332 



APPENDIX G 



HOW A MAN OF 75 MAKES $25 WEEKLY, 

 by John D. Ludwig. I am making $100 a 

 month net profit squab breeding with. 1400 

 mated pigeons, mostly Homers. I am seventy- 

 five years old. In front of my house I have 

 a sign: " One squab contains two to five 

 ounces of liquor protoplasm. This is the 

 liquor of life, without which nothing can live. 

 Thirty good squabs have more protoplasm than 

 abeef weighing eight hundred pounds." I live 

 on the Southern Pacific railroad line, and thou- 

 sands of people read the sign. 



At the present time (March) I receive S3. 75 

 a dozen for Homer squabs, and .^4.50 a dozen 

 for my larger squabs, net. Last year I sold 

 8199 squabs. My customers call at the 

 aviary for my squabs. I put from twenty- 

 four to forty squabs in a box alive and the 

 expressman calls for the boxes. My market 

 is Oakland and San Francisco. I cannot raise 

 the number of squabs that are called for. 

 My squabs are always plump and fat, and 

 weigh from twelve to eighteen ounces each. 



The boxes I ship the squabs in are the size 

 of Swift turkey boxes and have a partition 

 in the center. I place eighteen or twenty 

 squabs in each compartment. The boxes are 

 returned to me and the poultrymen pay the 

 express both ways, on the squabs and empties. 

 They are paying as high as $5 a dozen in San 

 Francisco, one year contract. 



Is it hard work to take care of 1400 pigeons, 

 they ask me. I have two boys, George, the 

 older, thirteen years old; Edwin, the younger, 

 nine years. In vacation they did all the work 

 around the aviary. Gathered all the squabs 

 for market. Removed the dirty nests. Cleaned 

 them. Dipped them into the whitewash 

 barrel. Set them aside ready for future use. 

 Placed clean boxes for the dirty ones taken out. 

 Raked out the houses and lofts. Shoveled 

 the manure in the wagon and delivered it to 

 the florist. Mixed the feed and placed it in 

 the hoppers. Gathered and handled eucalyptus 

 leaves to refill nestboxes. They ran the place 

 in fine order. (The boys did that during their 

 vacation from school. I was on a trip to 

 Sonoma county.) At present they go to 

 school. After school hours they are on hand 

 and we do the work. Both love pigeons 

 and are pleased to be with them. 



Boys certainly can make money raising 

 squabs for market. They must learn all about 

 pigeons. Must attend to business or they 

 will lose the cash they invest. Start with only 

 a few pairs. 



Does it pay to raise squabs? Yes, it does, 

 I am making money. But like any other busi- 

 ness you must learn the details. Learn the 

 habits of pigeons an,d how to take care of them. 



I write you these few lines to let you know 

 that we are still in the business, and I will tell 

 you of our success after a year and a half. 

 We -wish to enlarge. Wc have now working 

 about 135 pairs of the old original birds, of 

 which seventy-five pairs were secured from 

 your company, and the balance elsewhere, but 

 like most new beginners we of course got a 



few of those so-called Homers, and that meant 

 we were stung, but the seventy-five pairs that 

 we got from you are certainly fine workers and 

 are going great for us. Out of -the last year we 

 have saved something like one hundred pairs 

 of young birds out of those we bought from you 

 so now we have about 240 pairs turning out 

 squabs for us, and we are shipping on an aver- 

 age of four dozen squabs a week and also are 

 supplying some few small breeders around here. 

 Besides the Homers we have thirty-eight pairs 

 of Carneaux working but have not put any of 

 their young on the market yet. We are proud 

 of our success, which we lay to the birds bought 

 from you. We want to add another sixty- 

 foot building to our present holdings and to 

 secure about three hundred pairs Plymouth 

 Rock Homers from you. You have the only 

 pigeons that we care to handle. We ship our 

 squabs to Heineman Brothers in New York. — 

 E. J. Quigley, West Virginia. 



ONE YEAR'S RECORD, by Emit Oetteking. 



I kept a record of the feed consumed by eight 

 pairs of Homers in the year from January 1 , to 

 December 31, 1910, with the following result: 

 Whole com, 177 lbs, at $1.55 per lOOlbs.— $2.63 

 Red wheat, 168 lbs. at 2.40 per lOOlbs.— 4.03 

 Kaffir corn, 1221bs. at 2.30 per lOOlbs.— 2.81 

 Buckwheat, 511bs.at 2.25 per lOOlbs. — 1.15 

 Peas, 158 lbs. at 3.80 per 100 lbs. — 6,00 



Hemp seed, 9 lbs. at 6.00 per 100 lbs. — 0.54 



Total, 678 lbs. $17.16 



I killed 129 squabs in twelve months from 

 the eight pairs of pigeons. This is at the rate 

 of sixteen and one half squabs per pair, or 

 eight and one-quarter pairs of squabs to each 

 pair of parent breeders. 



I suppose you are always ready to read of a 

 customer of yours that has made a success with 

 pigeons, so I am writing to give you that 

 information. I started my flock two years 

 ago with three pairs of your Plymouth Rock 

 Cameaujt and now (March 26, 1911), am the 

 proud owner of nearly two hundred pairs of as 

 fine birds as there are in the country. I have 

 sold squabs, youngsters and mated pairs, and 

 at no time have I had any trouble in disposing 

 of them. The breeders are always of good 

 color, good size, and as for breeding qualities, 

 they are hummers, I want to thank you again 

 for starting me right. Still have my original 

 pairs (three), which are as busy as ever, — Cadet 

 H. Hand, New York. 



Two weeks ago I killed and shipped my first 

 squabs. I never killed and plucked a squab 

 or fowl of any kind so you can imagine the task 

 I had on hand, I had eleven squabs. For the 

 best I received seventy-four cents a pair clear, 

 or eighty-three cents gross; for the smallest 

 forty-four cents a pair clear or fifty-five cents 

 gross, an average of $4.20 a dozen gross, or 

 S3. 70 after packing and shipping expenses were 

 deducted. How is that for a " greenie " in the 

 business — good, bad or indifferent? — Park F. 

 Esbenshade, Pennsylvania. 



