SUPPLLMEM r 



123 



time to do other work around a place. The 

 writer tmds it a snap to other occupations and 

 one is his own boss and can go or come when 

 he pleases. It is the business for a young 

 man; he can advance as he saves money. 

 There are some who commenced on a few 

 dollars and by careful saving now operate 

 plants of thousands of pairs of birds. 



"The larger the pigeon, the larger the 

 squab, the higher the price. The breeding 

 houses need not be heated artificially in 

 winter as the birds can withstand any tem- 

 perature and in cold weather sit upon their 

 young until they are feathered sufficiently 

 to stand the cold,'* 



ENLARGED HIS PLANT WITH PROFITS. 

 Experience of a Breeder who Made it Pay 

 from the Beginning. In Country Life, a 



monthly mpgazine, one of the handsomest 

 and highest-toned publications, the experience 

 of a gentleman in squab raising gives the 

 following facts: "Six years ago I did not 

 have a bird, but I invested fifty dollars in 

 purchasing twenty-five pairs of extra-choice 

 Homer pigeons, remodelling a poultry house 

 for their accommodation. J had kept pigeons 

 for plesisure for five years, previously, and 

 felt that I knew a little about them. In these 

 six years I have not invested another dollar 

 excepting the dollars the birds have earned, 

 and my present establishment of five houses 

 and fifteen hundred pigeons, which has 

 cost me two thousand dollars, is all paid for. 

 In addition, for the last three years, I have 

 paid out from five to seven dollars each week 

 for the wages of a helper, to dress the squabs 

 and clean the houses, for my regular business 

 would not permit me to attend to these duties 

 myself. 



"The consensus of opinion of all experienced 

 squab breeders stamps the Homer as the best 

 pigeon for this ptu-pose. This variety is 

 strong and vigorous; a hearty feeder and good 

 worker; bright-eyed, alert, and active; 

 stocky, symmetrical and full-breasted, which 

 counts so much in squabs. They are also 

 prolific, and their squabs are full-feathered 

 and fit for market in four weeks. 



"I was very fortunate in getting my first 

 twenty-five pairs of birds. These were 

 Homers, full-blooded, and had established 

 records for flying, having taken first honors 

 in several contests. 



"They not only averaged me seven and 

 one-half pairs of squabs a year, but stamped 

 their vitality on the birds I have selected 

 from their young. ^ , , 



' 'As my profits accrued I purchased 

 straight Homer stock, picking from the best 

 near-by breeders, as well as those of estati- 

 lished reputation at a distance _ 



*'I always put a lot of new birds in a clean 

 coop by themselves, give generous supply 

 of feed and water, and have plenty of nestmg 

 materials in the coop, and if they have come 

 from a distance put a good poultry Powder 

 in their feed for the first meal, and let them 



alone for a few days. If they are strong, 

 healthy birds they uu^ht soon to begin to 

 carry materials and build nests. When nest 

 building is fully under way 1 transfer each 

 mated pair to permanent breeding quarters. 

 When I find a pair of birds mated, I call my 

 assistant and tell him which bird to keep his 

 eyes on, and not to lose sight of it a single 

 instant. At the same time 1 note the other 

 bird and catch it. I pass the caught bird 

 to the assistant. He points out the other 

 bird and it is soon caught. I band all 

 purchases as well as those I raise. 



"My weekly expense for feeding my flock 

 of fifteen hundred pigeons during the month 

 of December, 1903, was eighteen dollars and 

 thirty cents for the following : Three hundred 

 pounds of cracked corn, three bushels each of 

 wheat, peas and kaffir com, one and one-half 

 bushels of millet, one bushel of hemp and half 

 a bushel of cracked rice. The rice I do not 

 feed regularly, but give when the bird's 

 bowels are loose, for which condition it is an 

 excellent corrective. Feed is now much 

 higher than last year. 



"Pigeon-keeping for squabs may fitly be 

 termed a twentieth -century industry, for 

 only during the last five years has it by its 

 rapid development attained to the dignity of 

 a special business. The business will surely 

 still more increase during the first decade 

 of this century. The price of squabs has been 

 strongly maintained during the five years 

 just passed, notwithstanding the marvelous 

 increase in the business. The business furnishes 

 a way by which either men or women (for 

 many of the latter have successfully taken 

 up squab raising) can embark in an enterprise 

 which does not call for severe bodily exertion 

 and which if intelligently managed will yield 

 good dividends." 



SQUAB RAISING ON THE FARM. 

 Pigeons Kept in the Upper Part of Duck and 

 Poultry Houses. — ^The following is from an 

 article in the Country Gentleman, entitled 

 "A Combination Plant, Fruit, Bees, Fowls 

 and Squabs" : 



"For growing squabs some have separate 

 houses, some use the lofts of old bams, and 

 man>[ are so constructing their poultry 

 buildings as to have quarters for growing 

 squabs in the second story of the poultry 

 houses. This is gained by laying a fiat roof 

 on top of the poultry house, on top of this 

 a double thickness of tar paper well coated 

 with hot tar, with a board floor laid over it. 

 This provides the floor for the pigeon house, 

 the roof for the poultry house, and makes it 

 absolutely vermin proof both ways. A large 

 duck grower of our acquaintance has squab 

 houses of this character built over his duck 

 brooder houses and his poultry houses. 

 Several thousand pairs of breeding pigeons 

 are kept in this way, with a hanging outdoor 

 flying aviary for the pigeons. When it has been 

 successful on so large a scale, smaller growers 

 need not hesitate in adopting such a plan. 



