122 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



first twenty-five pairs of birds. These 

 were Homers, full-blooded, and had es- 

 tablished records for flying, having taken 

 first honors in several contests. 



"They not only averaged me seven and 

 one-half pairs of squabs a year, but. 

 stamped their vitality on the birds I have 

 selected from their young. 



"As my profits accrued I purchased 

 straight Homer stock, picking from the 

 best near-by breeders, as well as those 

 of established reputation at a distance. 



"I always put a lot of new birds in a 

 clean coop by themselves, give generous 

 supply of feed and water, and have 

 plenty of nesting materials in the coop, 

 and if they have come from a distance 

 put a good poultry powder in their feed 

 for the first meal, and let them alone 

 for a few days. If they are strong, 

 healthy birds they ought soon to begin 

 to carry materials and build nests. 

 When nest building is fully under way 

 I transfer each mated pair to permanent 

 breeding quarters. When I find a pair 

 of birds mated, I call my assistant and 

 tell him which bird to keep his eyes on, 

 and not to lose sight of it a single in- 

 stant. At the same time I note the other 

 bird and catch it. I pass the caught bird 

 to the assistant. He points out the other 

 bird and it is soon caught. I band all 

 purchases as well as those I raise. 



"My weekly expense for feeding my 

 flock of fifteen hundred pigeons during 

 the month of December, 1903, was eigh- 

 teen dollars and thirty cents for the fol- 

 lowing: Three hundred pounds of cracked 

 corn, three bushels each of wheat, peas 

 and kaffir corn, one and one-half bushels 

 of millet, one bushel of hemp and half a 

 bushel of cracked rice. The rice I do not 

 feed regularly, but give when the birds' 

 bowels are loose, for which condition it 

 is an excellent corrective. Feed is now 

 much higher than last year. 



"Pigeon-keeping for squabs may fitly 

 be termed a twentieth-century industry, 

 for only during the last five years has it 

 by its rapid development attained to the 

 dignity of a special business. The busi- 

 ness will surely still more increase dur- 

 ing the firsi decade of this century. The 

 price of squabs has been strongly main- 

 tained during the five years just passed, 

 notwithstanding the marvelous increase in 

 the business. The business furnishes 

 a way by which either men or women 

 (for many of the latter have successfuliy 

 taken up squab raising) can embark in 

 an enterprise which does not call for se- 

 vere bodily exertion and which if intelli- 

 gently managed will yield good dividends." 



SQUAB-RAISING ON THE FARM. 

 Pigeons Kept in the Upper Part of Duck 

 and Poultry Houses. The following is from 

 an article in the Country Gentleman, en- 

 titled "A Combination Plant, Fruit, Bees, 

 Fowls and Squabs": 



"For growing squabs some have sepa- 

 rate houses, some use the lofts of old 



barns, and many are so constructing 

 their poultry buildings as to have quar- 

 ters for growing squabs in the second 

 story of the poultry houses. This is 

 gained by laying a flat roof on top of 

 the poultry house, on top of this a double 

 thickness of tar paper well coated with 

 hot tar, with a board floor laid over it. 

 This provides the floor for the pigeon 

 house, the roof for the poultry house, 

 and makes it absolutely vermin proof 

 both ways. A large duck grower of our 

 acquaintance has squab houses of this 

 character built over his duck brooder 

 houses and his poultry houses. Several 

 thousand pairs of breeding pigeons are 

 kept in this way, with a hanging outdoor 

 flying aviary for the pigeons. When it 

 has been successful on so large a scale, 

 smaller growers need not hesitate in 

 adopting such a plan. 



"Of course cleanliness, care and sani- 

 tary conditions about the plant are im- 

 perative. The most successful squab 

 growers do not scatter sand or dirt of 

 any kind on the floor or in nest boxes. 

 Neither do they use anything but straw 

 for the birds to build their nests. The 

 droppings are all thoroughly scraped up 

 from the board floor, from the nest boxes 

 and under the perches once or twice " a 

 week with a hoe, and stored away in 

 bags and sold at 50 to 60 cents per bushel. 

 They are used by tanners in making tne 

 very best grades of leather. These drop- 

 pings are of no value when mixed with 

 tobacco stems, shavings, sawdust or 

 sand. Grain or feed of any kind if mixed 

 in with them will not injure their value, 

 nor will some little straw or feathers 

 count much against their value. Buy a 

 good sharp hoe; floors constructed in this 

 way can be thoroughly cleaned by scrap- 

 ing up once or twice a week, and in this 

 way the sanitary conditions will be of the 

 very best. 



"Those who do not care to dispose of 

 the droppings in this way in some in- 

 stances spread from six to eight inches 

 of soil from their land over the floor of 

 the squab house. This is allowed to re- 

 main from three to six months. Usually 

 at the end of the moulting season all the 

 nest boxes and the whole house is thor- 

 oughly cleaned out and the entire con- 

 tents of same dumped on the floor, 

 scraped and hauled away and scattered 

 over the land. This makes an excellent 

 fertilizer. We know of one instance 

 where a large number of squabs are kept 

 in this way, and the house is cleaned but 

 twice a year. In the spring all the clean- 

 ings from the house are hauled out and 

 spread over the land for the growing of 

 summer crops. After the fall moult, the 

 place is thoroughly cleaned up for win- 

 ter, the cleanings of the house are 

 stored away in a dry place and rp+ain^d 

 until spring. Many persons would call 

 this a filthy, unhealthful way to keep a 

 squab house, but some of the most suc- 

 cessful breeders follow this plan. The 



