APPENDIX F 245 



they are no longer squabs, but have trained off their fat and become young 

 pigeons. _ Squabs in the nest boxes do not walk around like these because 

 they realize that they are somewhat weak and will not take the flight to the 

 floor. 



It is troublesome when cleaning to avoid some nests on the floor. When 

 the young birds leave the nest boxes above they are quite helpless and will 

 rest. on the floor. The old birds which have built their nests on the floor 

 will peck the young birds and give them no rest. The cocks especially will 

 do this. 



A customer has found out a way which he has had in use for some time 

 to keep pairs off the floor and induce them to build in the nest boxes. When 

 he finds a new nest on the floor, he lets the hen lay both eggs there and sit 

 on them for one or two days. Then he makes a nest box about tweh'e inches 

 square and six inches high and places the nest, eggs and all, into this box 

 and allows the nest box to stand on the floor of the squab house in the same 

 spot where he found the original nest. He reports that nine times out of 

 ten the hen will sit on the nest as before. He lets her sit on the eggs for 

 three or four days more, then he takes the nest box, eggs and all, and screws 

 or nails it to the side wall as near as possible to the spot where the nest was 

 on the floor. Sometimes he raises the nest box from the floor a small distance 

 at a time, one inch one day, another inch the following day. He says that 

 although this is quite a trouble it seems to break the hen of the habit of 

 building on the floor and the next time she is more than likely to build the 

 nest off the floor. 



A PLAN TO GET RID OF RATS AND MICE. 



One of our customers gives us the following idea: Make a rough table 

 of matched board with joists for legs, about three and one-half or four feet 

 high and the same shape as the feed box, only have it three feet longer and 

 three feet wider. This will allow for a platform IS inches wide around the 

 feed box for the birds to stand on and eat the grain; next make a rim, high 

 enough so that when the pigeons are getting grain they will not scatter any 

 on the floor. Do not be afraid of having the rim too high, eight inches will 

 be all right. Have this eight-inch rim all around. The last thing is to buy 

 some smooth, glassy tin plate and wrap a piece around each leg. It is not 

 necessary to cover the whole leg, 12 to 18 inches will be enough. This will 

 make it impossible for rats or mice to climb up over the tin and eat the 

 grain. The legs should be 18 inches or two feet high. 



Another way to manage instead of using the tin is to put the feed box up 

 on a platform and support this platform with four legs made of iron pipe. 

 Generally there is a joint in the tin, and some mice may run up a joint or 

 seam of this kind, putting their feet into the crack in the seam. If you use 

 iron pipe to support the platform it will be impossible for the rats or mice 



to climb up this iron pipe to 3 feed box. You should use four pieces of 



piping, one at each corner. 



Here is another way to clean out the mice : Take a small tight box, say 

 six inches by six inches in size. Bore an inch or two-inch hole at one side 

 near the bottom, put in a handful of feathers or cotton and lay the box on 

 the floor in a secluded part of the squab house. In about two weeks go to 

 the box quietly in the daytime, put your hand over the hole, and carry the 

 box to a barrel or tub half full of water. The mice will jump out faster 



