PIGKON DISEASES AND REMEDIES 131 



Hand feeding is- no more nor less than forcing the bird to 

 eat by poking the feed down the bird's throat. To do this you 

 should open the beak with the left hand and poke the grain in 

 with the right hand. The best way is to set the bird on some- 

 thing, then take its head and neck in the left hand, resting the 

 edge of your hand on the bird's back to liold it from pulling 

 away. Then hold the lower half of the beak between your thumb 

 and second finger. Lift up the upper half of the beak with your 

 front finger and put a grain of corn or other feed in the bird's 

 mouth and release its head to allow it to swallow. If it does 

 not swallow and persists in tlirowing the feed out, then you 

 will find it necessary to poke the grain part way down with the 

 front finger of your right hand. Repeat this operation until the 

 crop is fairly well filled. 



If you give the squab a drink before you start to feeding it 

 the grain will go down easier. Some real young squabs will 

 drink if you stick their heads in a cup of water. 



If they will not drink of their own accord, you should pour 

 some water down their tliroats. You can best do this with a 

 spoon, or better still with a medicine dropper, holding the bird 

 the same as you would to feed it and opening the beak in the 

 same way. Do not be afraid of giving the bird too much water. 



A small squab can consume two or three tablespoonfuls of 

 water. If the grain chokes up the bird's throat you can work it 

 down with your fingers from the outside. 



In addition to feed and water, a bird sliould be given a very 

 small amount of grit, oyster shell and charcoal. Hand fed 

 squabs will not do as well as if fed by their parents, but they 

 can be raised by hand and develop into good birds. 



Hand feeding can be done in connection with the feeding of 

 the old birds, which is often a good thing if one has a good 

 special squab tliat he desires to raise that is not getting enough 

 feed. In such a case a few peas given to the squab nightly is 

 a good thing. If it is fed by hand during tlie day it will not 

 beg or tease its parents for feed as much as it would if hungry 

 and so would get less feed from its parents. 



If you have three or four squabs in one nest it is not a bad 

 plan to feel their crops at night and either change any that 

 have empty crops to other nests or hand feed them a little. 



A hand fed squab will do better if you can slip him in a nest 



