GRIT, CHARCOAL, SALT AND WATER 93 



birds, and to be accessible when snow is on the ground, other 

 forms of grit may not be essential, but I can see no harm in 

 manufactured health grits as long as the birds are furnished 

 with plenty of salt so that they will not be forced to eat these 

 substances in order to get what they want. 



Some very successful breeders supply their birds with differ- 

 ent kinds of dirt and sand and by a little experimenting they 

 find just which of these articles contain what their birds like. 



The soil in different sections of the country contains different 

 chemical properties. You might be surprised to see pigeons 

 eating a certain kind of dirt; if you knew the chemical proper- 

 ties of this certain kind of dirt you would more nearly under- 

 stand why they eat it. A piece of plowed up sod placed upside 

 down in a fly pen will often furnish the birds a feast in regards 

 to dirt, grass roots and other substances which you might not 

 know was there. 



Certain kinds of old plaster and mortar will be eaten with 

 relish by birds that are confined to fly pens. 



As a final suggestion, therefore, I would recommend that birds 

 be given plenty of such articles which can be found in most any 

 community and are inexpensive. If they do not eat one they will 

 probably eat another, and anything they eat, even in very small 

 amounts along this line, will prove very beneficial to their 

 health, as nature seems to guide them in this respect. 



CHARCOAL 



While charcoal is probably not necessary to the life of a pigeon, 

 it is a very healthy product and should be kept constantly before 

 the birds. Charcoal can be secured in most any poultry supply 

 house and comes in three sizes, fine, medium and coarse. The 

 medium size is the best as the birds will not eat the charcoal 

 dust and the coarse size is too large for them to swallow. 



Charcoal aids digestion, absorbs the impurities that birds 

 might get in feed or water and contains other health giving 

 properties. It should be kept in small jars in the middle of the 

 nest room or in a grit hopper as described elsewhere under that 

 heading. 



Charcoal is an extra good remedy for bowel trouble of different 

 forms and is especially good to feed the old birds when young 

 ones show a loosness of the bowels. 



