OHArXEK X. 



PIGEONS' AILMENTS. 



Caukcr a Filth lliscasr AMiiih .Makes I;s Appearance iu Nasty, Oramperl 

 and (.'i-owcli'il Qiiartcrh— It is a Cajitivity Disease and a Sure (Jure 

 I'ni- It is to Turn tlie Bird Loose to Get a Chatige of Pood and 

 rieuty of Exercise — A Flock Supplied with Pure Food and Clean 

 Water Never Will Ro Sick— Canker is Not Epidemic— It Does Not 

 ray to Dose a Sick I'ij.'eon, Better Turn It Out to Get Well. 



'J'lir priucipa! ailment met with by the si|ualj breeder is canker. This 

 ailment is a puzzle to some breeders and they are alarmed when it makes 

 an appearam c- in their flock, as it does if the feed is poor or sour, the 

 watei dirty, or the scpiab house hithy. The advice which they five 

 when they find a cankered bird is "Kill it." That is the advice we used 

 to fjive at hr.st, but now we know better. First, what is canker? It is 

 a disease of wbicli you know Ihe cause (filth, poor feed or dirty water) 

 and whose symptoms you see in the form of a cheesy-like deposit in the 

 uioulli of the pigeon, and breaking out around the bilk Catch the pigeon, 

 hold it in your lap and force open its bill and you will see a yellowish 

 palrii or patches in tlie mouth, and the mouth will usu.ally be filled with 

 a yellijwish ih'pusit whirh smells bad. The disease is not serious. The 

 trouble lies with the feed and the filth and that is what spreads the 

 same symptoms from one pigeon to anotlier. A case of canker in your 

 flock should be a wartiing tu you that the fei'cl is wrong or water is 

 wrung, or I hat you have a filthy house. Do not get alarmed and kill the 

 bii'd. Catch the ,-iftei-tcd pigi'ou ami cari'y it out of your flying pen and 

 sijuiib hou«e and ihrow it into rhe air. The bird may fly away and lose 

 itself, 'ind if it dots you are out one pigeon just as if you had killed it. 

 Tlie rliancrs are, howcvei-, :is in the case of any sick animal, that it will 

 liiruer around home. Now you will be surprised to see how quick that 



piL' I's h;'alth will impi-ove. Not haying a steady supply of food before 



it. it will have to hustle for a living, and this exercise and the change of 

 living, an(; the si-anty living, will effect the cure. It will get more fresh 

 air, and a great deal more exercise, and more sua, than it would get if 

 left in company with the other binls. In about a week you will notice 

 tli,at it will hold its bill tighter, and if there is a sore on the outside of 

 the bill yoii will see this sore dry up. In two weeks the chances are 

 that the .yellowish deposit on llie interior rif the mouth will be entirely 

 gone. The pigeon will hover around the other pigeons. It will fly to the 

 outside of the netting and look at its fellows. Place a dish on the ground 

 (64) 



