CHAPTER XII. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



Women and Squab Breeding — Attentions of the Male to the 

 Female Pigeon — Equal Number of Males and Females 

 — Birds Flying Wild — Sale of Birds for Flyers — ■ 

 Variation in Size of Nest Boxes — How Squabs are 

 Artificially Fattened — Shipping to England — Training 

 Flyers — A Remarkable Service for Messages between 

 Islands. 



Question. I am a woman who knows absolutely nothing 

 of squab raising. Do you think I can make a success of it? 

 Answer. Our books are written and printed for the purpose 

 of telling an absolutely ignorant person just how to proceed. 

 If you will study this Manual, until you get the general plan 

 and method of procedure in your mind, there is no reason 

 why you cannot make a success of it. A woman is quick 

 enough to puzzle out a new pattern of embroidery or a blind 

 cooking recipe the terms of which are expressed in language 

 utterly incomprehensible to a man. We find that our women 

 customers are just as quick to comprehend pigeons as soon as 

 they get started. It is necessary to have confidence, first, 

 that the birds can make money, and second, that you are able 

 to handle them right. Women succeed with hens quite as 

 well as men. They " take " to animals fully as well as men. 

 The fact that you, our customer, are a woman, ought to 

 encourage rather than depress you, in the squab business. 



Question. I have an old poultry house fifteen by twenty 

 feet in size, ten feet high. How many pairs of pigeons can I 

 accommodate? Answer. We have this question asked us 

 many times, and our reply to all is the same. Sometimes the 

 customer varies it by asking. How large a house do I need to 

 accommodate one hundred pairs of breeders? Sometimes 

 they say they propose remodeling a bam loft which is thirty 

 by twenty feet in size. The dimensions of the building vary 

 with the customei". You can always accommodate in theory 

 as many pairs of breeders as you can make room for pairs of 

 nest boxes. Fix up your building to suit yourself, and put in 



101 



