FEEDS AND FEEDING 75 



get something to eat; and another feed is necessary at night so 

 that the males may again feed their squabs. 



I have been told that twice a day was all that was necessary 

 with this method, as females that were sitting will soon learn 

 to fly off the nest at feeding time and eat along with the other 

 birds, but my observation and experience has been that females 

 will not stay off the nest long enough to get a sufficient amount 

 to eat. They will, if they are hungry, fly down, but they will 

 just stay long enough to pick up a few grains and then fly 

 back to the nest. Pigeons do not like to let their eggs stay 

 uncovered for even a short period of time. As proof of this, when 

 the male takes the place of the female on the nest in the morn- 

 ing, and when the female again relieves the male in the after- 

 noon, the bird on the nest will not get from over the eggs until 

 its mate is on the nest by its side; one will slip off the nest as 

 the other one slips on, allowing practically no lapse of time in 

 the operation. It is unnatural for pigeons to leave the nest 

 for something to eat as is the habit with chickens. 



Self-feeders have never proven a success. No feeder has so 

 far been perfected that will force the birds to eat the grain as it 

 comes out of the hopper. While pigeons require several kinds 

 of grain, they like some kinds better than others. Therefore, 

 they pick out the choice kind first. This will leave the kind 

 they like least or the undesirable grain uneaten and this uneaten 

 grain will soon choke up the feeder. 



You might figiu'e that when the birds are hungry enough they 

 will eat up this less desirable kind of grain that has choked 

 the feeder, and that would automatically make room for the 

 new supply of the regular mixture, but such is not the case, for 

 birds, by actual test, will not do so. Furthermore, one day the 

 feeder will be choked with one kind of grain and another day 

 with another, according to the appetites of the birds on different 

 days. With an open trough, when grain is left one day the 

 birds will invariably eat it up in the next day, especially if a 

 smaller portion is given them. Of course, if one particular kind 

 of grain keeps accumulating, the mixture can be changed and 

 the portion of that kind be reduced. 



Where there are more than one pen of birds being kept, a good 

 plan is to carry the grain left over from one nest room to another. 



