GRIT, CHARCOAL, SALT AND WATER 99 



large enough for many birds to bathe at the same time. They 

 will all try to get in at once and by their fluttering and anxiety 

 to bathe waste a lot of the water and in a few minutes there 

 is not enough left for a bird to bathe in. The water is usually 

 dirty on account of being splashed over on the mud around the 

 pan and birds walking in the mud get their feet muddy and 

 then climb into the pan. Such an arrangement takes lots of 

 work and only furnishes a poor bath. 



By a little work a bath trough can be made five inches deep, 

 ten inches wide and several feet long. See article on "How 

 to Build a Bath Trough." The trough should be placed just 

 outside of the fly pen with a gate to open up on bath days. 

 The birds can get to the bath only when the gate is open and 

 with a little work a drinking trough can be made in connection 

 with the bath trough which will permit the birds to drink when 

 the gate is down. If there is more than one unit or fly pen a 

 single trough can be extended along in front of several units 

 and one faucet supplies the water for the entire group of pens. 



As a rule considerable time is wasted in opening gates and 

 doors to get into the fly pens or nest houses to furnish water 

 for drinking or bathing purposes, but with this arrangement the 

 drinking and bathing trough is on the outside of the fly pen and 

 is easily accessible for filling, emptying and cleaning. 



In the winter time, in a northern climate, an outside trough 

 cannot be used regularly, but on especially warm and sunshine 

 days, when the water is not freezing, the outside bath trough 

 can be filled for an hour or so in the middle of the afternoon and 

 then as soon as the birds have their bath the water can be let 

 out. Birds that have eggs or very small young will not bathe 

 except on extremely hot days. Therefore, a trough as above 

 mentioned would be ample for all the birds that wanted to 

 bathe at one time and will furnish each of them a fresh clean 

 bath. 



If city or running water is not available a hose can be attached 

 to a pump for the purpose of filling the bath troughs, or a barrel 

 can be used on a slide either pulled by hand or by a horse. 

 This, of course, depends upon the distance the water is to be 

 carried. Even if you only have a very few pair of squab 

 breeders it will pay to arrange a trough on the outside of the 

 fly pen for bathing purposes. Of course, in such a case a trough 



