DISEASES OF PIGEONS
The very best way to escape trouble from diseases among pigeons is to prevent them by always keeping the lofts and flies in first-class condition. Carelessness is the worst disease that affects pigeons, and this is always manifest in the owner before it has any effect on the birds.
If the lofts are kept clean, the feed supplied is sound and sweet, the water pure and the feeding regular, the birds themselves will not often be troubled with diseases of any kind.
However, with all possible care, diseases will appear at times, and it is well to know what to do to prevent them from spreading and causing serious loss.
Epidemic diseases will never appear in a flock which has been properly cared for, unless they are brought in through putting newly purchased birds among the healthy ones.
It is just as well to use caution when introducing new birds even if there is not the least suspicion that they are not perfectly healthy.
When new stock is bought it should be kept by itself for a week to determine if it is free from disease. Not once in a hundred times will birds bought of a reliable breeder be found unhealthy, but prevention is better than cure any time, so precautions should be taken. In such cases it is much better to be over cautious than to have losses occur through lack of precaution.