194 AMERICAX SQUAB CULTURE , 



to the front. After trying your nest system for three months 1 

 wonder why some one else did not think of it before." 



In New York, New Jersey and along the eastern coast I found 

 quite a few breeders had, in order to eliminate the evils of the 

 aisle-in-rear plan, done away with the aisle entirely and put in 

 doors from one nest room to another near the front of the house 

 so they would enter each nest room near where the birds went 

 out into tlie fly pen. In this way the birds would have to fly by 

 them to get out. This method I found served the purpose fairly 

 well of keeping the birds from flying out of the house every time 

 one entered it. 



The objections to this, however, are that the swinging doors 

 bother the birds and the birds will sometimes fly by through 

 the doors as you go in and thus get mixed with other birds in 

 adjoining nest rooms. Then, some birds seem to persist in 

 building their nrsts on the floor where you will have to step 

 over them every time you enter the nest room. With this plan 

 I noticed quite a number of nests on the floor near the doors, 

 generally in the corner of the room next to the fly pen. Another 

 objection to this plan, the door-in-the-partition plan, is tbat it 

 takes a lot of time to go tlirougli several nest rooms and open 

 and close a lot of doors. 



Sqvjiab breeders in many of the southern states and in Cali- 

 fornia have adopted an open front squab house with the nest 

 boxes along the rear wall and I have seen quite a few plants in 

 the north built along the same plan except with a closed front. 

 This plan generally includes the gate in front of each fly pen. 



There are two principal objections to this plan. With the nests 

 on the rear wall only, one loses one-half of his nest space, as 

 twice as many nests can be put on two side walls as on one 

 back wall. Then the birds are compelled to face a strong light 

 as they sit on their nests, which they do not like to do as squabs 

 do not do as well in a nest where the light shines directly on 

 them as they do in a nest on the side wall where the nests are 

 darker. 



By having the nests on the back wall and the door in front 

 when you enter the nest room every bird on the nest sees you 

 and if you start towards them they all think you are going to 

 bother them. It is hard to catch a bird with such a plan for 

 banding or other purposes as they are much more apt to fly off 



