GETTING STARTED RIGHT 29 



it will not be necessary for you to buy enough pairs to fill 

 your plant, for you can allow young birds to accumulate 

 until you have a full supply of breeders. You will not save 

 as much, however, on this method as you might anticipate, for 

 the reason that if you start to selling squabs immediately you 

 can make enough money from the sale of squabs in six months' 

 time to buy additional breeding stock, and the birds that you 

 raise will not go to work much before eight or ten months 

 depending upon the time of the year they are hatched. So from 

 a financial standpoint, it is practically just as well, or it might 

 be better to buy all your breeders outright, and not depend upon 

 raising breeding stock, as this is a branch of the business that 

 requires special knowledge to handle successfully. 



All birds that you might raise would not be good breeders. 

 You would undoubtedly have more males than females, nnd the 

 expense of feeding the youngsters from the time they left the 

 nest until they mate and go to work, added to the extra expense 

 of care, and the loss due to an excess of males, will be about as 

 much as new stock \\ould cost, taking in consideration what 

 you could have received for the birds had you sold them as 

 squabs. 



Some ol the largest squab l)reeders in the country buy enough 

 breiding stock annual!)' to replace the birds that have outlived 

 their usefulness, rather than to go to the trouble and expense 

 of r:iisiiii; their own br.H-iling stock. Such men figure that they 

 are in the squab business solely and make the most out of that 

 branch of the industry. 



RAISING SQUABS FOR HOME CONSUMPTION 



More and more each >ear, as people become more familiar 

 with raising squabs and the value of squab meat becomes better 

 known, small sqviab plants are being established by many who 

 do not en'ter the business from the money making standpoint, 

 hut merely for supplying squabs for their own use. 



There are many people who are situated so they can not raise 

 chickens and so have never given thought to the idea, that they 

 might have a few pigeons, as they require no yard or range as 

 chickens do. They are not offensive or objectionable, and a few 

 pairs can be kept by almost anyone living in a city, even in a flat 

 where the ground space and back yard is limited. 



