104 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 
before shipping. In the cool months you may keep them 
at home longer. If the squabs are cooled by hanging them 
from studding as we describe, there is no danger that the 
meat will be discolored. The object of hanging them from 
studding is to cool the carcasses properly so that the meat 
will not be discolored by contact. 
Question. How shall I pack the killed squabs when I send 
them to market? Answer. Lay them in the box layer on 
layer, in an orderly fashion. Do not throw them in helter 
skelter. 
Question. Can I hang the squabs to cool from studding 
suspended in the barn, in the summer time? Answer. It is 
better to use the cellar of the house, or the coolest room in the 
house. 
Question. I do not like your idea of keeping the birds 
wired in. ‘They are free by nature and it strikes me that they 
should have a chance to get exercise by long flights. Answer. 
You must keep them wired in, or they may leave you. Re- 
member. that the Homer is attached to the place where it is 
bred, that is the Homer instinct. If you buy birds of us and 
on opening the crate let them fly anywhere they choose, 
trusting to luck to have them come back to you, you may be 
disappointed and lose some of the birds. You must keep 
them wired in all the time. 
Question. You say your Homers are fine flyers. What is 
the use of my buying them of you to fly in races or to sell 
again as flyers, if they may desert me when I let them out 
into the open air? Answer. The squabs which you breed 
from our birds will know no home but yours, and they will 
not fly away from you. You can send them away, when they 
are old enough, and time their flight back to your house, 
their home. When you sell these trained flyers to others, 
you do not expect that they will try to fly them, but that they 
will use them for breeders. 
Question. How large are the mating coops? Answer. 
A convenient size is two feet long, two feet wide and two feet 
high. 
Question. My birds seem timid and I am afraid to catch 
them. How shall I go about it? Answer. Do not be afraid 
of hurting them. Take a broom and drive one where you 
will, finally pinning it against the side of the squab house, or 
