SUPPLEMENT 



117 



handled. It is also a grpod idea to throw a 

 pinch o£ tobacco dust in the nest, on and 

 around the squabs, about once a month during 

 the summer. 



Lice are the terror of chicken raisers, but 

 we never knew a squab raiser, if intelligent, to 

 be troubled very much or very long with lice. 



Once free oi lice, the birds almost in- 

 variably keep themselves clean. It is only 

 the loft where cleaning is badly neglected 

 which is troubled with lice. 



There \s a light-colored grub which some- 

 times forms in the manure on the bottom 

 of the nest-box, but no trouble comes from 

 it and it does not get on the bird. 



RED AND WHITE WHEAT. It is. im- 

 possible for us to tell what is the difference 

 between red and white wheat. We do not 

 know the chemical constituents which color 

 one kernel red and another variety white. 

 This question is asked us by inquirers who 

 have never heard of red wheat, yet it is a 

 common and staple variety of wheat quoted 

 daily in the Chicago and other grain markets. 

 If you cannot get red wheat where you live, 

 feed white wheat, which is fed regularly by 

 nine-tenths of our customers. As we say 

 in the Manual, we feed red wheat instead 

 of white wheat because it is not so much 

 of a laxative. When we cannot ^et red 

 wheat, which happens at some periods of 

 some years, we feed white wheat. 



The effect of wheat is to keep the bowels 

 of the birds open and regular. ^ There is 

 not much fattening substance in wheat. 

 That function is performed by com. 



Biris fed on wheat and nothing else get 

 so weak that _ they do no breeding. We 

 have found this out by the experience of 

 customers. Now and then a customer buys 

 birds without thinking that they must eat 

 to live. After he has got them he suddenly 

 recalls that they must be fed and starts out 

 to find something. We recall vividly one 

 Kansas customer of this kind who was induced 

 by some grain man to buy a lot of wheat 

 and nothing else. After feeding his birds 

 nothing but wheat for two weeks, he wrote 

 us that they were dumpy and showing no 

 inclination to btiild nests. "They are all 

 the time on the floor,*' he wrote, "and cannot 

 fly." He had made them so weak by feeding 

 the wheat that they could not fly to their 

 nest-boxes, to say nothing of building nests. 



USE OF LEG BAND OUTFIT. The 



aluminum which we sell with our leg band 

 outfit is seamless tubing and by the use of 

 the outfit you produce a band which is 

 seamless and which can be applied only 

 to a squab, because, of course, the feet of an 

 old pigeon are too large to be squeezed through 

 the band as a squab s can be squeezed. To 

 make an open band (which can be applied 

 to the leg of a full-grown pigeon) out of the 

 closed band, you simply make a saw-cut 

 lengthwise the band, then open the band 



with your fingers, put it around the leg of 

 the pigeon, then close the band again. If 

 any one has old pigeons which he wishes to 

 band, he will, find this band outfit quite as 

 serviceable as if used only for banding squabs. 

 We have sold thousands of these band out- 

 fits, and customers like them first-rate. 

 We can furnish open bands (to be applied 

 to the legs of fuU-grown pigeons) made of 

 aluminum, V-shaped jomt, each band 

 ntmibered, a first-class band in every way, 

 for one cent each, or one dollar for one 

 himdred, postage paid. 



MANAGEMENT OF BATH PANS. The 

 sixteen-inch bath pan which we recommend 

 and sell is better than a larger size, no matter 

 what the capacity of your ^lant. It is 

 easier emptied of water, there is less strain 

 on the arms, and it is kept clean easier. 



There should be one bath pan for every 

 twelve pairs of birds. If you have about 

 48 pairs of birds in each unit, you should 

 have four bath-pans in that unit, outside 

 in the flying pen. You can get along very 

 well with one drinking fountain to a unit 

 with that number of birds, or a less number 

 of birds, but if you do not have bath pans 

 enough the bathing water will get dirtier 

 than it should and the birds should not be 

 given an opportunity to drink this dirty 

 water. 



In the winter, when the birds are shut 

 up in the squab-house frequently for days 

 at a time, it is not necessary to bathe them 

 every day. Bathe them once each week, 

 taking the bath pans into the squab-house 

 and letting the pans stand before them for 

 about an hour. If you let the water stand 

 in the bath pans in the squab-house in tL^ 

 winter time all day, they will splash t^a 

 much out onto the floor, and the house n*>' 

 get damp. 



If your plant is a small one, the best ws 

 for you to manage is this: At ^ evening 

 (sunset, sometimes before) your birds will 

 all leave the flying pen for their nests and 

 perches inside. Then fill the bath pans with 

 water. When the following day dawns, and 

 before you are up, the pigeons will fiy out and 

 take a bath. When you get up, go to your 

 pigeons and empty the bath pans, turning 

 them bottom side up and leaving them that 

 way all day. 



KILLING WITH A KNIFE. Some dealers 

 in squabs wish them to be killed with a knife 

 as this gets out the blood and makes the 

 flesh somewhat whiter. Find out whether 

 or .not the man to whom you are going to 

 sell the squabs wants them bled. The way 

 to kill them with a knife is to insert the 

 knife inside the bill and cut the jugular vein. 

 Then hang up the squab bill downward and 

 let the blood drain out. By using the knife 

 on the inside of the throat you do not make 



