104 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



before shipping. In the cool months you may keep them 

 at home longer. If the squabs are cooled by hanging them 

 from studding as we describe, there is no danger that the 

 meat will be discolored. The object of hanging them from 

 studding is to cool the carcasses properly so that the meat 

 will not be discolored by contact. 



Question. How shall I pack the killed squabs when I send 

 them to market? Answer. Lay them in the box layer on 

 layer, in an orderly fashion. Do not throw them in helter 

 skelter. 



Question. Can I hang the squabs to cool from studding 

 suspended in the barn, in the summer time? Answer. It is 

 better to use the cellar of the house, or the coolest room in the 

 house. 



Question. I do not like your idea of keeping the birds 

 wired in. They are free by nature and it strikes me that they 

 should have a chance to get exercise by long flights. Answer. 

 You must keep them wired in, or they may leave you. Re- 

 member that the Homer is attached to the place where it is 

 bred, that is the Homer instinct. If you buy birds of us and 

 on opening the crate let them fly anywhere they choose, 

 trusting to luck to have them come back to you, you may be 

 disappointed and lose some of the birds. You must keep 

 them wired in all the time. 



Question. You say your Homers are fine flyers. What is 

 the use of my buying them of you to fly in races or to sell 

 again as flyers, if they may desert me when I let them out 

 into the open air? Answer. The squabs which you breed 

 from our birds will know no home but yours, and they will 

 not fly away from you. You can send them away, when they 

 are old enough, and time their flight back to your house, 

 their home. When you sell these trained flyers to others, 

 you do not expect that they will try to fly them, but that they 

 will use them for breeders. 



Q.uestion. How large are the mating coops? Answer. 

 A convenient size is two feet long, two feet wide and two feet 

 hi^h. 



Question. My birds seem timid and I am afraid to catch 

 them. How shall I go about it? Answer. Do not be afraid 

 of hurting them. Take a broom and drive one where you 

 will, finally pinning it against the side of the squab house, or 



