APPENDIX G 



377 



DRY GRAIN HEALTHFUL, by Hugh 

 Donlon. Having had trouble and sickness in 

 my birds, especially in the "big fellows," I 

 was at a loss for some time to know where the 

 trouble came from. I had grain from different 

 sources to see if that would help, but no better 

 luck. Lately I have taken each day's feed and 

 left it on the back of the stove all night, or put 

 it in a warm oven for a short time, and I find 

 a wonderful difference. The birds picked up 

 at once and seem to relish the crisp grain. 

 There is very little grain, after it has stood in 

 damp storehouses for a year or more, that will 

 not draw dampness. 



I have been feeding dry bread for some time, 

 and see it spoken of but how to feed it is the 

 puzzle that will bother a great many, as it 

 should not be wet. Run the bread through a 

 coarse food chopper and it will come out in 

 the form of pills that will be devoured greedily. 

 It makes great stuffing for squabs. Of course 

 it must be used in connection with grain rations. 



HOW I MADE A RAT-PROOF GRAIN 

 BIN, by J. E. Maccabe. My feed room is 



down stairs, j,nd the lofts are up stairs. The 

 rats used to eat about half of the feed. I went 

 to a tin shop and ordered a box of galvanized 

 iron, twenty -fovu" inches wide, thirty-six 

 inches long, eighteen inches high, eight com- 

 partments, four of the com.partments six 

 inches wide, and the full width of the box, the 

 other four compartments six inches wide, but 

 only half the width of the box, or twelve inches. 

 Each compartment the full width of the box 

 will hold a bushel, so the whole box carries six 

 bushels of grain. Inside of two months the 

 box had paid for its cost, five dollars. 



Between the rat-proof feed box and the lime 

 in the lofts I have no more rats or mice. 



What Lime Did 



I couldn't go into the loft but what there 

 was a rat or mouse, although I didn't keep the 

 feed in the loft. The floor was of boards. 

 The rats would go up the side of the building, 

 then they would make their way into the loft. 

 This spring, to make some whitewash, I bought 

 too much lime, so I put some of it around the 

 wall on the floor of the lofts. It extended 

 out from the wall for six inches, an inch in 

 thickness. From that day I have never been 

 bothered with rats. 



I was in Seattle last week looking for a mar- 

 ket. I went to all the high-class cafes and res- 

 taurants. Here are a few: The Butler, Mancas, 

 the Rathskeller, Olympus and Gerald's. All 

 offered three dollars a dozen (feathers on) de- 

 livered. In one I had rather an amusing ex- 

 perience. I went to the chef and asked if he 

 bought squabs. He said, " Yes." I asked how 

 much he paid. "Ten cents apiece," he an- 

 swered. I turned and started out. " Hey, 

 vait," he called. *' Gif you fifteen cents." 

 " Nothing doing." " Gif you twenty cents." 

 " Come again." Well, he " came " to twenty- 

 five cents each delivered in Seattle. — Wallace 

 Todd, Washington. 



SQUABS AT GOOD PRICES IN CALI- 

 FORNIA, by Walter E. Hiller. I have moved 

 to California from Massachusetts, where I bred 

 squabs, and am all ready to have my Extra 

 Plymouth Rock Homers shipped on here. 

 They have fine pigeons around here. Squabs 

 weigh twelve pounds to the dozen. They get 

 $3.50 to $4 a dozen aUve, and don't even have 

 to twist their necks. Grain costs about the 

 same as in the East: peas $4 per one hundred 

 pounds, hempseed S6 per one hundred pounds. 

 This is a fine climate to raise squabs. I have 

 bought a nice home, one acre of land, all kinds 

 of fruit, large stable, hot and cold water, 

 electric light, bath room and a line of cars, 

 eight miles to the city. I have built two coops, 

 fifty feet long, and am building more. Things 

 are all different here. The house is fifty feet 

 long, four feet wide, ten feet fly, seven feet 

 high; cement floor; everything all open, no 

 windows, very easy to clean out. One coop 

 holds fifty pairs. 



FOUR PAIRS HOMERS STARTED ME 

 IN 1903, by E. W. Lewis, I purchased six 

 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers in 1903. I 

 did not purchase a bird in the seven years, 

 but selected the best from these four pairs 

 and their increase for breeders. The inbreed- 

 ing did not .seem to hurt them in the least, as 

 the seventy-five pairs I have now are never 

 si ck , and the squabs at four weeks weigh 

 eleven to fourteen ounces. I put my squabs 

 in a separate coop for twenty-four hours 

 before killing, and then their crops are entirely 

 empty. Then kill and dry pick. In that 

 condition they weigh eleven to fourteen ounces 

 each. I am getting $3.75 a dozen the year 

 round. A few days ago I had a large squab 

 which dressed sixteen ounces. The chef at 

 the hotel I sell to looked me up next day and 

 said , " If you can furnish me squabs like that, 

 I will give you $4.25 per dozen the year round.'* 

 That decided me to get Cameaux, which I 

 am doing, and I hope they prove all that has 

 been written of them. I have not been in a 

 position to expand as fast as would like. Of 

 the seventy-five pairs of breeders I have now, 

 here is the record for last year: January 1 to 

 December 31, 1910, 748 squabs for which I 

 received $224.90. Feed for the year was 

 $106.75, leaving a profit of $118.15, and the 

 work attending them was a recreation and 

 pleasure. I feed whole com, macaroni, wheat 

 and kaffir com as main feed, and hemp, peas 

 and millet as luxuries. (Mr. Lewis, the 

 writer of the foregoing, lives in Colorado. It 

 i s often asked by residents of that state whether 

 pigeons will breed well there, on account of 

 the high altitude. His story is proof that they 

 do. We are acquainted with a number of 

 squab breeders in Colorado who never have 

 complained that the altitude had any effect, 

 and we do not believe that it has, either one 

 way or the other. Pigeons seem to breed 

 there as well as anywhere.) 



The demand for first-class pigeons is greater 

 than the supply. 



