Do Parakeets Need Sunlight?

Parakeets are small parrots known as budgerigars, or budgies, in their native country of Australia. These small and slim long-tailed birds can learn to talk, live for between four and 15 years and make lively pets that adapt well to small apartment life. Parakeets do need sunlight in measured amounts for good health, but too much has the opposite effect.

  1. Vitamin D

    • Parakeets need natural sunlight to be healthy. Just as human bodies manufacture vitamin D in the presence of sunlight, it also helps parakeet bodies make the vitamin. Cages located next to windows do not always give birds the quality of light they require. This is because windows are often treated to block the UV rays needed for the formation of this vitamin. Never locate inside cages or outside cages in full sunlight, without available areas of shady, because this overheats the parakeets.

    Breeding Cycle

    • Breeding parakeets need 12 hours of sunlight a day. These natural creatures go to sleep as the sun goes down and wake up when it rises. Aid your parakeets to breed successfully by keeping their daytime cycles as close as possible to natural daylight timing. Darken cages with heavy covers in rooms where electric lights burn after dark. Sunlight causes the breeding feathers on a parakeet's head and neck to glow, indicating it's ready to breed to other parakeets. Human eyesight is not sensitive enough to notice this effect. Glandular systems in parakeets that control the breeding cycle are also stimulated by sunlight.

    Eyesight

    • The process of vitamin D formation, under the influence of sunlight, is vital to Parakeet eyesight. Sight is the strongest sense in parakeets. They use their sharp eyesight in the wild to look for food, as well as to find breeding partners. These birds naturally see a wider range of colors than humans do. The UV spectrum is visible to parakeets that spend sufficient time in sunlight, which is how they see the fluorescence of another bird's breeding feathers.

    Safe Amounts

    • Parakeets that live primarily inside that house need a few hours of sunlight a day. Between four and six hours a day in a cage outside is optimal, but even a couple of hours a day is good for your bird. Direct sunlight's not required, or even desirable, especially if it's very strong. Make sure parakeets have an area of shade in their cage, to escape harsh sunlight and prevent overheating. Parakeets that are exposed to the sun for too long begin to pant and need immediate cooling down by taking the cage into a cool, quiet room.