122 



NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



birds are extremely useful. We earnestly 

 advise country physicians with a wide ter- 

 ritory to cover to look into this matter 

 and communicate with us. It will be money 

 in their pockets. 



DEMAND IN COLORADO. We have had 



the same experience with the Western trade 

 as the following writer in the Western Poultry 

 World, of course excepting California, which 

 is une of the best squab markets in the 

 country. What he says is conservative and 

 sensible and bears out what we have always 

 maintained, that wherever there are men 

 and women who are good eaters, lAiere squabs 

 will be eaten. If you live in a town where 

 a squab never was seen, but where there are 

 people who set a good table, to them you 

 certainly can sell squabs: 



"Having been asked by your editor to 

 write an article on pigeons or squab raising 

 and also having said I would, I commence 

 by stating a few facts which I have gained 

 from both practical experience and inquiries 

 from Eastern breeders. In the first place, 

 I want to say that little is known of this 

 industry in the West, and in fact it has not 

 been known in the East until about ten years 

 ago, when they began to take it up about 

 the same as the Western people are doing 

 now. Many got discouraged at finding it 

 was not a get-rich-quick scheme. 



"I am constantly having letters from 

 different parts of the country asking me 

 if squab raising pays, and saying that from 

 inquiries they ha\'e made at meat markets 

 and of commission merchants, they are told 

 that there is no demand for them. Of course 

 there is not at the present time, for if there 

 was they could not get them. No man can 

 sell what he has not got. I once went to a 

 gentleman and told him my plan of starting 

 a squab farm, and he in turn went to his 

 market man and asked him what he thought 

 of it, and he said I was either lazy or crazy. 

 Now this man knew absolutely nothing of 

 squabs, and never had any in his store, and. 

 consequently, never had any calls for them. 

 I dare say that if one were to gb to every 

 market in the city they would tell you the 

 same thing, and nine out of every ten people 

 would tell you they had never eaten a squab 

 in their lives; still I have people — come 

 right to my dni»r — \\-ho come a good distance 

 out of their way and want to buy squabs of 

 me. The reascm hotels and restatirants do 

 not continually ha\'e them on their bill of fare 

 is because they cannot be supplied at all 

 times. Today they can get perhaps a dozen 

 and tomorrow, if they wish any, they cannot 

 get them, and even then they are obliged to 

 take common squabs and not Homers. As 

 to the demand, I want to say right here, that 

 I know one crmcern that will contract to take 

 400 dozen a week at good, fair prices. Two 

 parties that I know of right here in this city 

 are constantly in receipt of letters from hotels 

 and clubs in Denver wanting to buy squabs. 



In the East, where there are ten squab farms 

 to one in the West, the prices are higher than 

 here. It is because of the demand." 



ELEGANT PROFIT. The following is from 

 Vick's Magazine, an article on squab raising 

 by a practical breeder: 



"Of recent years the demand for the 

 toothsome squab has been so great that the 

 supply does not come up to the demand. 

 Where years ago they were used only for 

 invalids, now they are on the bill of fare in 

 almost all restaurants and hotels. They 

 command good prices at all seasons and an 

 elegant profit is derived from them by the 

 raisers. It used to be that pigeons could not 

 thrive when housed up, but now the former 

 obstacles have been overcome and better 

 success is made where they are confined than 

 where they have their freedom. 



"The squab business if conducted properly 

 will bring in a large percentage of profit 

 considering the first capital invested. Only 

 a few hundred dollars are required to start 

 where such a sum would be nothing to com- 

 mence in such a business as stock keeping, 

 etc., and yet with a few hundred pairs of 

 pigeons any one with a little judgment can 

 make a living for himself and family. Many 

 farmers' sons could make nice yearly incomes 

 by stocking a part of their bam (not used 

 for anything else) with pigeons. The risks are 

 not so great as with chickens, but the birds 

 must be attended to and not neglected. 



"With chickens one must not only feed 

 the old, but must also give the little ones 

 their meals, but not so with pigeon breeding. 

 You feed the old birds, and they feed their 

 young. One jDerson can feed a thousand 

 pairs of birds in about a quarter hour, the 

 rest is left for the old ones to do. The little 

 birds are fed from pre-digested food from 

 the crops of their parents, who by a sort of 

 pumping force the food into the squab's 

 mouths. It takes no longer time for a person 

 to feed a lot of birds with young than it does 

 without young. 



"After the squabs are four to five weeks old 

 they are ready for market. It costs but one 

 and one-half cents per pair for feeding birds 

 a week and their young also, so with the 

 prices received for the squabs, which is forty 

 cents per pair in summer to eighty cents per 

 pair in the winter, one can imagine the 

 percentage of profit. 



"Squabs of the largest size demand the 

 highest ma-^ket prices, so it pays to commence 

 right by buying only good large stock. The 

 amount of labor required is almost nothing, 

 in fact unless very large numbers are kept, 

 one will have only a few hours' work daily. 

 The writer has nearly 2,000, and it takes only 

 fifteen minutes to feed and half an hour to 

 give fresh water. Of course it takes a dav 

 or two a week for killing young ones, and a 

 day or two each month for cleaning buildings, 

 then the work is about done. One person 

 can attend 1 .000 pairs nicely and have ample 



