SQUABS FOR PROFIT 



CHAPTER I 



Remarkable Story of Success 



A brief story of the success of Mr. Rice in the 

 squab business is best told by himself as follows : To 

 have $50 increase to $3,000 in seven years is quite satis- 

 factory as an investment; but this result is even more 

 gratifying when accomplished without interf^ering 

 with the regular hours of another business. Squab 

 raising has done this for me in the time mentioned, 

 while I managed a shirt factory, running from 50 to 

 60 machines. 



Twenty years' experience raising chickens in in- 

 cubators and brooders had hammered into me the 

 necessity for painstaking care in all the daily details of 

 management. This training had likewise somewhat 

 equipped me for the task of selecting the best speci- 

 mens. When the "pigeon fever" set in, I felt that I 

 had an experience which, while not pigeon knowledge, 

 would be of value to me in my new venture. 



The first purchase. — The first birds I bought were 

 common stock, which the owner had in an old corn 

 crib; some of them were sick and he was anxious to 

 dispose of them. With his aid, I picked out 12 birds, 

 and was fortunate in getting an equal number of each 

 sex. These birds did fairly well from the beginning, 



