554 
ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 
Food for Pigeons. 
The question as to the proper kinds of food that pigeons should 
he furnished is one of great importance to the breeder of fancy pigeons 
who wants to keep his birds in the best condition and yet do it econom- 
ically. To the thinking man it is evident that the lowest-priced food 
is not always the most economical, because it is generally composed of 
grain that has been damaged either by water or smoke, or of wheat 
that is shrunken or broken and mixed with chess, cockle, and grass 
seed, and known as screenings. 
Grain that has been wet and dried again is apt to be musty, 
and musty food can in no sense be regarded as healthy. Pigeons may 
live.' and, for a time, apparently do well on it, but it is dangerous food 
to give them, and its dangerous effects will sooner or later make them- 
selves felt. Grain that has been smoked is not acceptable to most 
pigeons, and a great deal is generally thrown out and wasted, in the 
attempt of the bird to find something palatable. Good sound red 
wheat, cracked corn, Canada peas, with dry, stale or toasted bread 
broken in small pieces, make excels nt food. Vary this with an occa- 
sional treat of millet, canary seed, buckwheat, or hemp seed, and 
pigeons will need nothing more to insure good health and condition. 
There are a number of varieties of grain foreign to this country 
that are highly esteemed by fanciers abroad, but owing to their cost 
being much in excess of the grains and seeds mentioned, they are too 
expensive for the average breeder here. Such are tares, dari, tick 
beans, etc. Some of the wealthier fanciers use them and esteem them 
very highly, but it is not noticeable that their stock looks any better 
or does any better than that of the man who has to depend upon good 
American grain. Barley is recommended by some authorities, but 
pigeons will not usually eat it unless forced to by hunger. Set barley 
and good sound wheat before them, and the wheat will rapidly disap- 
pear, while the barley will remain undisturbed. Set the barley down 
alone, and after a time the most of it will be thrown out on the floor by 
the birds scratching for more acceptable grain. 
While Indian corn constitutes the chief grain supply of the average 
pigeon fancier, because of its cheapness and the ease with which it is 
fed, and while thousands of pigeons are raised with little change from a 
corn diet, it cannot be recommended to the breeder of high-class stock 
as the feed par excellence, particularly during the breeding season, 
it being too heating, and, consequently, liable to produce canker and 
other scrofulous affections arising from an overheated condition of the 
blood. For Winter use, especially in the colder parts of our country, it 
is a valuable food, as it serves to generate the warmth so necessary to 
keep the birds in a robust condition; but the large-grained corn should 
never be fed whole, as it is not only difficult for them to swallow, but is 
liable to choke all but the largest birds, and even they sometimes have 
a hard time to dispose of it. especially if very hungry and consequently 
greedy. 
