42 PIGEON RAISING 



month for feed I took in a hundred a month 

 from the market squabs. The market squabs 

 always paid for the maintenance of the breed- 

 ers and thoroughbreds, so that what I sold 

 from those two pens was clear gain, besides 

 those I reared for renewing and increasing 

 stock. 



On account of ill-conditioned houses I re- 

 duced my flock from 1,100 to 750, and then 

 the expenses averaged $50 a month and the 

 600 market birds averaged $100 a month gross 

 receipts; the 150 breeding stock and thorough- 

 bred stock from $10 to $30 a month some- 

 times more, sometimes less. Each bird of the 

 market stock brought in an average of $2.00 

 a year. My birds were all high-class birds, 

 held captive, and my plant was situated in a 

 mild climate. 



Now comes an estimate of a man near Los 

 Angeles with 100,000 birds, which are of no 

 particular breed and mostly common, who takes 

 in gross receipts of $30,000 per annum. His 

 pigeons fly free and what he makes by their 

 foraging for some of their food (he feeds 

 wheat and screenings three times a day) he 

 loses by having some of his birds shot and not 

 being able to control his flock, consequently he 

 freely admits that he feeds several thousand 



