CHAPTER V. 



What Pigeons Should Eat and Drink 



All food and water for pigeons must be of purest 

 quality. The beginner needs to emphasize the word 

 "must" for he will frequently have opportunity to buy 

 what is called, "pigeon wheat", or grain good enough 

 for pigeons offered at a much less price than milling 

 wheat or corn to be ground for family use. When the 

 beginner tries to practice economy by purchasing such 

 grains, because they are cheaper, disease very com- 

 monly evens matters by making a visit at the same 

 time. We so firmly believe that impure food and 

 water cause diseases among pigeons that we desire to 

 emphasize, at the very beginning, that neither food 

 nor water which the breeder is unwilling to use at his 

 own table should be given to pigeons. 



This may sound extreme. We have known some 

 breeders, however, who disregarded it and they 

 wheeled out a whole barrow full of birds one 

 morning and buried them in a trench. In 

 our early experience we did a little grave- 

 yard business, by feeding corn which had 

 been heated. This case was so unusual that 

 a full explanation will be valuable The corn was 

 bought in August at a time when all grains are sup- 

 posed to be well seasoned. This particular lot of grain 

 had been kept in a tight bin. The weather had con 

 tinuec 1 damp and muggy for an unusually long period 

 and fermentation of the grain had begun. When fed, 

 the birds sickened and many died. We did not know 



40 



