120 CALIFORNIA POULTRY PRACTICE 



make a nice change, but that is just optional, as they do very well 

 without it. 



Care. The feeding must be done regularly, especially during the 

 breeding season, because if the birds have to wait over the usual 

 time the task of feeding the young is neglected, or they are fed so 

 irregularly that they do not grow as fast as they otherwise would. The 

 watering, too, must be attended to and a good supply of clean water 

 kept in a clean earthen crock for drinking and a large open pan for 

 a bathtub. This should be changed every day, because a lot of birds 

 make it very dirty. 



At least once a week the nests and floor of the houses should be 

 cleaned out and whenever a pair of squabs are in a nest they should 

 be cleaned out for this is where mites will start if anywhere. 



Pigeons in health show a bright, lustrous eye and bright plumage, 

 which in sickness goes dull and lusterless, so that it is easy to tell if 

 a bird is off its feed. 



Like all other species of the feathered tribe, pigeons molt, and 

 sometimes the molt goes hard with them, but a little extra care and 

 watchfulness will help tide them over. A little extra hemp and a 

 little flax seed or sunflower seed at this time will be acceptable and 

 help in the molting and the feather building process. For a tonic 

 give a little Douglas mixture in the water. A tablespoonful to a pint 

 of water is about the right proportion. Directions for making will 

 be found on another page. 



Hatching. Some authorities claim that the squabs hatch in 

 eighteen days and others say sixteen, but unless the first egg is 

 removed from the nest and a dummy egg put in, one squab will 

 hatch before the other. So when the first egg is hatched it is better 

 to remove it, mark it and mark the nest you take it from, then keep 

 in a small box covered with a cloth in a moderately warm room. 

 When the second egg is laid take the dummy out and replace the 

 first egg and in eighteen days your squabs will hatch if there has 

 been no disturbing influences around the parent birds. 



In four weeks' time your squabs will be ready for table, nice, fat, 

 plump delicacies that invalid or epicurean alike will be glad to get. 



I do not know of anything in live stock that gives such good 

 returns for the amount of labor and money expended. 



Catching Pigeons. Pigeons should never be caught by the leg. 

 If you are not adept enough to catch them on the fly, with the hands, 

 make a net. Anyway don't try to catch them by the leg, for you may 

 break it. 



Diseases of Pigeons. Presumably pigeons are heir to as many 

 diseases as chickens, but if the general health of the flock is kept up 

 there will not be much danger from disease. Sour crop seems to be 



