112 PIGEON RAISING 



return of the baskets. The marketman does 

 not charge a commission. 



If squabs are shipped alive they should be 

 sent away with their crops full; they arrive in 

 much better shape and the marketman need 

 not feel compelled to kill them right away. If 

 feed is kept constantly in the pigeon houses or 

 pens, the breeder can feel sure the squabs are 

 fed, even though he commences gathering them 

 before seven. 



The markets will not pay for a squab that 

 has been smothered or in any other way killed 

 in the shipping. 



CURING FEATHERS 



If the squabs are hung up immediately after 

 killing there is not much trouble about the 

 feathers becoming bloody, but if they should, 

 it is an easy matter to clean them. In placing 

 the squabs in their coops awaiting the killing, 

 it is a good plan to put all the light squabs in 

 together and all the dark ones together, so that 

 when they are hung up for picking the light 

 feathers will be separated from the dark. Take 

 all the small feathers and put them into cheese 

 cloth bags ; then put them in a sink and let the 

 water run over and through them until it runs 



