SUPPLEMENT 



115 



not be sharp so as to cut the flesh, but should 

 be rounding, and slightly flat at the points 

 of contact. 



The base-board is made of three-quarters 

 or one-inch lumber, twenty inches long and 

 seven inches wide. The upper arm (or lever) 

 is of half-inch stock, one and three-quarters 



inches wide and fifteen inches long. The 

 lower arm is of half -inch stock one and three- 

 quarters inches wide and eight and one-half 

 inches long. The two upright pieces in 

 front, nearest the hand of the operator, are 

 each of seven-eighths or inch stock, one and 

 three-quarters inches wide and three and 

 three-quarters inches high. The two upright 

 pieces in back, fiu-thest from the hand of 

 the operator, are each of seven-eighths or 

 inch stock, two and one-half inches wide 

 and three and three-quarters inches high. 



The pin at the back of the machine on 

 which the lever turns is of one-quarter inch 

 brass or iron rod two and one-quarter inches 

 iong. 



The upper arm (or lever) is bevelled or 

 cut off at an angle on lower corner (behind 

 the uprights, and consequently invisible 

 In the picture) so that the lever can be raised 

 to an angle of forty-five degrees, thus per- 

 mitting the neck of the squab to be inserted 

 between the arms at a point just back of 

 the farther uprights. When the upper lever 

 is at rest upon the lower arm, there should 

 be no space between the two; they should 

 butt flush together. 



The whole machine is built of wood with 

 the exception of the metal pivot and the 

 screws which hold the parts together. It 

 is not necessary to mortise the uprights 

 into the base-board. The screws which 

 fasten the uprights are started underneath 

 from the back side of the base-board and 

 go through the base-board. Nails may be 

 used instead of screws to hold the parts 

 together, but the job will not be so strong. 

 The base-board should be nailed or screwed 

 to a bench or table so as to give firmness 

 and solidity in operation. Carry the squabs 

 in a basket to the machine and kill them 

 there; do not take the machine into the pens 

 and kill the squabs in sight of the other 

 birds. 



We do not sell this squab killer. It should 

 be built by you or your carpenter. 



Customers with large plants have told us 

 that this tool is a handy article, and we 



have found it indispensable. The squabs 

 can be killed as fast as you can work the 

 lever. The pressure is considerable and 

 the cords are crushed at once. The squab 

 is not strangled but is paralyzed, and made 

 lifeless at once. 



For those who do not care to build a wood 

 squab-killing machine as described above, 

 we sell pincers* to accomplish the same 



¥urpose in the same way; see our catalogue, 

 hese pincers should »be oiled at the joint, 

 and the joint worked so that they will open 

 and close freely. When first purchased 

 the joint is tight, and works hard. 



For dealers who wish squabs bled, use the 

 knife which we describe in our catalogue. 



WEANING THE YOUNG BIRDS. If you 



are starting with a small flock with the 

 expectation of raising your own breeders, 

 do not take the young birds away from 

 their parents out of the breeding pen until 

 they are weaned. They are not thoroughly 

 weaned until they are six or seven weeks old. 

 It is true that many of them hop or fly or 

 are pushed out of the nests when they are 

 from fotu to five weeks old, but they con- 

 tinue to cry for food when they are 

 hungry, and the old cock bird of the pair 

 which hatched them will be seen feeding 

 them on the floor. The youngsters at this 

 time are feeding themselves, but to keep 

 them strong and rugged they need the crumbs 

 of parental food which they get as described, 

 and for which they cry, or squeak. These 

 crumbs have been moistened by the parent 

 bird and consequently digest quicker and 

 better. 



When the youngsters are weaned, take 

 them out of the breeding pen and put them 

 in the rearing pen. (The rearing pen is 

 fitted with nest-boxes, etc., exactly the same 

 as a breeding pen.) You can tell by their 

 looks when they are old enough to remove, 

 even if you have not kept track of their age. 

 The substance (called the cere) at the base 

 of the bill of an old pigeon which is white 

 will be a dark brown on a squab or young 

 bird. A squab in the nest is so fat as often 

 to be bigger than either of his parents, but 

 after he has got out of the nest and hustled 

 arotmd on the floor he trains off that fat and 

 becomes thin and rangy and can generally 

 be told from an old bird, if in no other way, 

 because he i$ smaller. 



A poor beginner will sometimes be heard 

 to say: "Many of my young birds are 

 dying." When he says that, you may be 

 sure that the trouble, every time, is with 

 him, and not with his birds, provided, of 

 course, his parent stock is rugged and hand- 

 some. It may be deduced, without asking any 

 further questions, that he is taking his young 

 birds away from the breeding pen before 

 they have the strength to support themselves. 

 The precarious period of all animal life is 

 the weaning age. Some beginners who have 

 had no difficulty in raising squabs to market 



