CHAPTER II. 
AN EASY START. 
No Special Form of Building Necessary—Points to Remember—Shelter 
Adapted to the Climate—How to Use a Building Which You Now 
Have—Squab House and Mying Pen—Lining the Squab House with 
Nests—Use of Egg Crates—How to Fut Up the Perches—Difference 
Between the Nest Box, Nest Pan and Nest—How to Tell How 
Many Pigeons Can Occupy a Certain Building—A Large Flock of 
Pigeons is as Hasily Cared for as a Small Flock—How to Use Your 
Time to Best Advantage. 
Do not get the idea that any special form of building 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 musty dampness which goes with darkness. Any 
builcing, whether a woodshed, a corn crib, a barn, an outhouse of any 
description, or even a hog pen, can be made 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, that it be raised from the ground so that 
rats cannot ‘breed undcr 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, like any other animal, and need protection 
from the elements. ; 
In practice, 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 
different, adapt your squab houses to those conditions. In some localities, 
the fierce weather comes from the South and West, in which case your 
squab house should face the North or East. 
Here in New England we build a tight house to withstand the cold 
winters, 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 and chickens are tight and warm, 
make your squab house tight and warm. It would be foolish for you, for 
example, if you live in Texas, to build a strong, tight, close squab house, 
for ia that latitude, in a hen house built tight and close, vermin would 
swarm and harass the chicks, and they would harass the squabs just as 
fast. 
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