110 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE 



and keep them out of the air. Be sure and allow birds you dip 

 enough time to dry oJBE thoroughly before night. The sheep dip 

 will not dry as quickly as water and will give them a greasy, 

 dirty appearance for some time afterwards, but they will get 

 rid of it, however, by bathing in due course of time. 



If you have a large plant naturally it will require several days 

 to get through as you cannot work early in the morning or late 

 in the afternoon. But once you go through the plant as directed 

 you can feel certain that you have no more lice or mites to 

 contend with. 



CATS, RATS AND MICE 



Cats will eat squabs but can be kept out of the plant with 

 little trouble. The birds should be wired in, and anything that 

 will keep a pigeon in, will keep a cat out. The presence of cats 

 around the plant is an advantage as an enemy to rats and mice, 

 provided cats are kept out of the nest rooms and fly pens. Cats 

 that have been raised from kittens in a squab plant are not 

 liable to bother the squabs or breeders, especially so if they 

 are fed regularly. 



Rats are very destructive and their elimination is a problem 

 that all squab breeders have to solve. If a squab house has a 

 floor high enough off the ground fo permit cats or dogs to get 

 under, this will prevent rats from accumulating under the 

 floors. If no floor is used, a layer of cinders several Inches 

 or a foot thick can be put down in the bottom of a squab house 

 and then dirt or clay packed on top. Rats cannot bore in 

 cinders successfully, the sharp edges of the cinders are too 

 much for them. 



About the best plan is to dig a trench a few inches wide and 

 18 inches deep around the outer edge of the squab house. Then 

 nail a one-inch mesh wire to the lower edge of the squab house, 

 allowing the wire to extend down into the trench. Fill the trench 

 up with dirt and you have Mr. Rat barred from your place, 

 provided there are no holes above the ground that a rat can 

 enter through. 



This plan can be used with or without a floor, and with such 

 a' plan it is not necessary to build a squab house up off the 

 ground, which will permit you to bank up dirt around your 

 plant in the winter time to keep out the cold. Cold floors are 

 very bad for pigeons. 



