APPENDIX F 245 
they are no longer squabs, but have trained off their fat and become young 
pigeons. Squabs in the nest boxes do not walk around like these because 
pe realize that they are somewhat weak and will not take the flight to the 
oor. 
It is troublesome when cleaning to avoid some nests on the floor. When 
the young birds leave the nest boxes above they are quite helpless and will 
rest on the floor. The old birds which have built their nests on the floor 
ne peck the young birds and give them no rest. The cocks especially will 
o this. 
A customer has found out a way which he has had in use for some time 
to keep pairs off the floor and induce them to build in the nest boxes. When 
he finds a new nest on the floor, che lets the hen lay both eggs there and sit 
on them for one or two days. Then he makes a nest box about twelve inches 
square and six inches high and places the nest, eggs and all, into this box 
and allows the nest box to stand on the floor of the squab house in the same 
spot where he found the original nest. He reports that nine times out of 
ten the hen will sit on the nest as before. He lets her sit on the eggs for 
three or four days more, then he takes the nest box, eggs and all, and screws 
or nails it to the side wall as near as possible to the spot where the nest was 
on the floor. Sometimes he raises the nest box from the floor a small distance 
at a time, one inch one day, another inch the following day. He says that 
although this is quite a trouble it seems to break the hen of the habit of 
building on the floor and the next time she is more than likely to build the 
nest off the floor. 
A PLAN TO GET RID OF RATS AND MICE. 
One of our customers gives us the following idea: Make a rough table 
of matched board with joists for legs, about three and one-half or four feet 
high and the same shape as the feed box, only have it three feet longer and 
three feet wider. This will allow for a platform 18 inches wide around the 
feed box for the birds to stand on and eat the grain; next make a rim, high 
enough so that when the pigeons are getting grain they will not scatter any 
on the floor. Do not be afraid of having the rim too high, eight inches will 
be all right. Have this eight-inch rim all around. The last thing is to buy 
some smooth, glassy tin plate and wrap a piece around each leg. It is not 
necessary to cover the whole leg, 12 to 18 inches will be enough. This will 
make it impossible for rats or mice to climb up over the tin and eat the 
grain. The legs should be 18 inches or two feet high. 
Another way to manage instead of using the tin is to put the feed box up 
on a platform and support this platform with four legs made of iron pipe. 
Generally there is a joint in the tin, and some mice may run up a joint or 
seam of this kind, putting their feet into the crack in the seam. If you use 
iron pipe to support the platform it will be impossible for the rats or mice 
to climb up this iron pipe to the feed box. You should use four pieces of 
Piping, one at each corner. 
Fite is another way to clean out the mice: Take a small tight box, say 
six inches by six inches in size. Bore an inch or two-inch hole at one side 
near the bottom, put in a handful of feathers or cotton. and lay the box on 
the floor in a secluded part of the squab house. In about two weeks go to 
the box quietly in the daytime, put your hand over the hole, and carry the 
box to a barrel or tub half full of water. The mice will jump out faster 
