116 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



age have had losses because they supposed 

 that a full-fledged youngster was able to 

 take care of itself, but we never knew a 

 case of this which we could not straighten 

 out simply by recommending the breeder 

 to keep his young birds longer in the breeding 

 pen. 



NEED OF HEALTH GRIT. It has been 

 our experience in dealing not only with 

 many thousands of beginners in the squab 

 business, but also with a great many breeders 

 of considerable experience, that comparatively 

 few have a proper appreciation of the value 

 of grit. Pigeons have no teeth and must 

 have grit to take the place of teeth, otherwise 

 they cannot prepare their food for their 

 stomachs properly, and will not do well. 

 We have had customers take the most 

 extraordinary care with regard to the grain, 

 but supply absolutely no grit, and then they 

 complained because their birds were not 

 breeding properly, and that the squabs 

 were not plump. 



Grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell 

 grit. You must have both. The grit is 

 needed, as stated, to grind the grain, while 

 the oyster shell is needed to supply the 

 constituents out of which the female pigeon 

 forms the egg. 



The yard of the flying pen must be gravelled 

 not grassed, and out of this gravel the birds 

 get considerable grit. If you watch them, 

 you will see them pecking at this gravel in 

 the flying pen constantly. Beach sand, or 

 sand of any kind, may be used in the flying 

 pen instead of gravel. The flying-pen yard 

 should be renewed with fresh sand or gravel 

 every six weeks, for although it may look 

 the same to you. you must remember that it 

 does not look the same to the birds, for they 

 have been going over it constantly picking 

 out the particles which they liked. In the 

 winter time when the flying pen may be 

 covered with snow, it is well to keep a pro- 

 tected box filled with gravel or sand in the 

 squab-house. By a protected box, we mean 

 a box which the birds cannot foul, but which 

 allows the grit to fall down as fast as eaten. 



In a protected box in the squab-house 

 there should also be fed the Health Grit 

 which we sell. We have used all kinds of 

 grits, and the grit we are now using and 

 selling to the exclusion of everything else, 

 is the only grit which pigeons will eat greedily 

 (thus showing that it is good fur them) . 

 It contains salt, and no salt^need be provided 

 in lump form if this grit is supplied. The 

 grits commonly manufactured and sold for 

 poultry, made out of granite, etc., are useless 

 for pigeons, and it is a waste of money to 

 buy them, for common gravel_or sand would 

 be fully as good, and cost nothing. 



A flock of pigeons under any conditions 

 and in any part of the country will do better 

 when our Health Grit is fed. The squabs 

 will be ready for market a few days earlier, they 

 will be plumper, and both they and the old 



birds will be in rugged health, and will keep 

 so. We keep this grit before our own pigeons 

 constantly, and consume and sell more tons 

 of it every year than of any grit in the 

 market. It is used by practically every 

 large squab breeder of our acquaintance. 

 We recommend it in the highest terms, 

 knowing in our own experience that it pays 

 for itself many times over. 



We charge two dollars per 100 pounds 

 for this grit. We do not sell less than fifty 

 pounds. Price of fifty pounds, one dollar. 

 We ship it in bags and it goes at a low freight 

 rate. A hundred-pound bag will last a small 

 flock for months. It is as good for hens as for 

 pigeons. This grit should be kept in and 

 fed from a wood box. Do not put it in a 

 tin or galvanized iron box. 



OYSTER SHELL. A great deal of oyster 

 shell on the market is unfit for pigeons, not 

 being ground fine enough . It is quite 

 difficult in some sections of the West and 

 South to get oyster shell, which has to be 

 transported from the seaboard. The oyster 

 shell which we supply our trade is put up 

 in one -hundred-pound bags. Price 75 cente 

 per 100 pounds. No order filled for less 

 than fifty pounds; price of fifty pounds, 

 forty cents. It is ground fine and is just 

 right for pigeons. It should be fed to the 

 birds from a protected box in the squab- 

 house. 



INSECT SPRAYER. Pigeons have a 

 long feather louse which is not harmful. 

 The mite which causes the only trouble is 

 small, about the size of a pin-head, called 

 the red mite , because after it has sucked 

 the blood of the pigeon it is colored red. 

 We have gone a whole season without seeing 

 any of these mites in our breeding houses. 

 If lice of this kind, or any kind, are discovered, 

 the insect sprayer which we illustrate here 

 will be found useful. The barrel is filled 

 with kerosene (or water in which squab-fe-ool 

 has been poured) and a fine spray driven 

 against the nest-boxes and nest-bowls, or 

 even against the birds. 



These insect sprayers are well made of 

 heavy tin. We sell them for fifty cents 



each. They cannot be mailed, but should 

 be sent by express, or with other goods 

 by freight. 



Birds which are lousy may be dusted 

 under the feathers, next the skin, with any 

 good lice powder, or with tobacco dust. 

 The best time for such treatment is at night, 

 when the birds may be readily caught and 



