What Should I NEVER EVER Do With my Chickies?

[BeckyLa]

Spy, I'm not depriving my chicks of anything. They are babies, they sleep when they want and they eat when they want. Often during the night I check on them to find them all asleep so having white light all the time does not deprive them of sleep. As my brooder chicks grow up they don't have neurological problems. When I put all my chicks together as teens there is no difference between those who began life with daytime 24/7 and those raised by their mothers outside. I know I wouldn't want my birds to enter life with rose colored eyeballs.

 

[Spydrworks]

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I didn't mention the deprivation of sleep. I mentioned the deprivation of a night time cycle.

There is an organ in every organism I've studied so far that responds to light and dark. This is directly related to the sleep and wake states of an organism, however, there's more to sleep and wake tied into this organ and the roles between day and night (light and dark) have more of a purpose than just sleep and wake.

Organisms are going to sleep when they are tired whether it's day or night, but the day/night cycles help calabrate the inner environment (inside the organism's body) with the outer environment (that organism's surroundings).

Short term, neurological differences may not be detectable by simple behavior observation unless you know what you're looking for and can rule out other factors to a particular behavior (such as excessive day time sleepiness without rooting from another cause)...and generally not threatening to the organism's overall health depending on the age compared to the organism's natural life span and length of constant day exposure without a dark period. Young ones may recover quickly, because they are fresh and still developing...their systems rejuvenate readily. Sensitive individuals may become sluggish or lag behind all the others later in life...as always being subordinate, etc. and/or may have a lesser life span.

As mentioned, the longer the constant exposure the more neurological damage can occur and is accumilative...meaning it may take half the organism's natural life span before signs of neurological stress show. Also, problems would mostly be related to metabolism.

It's one of the most complicated studies in neuroscience and one of the most difficult to document.

Whew...I've stretched my brain...now it's time for class...LOL...

Have a good day

BTW...don't think I'm accusing you of any kind of neglect. These are things most people aren't going to know about unless they study the subject themselves. I'm always happy to give the insights I've learned over the years to others, whether it makes a tiny difference or a big one.

 

[shandea]

Wow, I thought you could give table scraps to your chickens. Almost all of my table scraps have some kind of salt in it. What does salt hurt?

And what does avacado hurt?

Not saying they aren't harmful, but you do start questioning some info when everything you read is contradictory.

 

[jefra]

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ROFL!!

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that sounds like a good idea.... maybe they'll finally like me if i give em a treat like this... (in a bowl i'm assuming?)

and this --

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I didn't mention the deprivation of sleep. I mentioned the deprivation of a night time cycle.

There is an organ in every organism I've studied so far that responds to light and dark.....It's one of the most complicated studies in neuroscience and one of the most difficult to document.

-- has been fascinating. I had no idea and also keep an incandescent bulb on the chicks 24/7. So....a red one on all the time is better? What wattage, etc?

also, the potato thing is really good to know. i had no idea about that and would have probably tossed a bunch of peels in thinking it was a good idea...

I'd love to know more about the avocados though...????...and salt???

 

[Spydrworks]

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You would use a red bulb for night time if you want to see your chicks without disturbing the night time cycle. Day time, you'd use a regular white light bulb to similate the day. As of wattage...I'm use to recommending this stuff for reptiles and aquariums rather than birds, but in general you'd use the same wattage as the white light bulb. If this is not used as a heat source...wattage doesn't matter so long as it doesn't turn your birds into fried chicken

If you really want to give them something special...you can get a moon light. They are mostly sold for aquariums. It looks really nice (a nice soft bluish illumination or white) and for a less than one watt LED, it can really light up a room for its size. It also burns less electricity and lasts so much longer than any incandescent bulb. They are made specifically to similate the night time cycles for organisms that rely on moon light to spawn, but does make a very nice general night light. I use to have one in my bedroom...lol.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=553

Though the info. on this site pertains to marine aquariums, it'll give you some insight about moon lights.