SUPPLEMENT 123° 
‘time to do other work around a place. The 
writer finds it a snap to other occupations and 
one is his own boss and can go or come when 
he pleases, It is the business for a young 
man; he can advance as he saves money. 
‘There are some who commenced on a few 
dollars and by careful saving now operate 
plants of thousands of pairs of birds. 
“The larger the pigeon, the larger the 
squab, the higher the price. The breeding 
houses need not be heated artificially in 
winter as the birds can withstand any tem- 
perature and in cold weather sit upon their - 
youns until they. are feathered sufficiently 
to stand the cold.” 
ENLARGED HIS PLANT WiTH PROFITS. 
Experience of a Breeder who Made it Pay 
from the Begiuning. In Co cntry Life, a 
monthly megazine, one of the handsomest 
and hizhest-toned publications, the experience 
of a gentleman in squab raising gives the 
following facts: ‘‘Six years ago I did not 
have a bird, but I invested fifty dollars in 
urchasinz twenty-five pairs.of extra-choice 
omer pizeons, remode ing a poultry house 
for their accommodation. had kept pigeons 
for pleasure for five years, previously, and 
felt that I knew a little about them. In these 
six years I have not invested another dollar 
exceptinz the dollars the birds have earned, 
and my present establishment of five houses 
and fifteen hundred pigeons, which has 
cost me two thousand dollars, is all paid for. 
In aliiition, for the last three years, I have 
paid oat from five to seven dollars each week 
for the wazes of a helper, to dress the squabs 
and cleaa -ne houses, for my regular business 
wouli nt permit .ne to attend to these duties 
myself. - : 
“The cons2nsus of opinion of all experienced 
squab breeders stamps the Homer as the best 
pigeon for this purpose. This variety is 
stronz and vizorous; a hearty feeder and good 
worker; bright-eyed, alert, and active; 
stocky, symmetrical and full-breasted, which 
counts so much in squabs.* They are also 
proliic, and their squabs are full-feathered 
and fit for market in four weeks. 
“I was very fortunate in getting my first 
twenty-five pairs of birds. These were 
Homers, full-blooded, and had established 
records for flying, having taken first honors 
in several contests. S 
“They not only averaged me seven and 
one-half piirs of squabs a year, but stamped 
their vitality on the birds I have selected 
from their young. 
“As my profits accrued I purchased 
straizht Homer stock, picking from the best 
near-by breeders, as well as those of estab- 
lished reputation at a distance. | 
“T alwavs put a lot of new birds in a clean 
coop bv themselves, give generous supply 
of feed and water, and have plenty. of nesting 
materials in the coop. and if they have come 
from a distance put a good poultry powder 
in their feed fur-the first meal, and let them 
alone for a few days. If they are strong, 
healthy birds they ought soon to begin to 
carry materials and build nests. When nest 
building is fully under way I transter each 
mated pair to permanent breeding quarters. - 
When I find a pair of birds mated, 1 call my 
assistant and tell him which bird to keep his 
eyes on, and not to lose sight of it a single 
instant. At the same time | note the other 
bird and catch it. I pass the caught bird 
to the assistant. He points out the other 
bird and it is soon caught. I band all 
purchases as well as those I raise. z 
“My weekly expense for feeding my flock 
of fifteen hundred pigeons during the month 
of December, 1903, was eighteen dollars and 
thirty cents for the following: Three hundred 
pounds of cracked corn, three bushels each of 
wheat, peas and kaffir corn, one and one-half 
bushels of millet, one bushel of hemp and half 
a bushel of cracked rice. The rice I do not 
feed regularly, but give when the bird’s 
bowels are loose, for which condition it is an 
excellent. corrective. Feed is now much 
hizher than last year. 
“‘Pigeon-keeping for squabs may fitly be 
termed a twentieth-century industry, for 
only during the last five years has it -by its 
rapid development attained to the dignity of 
a special business. The business will surely 
still more increase during the first decade 
of this century. The price of squabs has been 
strongly maintained during the five years 
just passed, notwithstanding the marvelous 
increasein the business. The business furnishes 
a way by which either men or women (for 
many of the latter have successfully taken 
up squab raising) can embark in an enterprise 
which does not call for severe bodily exertion 
and which if intelligently managed will yield 
good dividends.” 
SQUAB RAISING ON THE FARM. 
Pigeons Kept in the Upper Part of Duck and 
Poultry Houses.—The following is from an 
article in the Country, Gentleman, entitled 
“A Combination Plant, Fruit, Bees, Fowls 
and Squabs’’: 
“For growing squabs some have separate 
houses, some use the lofts of old barns, and 
many are so constructing their poultry 
buildings as to have quarters for growing 
squabs in the second story of the poultry 
houses. This is gained by laying a flat roof 
on top of the poultry house, on top of this 
a double thickness of tar paper well coated 
with hot tar, with a board floor laid over it. 
This provides the floor for the pigeon house, 
the roof for the poultry house, and makes it 
absolutely vermin proof both ways. A large 
duck grower of our acquaintance has squab 
houses of this character built over his duck 
brooder houses and his poultry houses. 
Several thousand pairs of breeding pigeons 
are kept in this way, with a hanging outdoor 
flying aviary for the pigeons. When it has been 
successful on so large a scale, smaller growers 
need not hesitate in adopting such a plan. 
