Homing Pigeon Breeding Cage

The important point in loft management is cleanliness. Thelot i floor should be clean and dry at all times, and the majorityof hinders scrape out any droppings daily and sprinkle coarseuul on the floor, or brush dehydrated lime powder into thewood. Others adopt the deep-litter system, putting down alaver of about 10cm (4in) of straw on the floor, so that theItooppings go into the straw and dry up. The straw should be:Liked or turned about once a week, and changed about everylour to five months. All drinking vessels should be thoroughlyleaned when water is changed; this should be at least once alay, and preferably more than once if you have time.During the breeding season, droppings will accumulate round the outside of the nesting-bowls. They should not beAllowed to become excessive, but a little accumulation aroundhe bowl can provide extra warmth for the growing youngers.

The nesting materials within the bowls shouldIse changed with each pair of eggs laid. If you adopt the type ofnest-box recommended, a clean nesting-bowl with clean mat-, ial should be placed in the nest-box on the shelf, or on thelower part of the box if the one in use is on the shelf, when the'wig birds are about fourteen days old. This will give the heni line to settle to the new nest before laying the next pair ofeggs. In clearing around the nest in use, any eggshells or anyeggs which may not have hatched should be removed When the breeding and mating season has been completed,pairs should be separated to allow the birds to complete themoult in a peaceful atmosphere. The cock birds, both old andyoung birds bred that year, should be kept in the old-bird section of the loft where the nest-boxes are, and the hens canthen be kept in the section which has been occupied by theyoung birds during the season.

The nest-boxes should bethoroughly cleaned out and the removable fronts taken away,thus providing space for the cocks to sleep at night as theybegin to select their boxes for the next season. After the birdsare parted, the moult will proceed more quickly and careshould be taken to clean out all cast feathers from the oddcorners of the loft where they blow as the birds fly to and fromtheir perches. If left, the feathers harbour disease and para-sites, and the hens will gather them into odd corners and start tolay again.