The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor WorkMiller, Mary Rogers
Philosophy
The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work
Miller, Mary Rogers
Agriculture -- Juvenile literature
Holes, at least two, rounded at the top and six inches each way,
provide for the going and coming of the birds between house and fly.
For yourself, an outside door into the fly is a necessity, of course.
Before installing your pigeons in their house, use the whitewash brush
there freely. Into each gallon of your mixture of lime and water put a
half-teaspoonful of crude carbolic acid. Clean sand is recommended for
the floor of both fly and house. It is very bad practice to scatter
food for pigeons on the floor or ground. You will see, if you try it,
how much is wasted; any that they leave becomes soiled, moulds, or
sours, and if eaten in that condition is nearly sure to injure the
birds. A shallow feeding trough should be placed near the centre of
the house. Fine charcoal, table salt, and cracked oyster shells should
be kept permanently before the birds, the boxes cleaned out at least
weekly. Clean water in stone or galvanized iron fountains should always
be there, too. Daily or semi-daily is none too frequent to clean these
vessels.
Pigeons are not gluttonous feeders but "they want what they want,
when they want it." In other words, regularity is important to their
well-being. An early morning feed, six-thirty in summer, seven in
winter, of equal parts cracked corn, wheat, and peas, and an afternoon
feed, at four in summer, three in winter, of equal parts cracked corn
(with no fine meal in it), kaffir corn, millet seed, and peas, is a
fair ration. Pigeons like a variety but not as a steady diet. Hemp
may be substituted for millet once or twice a week; a little broken
rice, green vegetable food, like lettuce and onions, will be taken
sparingly, and tiny bits of fat bacon seem to be acceptable. Nothing
but first-class grain should ever be set before pigeons. The quantity
needed should be determined by watching. If food is left in trough,
feed less next time.
Water for bathing is as necessary for pigeons as the dust bath is for
hens. A broad galvanized iron pan three inches deep makes a first-rate
bathtub. Although fancy plumbing is out of place in a pigeon house,
it is the greatest convenience to have running water passing through
a trough constantly; this solves completely the problem of sanitary
drinking water.
The best fanciers clean their houses weekly. With a few birds this may
not be necessary. But when your nose gives unmistakable evidence that
it is time, do not put it off. A spade to scrape the floor, an old
knife for the nest boxes, and a broom are necessary utensils.
Mated birds will choose a nesting box after becoming accustomed to
their new quarters. The nest pans, with their foundation of tobacco
stems cut in six-inch lengths, should be in place, and a supply of
short hay or straw where it can be found. Two eggs are usually laid,
with a day between and sitting begins as soon as the second egg is laid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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