APPENDIX G 



363 



HOSPITAL. CLUB, FAMI- 

 LIES, $3.50 DOZEN, by West- 

 ley O'Harra. I have never 

 shipped any squabs as I have 

 hard work supplying the home 

 market ( Ohio). We have a large 

 new private hospital, which 

 takes five dozen a week. The 

 first club of the city takes ten 

 or twelve dozen just as I hap- 

 pen to have them. Then with 

 the family trade I can dispose 

 of all and more than I can sup- 

 ply. I am thinking of enlarg- 

 ing my plant soon. I get $3.50 

 a dozen the year round without 

 sorting, feather dressed. 



I do not believe in starting 

 with a small number and breed 

 ing up your own flock. I tried 

 that for a year without selling 

 any squabs, then bought a large 

 flock of Extra Plymouth Rock 

 Homers and began to get re- 

 sults. One thing I accomplished that first year 

 was proper feeding, which I wish to say is the 

 most essential point to the best results in this 

 business. Do not be afraid to give them plenty 

 to eat. I use the self-feeders, which I keep 

 filled with plenty of cracked corn and red 

 wheat. I have always had good results with 

 these boxes. If any feedbox is not successful, 

 it generally is due to the fact that it is not 

 kept free of the dust which accumulates in 

 the slit where the grain falls through. I sift 

 all of my corn and wheat and clean my feed 

 boxes once a week, give my birds plenty of 

 good, fresh drinking water, with bath water 

 twice a week. I have found that straw is a 

 good lice producer and that the only way to 

 stop the lice is to use tobacco stems for nest 

 material. 



HOW TO HANDLE TWO KINDS OF 

 BUYERS, by Arthur S. Burlmgame. Selling 



squabs direct to consumers no doubt will bring 

 in the most money, but all people cannot look 

 after a retail trade, as it takes considerably 

 more time. One can get good prices, however, 

 by grading his squabs according to weight. 

 A breeder of squabs ought to have a price for 

 his birds in proportion to their weight by the 

 dozen. A squab that weighs a pound surely 

 ought to be worth more than one weighing 

 twelve ounces. I have about forty pairs of 

 Plymouth Rock Homers and very often get 

 squabs that weigh sixteen to twenty ounces 

 each, and never have had any less than twelve 

 ounces at four weeks old. When I started to 

 sell my squabs, I sold them to a large market 

 and received twenty- five cents each, and 

 sometimes thirty cents, according to their 

 supply and demand. I tried to get more 

 for the larger ones, but they would not pay 

 any more. They told me a squab was a squab, 

 and that they sold them all for the same price. 

 They had them marked on the poultry counter 

 at forty-five cents each. Not satisfied with 

 these prices, I looked around and found a 



MR. O'HARRA'S SQUAB FARM. 



•smaller market that sold to a more particular 

 trade, and this one wanted squabs that weighed 

 twelve or thirteen pounds to the dozen. For 

 the first lot I took there I received thirty-five 

 cents each, and have worked the price up to 

 forty cents. I think they sell them to their 

 trade at about fifty-five or sixty cents each. 

 This still left me the ten and eleven-pounds- 

 to-the-dozen birds, which are very good sizes. 

 I went to a good hotel and a-jked if they used 

 squabs, and they said they used them all the 

 year and wotild like any that I might bring in, 

 provided they weighed from ten to eleven 

 pounds to the dozen, iust the ones I wanted 

 to sell. I quoted thirty-five cents each, and 

 they were willing to pay that. They list on 

 their menu, " Native Squab 75c." I simply 

 have to kill the birds. I made a machine 

 accord ing to instructions in Rice's Manual 

 and it is all right. I catch the squabs after 

 dark and kill them in the morning and let 

 them hang in a cool place and take them to 

 rnarket the next morning. I would rather 

 kill a dozen or more squabs than to kill one 

 chicken. It is much more simple and very 

 much cleaner. 



My squabs weighing from nine to ten pounds 

 I turn into the first market at $3 to $3.60 a 

 dozen. They seem satisfied and I am. 



Don't sell your largest birds in the same lot 

 with the smallest sizes, unless they pay you 

 more. You can find several places where 

 the trade calls for the smaller sizes, and others 

 who want the ' better birds. You can keep 

 all satisfied and hold their trade. I would 

 not put in the large birds (in case your pur- 

 chaser of that size was overstocked) with the 

 smaller ones. If you do, they will e.xpect to 

 get them all the time. Eat them yourself. 



I have not found much of a demand for 

 squabs weighing from one and a half to two 

 pounds. 



Always make your deals with the owner of 

 the place; he is the man. Show him what you 

 have and he will appreciate quality. 



