1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 
HIS FRIEND PURCHASED 12 PAIRS OF US THREE YEARS AGO, IS NOW SHIPPING 
SQUABS FROM 300 PAIRS AND CLEARED $1000 LAST YEAR, A HIRED MAN DOING THE 
ORK. You tiave been recommended to me by a friend who three years ago purchased 12 
pairs of Homers from you and he has to-day 300 pairs and cleared $1000 last year without any 
labor on his part. He simply instructed a common laborer. : 
Iam very much interested in squab raising, I am now attending the Iowa State College of 
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, I live in Chicago and it seems to me that would be a good 
market. The first six months I intend to raise for breeding purposes, and then if J succeed 
can put $200 or $300 more in squab raising. Do you consider this plan practical as I have 
outlined it?—G. C., Iowa. 
Answer. Remarkable successes are being made by customers of ours who started with 12 
pairs to 50 pairs and raised up their own birds. -It is not wise, however, to start with less than 
12 pairs of birds, unless your stock of patience is large and you can stand waiting for two or 
three years before getting returns for your money. The trouble with beginners who have 
failed is that they have tried to do too much too fast. 
RATS AND DIARRHOEA. As I am sure 
you are very good authority on the pigeon 
question, being +t in the business and 
revolutionizing it, [hope you will not count it 
amiss or intruding for me to appeal to you (to 
use court language) for help and advice. We 
have lots of mice in our piveon house. What 
could one use or do to kill or frighten them 
away with perfect safety? he second 
troublesome thing’is what I call the shivers. 
The pigeons get.to shaking violently and seem 
to lose nearly all interest in everything. 
Your birds beat anything we have from else- 
where at most every “turn,” I might say. 
Indeed, some we have from another near by 
who gave us a written guarantee “ for health, 
good workers, heavy squabs, no canker and 
all mated birds,” proved in nearly every 
instance a sham, for they were not even mated 
except a few pairs, out of a hundred pairs, and 
died right along, and they were not mated for 
overa year after they came. | 
Yours are tame also, they will eat out of our 
hands. I think those  broad-shouldered, 
thick-legged_blue (with black broad bars over 
wings) are very good ones, v 
nice breeders from them. A friend of ours at 
Marlton, New Jersey, spoke of getting nice 
birds of you. I have made interesting visits 
among the pigeon keepers in New Jersey. — 
Miss M. H. B., Pennsylvania. 
Answer. Rats and mice, as we have ex- 
plained so many times, must be kept out by 
elevating the building. IE it is impossible to 
do this, take one-inch mesh wire netting and 
bury it completely in the dirt floor, six inches 
deep. At the sides and corners bring it up 
above the sills of the building and fasten it 
with staples. This will give you a wire-net- 
ting carpet for your squab house (buried six 
inches under the ground), and through this 
barrier it is impossible for rats or mice to get. 
It is a hard task to exterminate them by 
poison or aa after they have once got in to 
an improperly-arranged place, and if_you 
succeed they are bound to come again, Do it 
right by elevating your building or burying 
wire netting and that will end the bother, | 
What this customer calls the shivers is 
diarrhoea caused by feeding too much wheat. 
' dozen, plucked, bled, empty crops. 
We raised some’ 
_TWO PAIRS ONLY. Iam going into the 
squab industry in a very small way to raise 
a few birds for our own use and find a pleasur- 
able occupation as an aside. I shall later 
want a few pairs of your birds. I bought 
some time ago ten pairs of another company, 
‘but so far am sure of only two pairs in the lot 
and Pe uae ees me no little trouble.— 
Rev. G. B, L., Vermont. 
NINE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS TO THE 
DOZEN AND SOLD FOR FOUR DOLLARS. 
Will you kindly inform me to whom to write 
about disposing of pigeon droppings. I made 
the first sale of squabs last week. They 
weighed nine and one-half pounds to the 
I received 
yous dollars for them. How is that?—F. H.S., 
io. 
GENERAL VERDICT. Please send me 
addresses of New York squab dealers. I 
received the three pairs of Extra Plymouths; 
all were in fine condition. My friends all say 
they never saw a nicer lot of Homers. I also 
thank you for the prompt shipment. I 
expect to ‘send for another lot in about a 
month.—J. B. S., Pennsylvania. 
SQUABS TWO WEEKS OLD WEIGHING 
THREE-QUARTERS OF A POUND IN 
COLO 0. Birds ordered of you some 
days ago reached me in pretty fair shape, 
with the exception of one male dead. Thank 
you for your splendid treatment to my order. 
Squabs from the: first lot at two_ weeks 
weighed three-quarters of a pound. How is 
that? Will return baskets in a few days.— 
J. F..B., Colorado. 
BEST BOOK ON BIRDS HE EVER READ. 
I received your Manual and find it just 
what you say. It is the best book on birds I 
ever read. i have a large plant of common 
pigeons but since I read your hook I have 
built one of the prettiest pigeon houses and: 
flying pens in which to put the pigeons I am 
ordering of you to-day, If your birds are 
as fine as you say I will get rid of all my 
common pigeons.—C,. E. G., North Carolina. 
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 
195 
