PIGEON DISEASES AND REMEDIES 125 



first thing in sore eyes, colds, or most any other ailment for that 

 matter, is to see that bird's bowels are active, yet not loose. 

 This can be regulated by the feed given, add a little more wheat 

 to your feed mixture if birds seem to be bound up, and if the 

 bowels are too loose reduce the portion of wheat. Charcoal is 

 also a good bowel regulator, especially if the bowels are too 

 loose. If the eye is glued shut, soak the lids loose by applying 

 warm water, with the aid of a clean soft cloth or cotton. If 

 this is not convenient, hold the bird's head with the closed eye 

 up and spit in it, allowing the sputum to flood the eye for a 

 minute, when it will come open. This sounds like an unclean 

 remedy, but it is a good one nevertheless. In fact, sputum is good 

 for most any kind of sore eyes. 



Canker will cause sore eyes, but if the canker appears on the 

 side of the head near the eye you can always tell a canker sore 

 eye by the presence of a hard lump on or near the eye. These 

 lumps are apt to be of most any size from a grain of wheat up 

 to a lump almost as large as the bird's head. This form of 

 canker is not serious and can be removed by cutting a large 

 enough slit in the skin with a sharp knife to permit the cank- 

 ered lump to be squeezed out. The wound will bleed a little 

 when cut, but not to hurt anything, and will stop bleeding as 

 soon as the cankered lump is removed. There will be no blood 

 at all from the inside of the cankered lump or the pocket it is in. 

 The wound will heal up immediately and the bird will get well. 



When several birds are confined to close quarters or in ship- 

 ping crates, they sometimes pick each other in the eye, which 

 will make it sore. There is nothing necessary in such cases, as 

 the eye will heal in a few days, although it may look very bad 

 at the time. If a bird should in any way lose an eye they will 

 work and produce as many good squabs as they would with two 

 good eyes. They, of course, will not look as well with one eye, 

 but are just as useful. A good rule is to save a one-eyed female 

 and kill the one-eyed males. 



There are some good eye remedies on the market, but the 

 percentage of sore eyes is small with a good flock of healthy 

 birds and the cure of all such diseases is so uncertain with 

 pigeons that it is hardly worth while to doctor them, except in 

 extraordinary cases with birds of special value. 



