300 



APPENDIX G 



MR. STEWARD AND HIS BIG PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. 



SQUAB BREEDING FOR A STAY-AT- 

 HOME MAN, by Charles E. Steward. Three 

 years ago today I was stricken with heart 

 trouble and not being able to do any work 

 of any account, I sat around the house and 

 did nothing but worry about my trouble so 

 I thought I would get a few pairs of Homers 

 to keep my mind occupied. I sent to Boston 

 for twenty-five pairs of Homers and one pair 

 of Cameaux. Today I have two hundred 

 Homers and twenty Carneaux. Last summer 

 I kept eighty youngsters for breeders , all 

 banded, and left them to choose mates for 

 themselves. Out of the eighty I got thirty- 

 seven pairs and six odd mates. The best 

 part of it was there were no nestmates that 

 went together. I put twenty-five pairs of 

 these young birds in a pen by themselves. 

 Today, June 21, I counted forty-eight young 

 ones and nineteen eggs. This shows that 

 some birds have both young and eggs. Can 

 any one beat it? This shows that it pays to 

 buy good stock to start with. As squab 

 breeders I think the Plymouth Rock Homers 

 can not be beat (if they have the attention). 

 My birds get fresh water twice a day and all 

 the green stuff they will eat, such as lettuce, 

 horseradish leaves and dandelion. For nesting 

 material I use tobacco stems and hay cut about 

 six inches long. I notice that when you use 

 only tobacco stems they become hard and 

 dry in the nests and when a bird happens to 

 bear much weight on the eggs you will find a 

 good many eggs broken with a little dent or 

 crack, and won't hatch. This is because there 



is no " give " in the tobacco 

 stems. When it is dry, mix 

 hay or straw with your tobacco 

 stems and see if you haven't 

 less broken eggs. 



My first squabs I sold all 

 sizes for S3 per dozen. I am 

 now selling eight-pound squabs 

 at S5, nine-pound squabs at 

 $6, twelve-pound squabs at S8 

 per dozen, less express and com- 

 mission. I have nothing in my 

 pens breeding less than six pairs 

 per year, averaging nine to 

 twelve pounds per dozen. The 

 Carneau-Homer cross makes a 

 ] arge squab, also M altese- 

 Homer, but I would not like to 

 keep them for breeders because 

 a well-established breed is so 

 much more reliable in reproduc- 

 ing its characteristics. — Mrs. W. 

 A. Roth, Indiana. 



I have been in the squab 

 business for some time and have 

 done fairly well, but after visit- 

 ing a number of small plants 

 find they all use the Plymouth 

 Rock Homers. Now what I 

 want to know is if ycu will trade 

 me Extra Homers for forty or 

 fifty pairs of red and splashed 

 most of the Cameaux I have 

 parent stock that came from 



Carneaux, 

 being from 



you and bought by a doctor of my town, 

 want to put in these two pens and buy them, 

 and if satisfactory I will sell my other breeds 

 and replace with your Homers. One of your 

 customers was at my house last evening and he 

 told me that your Homers are certainly first 

 class, and of course I want the best. — George 

 Sisco, New Jersey. 



HOW I SAVE MONEY BY FEEDING 

 BREAD, by Charlton Green. I have been 

 feeding bakers' discarded bread, crushed dry 

 or moistened. The pigeons hke clean bread 

 and white bread better than rye bread. 

 Besides bread, I feed about half a pound of 

 Indian corn each day. I find the bread an 

 excellent feed for squabs that are just out of 

 the nest. They learn to eat it much quicker 

 and easier than they do grain. I have noticed 

 squabs in nests with it also. I beheve it is 

 as good for squabs in nest as it is for the older 

 squabs or youngsters. I don't believe a better 

 feed could be fed to youngsters. The bread 

 costs me one cent a loaf, or from $1.00 to $1.10 

 per one hundred pounds. 



Take a piece of paper, wrap it around a 

 pencil, glue and pull the pencil out, dip the 

 paper in pulverized sulphur, hold the mouth 

 of the bird open with thumb and first finger, 

 and blow the contents down the bird's neck 

 once a day for a day or two, and the canker is 

 gone. — Harry Wesner, Pennsylvania. 



