212 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE 



ber of units that are to be in each house should be taken into 

 consideration and planned at the start according to the ground 

 space available, size of plant desired and other surroundings. 

 A squab house with more than twelve units is inconvenient, as 

 it places the center units too far from the points of entrance and 

 the exits. With a twelve unit house it should be divided with 

 six units on each side, leaving a space in the center between the 

 two divisions of at least four feet for a passageway between. 



A good plan is to divide a twelve-section house by leaving a 

 space of about 6 or 8 feet betvsjeen them. Put a roof .over same 

 and board up the front and back, thereby making a little room 

 at this point. A door should then be placed in the front and 

 back of this little room to afford a passageway and making it 

 unnecessary to go clear around the house in order to get from 

 the front to the back of it or vice versa. 



Any number of houses with several sections of 12 units each, 

 can be built one in front of the other, leaving a space of about 

 20 feet between each row of houses, which will provide 12 feet 

 for a fly pen, one foot for a drinking trough, and leave enough 

 room to drive a wagon through between, the front of the fiy pen 

 and the next house if desired. However, if ground is not avail- 

 able or scarce, the houses can be placed 16 feet, apart, which 

 will leave ample room for a passageway between the fly pen 

 and house in front of same. 



Each of these rows of houses shoiild be divided into sections 

 of six nest rooms each, with a space betvveen as m.entioned 

 above, and it is best to make these spaces 6 or 8 feet wide and 

 close them in as rooms. Any number of such littje rooms will 

 be very useful for feed, nesting material, picking rooms and 

 various other purposes. ' • 



A ten unit nest room divided into sectioris, 5 on each side, 

 with a space between, makes a very practical squab house, and 

 5 of these 10 unit buildings would take up a space of 90x170 feet, 

 which would accommodate 2,000 pairs of birds. i 



PREPARING GROUND FOR SQUAB PLANT:; 



A location should be selected that will be convenient to water, 

 where feed can be hauled to the plant in a wagon, and while 

 it is not advisable to build too close to your residence, yet the 



