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APPENDIX G 



MR. HOWE'S SQUABHOrSE AXl) HIS CARXEAUX. 



I am writing to ask you about picking and 

 dressing squabs for market. I just picked 

 and shipped six dozen to Heineman Brothers, 

 New York, and I find it simply impossible 

 to get the feathers off the head and upper 

 part of the neck without tearing them. Does 

 the market object to the feathers being left 

 on the head and upper part of the neck? Any 

 information you can give me along the killing 

 and picking line will be highly appreciated. 

 The Select Homers I purchased from you 

 about twelve months ago are doing splendid 

 work. Out of the twenty-five pairs two pairs 

 lost their mates, which left me twenty-three 

 working pairs. From them I have sold a good 

 many squabs, and some mated pairs that I 

 mated from them, and have mated up alto- 

 gether about one hundred and fifty pairs of 

 fane Homers. 



We are just starting in the squab business, 

 although we have had some little experience 

 with pigeons, enough to know that Homers 

 are the squab producers. — J. F. Woodhead, 

 Minnesota. 



FAT SQUABS FOR ME ON 

 THREE GRAINS, by H. A. 

 Howe. Starting a year ago I 

 stopped using hemp entirely, 

 substituting a mixture of one 

 part oil meal, one part table 

 salt and three parts sharp 

 sand. This I keep before them 

 in hoppers all the time, and be- 

 coming accustomed to it they 

 eat it freely. The only grains 

 I feed are peas, coarse cracked 

 com and red wheat. I give a 

 mixture of these grains twice 

 daily, at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., in 

 an open feed trough with a re- 

 volving stick running along the 

 top (see page 108 of this book). 

 I give them just what they 

 will eat up clean between feed- 

 ing times, feeding more com in 

 winter than in summer, increas- 

 ing the amount of wheat in 

 summer. This method may be 

 in defiance of many of your 

 feeding schedules, but I am 

 turning out Plymouth Rock 

 Cameaux squabs that average 

 a pound apiece, and Plymouth 

 Rock Homer squabs that go 

 better than ten pounds to the 

 dozen. 



The markets here (Massa- 

 chusetts) from October 1 until 

 July 1 are very good, the prices 

 running from S3.50 up to $5.50 

 a dozen for good squabs. 



The squab plant is located on 

 a side hill that slopes to the 

 south and consists of a build- 

 ing of the shed-roof type that 

 houses five hundred breeders, 

 both Homers and Carneaux. 

 During the past winter I re- 

 moved the top sashes from the windows in 

 the pens, substituting cotton cloth, which has 

 been very satisfactory, giving a drier house 

 and healthier stock. 



I have for the past two years given all young 

 stock raised for breeders their liberty during 

 the entire summer, thereby reducing my feed 

 bill and developing hardier breeders. 



A few more words and I shall make these in 

 the form of good advice: Start with good stock, 

 enlarge slowly, give the business a chance 

 under sound business principles and failure 

 will be an unknown quantity. 



If nothing happens I am going to put up two 

 extra buildings this fall and winter, and next 

 spring I will want from you at least five hundred 

 pairs of selected Homers. I am planning to 

 come up that way about that time, and will 

 call on you and make arrangements for them. 



Hoping to be able to do much business with 

 you in the near future, and thanking you in 

 advance for your information, I remain, 

 H, A. Henkel, Virginia. 



