CONSTRUCTION OF SQUAB HOUSES 215 



HOW TO BUILD A SQUAB HOUSE 



There are many things to be taken into consideration when 

 building a squab house, \iz.: economy in cost of construction, 

 economy in time, both as regards to the time saved in the con- 

 struction and time saved in caring for the birds after the house 

 is built. The welfare of the birds and the kind of a house that 

 will produce the best results must also be considered. The 

 house must be built so as to be warm in winter and cool in 

 summer, and should look nice outside and in. This may not 

 seem necessary, but a squab house can be made attractive as 

 easily as not. It costs no more and generally less to construct 

 something pleasing to the eye, so why not bear this in mind 

 when building? If one builds along the lines described in the 

 following paragraphs, the house will add to the beauty of the 

 general landscape rather than detract from it. 



AISLE-IN-FRONT PLAN 



By having an aisle between the nest room and fly pen, a squab 

 plant is almost doubled in efficiency, and this is especially true 

 with reference to convenience and time saved in feeding, water- 

 ing, cleaning and caring for the birds. 



If you are not familiar with aisle-in-front plan, you cannot 

 fully appreciate its advantages until you can, by actual test, 

 try out and compare the front aisle plan as against houses 

 constructed on other plans. 



With the aisle in front, the birds will not fly out every time 

 one enters the building. You pass between the birds and fly 

 pen; they would have to fly by you to get out, so do not do so, 

 and soon they get accustomed to people passing along the aisle 

 and become very tame and gentle. 



With the aisle in front the birds will mate, build their nests 

 or feed their young while you stand in the aisle and watch 

 them through the wire partition. This enables you to keep a 

 perfect check on your birds and catch and band mated pairs 

 with little trouble. This is especially true if your nests are on 

 the side walls of the nest room and built on the Eggleston double 

 nest plan. 



With the aisle in front, one man can feed and care for more 

 than three times as many birds than he could without the aisle. 



