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APPENDIX G 



FOUR PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. 



HOW I EXPERIMENTED WITH COW 

 PEAS, by William P. Gray. Although I have 

 always found that it paid me well to feed 

 Canada peas liberally, their price was so high 

 through the summer and fall that in October 

 I decided to try cow peas as a substitute, and 

 accordingly mixed four bushels of cow peas 

 with about eight hundred pounds of other 

 grains. Shortly after beginning to use this 

 mixture, I noticed that about all my squabs 

 were affected with a looseness of the bowels 

 that made my nests the filthiest that I had 

 ever seen them. Several squabs died and 

 those that I have marketed the past two months 

 have been about the poorest I have ever had 

 to dispose of. 



Ten days ago I made up another grain 

 mixture, this time using instead of the cow 

 peas four bushels of Canada peas and other 

 grains, the same amount as bufore except for 

 an extra one hundred pounds of cracked corn. 

 Here is the result in ten days after substituting 

 the Canada peas for the cow peas: The loose- 

 ness of the bowels in the squabs has disap- 

 peared. My scales have shown that the 

 squabs taken out of the loft today were the 

 heaviest that I have produced this fall. The 

 old birds act as though they had taken on a 

 new lease of life. Out of sixty-four pairs, 

 sixty-one pairs are working, and seventy-four 

 eggs have been laid the past week. 



To any wishing to know what my birds 

 are being fed now, I wish to state that my 

 grain mixture for cold weather is as follows: 

 four bushels peas, five hundred pounds cracked 

 corn, four bushels wheat, one hundred pounds 

 kaffir corn, fifty pounds millet, twenty-five 

 pounds hempseed. 



I never place a pair of pigeons 

 in a pen unless they are banded. 

 I also limit the number of birds 

 placed in a pen to conform to 

 the size of the pen, and under 

 no conditions whatever do I 

 allow another bird to be added 

 to this pen. In my case the 

 number is twenty-five pairs, as 

 I have built my pens with this 

 idea in view, for I believe this 

 number is the most practical 

 for all purposes, and I am con- 

 vinced that a greater number 

 than this will fail to produce 

 the results shown by this num- 

 ber of birds. I then make out 

 a chart with the numbers one 

 to twenty-five in a row, and 

 allow twelve spaces for the 

 twelve months of the year. 

 Then I make a note in the 

 space opposite the pair number 

 in the corresponding month 

 when robbing the pair of its 

 young, showing just how many 

 were taken. By referring to 

 this record I am able to know 

 exactly what this pair has ac- 

 complished in a certain period, 

 and if it does not show a stand- 

 ard result I make arrangements to dispose of 

 one or both birds at once, and in this way I 

 save the feed the pair would consume and also 

 avoid any possibility of either bird causing 

 any trouble in idleness. This takes practically 

 no time and is a big money saver. — F. L. Stock, 

 Missouri. 



A year ago I moved m,y drug store about a 

 mile from its former location, and about that 

 time I had about one hundred old and young 

 pigeons to move with squabs and eggs. I 

 caught all the pigeons, old and young, put 

 them in boxes with a sack over the tops, and 

 lost only one young pigeon from suffocation. I 

 lost all the eggs, and strange to say did not 

 lose one squab, which were of all ages from one 

 or two days to a couple of weeks old. I just 

 put them in the squabhouse, and the old 

 pigeons went on feedmg them as before. By 

 using a little common sense, pigeons are the 

 easiest thing in the world to raise, and beat 

 poultry all over. — C. Montz, Louisiana. 



In June, 1910, I purchased a dozen pairs of 

 Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and now 

 (October, 1911) have eighty pairs of breeders 

 and 140 youngsters. I have just started to sell 

 my squabs and find a ready market. Can get 

 SJ-.2.) per dozen for eight to nine-pound squabs. 

 I am on a rented place, but expect to move in 

 the spring and build more lon;s and increase 

 my breeders. I can dispose of ten to fifteen 

 dozen more squabs a week than I can supply. 

 There are a great many breeders here who have 

 what are called American Homers which 

 breed a squab only a little larger than the com- 

 mon pigeon. — H. W. Moore, Ohio. 



