76 Money in Broilers and Squabs, 



Always feed from a trough. 



Don't give more than they will eat up clean. 



Feed twice a day. In Summer, about 6.30 a. m., and 4.30 p. m 

 Winter, 7.30 a. m., and 3 p. m. 



As soon as the pigeons are given their food, close up the house? 

 and do not stand about or among the birds at feeding time, or they 

 may neglect the squabs and will not properly feed them. 



Do not tamper with the birds for an hour after being fed. 



One box, about the size of a small cigar box, should be filled 

 about a third full of fine table salt ; another with cracked oyster 

 shell ; and another with pulverized charcoal. Once a week replenish 

 the supply of each, as all three articles are invaluable in maintaining 

 good health. 



Each pen should be supplied with a feed trough about ten inches 

 wide, and four feet long — the sides being one and a half inches high. 

 This trough is placed in the centre of the room. 



Mr. Rice averages two scoopfuls of a mixture of cracked corn,, 

 wheat and peas as a morning allowance for fifty pairs of birds.. 



The evening feed is a mixture of cracked corn, Kafir corn, millet 

 and peas, equal parts. 



Twice a week — usually Thursdays and Sundays — hemp seed is 

 given in place of millet. Hemp and millet seeds must not be fed toc' 

 liberally, as they are of a very fattening nature. 



Always sift the cracked corn before feeding it. 



Squabs are fed by the parent birds. For about the first five- 

 days of their life, nature provides a food commonly termed "pigeon 

 milk" — a creamy substance contained in the crops of the pigeons,, 

 and which the parent bird ejects from its mouth into the mouths- 

 of the young. After that the parent carries grain to the young, and 

 administers in the same way. 



Mr. Rice says that at the present prices of grain, he has found 

 that it costs him about one-seventh of a cent a day for each bird, or 

 about fifty-two cents a year. His profits, with this feeding, have 

 been an average of one dollar and a half per pair, net. 



Fresh, pure, clean drinking water should be given daily in two- 

 gallon stone fountains (in Winter galvanized fountains are us^d,. 

 instead of the stone ones, as the latter are apt to crack from the- 

 water freezing). These fountains should be washed carefully each 

 morning before filled with fresh water. About twice a week place- 

 a piece of stone lime, about the size of a hickory nut, in each foun- 

 tain. About three times a month disinfect the fountains by using 

 ten dl-ops of carbolic acid in each two-gallon fountain. Mr. Rice 

 says it does no harm to allow the acid to remain in the water for the- 

 birds to drink that day. 



Mr. Rice's plan for a house for a novice, is as follows : 



Face the South, if possiole. 



Build to either of these sizes : 6x8 feet, 8x10 feet, or 10x12 feet,, 

 to accommodate from ten to twenty-five pairs. 



Have the back of the building four feet high ; the front six fec^,. 



