# How much sun is enough?



## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

Hello everyone, hope you and your budgies are well!

I've read on various places that budgies, despite being desert animals, can't be exposed to too much sun. I live in a very sunny country and my room, where Iris and Dawn live, is especially sunny, as it has a view of Athens. Up until recent I was not taking them out at all, because the temperatures where murderously high, but as of recent the weather has been cooler. I've put them outside in the shade a couple of times and they seem far happier and more active there. They hop around, fly, bathe, climb, chirp, you know, all that jazz. They're never out unsupervised because budgies I had as a kid were attacked by wild birds and were injured, so when I'm at the lab or class they stay inside. Now however, I rarely go out, so potentially they could be outside for a good five hours before the afternoon heat becomes too much for everyone. Should I let them outside, or is it causing more harm than good? I have to say, one of my budgies has been really down as of late thanks to a horrible moult, and right now, outside, she's been more active and less grumpy than the previous weeks combined. 

Thanks!


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

If you take them outside and place them in the sun, if they get too hot and want to move away they have no option to do that, so I would create a spot in the cage with some shade by draping a light cloth over a portion of the cage that would allow them to move out of the sun if they so choose.


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Budgies love being in the sun because it allows them to see ultraviolet, as sunlight is full spectrum light. Lightbulbs in our home don't let them see ultraviolet. I wouldn't worry too much about how much sunlight they get from a health perspective, because if you're feeding them a healthy diet, they'll get the Vitamin D they need from that - especially if they eat pellets. From a happiness perspective though, the more sunlight they get, the more fulfilled they are.

Since you supervise your budgies when they are out, you can tell when they become too hot as they'll became more lethargic and not be as active, they'll also hold their wings slightly open. When I used to open my window for them to get sunlight, this is what I'd use as an indicator that they're too warm and I'd close the window. If they don't eat healthy, then sunlight is far more important. So yeah, how much sunlight they get is down to you, and what's convenient for your schedule.


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## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

@Cody Strictly speaking, they're only in the shade, as in, there's the canopy over the entire balcony and sunrays will hit them only for a very specific and short period of time, when the sun stands at a specific height. Frankly, I don't know if there's a way to put them directly under the sun without putting them out in the garden, where my delightful cat lives. His name is Panzer, because he kills all living things his size and smaller in an instant, so yeah, garden's not an option. But it's no problem adding a little extra shade with an old pillowcase or tea towel, good idea 

@ChickWas That's true, when I first learnt they can see UV I snuck a black light out the lab and Iris's forehead really lit up. I should do it again now with Dawn, who's nearly completely yellow! Too bad the lightbulbs barely make it to six months and then the UV part dies out. We're working on the diet part. Iris, who flew into my room through the window and was probably bought at a petstore, was a seed junkie, but she's taken a liking to Harrison's pellets as of recent. She still throws a good amount on the floor, but I'm convinced some pellets do make it into her digestive system. Dawn seems to manage better with pellets, but she's very picky with eggfood and on top of that there's shortage in several small parrot products for at least two months now, to the point a friend and I had to mail to each other stuff the other needed! Thankfully, my dad's an agriculturist, so he can point out specific seeds and greens that contain stuff they need. But I can't swear their diet is excellent at the moment. I've also tried to weigh them, but theyre too afraid of the beeping of the scales. 

They've never done the wings-apart thing, even when there were wildfires in the area along with a heatwave of 40+ degrees Celsius, but they do get sleepy due to the heat, but usually Im the one who cant stand it first and turns on the AC  For as long as they were outside, they had zero moments of standing still, they were zooming around like crazy and bathed for a good 15'.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Cody has given you very good advice.

Be very careful if you use a full-spectrum light. In that case, the budgies should not be exposed to it for more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours per day.
Too much and it can cause continual molting, increase in hormone production, inclination to lay eggs even when no male is present and other problems.

15 to 30 minutes of sunlight per day is adequate if you take your birds outside. It is definitely very important to insure they do not get overheated.
Additionally, moving the birds from indoors where the temperature is low to the outside where the temperature is much higher can be stressful to their system, so keep that in mind.*


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## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

Thank you all for the very helpful advice, but for a while we'll all be staying inside. The other day I had the cage outside for their daily dose of sunlight and, well, a hawk divebombed on the cage! Thankfully, I was only a foot away and managed to scare the hawk away. In truth, it was too big to do any sort of physical damage to the budgies, but it nearly scared them to death. Especially Iris, who's an escapee and has spent time outside before finding my open window, was literally petrified for a good two hours. Had to semi-cover them with a cloth, let them sleep the shock off and then they seemed to come back to life. My dad, who's a biologist, said the hawk had probably targeted Iris and Dawn for a while now, so I don't dare take them out again, in case they've got supermemory or something. I'm trying to think of a way to protect them, but the force with which the hawk crashed on the cage makes me wonder whether any run-of-the-mill mesh things are adequate. And to think I was worried about pigeons and sparrows... Anyway, theyre perfectly fine now, we're making great progress actually between the three of us, but still, it was quite scary. Someone on a local fb group on budgies said he had a similar experience a few years back, only the hawk was much smaller, possibly a juvenile just out of the nest, and it was trying to get its wings, beak and claws in the cage. This one, on the other hand, seemed really confused about the cage, invisible forcefield and all. 

Besides the trauma of it all, two good things came out of it. First, I saw a hawk up close and even though it was trying to eat my babies, I can appreciate what a beautiful bird it is, the browns and greys, the beak and those beady eyes! And second, I'm feeling pretty smug, because when Iris first flew into my window I was saying how lucky she was because if starvation hadn't killed her, hawks would have nabbed her for sure, and people laughed, because 'come one, mate, this is a huge city, we don;t have hawks!' 'But I can see them from my window, I'd say, 'nah, your eyesight's crap and you see what you want to see'. Yes, well, either I'm hallucinating or there's flipping hawks in the city. Anyway, yours truly found it gorgeous and despite the fact it complicates things for my budgies and myself, I'm glad they're here, they're amazing animals.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Hawks are beautiful and powerful creatures, your experience is exactly why we do not recommend leaving budgies alone outside, as you experienced, even with you right there, the hawk swooped in, they seem to sometimes appear out of nowhere. Glad everything is ok.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I had a hawk that crashed into my patio doors THREE times in a row trying to get to my budgies which, at that time, were free flying in the living room. I had to go outside to shoo it away.
The hawk was simply not going to give up. 
Additionally, we have a member in Australia who used to have an outdoor aviary. A hawk managed to kill one of her budgies which was inside the aviary near the side of the mesh.
After that, all of her budgies were moved indoors permanently.

I'm glad you were able to rescue your birds and no lasting damage was done. 
For all other members -- please take note that it is imperative that your budgies are safely secured inside a cage and very closely supervised the entire time they are outdoors.*


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## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

Cody said:


> the hawk swooped in, they seem to sometimes appear out of nowhere.


Exactly! One moment the sky was empty, the next there was a hawk clawing at the cage! Their agility is amazing, which is why Idk how I may be able to protect them next time. I mean, the hawk can't get inside the cage, thats for sure, but they might get scared ti death and wild birds often have diseases and parasites - now I'm watching them like a hawk, pun intended, for any sign of illness or mites that could have jumped from the hawk onto the budgies, but thankfully they seem very happy and healthy. As an apology from my part I got them a new park, which they seem to like a lot. What is it with females budgies and gnawing on bark? Also, Dawn, who came to me semi-clipped, has regrown most of the flight feathers, and is happy to try out flighing. She's not 100% there yet, but she's working on it. 

I'd still love for them to get some UV, natural light, but with all the baby pigeons around I'm sure the hawk is still somewhere around here, so we'll have to wait, maybe get some sort of child-safety mesh in the meantime. 

@FaeryBee Wow, that's some persistance, your budgies must have looked pretty juicy. Glad they were fine, but I also hope the hawk didn't get a concussion from all that door-slamming.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Many budgies love to shred things. Wood and shredding toys are great for them!!*


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## srirachaseahawk (Sep 5, 2021)

FaeryBee said:


> *I had a hawk that crashed into my patio doors THREE times in a row trying to get to my budgies which, at that time, were free flying in the living room. I had to go outside to shoo it away.
> The hawk was simply not going to give up.
> Additionally, we have a member in Australia who used to have an outdoor aviary. A hawk managed to kill one of her budgies which was inside the aviary near the side of the mesh.
> After that, all of her budgies were moved indoors permanently.
> ...


Same experience here, but with one of my cats and a bay window…


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## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

FaeryBee said:


> *Many budgies love to shred things. Wood and shredding toys are great for them!!*


Apparently it's more of a female thing. Makes me wonder if it's got anything to do with the fact that most parrots use tree hollows as nests and that might mean some adjustements done with the beak. In any case it's funny, we get all those fancy toys and in the end they just want to tear apart a cloth-hanging pin XD


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Nothing wrong with tearing up clothes pins! At least that's a wonderfully cheap investment as a toy!*


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## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

True! Besides, better biting wood than my fingers


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