126 



NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



house or wood-house lofts, or over hen houses. 

 Other houses have been constructed for 

 poultry on the ground floor and the story- 

 above for pigeons. In this case great care 

 must be exercised to have the floor well laid 

 with planed and grooved flooring, to keep 

 vermin from passing up from the poultry, 



"Very large flocks should not be kept in one 

 room. From, 50 to 100 pairs aie enough to 

 keep together for the best results, preferably 

 the former. A room 10 x 12 is ample for 50 

 pairs of working birds. A house may be 

 built of any desired length, 12 feet wide and 

 divided into apartments of the above size 

 by wire partitions with doors hung on spring 

 hinges, to facilitate passing through in 

 feeding. 



' 'These houses should have windows on 

 the south, of sufficient size to afford ample 

 light in all parts of the house and no more, 

 as too much glass makes the house too cold 

 on the winter nights. 



"As each pair requires two nests, as they 

 are generally sitting in one while raising 

 young in the other, there should be twice as 

 many nests as pairs of birds, with eighteen 

 to twenty to spare, that they may take their 

 choice. 



"The period of incubation is eighteen 

 days, the hen bird sitting on the eggs, except- 

 ing about four hours each day, when the male 

 takes her place, while she is feeding and 

 resting. 



"During incubation a substance form.s in 

 the crop of both birds, known as pigeon milk 

 or curd, on which the young are fed for the 

 first five or six days, until they are old enough 

 to digest the grain, which is carried to them 

 in the crop of the old birds, and ejected from 

 their mouths to the mouth of the young bird 

 by the same process as the pigeon milk is 

 fed in the first place. Hence it is important 

 that the proper feed be given, which should 

 consist of a variety of grain and seeds, the 

 larger the variety, the better. These should 

 consist of cracked com, rather coarse (prefer- 

 ably about three or four pieces, from a single 

 kernel), with the fine sifted out. This should 

 be kept before them in troughs or hoppers, 

 so constructed that they cannot throw it 

 out and waste it, which they will frequently 

 do in search of other grains of which they are 

 more fond. The other seeds should consist 

 of whole com, Canada peas, Kaffir com, 

 hulled oats, millet and hempseed. These 

 should be fed on the floor twice daily, just 

 what they will clean up quickly, feeding the 

 hempseed but twice or three times per week, 

 except in the moulting season, when a small 

 quantity may be fed each day, as hempseed 

 is very fattening, and when fed in excess bad 

 results may follow. Do not feed wheat too 

 liberally, and always mixed with other 

 seeds, using the hard, red wheat and never 

 new wheat, as it has a tendency to loosen the 

 bowels of the young birds with sometiraes 

 fatal results. In connection with the feeds, 

 the birds should be furnished with ground 



oyster shell for grit, also a liberal supply of 

 salt and small bits of charcoal and gravel. 

 The salt is necessary to keep them in good 

 health. These substances may be kept in 

 small boxes around the house where the birds 

 can have free access to them. 



"A generous supply of pure water should 

 be kept before them at all times near the 

 feeding trough, and should be supplied each 

 morning before feeding, that the old birds may 

 have access to it immediately after feeding, 

 before taking the feed to their young. 



' ' In stocking the houses , always avoid 

 using common breeders, as the results will be 

 disappointing. They are not prolific and are 

 more liable to produce dark squabs, which 

 always bring the lowest price in market, and 

 do not feed the young as well as the full 

 bloods. The best all-round birds for squab 

 raising are the straight Homers, as they are 

 the most active, good workers, quiet disposition, 

 and the best of feeders. 



"The Runt is the largest of pigeons, but a 

 very slow worker, seldom producing more 

 than four pairs of squabs per year. It 

 makes a good cross with Homer and Dragoon, 

 but even then will not produce as many birds 

 as either of the others alone. 



"The squabs are dressed for market once 

 a week, on regular shipping days. They are 

 dressed just before they are large enough to 

 leave the nests, and when they are full- 

 feathered, and should weigh at this time 

 eight pounds per dozen, this size commanding 

 the highest price, the prices falling off very 

 fast as the size drops from this weight. The 

 squabs should be dressed with empty crops. 

 They may be caught in the early morning 

 before feeding, and dressed, or caught the 

 evening before, after the old birds have fed 

 them for the night, and kept in hampers until 

 morning, when their crops will be just in the 

 right condition. 



"After the young birds are two or three 

 ■weeks old, the old birds build another nest 

 and begin to sit again, the male bird taking 

 most of the care of the young until they are 

 ready to dress ; hence the importance of 

 supplying two nests for each pair. Thus a 

 good pair of working birds have a pair of 

 young and a pair of eggs a large portion of the 

 time. 



"During the summer months the birds 

 should be furnished with a shallow tub of 

 water in which to take a bath, two or three 

 times per week, which will help them to keep 

 free of vermin. These tubs should be 

 emptied after they have bathed, as thev 

 should not be allowed to drink the water in 

 whichthey have bathed. 



"With good care, properly constructed 

 houses,_ wholesome food, never sour or tainted, 

 very little disease should be encountered. 

 Prevention is better and more easily ad- 

 ministered than cure. Some of these are dry 

 houses, pure water, regularity in feeding and 

 cleanliness. The water buckets should be 

 washed out frequently with creoline water. 



