have shown that the adult birds actually sleep with half of the brain shut down while the other half remains powered up to keep an eye out.

Pidgey


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## jerseygeorge (Mar 18, 2006)

I took great pains to see to it that predators can not get in to the bird house or their outdoor area. In the summer they are settled into their sleep areas by 6:30 PM and once it gets dark they stay put for the night. At about 5:30 AM I turn on the lights and they are up for the day. No need for lights at night.


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## Jiggs (Apr 1, 2005)

Night light or no light I am not sure.

But unless you are a experianced fancier that uses the lighting system to regulate the birds, I would still make sure that the birds can see sunrise and sunset so that they can set their internal clocks!


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## jerseygeorge (Mar 18, 2006)

Jiggs said:


> Night light or no light I am not sure.
> 
> But unless you are a experianced fancier that uses the lighting system to regulate the birds, I would still make sure that the birds can see sunrise and sunset so that they can set their internal clocks!


Good point. The question is who would keep pigeons where they have no natural light.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

There are LOTS of people who keep pigeons that live in residential neighborhoods with bright street lights on their street, so it never gets TOTALLY PITCH BLACK DARK...........As long as the yard is not it up like the 4th of July  the birds will be fine and the light is not going to hurt them. BUT......pigeons on the light system do not know when sunrise or sunset is, depending on when the lights go on and off.........if you are raising babies on the light system, let them out about 6:00 and see what happens.........been there, done that..........they think (in our case) that they've still got 6 hours of light, even though they are out, the sun is going down and IT"S GETTING DARK............they don't realize that they need to get in the loft. I learned that lesson the hard way.............lost LOTS of birds the first year.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

jerseygeorge said:


> Good point. The question is who would keep pigeons where they have no natural light.


A rehabber, who is rehabbing pigeons or other birds indoors, especially intensive care situations. Those birds do require 24/7 care with a night light on at night.


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*It Depends*

Many of the posts on this thread are by rehabbers that use heat lamps and light in caring for their sick or injured birds,and they have a different approch to the use of light and that is fine.I on the other hand fly racing pigeons, and the use of light by racing people is for other reasons,namely to control the molt.This done by those that race young birds, by giving extra light they speed up the molt so that their birds will have a full wing.While I do not fly young birds I want my birds to have a good natural molt thus preparing them for the old bird races. Therefore I do not tinker with MOTHER NATURE,by the use of artificial light. The molt is a stressful time for a bird.I have had racers that did not want to fly while into a heavy body and head molt,and would remain in the loft rather then fly. There those that say they hear there birds carring on in the dark.If I hear my birds making noise in the dark,I feel that somthing is wrong and I will investigate.So it all comes down to what you are doing,rehabbers use light to help sick birds.People that just have birds for their own pleasuer use light to protect their birds.Those that race use lights for molt control.So you might say what is good for one group my not be good for the other group. GEORGE


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