42 National Standard Squab Book. 



which are cheapest, but sdiiU' of oui- ciistomers iu the millet sections of 

 the country teed a good deal ot millet. In such cases tliey look on millet 

 as one of their staples, ami the hard-to-get grains are classed 'by them as 

 diiinties. The staple grains of which yon will feed the most to your 

 pigeons are the ones which are cheapest for you. The more expensive 

 grains will be classed by you as daiutii'S. 



A gooil wa> to feeil the dainties is to throw them out on the floor of 

 the squab house by liaiid. You will see the pigeons maUe a rush for 

 tnem ami eat them with as much relisli as a child eats candy. You should 

 feed the dainties about three times a week, throwing handfuls on the tioor 

 until yon see that the pigeons are satistied and do not care (or any more. 



Do not throw any feed on the ground of the liyiug pen, for the earth is 

 li.able to be damp, and this dampness will sour the grain, especially cracked 

 coni, and if the pigcfpus eat it, they will get sour crops, and the fluids 

 from the sour crops ot the parent pigeons will make the squabs sick and 

 perhaps kill them. Do all your feeding in the squab house (supplemented, 

 if you wi.sh, by the protected self feeder out in the flying pen) and your 

 pigeons will not hare sour crops. 



Do not lay in a big stock of cracked corn at a time, for cracked rorn 

 exposed to sudden changes of the weather is liable to take up dampness, 

 and sour. .Smell and lasle it once a \^'r(^k (•]■ so and detennine to your 

 own satisfaction that it is not sour. 



Some squab breeders feed twice a day, as much as the birds will eat up 

 clean, but we do not believe in that system of feeding. Our own success, 

 aad th" sni'd-ss of our custimiers in s(|uab raising, is based largely on 

 the fact that we insist on a continuous supply of food for the pigeons. 

 FoLd slmuld be .-it hand for them all the time. They do not gorge, .as a 

 horse will if an unlimited supply of food is set before him. They are not 

 gluttons, .■md never gel fat and pot-b(dlied. They always know when to 

 stop eating, ami nevei- waste food by ealing grain that they do not waut. 

 They dr/ not lose their racy shape. A squab when hungry will squeak 

 loudly lo inform its parents of that fact and if you observe a squab house 

 when- tlio I wo meals a ilay are in vogue, yon will note quite a chorus of 

 sqiioaks. In a house wher" there is feed always at hand, yon will not 

 hear nuiny luingi'y sipic-iks. It is greatly to your interest that the crops of 

 your ymiiig bird,- l,c filled with food The more their crops are stuffed 

 with food, the quicker tlii'y will fatteu and the fatter they will get. The 

 parent birds should at all times be able to fill up their crops with feed 

 and water ami then fly to the nest to disgorge for the lienefit of the 

 squabs. 



Somi sm.'dl parent Homers arr such good feeders, such good fathers and 

 motleu-s. that they stuff their squabs with grain and bring them up to a 

 suipii>iug t.i^ness. You cannot preilict !liat the squabs from small par- 

 ents will be small, for this (dement of stuffing the feed into the young ones 

 is worth taking neeonnt of. "We have had pairs of squabs which actually 

 at four weeks i">f age wcu-e bigger than their parents. This is not snrpris- 



