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NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



read our advertising all over the country- 

 are eating squabs who never ate them 

 before, and the effect of our advertising 

 on the general squab market everywhere 

 has been to boost prices. Well-to-do 

 people who are led to get into the habit 

 of having squabs on their tables keep on 

 ordering them, and tell others, and thus 

 the market grows. 



If all the Homer breeders we have sold 

 during the years we have been in busi- 

 ness were concentrated in one plant, we 

 could sell the entire squab output of 

 that one plant to any one of a hundred 

 commission men in one of the large 

 cities. 



New Jersey is doing well with squabs. 

 Other states; notably California, Iowa, 

 Wisconsin, Michigan and Masachusetts 

 are producing a great many. Just what 

 is being accomplished in New Jersey comes 

 as a surprise to people who look upon this 

 business as something new and untried. 

 At the annual meeting of the New Jersey- 

 State Board of Agriculture in January, 

 1904, an address was given by Mr. G. L. 

 Gillingham on squab raising, in the course 

 of which he said: 



"The production of squabs for the mar- 

 kets of our large cities is an industry 

 that is reaching considerable proportions 

 in this state. And, although it is growing 

 yearly, yet the prices seem to be advanc- 

 ing; showing that there is an unlimited 

 demand. 



"The great scarcity of game all over 

 our country compels the keepers of first- 

 class hotels and restaurants to look for 

 something to take its place, and at the 

 same time be sure of a supply at all sea- 

 sons of the year. Therefore they have 

 hit upon the squab to fill this void, and 

 now when one calls for quail on toast, or 

 order of a similar nature, it will very often 

 be found that the quail was raised in a 

 pigeon loft, and is much younger, more 

 tender and juicy than the quail would have 

 been, could it have been secured. 



"This is a business that can be carried 

 on in connection with poultry raising, 

 and is one that may be conducted upon 

 village lots by women and young per- 

 sons, if need be, and by those whose other 

 ^ business takes their attention during the 

 middle portions of the day, as the labor 

 connected with it is not heavy. It is 

 particularly adapted to women who wish 

 to add something to their income. In 

 fact, women are more apt to succeed, in 

 it than most men, as it requires close 

 attention to the little things, as it is the 

 many little things that go to make up 

 the final profits at the end; as women 

 are generally more patient and thorough 

 with small details they will be more suc- 

 cessful. 



' 'The extent to which this business is 

 conducted in some parts of our state may 

 be shown by stating that in one town 

 in Burlington County of about 3,000 

 inhabitants, the purchase of one dealer 

 the past year was 56,582 squabs, for which 



he paid $16,400; while another dealer bought 

 perhaps a little over half as many more, 

 bringing the aggregate to 86,000 squabs, 

 for which the people of that town re- 

 ceived nearly $25,000; while another single 

 grower in the same country shipped from 

 his own lofts between 13,000 and 14^000 

 birds. 



"The cost of feed and care for a work- 

 ing loft of pigeons is about $1 per pair 

 per year (manure not sold). Some put it 

 much lower, but at the present prices of 

 feed, if proper care is given, we should 

 not figure not much lower than $1. A good 

 pair of birds will produce from seven to 

 ten pair of squabs per year; generally an 

 average of not over eight pair. The 

 priqes have ranged the past year from 

 25 cents for the poorest, to as high a^ 75, 

 80 and 90 cents for the best, putting the 

 number raised at the lowest (seven pairs) 

 and the average price at 40 cents, we 

 have $2.80 for the $1 invested yearly after 

 the first cost of investment for build- 

 ings, etc., which need not be expensive, 

 according to the taste and means of the 

 builders and the amount of capital he 

 wishes to put into it. The houses should 

 always be placed where the drainage is 

 good, preferably upon a dry knoll, facing 

 the south or southeast. Some paying lofts 

 have been made by fitting up unused 

 wagon house or wood house lofts, or over 

 hen houses. Other houses have been con- 

 structed for poultry on the ground floor 

 and the story above for pigeons. In this 

 case great care must be exercised to have 

 the floor well laid with planed and grooved 

 flooring, to keep vermin from passing up 

 from the poultry. 



"Very large flocks should not be kept 

 in one room. From 50 to 100 pair is 

 enough to keep together for the best re- 

 sults, preferably the former. A room 

 10x12 is ample for 50 pair of working 

 birds. A house may be built of any 

 desired length, 12 feet wide and divided 

 into apartments of the above size by wire 

 partitions with doors hung on spring 

 hinges, to facilitate passing through in 

 feeding. 



"These houses should have windows on 

 the south, of sufficient size to afford 

 ample light in all parts of the house and 

 no more, as too much glass makes the 

 house too cold on the winter nights. 



"As each pair require two nests, as they 

 are generally sitting in one while raising 

 young in the other, there should be twice 

 as many nests as pair of birds, with eigh- 

 teen to twenty to spare, that they may 

 take their choice. 



The period of incubation is eighteen 

 days, the hen bird sitting on the eggs, 

 excepting about four hours each day, when 

 the male takes her place, while she is 

 feeding and resting. 



"During incubation a substance forms 

 in the crop of both birds, known as pigeon 

 milk or curd, on which the young are 

 fed for the first five or six days, until 

 they are old enough to digest the grain, 



