APPENDIX G 



399 



I SHIP SQUABS FROM KANSAS TO 

 COLORADO, by Frank Hucht. I started four 

 years ago in the business. I did not know 

 anything about the pigeon industry but have 

 learned something since. The first Homers I 

 saw were in our town, shipped from the East, 

 one-half dozen pairs. They were fine birds, 

 and I liked them very much. I stocked up 

 with Plymouth Rock Homers. My start was 

 in an old bam almost ready to fall down. It 

 did not take very long when my second room 

 was filling up. I talked the matter over with 

 n.y wife in regard to building a squabhouse, 

 but she would not listen to me at first and 

 told me I had better sell those old pigeons and 



fet back what money I had spent on the birds 

 had. I had quite a time to convince my 

 wife that there was money in raising squabs. 

 I began selling a few dozen every week, and 

 got S2.50 and $3 a dozen for them. My wife 

 was well pleased with that, and I convinced 

 her of the fact and built a house sixty feet 

 long, fourteen feet wide,' with three-foot aisle, 

 -self feeders in every unit. I then had only 

 one hundred pairs and had four units to go on. 

 I sent for one hundred pairs more Homers. 

 That made the house fill up some. A year 

 ago I bought other property in town, which 

 gave me more room. I moved my sixty-foot 

 building to this place and added sixty feet to 

 it, which makes the present structure one hun- 

 dred twenty feet long. (See photograph on 

 opposite page.) 



My principal feed is com and kafiir com, 

 millet and wheat. I have kaffir com in self 

 feeders at all times. The other grains I throw 

 on fioor, I also feed heinpseed and peas with 

 plenty of grit. I have now five hundred mated 

 pairs of Homers and some youngsters, and also' 

 Cameaux. 



I ship all of my squabs to Colorado. I dry- 

 pick them in the winter and in the summer 

 months I ship them alive. The market West 

 in the summer is not as good as it has been. I 

 received $2.50 and $3.00 a dozen for them 

 F. O. B. Denver, which I considered a fair 

 market. I got as high as $3.75 for them. 



Let members of the association, when they 

 go shopping, inquire the prices of squabs, as if 

 they intended buying a pair or a dozen. Mail 

 us the dealer's fi^l name and address, date and 

 price quoted. 'Xliese figures would give the 

 true retail prices. Then the wholesale prices 

 will be from twenty-five to fifty per cent less. 

 It has been true, is true now, and will be true, 

 that nobody can be guided successfully by 

 printed quotations, but must find out first what 

 Ms squabs cost him per dozen, then add what 

 he desires for a profit and seU at that figure. 

 'Otherwise nothing but failure will result. 



\ 



I had a dirt floor in my pigeon house, think- 

 ing it a necessity, but after I put in a floor of 

 two-inch plank and raised my house about 

 two feet off the ground I raised squabs with 

 ease and rapidity. Dampness was the cause, 

 produced by the dirt floor. — Charles A. Tupper, 

 New York. 



NON-FLAKING WHITEWASH. To pre- 

 pare whitewash for fences, buildings, shop 

 mtenors, etc., that will not flake and fall off, 

 mix one part fine Portland cement with about 

 eight gallons whitewash. The cement binds 

 th« whitewash to the wood and makes a per- 

 manent covering which is unaffected by weather 

 conditions. The sm^ll quantity of cement used 

 and the constant stirring necessary to keep the 

 whitewash in good condition for applying, pre- 

 vents the cement hardening in lumps at the 

 bottom of the pail, as might be expected. 



I have been in the habit of robbing the Car- 

 neaux nests twice in succession, allowing the 

 old birds to hatch the third pair of eggs. I had 

 robbed a certain pair twice and as the third 

 pair of eggs was laid on the floor in an undesir- 

 able place, I determined to rob them a third 

 time. It seemed pretty hard, but I considered 

 it best all rotmd, so it was done. Nine days 

 later pair of eggs number four appeared, this 

 time in _ a nestbox. They were allowed to 

 hatch this pair (strong, healthy chaps they are, 

 too) and — ■ here's where the speed comes in — 

 just seven days after these youngsters were 

 hatched, the hen laid again. These eggs were 

 removed to a Homer pair as usual. It has now 

 been four days since the second egg was laid 

 and I am eagerly waiting to see how long it will 

 take this fine little egg machine to produce 

 again. I call this rapid work and if any one 

 has a breed of birds which can go ahead of it, 

 I should like to hear from him.— George N, 

 Rogers, Maryland. 



I am glad to say that the reason we are 

 getting a price of ninety cents per pair for 

 Plymouth Rock squabs is on account of the 

 quality of the squabs we raise from breeders 

 which were purchased from you. We sell to a 

 private trade who were accustomed to cold 

 storage stock and when they got our squabs 

 they certainly praised the quality. The first 

 lot of squabs we sold was at a price of sixty-five 

 cents per pair because they were sold before 

 they were four weeks old and we were afraid 

 that they would not come up to our expecta- 

 tions and quality desired, as they were for a 

 well-to-do family. After we found out that 

 they did meet with satisfaction we increased 

 our price to ninety cents a pair, which is our 

 present price. We intend to increase this to 

 one dollar per pair for squabs that weigh 

 about nine pounds to the dozen. We have more 

 orders for squabs than we can supply at pres- 

 ent. — Alvin F. Simon, Michigan. {February 

 15, 1916) 



I purchased my Homers from your plant some 

 two years ago, and I have bred them tmder the 

 most adverse circumstances. ' I wish to state 

 that after looking at several plants in this town 

 my pigeons are just a little bit the best looking, 

 and if I can get these other pigeons from your 

 place, would be delighted to do so. — ^H. G. 

 Cooper, Louisiana. 



