144 City Homes on Country Lanes 



not so profitable for selling. The most successful pigeon 

 pen in California contains fifteen pair. This is 6 ft. 

 wide, 6 ft. high, 5 ft. deep, and is inclosed in a flying 

 pen 8 ft. long and 6 ft. wide. The flock increases, on 

 an average at the rate of 12 birds a year for each pair 

 of old birds, and the young ones begin to breed in about 

 five months. The old stock is kept for breeding, and 

 the young birds consumed or sold. 



The best pigeon story I know is that of Clarence Ray 

 King, of Hayward, California. Since he began purely 

 as a home gardener, raising a few pigeons in his yard, 

 while engaged at his trade as an electrician, and after- 

 wards became a thorough master of the pigeon business, 

 and finally decided to give it his whole attention, it 

 seems well worth while to relate his experience. We 

 are now speaking of pigeons in terms of the luxurious 

 family table, and yet it is possible that many a man 

 who builds his first pen with nothing but that in view, 

 may discover that he "builded better than he knew" in 

 the way of a livelihood, as was the case with Mr. King. 



In 1905, when 23 years of age, Mr. King was em- 

 ployed as an electrician in Los Angeles. One day he 

 was sent into the suburbs to repair a meter, and dis- 

 covered a good-sized pigeon-loft filled with Homers. 

 As a boy, he had had a few of the common pigeons, and 

 the sight of this loft revived his interest in the subject. 

 He decided to begin again, in a small way, in his father's 

 yard. After a while, he had 500 birds in a lot 50x150 

 ft., and these were so profitable that he decided to in- 

 crease his operations, which he did, by getting the use 

 of an adjoining lot. When his flock increased to 2,000 

 he found it was paying him a regular income of $150 



