Poultry and Pigeons; Their Varieties, Management, Breeding and Diseases (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ...a projecting sloping roof like an inverted saucer to keep off (he rain. Access to it may be had by using a ladder, or by forming one upon it by nailing stout rows of beech at intervals of nine inches, and projecting six inches on each side. Ropes may be fixed on the top of the pole, and hang down on each side, to make ascent and descent more safe and easy. But to use the ordinary ladder is the best plan, for then pole-houses are more secure than lockers from rats, cats, and thieves. The pole-house is upon the whole preferable to the locker, but it still has most of the latter's defects, and will accommodate only a few birds; and it is a well-known fact, that he who has a large number of pigeons is much more likely to keep them than he who has but a few, for a small society will often become smaller by desertion to a larger colony. "A pigeon-house on a pole," says Mr. Tegetmeier, "may possibly be regarded as a picturesque addition to a farm or stable-yard, but a worse residence for the birds it wonld be almost impossible to devise. The pigeons in these houses are exposed to all the variations of the weather. During the great heat of summer, the close nests become offensive from the accumulation of dung, and swarm with vermin. In the cold weather the young birds frequently perish from the low temperature to which they are exposed, and at allseasons of the year the driving rain is apt to saturate the nests, and destroy the vitality of the eggs or the life of the unfledged birds. It is obvious that a pigeon-house can only afford comfortable breeding quarters during a small proportion of the year, and in inclement seasons is a dreary habitation even for full-grown birds. The result of these disadvantages is, that the same...