Hirota 1971

JoURNAL OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR 1971, 16.
, 407-408 NUMBER 3 (NOVEMBER)
TECHNICAL NOTE
AN IMPROVED METHOD OF HOUSING PIGEONS'
The problems associated with housing pigeons have pass through the length of the entire unit. A third
received little attention considering the wide use the rod midway between the other two but above the
species has in behavioral research. Pigeons, unlike rats hardware cloth prevents any movement of the floor.
or monkeys, generate a considerable amount of dust By removing this third rod all floors can be easily
from both feathers and excreta. Normal shedding of extracted for cleaning.
feathers and considerable moulting when room tem- Square, one-quart Polyethelene bottles (Dynalab
peratures rise add to the problem. Under free feed- Corp., cat. no. 890 at $14.00 per 24) at D fit flush against
ing, pigeons tend to scatter less-preferred grains. When the front of each cage. Two-inch (5.08-cm) diameter
wire cages are used, dust, feathers, grain, and excreta holes cut in the bottles with centers 4 in. (10.2 cm)
are propelled about the room by the conditioned wing- above the bottom of the bottles match similar holes
flapping that develops during feeding periods. (E) in the 0.25 in. (0.64 cm) hardboard front panels.
Commercially available electrostatic air purifiers have The removable bottles are held in place by stainless
been found to be inadequate in reducing the dust steel rods 0.125 in. (0.32 cm) in diameter and rest on
because they quickly become clogged with feathers. a 0.5 in. (1.27 cm) ledge at the bottom of the hard-
Since many colony rooms are not originally intended for board front panel. The wide-mouth threaded bottle
such use, the amount of air exchange in the room can- caps allow feed, grit, and water to be replenished with-
not be increased sufficiently to resolve the dust problem. out removing the bottles. Grit and seed on the floor
As an alternative to daily cleaning, which can be- have been effectively eliminated with these bottles.
come expensive in both time and supplies, the problem Experience with the type of food and water units il-
can be largely eliminated by restricting the amount of lustrated by Bullock, Roberts, and Bitterman (1961)
ventilation in a cage without adversely affecting the has shown that seed and grit are scattered and wasted.
health of the birds. A 0.25 in. (0.64 cm) thick Plexiglas strip running
Figure 1 shows part of a six-cage unit. Each cage the length of the cage units at F provides light and
interior is 12 in. (30.48 cm) wide, 14 in. (35.56 cm) allows easy observation of the birds. Small hinged
high and 15 in. (38.1 cm) deep. While the cages are not doors 8 in. (20.32 cm) deep at G provide access to the
especially large, both adult male White Carneaux and birds and decrease the chances of a bird escaping when
homing pigeons from the Palmetto Pigeon Plant have the door is opened. Larger doors and cages in an
been satisfactorily housed for several years in a similar earlier unit led to greater difficulty in extracting birds.
unit with identical cage dimensions. The air vents lo-
cated at A are screened with a 2-in. (5.08-cm) wide
strip of 0.25-in. (0.64-cm) square hardware cloth to trap
feathers. A hinged door running the length of the
unit at B prevents the expulsion of excreta, yet pro-
vides easy access to individual excreta trays (not shown)
without removing the birds. The excreta trays consist G
of Polyethelene lined industrial wadding (Kimberly
Clarke type K-33) mounted on a 0.5-in. (1.27-cm)
square hardware cloth frame. The wadding, which tends
to curl at the edges when wet, is held in place by up-
right prongs at each corner of the frame. A 1-in. (2.54-
cm) square hardware cloth floor (C) located 2 in. (5.08
cm) above the trays allows excreta to drop through and
provides a relatively clean, dry floor for the birds.
These floors rest on two stainless steel rods 0.125 in.
(0.32 cm) in diameter, 11 in. (27.94 cm) apart, which
'The development of this project was made possible
by funds granted to the Department of Psychology
from the University of Windsor. The assistance of Wil-
liam Somes and Jerry Bolger in designing and building B
the cages is gratefully acknowledged. Fig. 1. Section of six-cage unit.
407
408 TECHNICAL NOTE
The cages are painted with high gloss white enamel
both inside and outside to facilitate cleaning and to REFERENCES
reflect light. A second unit still in use consists of two Bullock, D. H., Roberts, W. A., and Bitterman, M. E.
sets of six cages back to back mounted on a stand. Techniques of housing and maintaining a large
The present unit of six is less cumbersome and has pigeon colony. Jouirnal of the Experimental Analysis
been mounted flush against a wall. The bottle and of Behavior, 1961, 4, 285-286.
excreta tray design has been adapted for a 24-cage
stand-up unit for bluejays with considerable success. T. T. HIROTA
The basic unit is constructed of 0.75 in. (1.9 cm) University of Windsor
plywood. The cost of materials for a six-cage unit,
not including the bottles, did not exceed $40.00. Received: 21 June 1971.
(Final Acceptance: 14 July 1971.)

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JoURNAL OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR 1971, 16.

, 407-408 NUMBER 3 (NOVEMBER)

AN IMPROVED METHOD OF HOUSING PIGEONS'

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