233 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE 



The cloth must be long enough to reach clear down to the 

 bottom of the trough and be fastened on the inside of the 

 trough, otherwise birds will crawl under same and go from one 

 pen to the other. 



Bathing 



If dirty bath water is left where birds can drink it, it is bad 

 for them. For that reason it is necessary to empty the bath 

 water soon after the birds have bathed in it. This, together 

 with the trouble of going into each pen to fill bath pans and 

 many other unnecessary steps are saved by the use of the 

 Eggleston bathing system. 



Then, too, this method provides a better means for giving the 

 birds a bath and has many features of advantage. 



The cut on page 234 will show just how to construct bath 

 troughs, which can be used with or without the little drinking 

 trough attached. The drinking trough in the nest room is needed 

 for youngsters, on the floor affords a handy place for the females 

 to get a quick drink and is especially-good at feeding time, when 

 the old birds are feeding squabs. The drinking arrangement 

 in fly pens is not necessary, but well worth the little trouble 

 it takes to construct in connection with bath trough and, there- 

 fore, I recommend it. Bathing or drinking troughs can be made 

 of wood or galvanized iron. If made of wood they will need 

 a couple of coats of hot coal tar or asphaltum to prevent leaking. 



If running water is not available or if water is scarce, a short 

 bath trough two or three feet long can be used in front of each 

 pen, with a short gate made on the same principle as a long 

 trough. In such a case the trough will have to be filled by hand, 

 but even so the work will be done on the outside of the pens 

 and easy to get at. 



When running water is used, the faucet should be placed above 

 the smaller drinking trough, so on other than bath days, a small 

 dripping stream can be turned into the drinking trough only. 

 On bath days the same faucet will fill the bath trough if the 

 outer edge of the drinking trough is made higher than the edge 

 next to the bath trough, which construction will also provide 

 a daily overflow into the bath trough and keep it damp, thus 

 preventing probable leaks. 



