APPENDIX G 



381 



FOUR-WEEKS SQUABS BEAT EIGHT- 

 WEEKS CHICKS, by A. J. Alexander. Six 



pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers arrived here 

 March 13. Three weeks later I sent an order 

 for ten pairs, so I have a stock of seventeen 

 pairs and have had them about two months. 

 I now have thirty-six squabs, about twenty of 

 them off the nest, and they weigh at from 

 three to four weeks old from three-quarters to 

 one pound each. I am writing this to show 

 you and others how much easier it is to raise 

 squabs than chicks. I hatched twenty-four 

 barred Rock chickens in February and March 

 and now have only eight of them. They have 

 disappeared by night from rats, and some 

 were drowned by being led out in grass by old 

 Biddy. Each day finds me looking them up 

 to see if the eight remaining are all there. My 

 little Rocks are now nice broilers while the 

 oldest squabs can't be told from the old birds. 

 In fact my squabs are larger at four weeks old 

 than the Rocks are at eight weeks old. 



After I have time to raise pigeons enough to 

 have a reasonable stock there will be no more 

 chicken raising in mine. 



I put an extra pick-up pigeon egg into a 

 nest with one egg and three more were laid. 

 The hen hatched four squabs but one died. 

 One nest with two squabs in it was deserted 

 and I lost them, making three squabs lost out 

 of thirty-nine, which is much better than I did 

 with chickens running at large or in a barnyard. 

 Doubling my stock in two months' time I 

 think pretty good for a new breeder. 



I FEED WILD SEEDS PICKED ON THE 

 STALK, by Vivian E. Dawley. I saw in the 

 April issue of the magazine an article by J . W. 

 Arthurs, saying that Homers were real money- 

 makers, and I am convinced beyond all doubt 

 that they are as good as the best, and better 

 than the rest. I have eighteen pairs in one 

 pen and since the first of May have sold 

 $20.73 worth of squabs, and on July 24 there 

 were twenty-two squabs and twelve eggs in 

 the coop. AH my feed since April 1 has con- 

 sisted of yellow com, whole and cracked, and 

 Canada peas. Com is going up in price 

 every week here. It is now Guly) $1.50 per 

 bag, and Canada peas $2.40 per bushel. My 

 wild seed I feed at this time of the year, green. 

 I pick it on the stalk and place it on the wire 

 in the flying pen, and the birds get plenty of 

 exercise clinging to the wire and pecking it 

 to pieces. I keep grit by them at all times, as 

 I think it the most essential of anything we 

 give them, except water, which should be 

 given at least three times a day, and the best 

 of spring water should always be used, as 

 river or pond water is softer and creates a 

 slime in the drinking fountains quicker than 

 the spring water. 



My three hundred birds (Homers) purchased 

 in May, 1910, have given me squabs for sale 

 every month since, except December, paying 

 from five to seven per cent per month on cost 

 of flock and equipment. I am planning to en- 

 large my plant.— D. N. Carrington, New York. 



HOW I LEARNED NOT TO LOSE A 

 SQUAB, by Mrs. E. C. Monahan. One year 

 as a pigeon breeder hardly seems long enough 

 for advice-giving, but I am so sure that I have 

 the solution why yoim,g stock are lost in the 

 first few weeks after leaving the nests that i 

 can't keep it to myself. Advice need not.be 

 taken, anyway. I lose not one bird. When, 

 the squabs first leave their nests, I arrange re- 

 treats to give the frightened little things 

 plenty of opportunity for rest from the hazing 

 even the gentle Carneaux give. Next I transfer 

 them to the youngster pen at night and slip 

 them into a roomy comer. For several days 

 after this, I scatter food handy before the 

 callow brood when the older birds are inter- 

 ested in fresh bath water or a little hempseed. 

 The last thing at night, before the newcomers 

 have mustered courage to go above to roost 

 where the older birds already are, I scatter 

 grain as long as it is picked up. As I am raisitig 

 birds which at eight months outweigh their 

 parents, who are eighteen to twenty-two-ounce 

 Carneaux, my plan seems a good one. I also 

 keep the same bone and muscle-making dry 

 mash before them in hoppers that poultrymen 

 say is indispensable. It is dry bran mixed 

 with charcoal, grit, oyster shell, salt, and a 

 very little cayenne pepper and commercial 

 beef scraps. This hopper is liberally patronized 

 by the birds. The squabs in the nests nearly 

 always weigh sixteen ounces at three weelra, 

 and where the nests are low many of them 

 run about at this age. The parents feed them 

 for eight to ten days longer. At five weeks, 

 when the young are no longer tolerated near 

 their former home, I do the transferring. At 

 first any work that required handling the 

 pigeons made me about sick, for fear I would 

 fail or would hurt the birds. I use no net or 

 other device, simply do all the catching at 

 early roosting time. Mated stock is especially 

 easy to handle that way. The pigeons were 

 bought to keep me out of doors, for reason of 

 health, but have developed into a fine pin- 

 money investment, so the plant is to be en- 

 larged soon. I often give the Squab Magazine 

 to persons buying stock of me, and recommend 

 it to all who show the faintest interest in 

 pigeons. 



I notice some writers suggesting that the 

 first egg be taken from the hen pigeon as soon 

 as laid, and another be substituted, until the 

 second is laid, then both eggs again be re- 

 placed, so that the two eggs will hatch the 

 same day. Child play. Again I wish to say 

 that the birds with Nature as the teacher can 

 run their own business. As a matter of fact, 

 as all experienced breeders know, the birds 

 do not hover the first egg closely in any season; 

 in winter, just enough to keep it from freezing. 

 You can examine the one egg and you will find 

 almost invariably the first egg cold until the 

 hen goes on the nest for laying the second 

 egg, which is about 2 p.m. the third day. 

 Then she hovers the eggs closely, and the 

 hatching process begins with the two eggs in 

 the nest. — M. C. Martin, Kansas. 



