APPENDIX G 



315 



HOW TO TRAIN HOMERS 

 TO CARRY NEWS, by Alfred 

 Lloyd. To obtain best results 

 in condition and endurance in 

 the flying game regularity in 

 feeding and exercise is nec- 

 essary. We generally fly the 

 birds three times a day, about 

 thirty minutes to a fly, for a 

 week or so. After that we give 

 them one hour three times a 

 day. Our first toss would be 

 two miles; the second toss five 

 miles; the third, ten miles; the 

 fourth, twenty miles; the fifth, 

 thirty-five miles; the sixth, 

 fifty miles; the seventh, sev 

 enty-five miles, and the eighth, 

 one hundred miles . After that 

 the birds ou^ht to fly one- 

 hundred-mile jumps right up 

 to five hundred miles. 



Of course one might take a 

 bird from the loft and jump it 

 to five hundred miles and have 

 it come back, but it is simply 

 a chance. I jumped one my- 

 self from thirty-five to five hun- 

 dred miles, but it took five 

 days to get home. 



The above training applies 

 to mature birds, but for train- 

 ing yoimg birds it is different. 

 Young ones should not be flown 

 before the^ are three months 

 old, and it is better to wait tm- 

 til six months. There are more 

 Homers whose training begins at six months 

 than at three. Young Homers should not be 

 given more than a hundred-mile fly for the first 

 three tosses. The best way is, to give them 

 tosses of three, five, ten, fifteen and twenty- 

 five miles. After that, they can stand jumps 

 from twenty-five to one hundred miles. 



The picture on this page shows an opening 

 guarded with wires set where the window of 

 the squabhouse generally is, or at the end of 

 the flying pen. The bitrd pictured has just 

 completed a flight and is about to push the 

 wires further and drop down into the middle 

 of the coop. As soon as the bob wires move 

 out from a vertical position, the electric cir- 

 cuit is made by the contact breaker and the 

 electric bell rings to inform the owner that the 

 bird has arrived home. Two cells of dry 

 battery are shown in the picture, also the 

 electric bell. The battery and bell may be 

 set anywhere on the premises, even two 

 hundred feet away in the residence of the 

 owner, if desired. As soon as the bird has 

 dropped itrto the pen, the wires fall back to a 

 vertical position and the bell stops ringing. 

 A battery of two cells would cost fifty cents. 

 An electric bell costs about fifty cents. Tlie 

 wiring would cost half a dollar more. The 

 bob wires and frame cost about twenty-five 

 cents a wire. You can buy them with two, 

 four or six wires, etc. The whole outflt is in- 

 expensive, and is the source of much pleasure 



BOB WIRES WITH-ELECTRTCAL ATTACHMENT. 



and enpoyment. The bent wire and cord 

 shown in the picture are for the purpose of 

 raising all the bob wires by a pull from the 

 back of the scjuabhouse, so that the birds can 

 go out for their exercise. The cord is released 

 so that the bobs will drop and be in position 

 for tripping when the first bird comes home. 



HOUSE TO HOUSE CANVASS, by William 

 H. ■Woodruff. As we have no very large 

 quantity of squabs, our method has been to 

 make a house-to-house canvass for custom- 

 ers. This prevents creating demand without ^ 

 supply, as advertising would do. We have 

 sold squabs for over two years and have al- 

 ways received at least seventy cents a pair 

 to private trade. We shipped a dozen to 

 New York and got $2.55. From this express 

 charges were deducted. The best plan, es- 

 pecially with a small flock, is to build up and 

 hold a good private trade. 



SALT BAKED IN CANS, by A. L. Thomp- 

 son, I take a common empty tin fruit cati 

 and punch holes in the bottom for drainage, 

 then fill with salt, and dampen, after which 

 I put in the oven and bake hard. You can 

 put these cans in any place in the squaT>, 

 house and if you lay them on the side, the; 

 pigeons cannot soil the salt. One end of the 

 can is open, the other end closed. 



