COSTS AND PROFITS 37 



way at the rear and the sixth section for a 

 grain and store room. At first he tried with- 

 out heat, and although the birds themselves 

 did well they did not breed as frequently as 

 when the chill was taken off the house; the 

 second winter he put in hot water pipes, which 

 heated more evenly than the air-tight stove. 

 This fifty-one foot house, which housed 340 

 birds, or 170 pairs, when completed with all 

 the fittings and two coats of paint on the out- 

 side cost $250. 



If homer pigeons are selected for stock, 

 cheap boxes may be used for nests by piling 

 them up against the partitions, but the larger 

 breeds and their crosses must have large, 

 roomy nests or they will breed but a few times 

 a year. 



The huge pigeon plant of Los Angeles has 

 nothing but boxes nailed up against posts and 

 piled up one on top of another and against 

 each other under crude sheds, sometimes with 

 no shed at all. But it is situated in a land of 

 sunshine and little rain; in spite of these advan- 

 tages, the statistics show that he does not re- 

 ceive the full value of his birds. 



An old outhouse may frequently be reno- 

 vated into a habitable pigeon house at little 

 cost; the main points to be borne in mind are 



