116 
age have had losses because they supposed 
that a full-fledged youngster was able to 
take care of. itself, but we never knew a 
case of this which we could not straighten 
out simply by recommending the breeder 
to keep his young birds longer in the breeding 
pen. 
NEED OF HEALTH GRIT. It has been 
our experience in dealing not only with 
many thousands of beginners in the squab 
business, but also with a great many breeders 
of considerable experience, that comparatively 
few have a proper appreciation of the value 
of grit. Pigeons have no teeth and must 
have grit to take the place of teeth, otherwise 
they cannot prepare their food for their 
stomachs! properly, and will not do well. 
We have, had customers take the most 
extraordinary cate with regard to the grain, 
but supply absolutely no grit, and then they 
complained because their birds were not 
breeding properly, and that the squabs 
were not plumip: 
Grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell 
grit. You must have both. The grit is 
needed, as stated, to grind the grain, while 
the oyster shell is needed to Sunply the 
constituents out of which the female pigeon 
forms the egg. 
The yard of the flying pen must be gravelled 
not grassed, and out of this gravel the birds 
get considerable grit. If you watch them, 
you will see: them pecking at this gravel in 
the flying pen constantly. Beach sand, or 
sand of any kind, may be used in the flying 
pen instead of gravel. 
should be renewed with fresh sand or gravel 
every six weeks, for although it may look 
the same to ‘you, you must remember that it 
does not look the’same to the birds, for they 
have been going over it constantly picking 
out the particles which they liked. In the 
winter time when the flying pen may be 
covered with snow, it is well to keep a pro- 
tected box filled with gravel or sand in the 
squab-house. By a protected box, we mean 
a box which the birds cannot foul, but which 
allows the grit to fall down as fast as eaten. 
In a protected box in the squab-house 
there should also be fed the Health Grit 
which we sell. We have used all kinds of 
grits, and the grit we are now using and 
selling to the exclusion of everything else, 
is the only grit which pigeons will eat greedily 
{thus showing that it is good for them). 
It contains salt, and no salt need be provided 
in lump form if this ae is supplied. The 
grits commonly manufactured and sold for 
oultry, made out of granite, etc., are useless 
tor pigeons, and it is a waste of money to 
buy them, for common gravel or sand would 
be fully as good, and cost nothing. ae 
A flock of pigeons under any conditions 
and in any part of the country will do better 
when our Health Grit is fed. The squabs 
will be ready for market a few days earlier, they 
will be plumper, and both they and the old 
a 
“market. 
The flying-pen yard- 
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 
birds will be in rugged health, and will keep 
so. We keep this grit before our own pigeons 
constantly, and consume and sell more tons 
of it every year than of any grit in the 
It is used by practically every 
Jarge squab breeder of our acquaintance, 
We recommend it in the highest terms, 
knowing in our own experience that it pays 
for itself many times over. 
We charge two dollars per 100 pounds 
for this grit. We do not sell less than fifty 
ounds. Price of fifty pounds, one dollar. 
e ship it in bags and it goes at a low freight 
rate. A hundred-pound bag will last a small 
flock formonths. It is as good for hens as for 
pigeons. This grit should be kept in and 
fed from a wood box. Do not put it in a 
tin or galvanized iron box. 
OYSTER SHELL. A great deal of oyster 
shell on the market is unfit for pigeons, not 
being ground fine enough. It is quite 
difficult in some sections of the West and 
South to get oyster shell, which has to be 
transported from the seaboard. The oyster 
shell which we supply our trade is ee up 
in one-hundred-pound bags. Price 75 cents 
per 100 pounds. No order filled for less 
than fifty’ pounds; price of fifty pounds, 
forty cents. It is ground fine and is just 
right for pigeons. It should be fed to the 
pis from a protected box in the squab- 
ouse, 
INSECT SPRAYER. Pigeons have a 
long feather louse which is not harmful. 
The mite which causes the only trouble is 
small, about the size of a pin-head, called 
the red mite, because after it has sucked 
the blood of the pigeon it is colored red. 
We have gone a whole season without seeing 
any of these mites in our breeding houses. 
If lice of this kind, or any kind, are discovered, 
the insect sprayer which we illustrate here 
will be found useful. The barrel is filled 
with kerosene (or water in which squab-fe-nol 
has been, poured) and a fine spray driven 
against the nest-boxes and nest-bowls. or 
even. against the birds. E 
These insect sprayers are well made of 
them for fifty cents 
heavy tin. We sel 
each. They cannot be mailed, but should 
be sent by express, or with other goods 
by freight. 
Birds which are lousy may be dusted 
under the feathers, next the skin, with any 
good lice powder, or with tobacco dust. 
The best time for such treatment is at night, 
when the birds may be readily caught and 
