CHAPTER II. 

 AN EASY START. 



No Special Form of Building Necessary — Points to Remember — Shelter 

 Adapted to the Climate — How to Use a Buildiug Which You Now 

 Have — Squab House and I'lying Pen — Lining the Squab House with 

 N"sts— Use ot Egg Crates— How to Put Up the Perches— Difference 

 Between the Nest Box, Nest Pan and Nest— How to Tell How 

 Many Pigeons Can Occupy a C'ertain Building — A Uarge Flock of 

 Pigeons is as Easily Cared for as a Small Flock — How to Use Your 

 Time to Best Advantage. 



Do uot get the iilca that any special form of buildiug is necessary to 

 raise squabs. We will tell you how to put up a structure that will make 

 your work easier for you, and enable you to handle a big flock fast and 

 accurately, but pigeons will work in almost any place, if it is free from 

 rats, darkness and the niust.v dampness which goes with darkness. Any 

 buikang, whether a woodshed, a com crib, a barn, an outhouse of any 

 description, oi- even a hog pen, can be mnde a successful home for 

 pigeons with a little work. 



The points to remember are these, first, that the building be on fairly 

 level, sunny ground: second, fhat it be raised from the ground so that 

 rats c.'umot 'breed under it out of sight and reach; third, that it ought to 

 be fairly tight, so as to keep out rain and excessive cold. Pigeons ought 

 to have sunlight and fresh air, 'ike any other animal, and need protection 

 from the elements. 



In jiractice, therefore, most squab houses are found raised on posts a 

 foot or two feet off the ground; they face the south (here in New Eng- 

 land) because most of our bitter weather comes from the north and east. 

 If you live in a state, territory or foreign country where conditions are 

 ilifferent, adapt your squab houses to those conditions. In some localities, 

 tile fierce weather comes from the South and We.st, in which case your 

 squab house should face the North or Ea.st. 



Here in New England we build a tight house to withstand the cold 

 fl'inlers, but in the South the buildings are more open. Be guided by 

 what you see around you in the place where you live. If the houses used 

 by your friends and neighbors for hens aud chickens are tigrht and warm, 

 make your squab house tight and warm. It would be foolish for you, for 

 example, if you live in Texas, to liuihl a .strong, tight, close .squab house, 

 for in that latitude, in a hen lionse built tight aud close, vermin would 

 swarm and harass the chicks, and they would harass the squabs just as 

 fast. 



(■3) 



