APPENDIX G 



345 



SQUABS PROFITABLE TO ME FOR 

 FIFTEEN YEARS, by William P. Gray. We 



often read in the poultry papers of hens that 

 do phenomenal laying during a short period 

 of time. Usually this will be for the spring 

 months, with no account given for the fall 

 laying. Such reports are of little value, and are 

 misleading to the novice. Yearly records are 

 what^ count. It is the same with pigeons: 

 the birds that breed through the fall and winter 

 are the ones that raise ten pairs of squabs a 

 year — they are the mortgage lifters. For 

 the past fifteen years, pigeons have continued 

 to be a good investment with me. The average 

 cost of feed per year for a pair has been SI. 20, 

 and I have never sold a dozen squabs for less 

 than $3 a dozen. My birds in large flocks 

 always average better than twelve squabs per 

 pair per year. 



I have been engaged in the poultry business 

 in all its branches, both for myself and manag- 

 ing large plants for others profitably. I believe 

 my observations are of some value. 



The advantages of squab raising over broiler 

 raising are briefly as follows: 



1. One thousand squabs can be raised 

 successfully on a plot that one hundred chicks 

 would be crowded on. 



2. No such expensive equipment is required 

 to raise squabs, as with broilers on a large 

 scale. 



3. No incubators to watch or cranky setting 

 hens to fuss with. 



4. Small chicks require five feeds a day 

 and constant attention, while in squab raising 

 with a hopper filled with food once a day, the 

 old birds attend to the wants of the squabs 

 entirely. 



5. Squabs do not get into cold comers and 

 get chilled, nor wander off in the bushes and 

 get lost. 



6. Squabs do not require a range where they 

 are liable to become the prey of rats, cats, 

 hawks and crows. 



7. The death rate is almost nothing in 

 squab raising, while it is something appalling 

 in young chickens. 



8. Squabs mature in one-third the time that 

 broilers do. 



9. Squabs are raised the year round at a good 

 profit, while broilers are rarely raised success- 

 fully more than six months in the year. 



10. Three squabs can be picked in the time 

 it takes to pick one broiler, and the three 

 squabs will sell for twice as much as one 

 broiler. 



11. No need of getting soaked to the skin 

 driving stock to shelter every time a shower 

 comes up, as squabs are always safe in their 

 nest. 



12. No night work in all kinds of weather 

 as in the broiler business, stoking coal or 

 standing on your head to look at a brooder 

 lamp. 



13. The broiler raiser must be continually 

 on the job. He has no Sundays and no 

 holidays, while the squab raiser can often with 

 a few hours' work in the morning filling hoppers 

 and fountains have the balance of day himself. 



I can state without any qualifications that 

 my experience has proved squab . raising to 

 be the best paying branch of the poultry 

 industry. Every ten cents' worth of feed used 

 will maintain a pair of breeders and raise a 

 squab selling from thirty cents to fifty cents. 



I trust these facts may put some one on the 

 right track. I am at present caring for 1800 

 head, mostly small chicks, also hens, pigeons, 

 squabs, ducks, and geese. 



SQUAB ORDERS TOO LARGE FOR ME 

 TO FILL, by C. S. Eby. I am going to make 

 a specialty of Carneaux, as I am having good 

 success with them. I started in a four by 

 eight chicken coop with some Homers. I then 

 built a unit squabhouse, and have it full of 

 Homers, and have no more room for any more 

 units. I am now looking for a larger place 

 so as to go into the business on a larger scale, 

 having the desire to raise them by the thou- 

 sand. I still get from sixty to seventy cents 

 a pair for squabs wholesale, and they retail 

 here (Michigan) at ninety cents and one dollar. 

 I have been doing all wholesale business and 

 I am now going in for the retail trade. I can 

 sell all the squabs at sixty cents a pair and 

 better. The only trouble I have is that the 

 orders are larger than I can fill and that makes 

 it hard on me. A few weeks ago I went to a 

 market downtown and inquired about squabs, 

 and the marketman told me he sold them 

 whenever he could get them. So I left my 

 telephone number with him. A week or so 

 later he telephoned me an order for two dozen. 

 I had been selling right along and did not have 

 enough squabs to fill it, so he told me his 

 opinion of me. I resolved not to advertise 

 unless I am sure of the goods. I am going to 

 move into a place where I can raise a thousand 

 pairs of pigeons. I have been in the business 

 two years and feel confident that I can make a 

 success. My birds have been greatly admired 

 and praised for their size and quality. 



I beg to advise you that the shipment of 

 115 Extra Plymouth Rock Homers reached 

 here in good shape Saturday night and on 

 Sunday morning I liberated them in their 

 new home. I wish to thank you for your 

 liberality in sending me the two extra pairs, 

 and for sending me such a fine, healthy lot 

 of birds, not one of them being in any but the 

 best of condition. I have some very fine 

 stock, originally bought from you, and this 

 last lot of birds, taking them all the way 

 through , equals the balance of my stock, 

 which has been bred from year to year to pro- 

 duce only stocky, full breasted birds. Your 

 guarantee accompanying the shipment is 

 very broad and fair, and had I known its 

 terms, my letter of October 21, 1911, to you 

 would have been superfluous, for the guarantee 

 itself covers everything. I then asked of 

 you concerning matings. I am very much 

 pleased with all of the birds, and especially 

 with the pair of Carneaux, which are un- 

 doubtedly the real thing. — ^B. N. Spangenberg, 

 New Jersey. 



