ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY

New York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS

AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

JAMES E. RICE
MEMORIAL
POULTRY LIBRARY

The national standard squab book.A pract

Ex_mMeR C. Rice.

THE

National Standard
Squab Book.

A PRACTICAL MANUAL GIVING COMPLETE AND PRECISE DIRECTIONS
FOR THE INSTALLATION AND MANAGEMENT OF
A SUCCESSFUL SQUAB PLANT.

*

HOW TO MAKE A PIGEON AND SQUAB BUSINESS PAY. DETAILS OF
BUILDING, BUYING, HABITS OF BIRDS, MATING, WATER-
ING, FEEDING, KILLING, COOLING, MARKETING,
SHIPPING,’ ctRING AILMENTS, ETC.

By ELMER C. RICE.

_
—

Illustrated with New Sketches, and Half Tone Plates from
Photographs Specially Made for this Work.

i
%

BOSTON, MASS.
1904.

yal

ae

Yo7
‘eae
IPo4

E16960

Copyricut, 1902, By Eimer C, Rice.
CoryricuT, 1903, By Eumer C. Rice.
CopyrienT, 1904, By Etmer C. Rice.

All rights reserved.

A Wett-Buitt Nest.

Ny

Preface.

This Manual or Handbook on squabs is written to teach people, begin-
hers mostly, not merely how to raise squabs, but how to conduct a squab
and pigeon business successfully. We have found breeders of squabs who
knew ‘how to raise them fairly well and took pleasure in doing so, but
were weak on the business end of the iadustry. The fancier, who raises
animals because he likes their looks or their actions, or because he hopes
to beat some other fancier at an exhibition, is not the man for whom we
have written this book. We have developed Homer pigeons and the
Homer pigeon industry solely because they are staples, and the squabs
they produce are staples, salable in any market at a remunerative price.
The success of squabs as we exploit them depends on their earning capac-
ity. They are a matter of business. Our development of squabs is based
on the fact that they are good eating, that people now are in the habit of
asking for and eating them, that there is a large traffic in them which may
be pushed to an enormous extent without weakening either the market or
the price. If, as happens in this case, pigeons are a beautiul pet stock as
weil as money makers, so much the better, but we never would breed any-
thing not useful, salable merely as pets. It is just as easy to pet a prac-
tical animal as an impractical animal, and much more satisfying.

This Manual is the latest and most comprehensive work we have done,
giving the results of our experience as fully and accurately as we can pre-
sent the subject. It is intended as an answer to the hundreds of letters we
receive, and we have tried to cover every point which a beginner or an
expert needs to know. It is a fault of writers of most guide books like
this to leave out points which they think are too trivial, or ‘‘which every-
body ought to know.” It has been our experience in handling this subject
and bringing it home to people that the little points are the ones on which
they quickest go astray, and on which they wish the fullest information.
After they have a fair start, they are able to think out their operations
for themselves. Accordingly we have covered every point in this book in
simpie language and if the details in some places appear too common-
place, remember that we have erred on the side of plainness.

The customers to whom we have sold breeding stock have been of great
help to us in arranging and presenting these facts. We asked them to
tell us just the points they wished covered, or covered more fully, or just
where our writings were weak. They replied in a most kindly way, nearly
every letter thanking us heartily, and brimming over with enthusiasm for
the squab industry.

It has surprised a great many people to learn that Homer pigeons are
such a staple and workable article. They have been handled by the old

(s)

6 National Standard Squab Book.

methods for years without their great utility being made plain. When we
first learned about squabs, we were struck by the impressive fact that
here was something which grew to market size in the incredible time of
four weeks and then was marketed readily at a good profit. The spread
of that knowledge will make money for you. Show your neighbors the
birds you buy of us, and tell them the facts, and perhaps give them a
squab to eat, then you will find a quick call for all the live breeders you
can supply.

The procedure which we advise in this National Standard Squab Book
is safe and sound, demonstrated to be successful ‘by hundreds of our cus-
tomers, many of whom started with no knowledge except what we were
able to give them by letter or word of mouth. We have abandoned all
instruction which does not stand the test of time and locality and give
only facts of proven value, of real, practical experience.

ELMER C. RICE.

Boston, August, 1902.

POSTSCRIPT.

This work has met with so much favor during the past year, and has
sold so largely, in excess of expectations, that we wish to thank our
friends everywhere for their cordial support. The Appendix A which
appears at the back of this edition was added last February, and it is
our intention to keep the work up to date by revisions and additions at
least twice yearly. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the
proof of these squab teachings is shown in the successes made by our
thousands of customers with no other knewledge of squabs than this as
a guide. Our correspondence, now having extended over a long period,
shows conclusively that beginners find all questions answered in this book,
and go forward confidently and surely to success.

E. C. R.

Boston, August, 1903.

Squabs Pay . .

An Easy Start . * «

The Unit House

The Nappies and Nests .

Water and Feed

Laying and Hatching

Increase of Flock

Killing and Cooling .

The Markets

Pigeons’ Ailments
g'

Getting Ahead

Questions and Answers

Contents,

PAGE.

CHAPTER I,

CuHaprTer II.
air ase . . . . 13

Cuapter III,
o . . . . 27

CHAPTER IV,
: . . . . 31

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI,

CuHapTer VII.

e.g. Se ges er Se ae gg

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX,

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI,

CHAPTER XII.

THOROUGHBREDS.

Rational Standard Squab Book.

CHAPTER I.
SQUABS PAY.

Experience of a Customer who Started in January, 1902, Erected a Plant
Worth $3,000 and Made Money Almost from the Start—Settlements
of Squab Breeders in Iowa, California, New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania—Large Incomes Made from Pigeons—Squab Plants Kuown to
‘be Making Money—The Hard Working Farmer and the Easy Work-
ing Squab Raiser—No Occupation for a Drone—No Exaggeration.

“Will it pay me to raise squabs?” is the first question which the be-
ginner asks. We take the case of a man who bought a Manual in January,
1902. His boys had kept a few pigeons but had never handled them in a
commercial way, nor tried to make any money with them. The reading
of the book gave him the first real light on the squab industry. Possibly
he was more ready to believe because he knew from his own personal ex-
perience that a squab grows to market size in four weeks and is then
readily marketable. Anyway, he started at once to build a squab house
according to the directions given. The ground was too hard for him to
get a pickaxe into, so he laid the foundation timbers on bricks, rushed
the work ahead with the help of good carpenters and sent on his order for
breeding stock. In the course of a few weeks he ordered a second lot of
breeders, followed by a third and a fourth, and he kept adding new build-
ings. When spring came and the ground softened, he jacked up his first
squab house, took out the bricks at the four corners and put in cedar
posts. By the middle of July he had five handsome squab houses and fly-
ing pens, all built by skilled labor in the best possible style at a cost of at
least $300 apiece. With his buildings and their fittings and his birds, his
plant now (August, 1902) stands for an expenditure of between $2,000 and
$3,000. His next move, this fall, will be to buy a farm where he can have
more room, and which will be auxiliary to his present plant.

This gentleman lives in a locality where he had to put up nice-looking
buildings, or the neighbors would have complained. He spent probably
three times more money on his buildings than the average beginner would
spend. He is a superintendent of a large manufacturing plant, a man of
push and energy, and he has four young boys in his family who have
helped with the wife and grandfather to make the venture successful. It
has been a paying venture almost from the very start. Everything that
we wrote about squabs as money makers came true in his case. One of

(9)

10 National Standard Squab Book.

the sous, a lad of nineteen, came on to see us in August and told us the
story of their success. He was after more breeding stock. He said he
had many calls from people who wished to buy stock of him, and he was
unable to supply all of them, but he did not intend to have money offered
him very long without being able to pass out the birds. In other words,
they were going into squabs for all they were worth. They had uot done
any advertising, and had not sold live breeders to any extent, but figured
their profits solely on the sale of squabs to commission houses, and they
were getting for them just what we said the commission men would pay.

Now if a well-to-do superintendent, filled with no desperate idea of
making squabs pay, can start with no experience, throw out money freely
like that and depend on his boys mostly to push the venture ahead, all
the while attending to a very large business, then we say that you can do
it too, uo matter who you are or where you live.

We have a great many visitors, some coming from remote points of the
United States. One of our visitors in the summer of 1902 was Mr. A. L.
Furlong, from a little town in Iowa. Mr. Furlong said to us: “Iowa is
quite a squab-breeding state. ‘here are plants in Ruthven, Osage, Wal-
lake and Estherville. The owner of a plant in Ruthven I know very well.
He showed me his account books; he was shipping from $700 to $800
worth of squabs last month. He is making a profit of $3,000 to $5,000 a
year. He ships to the Chicago market, as do nearly all the Iowa breeders.
He never gets less than $2.50 a dozen for his squabs. I am going to start
raising squabs myself.”

Mr. Furlong left an order for one of our Manuals, having given his first
one to his friend. He said that his friend was breeding common pigeons
and would like to know our methods. We discarded common pigeons some
time ago. If our Iowa friends will use Homer pigeons instead of common
ones, they will produce a much better squab and make more money.

We had a curious confirmation of the above in August, 1902, when Mr.
BE. H. Grice, who lives in the northern part ef Vermont, visited us. Mr.
Grice had just returned from a visit to the West, and stopped for a while
at Ruthven, Iowa, where he saw the plant above noted. The proprietor
referred Mr. Grice to us and advised him to start with Homer pigeons,
saying ‘that if he were to stock up again, it would be with Homer instead
of the common pigeons. Before leaving, Mr. Grice gave us an order for
100 pairs of our Homers.

The number of orders for breeding stock which we have received from
Iowa is out of proportion to any state near it, showing that these squab
plants are known throughout Iowa to be making money. The same is true
of California, also Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In the country around
Millville, Mauricetown aud Dividing Creek, all in the southern part of
New Jersey are hundreds of squab plants. The reason is that it has
spread from mouth to mouth there that there is big money in raising these
dainties. There are more squab breeders in eastern Pennsylvania and
southern New Jersey than there are chicken breeders. We went through

National Standard Squab Book. It

that territory in June, 1902, noting the buildings and methods of the squab
vaisers there and finding out from them if they were satisfied with the
finaicial returns. All were enthusiastic and said it was easy work, that
squabs beat bens easily and were much less care. The methods of some
of these breeders were extremely crude, the birds nesting in old boxes of
all sizes: nailed to the walls of the squab houses, and apparently never
being cleaned. With no reflection on the squab raisers of Jersey, but in
order to demonstrate our point that the work is. easy, we want to say
that the typical breeder in that country as we saw him was seated a good
part of the time on an old soap box, in or near his squab house, smoking
a pipe and taking life easy, with plenty of time to talk or read. Some-
‘body has said that a squab plant of 1,000 pairs of birds will pay better
than a farm. The contrast between the hard, grinding toil of the
man who works a large farm and the “standing around’ of the owner of
a squab plant is indeed a striking one. However, we do not speak of this to
give you the idea that money is going to flow into your lap just because
you buy some squab breeders of us. It is no work for a drone or 9 “get-
rich-quick’’ person whose enthusiasm runs riot for two weeks and then
cools off. Our class of trade is men and women of experience and reliable
common sense who have a knowledge of the world and understand that
things come by work and not for the asking. The people who are able and
willing to pay us from $50 to $500 for a breeding outfit, as hundreds do,
are not caught by glittering promises, but have money laid by through
exercise of the qualities of ability and shrewdness. The naturally care-
iess, improvident person, who is generally in debt, should not start squab
raising. It is a sensible industry for sensible people.

‘YNodotg dod uaxig ai avy duvy MovgG Vv «woj{

CHAPTER II.
AN EASY START.

No Special Form of Building Necessary—Points to Remember—Shelter
Adapted to the Climate—How to Use a Building Which You Now
Have—Squab House and Mying Pen—Lining the Squab House with
Nests—Use of Egg Crates—How to Fut Up the Perches—Difference
Between the Nest Box, Nest Pan and Nest—How to Tell How
Many Pigeons Can Occupy a Certain Building—A Large Flock of
Pigeons is as Hasily Cared for as a Small Flock—How to Use Your
Time to Best Advantage.

Do not get the idea that any special form of building is necessary to
raise squabs. We will tell you how to put up a structure that will make
your work easier for you, and enable you to handle a big flock fast and
accurately, but pigeons will work in almost any place, if it is free from
rats, darkness and the musty dampness which goes with darkness. Any
builcing, whether a woodshed, a corn crib, a barn, an outhouse of any
description, or even a hog pen, can be made a successful home for
pigeons with a little work.

The points to remember are these, first, that the building be on fairly
level, sunny ground: second, that it be raised from the ground so that
rats cannot ‘breed undcr it out of sight and reach; third, that it ought to
be fairly tight, so as to keep out rain and excessive cold. Pigeons ought
to have sunlight and fresh air, like any other animal, and need protection
from the elements. ;

In practice, therefore, most squab houses are found raised on posts a
foot or two feet off the ground; they face the south (here in New Eng-
land) because most of our bitter weather comes from the north and east.
If you live in a state, territory or foreign country where conditions are
different, adapt your squab houses to those conditions. In some localities,
the fierce weather comes from the South and West, in which case your
squab house should face the North or East.

Here in New England we build a tight house to withstand the cold
winters, but in the South the buildings are more open. Be guided by
what you see around you in the place where you live. If the houses used
by your friends and neighbors for hens and chickens are tight and warm,
make your squab house tight and warm. It would be foolish for you, for
example, if you live in Texas, to build a strong, tight, close squab house,
for ia that latitude, in a hen house built tight and close, vermin would
swarm and harass the chicks, and they would harass the squabs just as
fast.

(13)

Cuear Bur Pracricay Nest Boxes.

These are empty egg crates piled one atop another from floor to roof of Squab House,
Each egg crate is two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep. The partition in the middle
toakes two nest boxes, each one foot square. Into each of these nest boxes a wood nappy is
placed. The birds build their nests in these wood nappies.

National Standard Squab Book. 15

Some of our customers write from places like Oregon and Idaho, where
there is a wet and a dry season, and are puzzled to know what to do. In
such cases we say, arrange your buildings as you see poultry houses ar-
ranged. The pigeons will do as well or better under the same conditions
as hens and chickens.

Suppose you have a vacant building or shack of any kind in which you
wish to raise squabs. "e will take for granted that it has either a flat
roof or a ridgepole with sloping roof, and that it is ‘built in rectangular
form. Never mind what the dimensions are; our advice will apply to
either the large or the small structure.

First raise it off the ground, or build a new floor off the ground, so that
rats cannot breed out of your sight in the darkness and get up into the
squab house. If there is an old floor, patch up all the holes in it. Now
you need one door, to get yourself in and out of the squab house, and
you need at least one window through which the pigeons can fly from the
squab house into the flying pen and back -from the flying pen into the
house. You will shut this window on ‘cold nights, or on cold winter days.
You must cover the whole window with wire netting so that the birds
eannot break the panes of glass by flying against them. If you have no
wire netting over the window, some of the birds, when it is closed, will
not figure out for themseles that the glass stops their progress, ‘but will
bang against the panes at full speed, sometimes hurting their heads and
dazing them and at other times breaking the glass.

The flying pen which you will build on the window side of the squab
house may be as small or as large as you have room. The idea of it is
not to give the birds an opportunity for long flight, but simply to get
them out into the open air and sunlight. They enjoy the sun very much
and it does them good and they court its direct rays all the time. Build
the flying pen, if you choose, up over the roof, so the birds may sun
themselves there. If that side of the roof which faces the flying pen is.
too steep for the pigeons to get a foothold, nail footholds along the roof,
same as carpenters use when they are shingling a roof, and the pigeons
will rest on these to sun themselves. For the flying pen you want the
ordinary poultry netting, either of one-inch or two-inch mesh. The two-
juch mesh is almost invariably used by squab raisers, because it is very
much cheaper than the one-inch mesh. ‘The one-inch mesh is used only
by squab raisers who are afraid that small birds (the English sparrows.
here in New England) will steal through the large meshes of the two-
inch netting and eat the grain which you ‘have bought: for the pigeons.
You can buy this wire netting in rolls of any width from one foot up to
six feet. If your flying pen is 12 feet high, you should use rolls of the
six-foot wire. If it is ten feet high, rolls which are five feet wide are
whut you want. If your flying pen is to be eight feet high, buy rolls
which are four feet wide. In joining one width of wire netting to its
neighbor, in constructing your flying pen, do not cut small pieces of tie
wire and tie them together, for that takes too much time and is a bungling

a= =

ere naire

if
i :
Tr, |
i}
U

How City Dwetiers wirnout Lanp may Breep Squass.

National Standard Squab Book. 17

job, but buy a coil of No. 18 or 20 iron wire and weave this from one
selvage to another of your wire netting, in and out of the meshes, and
you have the best joint you can get, and a ship-shape job.

You can line the three walls of the interior of your squab house with
nests if you choose. The fourth wall is the one in which the window or
windows are. Ou this fourth wall you should not have nest boxes, but
perches. These perches, or roosts, should be tacked up about 15 inches
apart, so as to give the birds room without interfering with each other.
The advantage of the V-shaped roost which we advise is that a bird
perched on it cannot soil the bird underneath. Do not buy the patent
pigeon roosts which you see advertised, for a pigeon roosting on one will
soil the pigeon roosting on the one immediately below.

Please note@particularly at this point the following terms which we use,
and do not become confused. The nest box is something in which rests
the nappy or other nest pan in which the nest is built. Do not say or
think of nests when you mean nest boxes.

The nest boxes, when done, should look like the pigeon holes of a desk,
and should be about one foot high, one foot wide and one foot deep. A
variation either way of an inch or two will not matter.

One way to get these pigeon holes is to build them of nice pine lumber,
in the form of ‘boxing one-half or five-eighths of an inch thick. Another
way is to use hemlock or spruce boards one inch thick. The third way
(which we think is the best for the beginner who wishes to start cheapest
and quickest) is to use egg crates, or orange boxes. These egg’ crates are
two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep, but they are divided in the
middle by a partition, giving two spaces, each of a cubic foot, and this is
just what the squab raiser wants. They are procurable almost anywhere.
in the United States and Canada brand new for ten or fifteen cents each,
aud if you buy them after the egg shippers are through with them, you
can get them for three to five cents apiece. Some grocers will be glad
to have you carry them away and will charge you nothing for them. The
crates are built of thin, tough wood and usually are neat and solid. Take
off the covers and throw the covers away, you.do not need them. Then
put one egg crate on its side, open top out, and place another egg crate
on top of that, and so on until you have covered the three walls of your
squab house from the floor to the roof. Do not use any nails, they are
not necessary, the crates will keep in position by their weight. It is an
advantage, also, to have them loose, for when you clean the nests, you
can step up on a chair or box, take down the crates, commencing with
the top, and clean each one with your feet on the floor. If you build a
substantial set of nest boxes of boxing or hemlock lumber, you will have
to stand on a chair and strain your arms in order to clean the top nest
boxes, so you see their are points in the low-priced arrangement not pos-
sessed by the fancy kind. It is on the same principle by which a humble
small boy with bent pin and worms and au old pole catches more fish than
the city angler with a $25 assortment of hooks, lines and artificial dies.

‘Na ONIATA GNV (AVMGOVSSVG HIIM) aSNOY avaAdg LINQ

NOILDIS NVIS

Vv :

National Standard Squab Book. 19

It is the pigeons and the intelligence behind them which do the trick,
every time. <A fancy pigeon house with fancy trimmings cannot produce
any better squabs than the home-made affair, provided the birds are the
same in both cases.

You should have a pair of nest boxes for a pair of pigeons. By a pair
of pigeons we mean two pigeons, a male and a female. By a pair of nest
boxes we mean two nest boxes. We find that the word pair has a differ-
ent meaning to people in different parts of the country, perhaps on the
same principle that a pair of scissors or a pair of suspenders is one ob-
ject, while a pair of something else, as in this case, means two objects.
A pair of pigeons attend to a pair of syuabs in one nest -box, nevertheless
for each pair of pigeons you need two uest boxes, for when the squabs
are about two weeks old in one nest, the old birds will go to the adjoining
nest box, or to a nest box in a distant part of the squab house, and begin
housekeeping again, laying eggs and dividing their attention between the
two families.

Count your nest boxes and you will know how many pigeons your house
will accommodate. If your count shows 96 nest boxes (in other words,

-48 pairs of nest boxes), vou can accommodate 48 pairs of pigeons. Do
not write us and tell us that you have a house of a certain size and ask
us to tell you how many pairs of pigeons it will accommodate. Put in
your nest boxes as we have described and then count them, and you will
know. Or you may figure it out for yourself on paper, allowing two nest
boxes, ‘each one cubic foot in size, for each pair of birds. To put it in
another way, you should allow one cubic foot of nest box space for each
breeding pigeon. Surely we have made this so plain now that you cannot
go astray.

Now suppose you work ‘backwards, saying to yourself that you wish to

order 96 pairs of ‘breeders, and want to know how large a house you will
need to accommodate them. From what we have written in the foregoing
paragraph, you know that for each pair of pigeons you will need two

“nest boxes each one cubic foot in size. Therefore for 96 pairs of pigeons
you will need 192 nest boxes, or 96 egg crates, or their equivalent in space.

Perhaps your start will be made with so small a number of birds that
you will not have to cover more than one wall of your squab house with
nest boxes. Cover one wall, or two walls, or three walls, whichever -the
occasion demands. Have a lot of spare boxes, if you wish, and let’ the
breeding pairs choose where they will. An extra number of nest boxes
may be useful to you to accommodate the young birds raised to breeding
age from the old birds which you buy of us, if you intend to nelee your
squabs to breeding age.

An expenditure of not over five dollars, and a couple of days time,
will transform the average old building into a habitation for squabs. Put
on the finishing touches and add to the expense to suit your fancy. You
may cover the outside of the building with tarred paper and shingle or

National Standard Squab Book. 23

clapboard it. You may put a skylight in the roof to let in more sun. Im-
prove it all you wish. Use your own judgment.

To get at your pigeons in such a house, you walk in through the door
and find yourself directly among them, the nest boxes all pointing at you.
Go to the nest which you wish to investigate or from which you wish to
take out the squabs and put your hand ip the opening. The old birds will
fly by your head, perhaps, and may strike you with their wings, but they
will not fly in your face and eyes, they are good dodgers. Don’t be afraid
that if you enter the house when the housekeeping is going on you will
frighten the birds so they never will come back to the eggs or the squabs.
They will seem timid at first, but they will get.accustomed to you. In the
course of a few weeks, only a few will make a great hustle to get away
from you. Many of them will continue to sit contentedly on the eggs and
if you put up your hand to them they will not fly off in fear but will slap
you with their wings, telling you in their language not to bother them.
Carry some hempseed iu with you and you will teach the birds to come
and eat it out of your hand. You can tame them and teach them to love
you as any animal is taught. The pigeon, particularly the Homer, the
king of them ail, is a knowing bird. ci

Tack up perches where you have room on that wall or those walls of
the squab house which have no nest boxes. You do not need a perch for
every pigeon, because while some are ou perches, others are in the nests,
or out in the flying pen, or on the roof, or on the floor of the squab house.
If you have 48 pigeons, 20 perches will be enough, and you can get along
with a dozen. Make each perch of two pieces of board, one six inches
square, the other six inches by five, and toe-nail the perch to the wall of
the squab bouse:as shown in the illustration. You cannot have one long
pole for a pigeon perch. If you had such a pole, and your pigeons were
perched on it, or some of them were, a bully cock would saunter down the
line and push off all the others.

In the centre of the squab house you place an empty crate or over-
turned box. The object of this is to break the force of the wind made
by the pigeons’ wings as they fly in and out of the squab house. Other-
wise the floor of the squab house would be swept clean by the force of
the wind. It also forms a roosting place for the birds, and finally, it is a
convenient resting place for the straw, hay and grass out of which the
pigeons build their nests.’

The floor of the squab house should be kept clean. We used to advise
that a layer of sawdust one inch thick ‘be kept on the floor of the squab
house, to absorb the droppings, but we have found a steady and profitable
demand for pigeon manure, and this manure is worth scraping up and
carefully saving, for its sale wil] pay from one-quarter to one-third of the
grain bill. Use a hoe to scrape the droppings from the floor, and pack
the manure away in barrels. Clean the floor about once in three weeks,
or oftener, depending on the size of your flock. Pigeon manure is in active
demand all the time by tanneries. We send the manure from our pigeons

Nest Boxes Buitt or LumBer.

This shows the front of the nest boxes as they face the interior of the squab house. They
are from ten to twelve inches square, and the same distance deep. A slight variation does not
matter. The fronts of the nest boxes are perfectly plain, as shown. It is not necessary to nail
up pieces of board to keep the nappies and squabs from falling out. They will not fall out.
The backs of the nest boxes may be on hinges, and be approached from a passageway, as shown
in the picture on page 20. Or the backs may be solid, in which case you will get at the nesta
by going into the interior of the squab house.

National Standard Squab Book. 23

by freight without previous notice to the American Hide and Leather
Company at Lowell, Mass., and are paid for it at the rate of sixty cents
a bushel,

A peculiarity about pigeon manure is that it is not foul-smelling like
hen manure, and when it is mixed with water you get a kind of crude
soap. In washing the nappies, no soap is necessary. Use warm water in
washing them and the manure caked to them forms a cleansing soap in
conjunction with the water. If you have a basket in which.,you have
transported pigeons, and whose ‘bottom is caked with the hard droppings,
lay the basket face down and sprinkle water liberally on the underside
and the manure will drop off in large pieces from the inside aud the
basket will ‘become perfectly clean.

In raising live stock of any kind, arrange matters so the animals will
look after themselves as much as possible. We all know that automatic
machinery has cheapened many articles formerly dear, and the perfect
breeding outfit is automatic, needing only a supply of feed and water.
Aim to cut down the factor of personal drudgery, so-as to leave your
time clear to observe aud plan, and execute intelligently. Beginners who
load themselves down with a daily round of exacting duties soon lose
heart, their patience gives out and they become disgusted. We have
known breeders of rabbits to fail simply because they raised them in
hutches. Hach hutch had a door and two dishes, one for feed, the other
for water. Hvery day, the door of the hutch had to be opened, the hutch
cleanéd, the dishes refilled (and often cleaned), and the door closed. It
took 15 or 20 motions to do this for each hutch. Multiply this by 20 to 30
{the number of the hutches), and the burden grew unbearable. It was not
surprising that in three or four mouths the breeder’s patience was worn
out. The factor of personal drudgery had become greater than the rab-
bits. ‘The ‘thoughtful breeder would have turned his rabbits into two or
three enclosures on the ground and let them shift for themselves. Then
one set of motions in feeding would have answered for all, and there
would have ‘been no dirt to clean up. Infinite patience as well as skill jis
required to make a success of animals given individual attention. The
aim of every breeder should be to make one minute of his time serve the
greatest possible number of animals. When you think and reason for
yourself, you understand how much more practical it is to give sixty ani-
mals one minute of your time tuan one animal one minute. Time is money
and if you are too particular, and too fussy, and thoughtless about these
details, it is a clear case of the chances being sixty to one against you.

‘At the start, the problem of breeding squabs for market is in your favor,
because one hundred pairs of breeding pigeons may be handled as easily
and as rapidly as one pair. Try to keep this numerical advantage in your
favor all the time. Discard every plan that ¢uts down the efficiency of
your own labor, and adopt every device that will give you contro] in the
same time over a greater number of pigeons.

It takes brains and skilled labor to run a poultry plant successfully.

Interior oF MuLtTipLeE Unit House.

This is one of our houses, The drinking fountains stand in the passageway and their fronts
project through the wire netting under the first row of nest boxes. The nest boxes are empty
ege crates and do not open at the back. The feed troughs are inside of each pen. In other
houses, we set the feed troughs alongside the drinkers in the alleyway and cut away the netting so
the birds can feed from them. We like the last arrang it best b the troughs can be filled
quicker from the passageway, and the time of opening and closing doors and going into pens is
saved.

"National Standard Squab Book. 25

Evevy poultryman knows that he cannot entrust the regulation of tempera-
tures of incubators and brooders to an ignorant hired man, but even a boy
or girl, or under-the-average farm hand, knows enough to fill up the bath- ©
pans and feeding-troughs tor squab-breeders, leaving the time of the
owner fiee for correspondence and the more skilful work of killing and
shipping the squabs.

The primary object is to breed squahs for market as cheaply, as easily
and as fast as possible, without the expenditure of a dollar for fanciful
or impractical appurtenances.

Oo not think it is necessary to heat your squab house. A squab house
which has the chill of dampness taken off it by hot water or steam pipes
will raise more squabs than a house not heated, but a flock of pigeons in a
small house throw off considerable heat from their bodies and will breed
in cold weather all right. After you have developed your plant and have
a large business which you wish to keep at the highest state of efficiency,
you may heat your squab house. The idea of heat in winter time is to
keep the birds more contented and get more squabs out of them, and
not at all to keep them alive. Do not be afraid that your pigeons will
freeze to death.

City people can keep pigeons in the garret of a house, or the loft of a
barn, without a foot of ground being needed. In such a case the flying
pen, or place to which the pigeons go for sun and air, can be built out
on a platform. The illustration shows how to utilize a window leading
-from a garret. If you think that rats will trouble you in either a garret
or barn loft, cover the floor inside, especially the corners, with fine wire
netting through which it will be impossible for the rats to gnaw from
below.

One of our customers in Illindis, a rich horse breeder having a barn
some 200 feet long, has turned the whole upper story into a loft for
pigeons. The flying pen takes in the whole back of the barn. There are
windows and no doors on this side of the barn, the horses using doors on
the other side, so this leaves the upper story of the barn, and its whole
back yard, free for the pigeons.

How We Rie Our Supping. BASKETS FOR TWELVE Pairs.

‘queyd 3iq % uL0y 04 4e0y asom 10 QOE 002 ‘OOL BoYonaysHod siqy pusyxq
‘ASQOY LINQ WIdW1oyl

CHAPTER IIL.

THE UNIT HOUSE,

Rest Possible Construction for a Squab Plant—The Wind Break Forma-
tion of Roof—Dimensions of the Unit—Multiplying the Unit to In-
crease the Capacity of Your Plant—A Pagsageway Behind the Nest
Boxes—Numbering the Hinged Backs of the Nest Boxes, and the
Management of a Card Index to Correspond—Cost of the Unit Con-
struction is from $3 to $5 a Running Foot—Working Drawings—The
Nappies.

If you have no building already standing which you can fix over for
pigeons, you may erect a simple rectangular structure and line it with
nests as we have described in the-last chapter. We will tell you in this
chapter how to put up the finest kind of a pigeon structure. It is at the
saine time the most expensive. It is the best, the most workmanlike. In
saying that it is expensive, we do not mean that money is thrown away
on its construction, for that is not so. It is a fit habitation for a money-
making investment.

This best method of construction results in what we call the unit house.
You can multiply this unit as many times as you please and get as large
a house as you wish, or you may add a unit from time to time, just as
you add unit book cases to accommodates the growth of the modern library
shelves. You can erect these units separately, or attach one unit to the
other, so that you have one long building.

The nest boxes are ‘built of boxing and set in a vertical row at the back
of the house, forming a wal! between which and the north side of the
house is a three-foot' passageway. You can buy this boxing at a saw mill
all cut, ten by eleven inches, the dimensions of the nest, and if you get it
in this shape you can put the boxes together with as much ease as a child
builds a doll’s house. You will have no doubts as to the squareness and
plumbness of the structure when you have it up. Take long lengths of
boxing eleven inches wide for the shelving which should form the top and
bottom of the nest boxes, then set the 10 in. x 11 in. pieces the proper
distance apart. The finished nest will be eleven inches from front to back,
ten inches from top to bottom, and about ten inches from one partition to
the other (or whatever distance the proper distribution of your nests in
pairs permits).

We have found five-eighths inch boxing to be the best suited. Build the
nest boxes up from floor to roof perfectly plain, just as the pigeon holes
of a desk run.

(27)

28 National Standard Squab Book,

The nest boxes should be perfectly plain, made of simple boxing in the
manner described. Do not build up a piece of boxing at the front part of
the nest to prevent the nappy from being pushed out. Early in our ex-
Perience we built « few nests in this way, but soon changed them over to
the simpler form, on account of the difficulty of keeping them clean. The
droppings bank up at the front of such a nest box and it is almost impos-
sible to clean thoroughly.

The dimensions of this unit squab house are as follows: Length, 16 feet;
width, 12 feet; length of flying pen from end of house to end of yard, 20
feet; distance from floor of squab house to ridgepole, 12 feet; two windows
in south wall of squab house, each 2 ft. 2 in. wide and 3ft.10in. high. One
window in north wall of squab house, 2 ft. 2 in. wide and 8 ft. 10 in. high,
There is a passageway on the north side of the squab house three feet
wide, separating the north wall from the vertical row of nest boxes. The
door of the squab house opens into this passageway so that you can enter
the house without being seen by the birds, and without disturbing them.
The backs of the nest boxes are on hinges, so that you may turn them
back and reach into the nests to take aut the squabs when they are ready
for the market. If you wish, you may set up rows of nest boxes on the
east and west walls of the squab house and accommodate 50 more pairs.
You cannot have a passageway behind these nest boxes on the east and
west walls, but will approach them from the front by entering the interior
of the squab house through a wire door which leads from the passageway.
So, altogether, you can accommodate nearly 100 pairs of birds in such a
unit house. In order not to. crowd, it is best to put in not more than 75
pairs.

Build the first unit so that you may extend it either to the east or west
(as your land lies) to increase your accommodations. Your squab house
will always remain 16 feet from north to south, but it may be either 12
feet from east to west, for one unit, or 24 feet for two units, or 36 feet for
three units, and so on. We think it is most practical to keep about 48
pairs of birds in one unit, 48 pairs in the next unit, and so on. Of course
you may build one long house 1€ feet wide and in length any multiple of
twelve, and keep all the birds you wish in it, but we do not advise such
an arrangement. You can keep track of your pairs better if you split a
big flock up into unit flocks.

The hinged backs of the nest boxes open into a pair of nest bozes. By
numbering the hinged backs, one number to a nest, you have a means of
record keeping which is unequaled. Provide a card index (the cards be-
ing blank and 3 by 5 inches in size) and number the cards to et aes a
with the nest boxes, and on these eards you may keep a record of what
the birds in the nest boxes do. These cards, which are perfectly blank
except for the numbers they bear, may be kept in a tray such as ali the
manufacturers of card indexes advertise in the back pages of the maga-
zines and you can pick out any eard you wish, or turn to it, at once. It
is much better than keeping a record in a book, for you cannot tear out

National Standard Squab Book. 29

the leaves of a book, as you can throw away a card, nor can you shift one
page from one lccation to another, as you can a card in a tray.

The floor of the synab house rests on cedar posts and is two feet from
the ground. The Hoor is built of two thicknesses of board, with building
paper between. The walls of the squab house are built of boards which
are covered with building paper and shingled. The roof is shingled. You
may use clapboards on the sides, or common boards.

The cost of such a squab house, complete with flying pen and all inside
fittings, built in the hest possible manner, avill be from $3 to $5 a running
foot. That is to say, a unit plant 12 feet long will cost from $36 to $60. A
plant consisting of three units, 36 feet long, will cost from $108 to $150.
We publish and sell for 25 cents complete working drawings showing just
how to build a unit complete in every detail. On the same sheet are full
working drawings for building a simple squab house (without passageway)
to cost from $15 to $25. Also on the same sheet we give data showing how
one of our frieuds built a squab house and pen capable of accommodating
220 pairs of breeders at a cost of $130. In ordering, simply say you wish
plans and specifications for squab houses. :

In our early plans for the unit squab house, we provided for a building
with a “jog” in the roof, making a long, low slope for the south sidé of
the roof, and on this slope the birds would sun themselves and make love.
This “jog’’ construction is more expensive than is needed, and now we
have a better way. We have an ordinary pitch roof, sloping equally from
the ridgepole to both north and South. We run the flying pen out on the
south side, not from the ridgepole, but from the eaves, and then out in the
flying pen we erect perches as shown in the picture. The fact that the
birds rest easily on these perches (as the photograph in the Appendix
shows) is proof that they are contented and pleased by such an arrange-
ment. We have found, too, that they can hear the squeaks of their young
for food better than if they were up on the roof, and better attention to
the squabs is the result.

Please note particularly that if you erect one long building which will
be a multiple of units, you separate these units, both inside and outside
of the squab house, not by board partitions, but by wire partitions. For
instance, if you have a building one hundred feet long, ten units, you will
separate the units by nine wire partitions, these partitions being erected
both inside and outside the house.

—=———_

——S=S
SEVMRTUORRINE LATA

AUNIVUUMLOTYNVISIOUURISLTNS

Interior oF Squasp Hovse, Snowinc PERCHES,;

CHAPTER Iv.
THE NAPPIES AND NESTS.

Do Not Use the Old-Fashioned Nest Fans—The Six-Inch and Seven-Inch
Nappies of Farthenware—Obvious Faults of the Earthenware Nappy
—A Perfect Nest-Pan Found in the Wooden Nappy, Which the Birds

“Pake to’—How the Pigeons Choose Nest Boxes.

For nest pans, do not use the heavy, deep, red clay, unglazed dishes
which you may see offered for sale as pigeon nests. They are a relic of
the past.

In our early experience, we discovered in the common kitchen yellow
earthenware nappy aa excellent pigeon nest, and used it exclusively. We
employed two sizes, the six-inch and the seven-inch, changing from the
large one to the small one when the squabs were two weeks old. These
earthenware nappies filled the bill in being cheap and shallow, and the
pigeons deposited their manure in a circle outside and not inside the nest.
They generally gave satisfaction in the hands of our customers, but they
have faults which are obvious. They are flat and not rounding on the
bottom and when the female pigeon turns the eggs (as she does daily,
same as a hen, in order to give the heat of her body to the whole shell)
the eggs are liable to roll apart, making it necessary for the bird to gather
them together again, and after two or three mishaps like this she is liable
to desert them. The earthenware is cold, breakable and can be kept elean
only with water. The washing of the nappies becomes a tedious task and
is often neglected.

‘During the past year we have perfected a nappy made of wood which
meets every objection raised against the earthenware nappy, -and in addi-
tion, has péculiar merits of its own which we think fairly entitle it to be
called the perfect nest-pan for pigeons. We gave it a thorough trial before
putting it on the market and being convinced of its remarkable utility,
made- arrangements for its manufacture especially for us, and during the
past six months we have sold thousands of them. No article for pigeons
ever wet with such a warm welcome from squab breeders. It indeed fills
“the long-felt want.” One of the large woodenware factories is making
thesé goods for us and has been compelled to build special machinery to
turn them out in quantities sufficient for the enormous demand that has
sprung up.

This wooden nappy is sold by us in one size only. It is made of kiln-
dried maple in two parts, a bowl nine inches in diameter and a base (to
give the necessary stability) seven inches square, three-quarters of an

(31)

a oe

Oup StyLe Piceon Nest. Water Disu. Lar@e Nappy. Smaxy Nappy.

Do not use either the old style pigeon nest or open water dish.

Tuz Woop Nappy Nest-Pan.

This is made in one size (nine inches diameter of bowl) and is in two parts, a bowl and a
base. The bowl is fastened to the base by one screw. The first picture shows the perspective
view ; the second picture shows one-half cut away. This is the most practical nest-pan for squab
raising and is having an enormous sale.

Batu Pan AND DRINKER Hanp Basket

One bath pan to every 24 pairs of birds is necessary. The hand basket (price $3.50) is used
in luge plants to carry the squabs from the nests to the killing place. The squabs should not be
killed in sight of the parent birds.

National Standard Squab Book. 33

inch thick. A single screw fastens the bowl to the base. We ship the
bowls separately for close packing, and the bases also separately for the
same reason. You put the two parts together when you get them.

The advantages of this nest-pan are these: (1) The eggs roll to the
centre and are always close together under the birds. (2) It is warmer
than earthenware and eggs are not chilled. (3) It is cleaned without water
by means of a trowel, and may then be whitewashed, if desired. (4) The
claws of the old birds and squabs catch in the wood and do not slide, and
no cases of deformed legs in the squabs are found. (5) It is unbreakable.
(6) When shipped either short or long distances, no packing is necessary,
they are lighter and the freight bill is smaller. (7) And finally the birds
“take” to wood more readily than to earthenware, getting to work quicker
and producing more squabs.

We make this wooden nappy in only one size as above specified and
illustrated (two sizes are not necessary because the feet of the squabs do
not sprawl as in the case of the earthenware nappies). You will need one
pair of nappies for every pair of pigeons (in other words, one nappy to
every pigeon). If you order 24 pairs of breeders you will need 48 nappies.
If you order 96 pairs of breeders you will need 192 nappies.

We know our birds will breed more successfully in these wooden nappies
than in earthenware, and to make it an object for you to buy these nap-
pies, you may deduct the freight charges on nappies from your order for
birds. First order your nappies sent by freight, then when you order your
breeders, send us your freight receipt and count the amount as cash.

Place one wooden nappy in each one of your nest-boxes. Let the pairs
chocse to suit themselves. At the end of the month, when you take out
the squabs, take out the nappy, clean it and put it back.

When the squab house is ready for the birds, each of the nest-boxes has
one of these wooden nappies. The pigeons build their own nests in them,
taking the nesting material and flying to the nappy with it. The average
nest built in one of these wooden nappies has from one to two inches of
straw compactly and prettily laid by the birds. Some birds use more
nesting material than others. After the squabs are hatched, they quickly
show that Nature never intended them to have a dirty nest. When they
wish to make manure, they back up to the edge of the nest and “shoot”
outward and over the edge of the wooden nappy into the nest-box, which
is just where the breeder wants to find it. In a week or two there will be
a circle of solid manure’ in the nest-box, but it is completely out of the
nest, and off and away from the feet of the squabs. As the squabs grow
older, their claws tread and throw out the straw on which they were
hatched, and the wooden nappy gets bare again as it was in the first
place. The small amount of manure which then sticks to it is easily
removed with a trowel, for it does not stick to wood as it does to earthen-
ware.

The use of this wooden nappy has lightened the work in our houses a
great deal for they never have to be washed. We do not whitewash

34 National’ Standard Squab Book.

ours, although there is no objection to the breeder doing so, if he cares
to take the time. It will add to their appearance and the sanitary con-
dition of the squab house. ‘I'he work of whitewashing takes time, how-
ever, and we have not found it essentia!.

We ship all large orders for these wooden nappies, and many small
orders, direct from the factory in Michigan, depending on the location of
the customer. We wish to urge you most emphatically to get your order
for these goods to us at least a month before your order for birds. Freight
traffic is slow and we have no control over the railroads, and we have
found that it takes from two to six weeks to get these goods from
Michigan to the customer, often causing an annoying delay. To customers
living near Boston, of course, we ship from our Boston office, if the order
is a small one. If you are in a hurry for them and order them sent by
express, remember that the express companies charge for weight and not
‘in this ease) for value, and that you will have to pay from two to four
times what the nappies are worth for transportation by express. It will
do vour birds no harm to be in their new home a week or so before the
arrival of the nappies, for this period is spent by a new flock in getting
acquainted with their new surroundings. The nests that they build in
the nest-boxes may be transferred bodily to the wooden nappies safely,
and of course you do this before the eggs are hatched.

The pigeons will not take with mathematical regularity pair by pair
the nest boxes which you have provided. Some of them will take them
in pairs, one adjoining the other. This makes it very convenient for you
in keeping track of them. Others will take one nest box in one part
of the squab house but go to another part of the squab house for their
second nest. Some will not take a nest box at all, but will build a rough
nest on the Noor of the squab house and rear their faniily there. Let them
choose for themselves.

The nests are built by the birds of hay, straw and grass. The birds fly
to the pile, select what wisps they want, then fly to the nest-boxes and
arrange the wisps in a nappy to suit themselves. Tobacco stems are rec-
onmepded for nesting material, because the odor from them will have
a tendency to drive away lice, but they are not necessary if the nappies
are used and ordinary cleanliness observed.

The best thing to keep the nesting material in is a berry crate. Fill it
with straw and hay (use the fine oat, not rye straw, cut into six inch
lengths) and shut down the cover. Then when the birds want nesting
material they will fly to the vertical openings in the sides of the berry
crates, stick their bills in and make their selection. ‘The cover of the
herry crate prevents the birds from soiling the nesting material. They
will not build nests with dirty nesting material. It must be first-class,
clenn, dry and sweet or they will not use it.

CHAPTER V.

WATER AND FEED.

Necessity of Pure Water and Plenty of It—Lhe find of Drinking Dish
to Use and the Kind Not to Use—Management of the Drinking
Tountain and Bath Pan—The Feed Trough and Nelf Feeder—Feeding
Habits—What Grains to Use—How to Mix Red Wheat and Cracked
Coru—Use of Grit, Oyster Shell and Salt—How to Feed the Dainties
—Keep Feed Before Your Flock All the Time.

Fure water and plenty of it is a great blessing for pigeons. It is the
custom of pigeons to get right into water, wherever it is. When they
cannot bathe in it, they will stick their dirty feet into it. When they
cannot get in their feet, they will douse their heads. They are after
water, water all the time. When feeding the squabs, the old bird will
fill up its crop with grain, then fly to the water and take a drink, then
return and dole out to the squabs the watery and milky mixture on which
they fatten. Therefore you should study the water problem and make
preparations to give the birds plenty of it, both bathing and drinking
water.

The source of drinking water should be separate from the bath pan.
They will drink from the bath pan, to be sure, while the water remains
comparatively clean, but after a few have bathed in it it is unfit for any
bird to drink, and inside of twenty minutes the pan is not only covered
with a whitish, greasy scum, but is dyed greenish from the dung which
has washed off their feet.

There should be drinking water inside the squab house, provided you
have not a running stream or some such clean water device in the flying
pen.

The kind of water dish you do not want in the squab house is the
kind with the open top, into which the birds can wade, and which they can
foul with their droppings. The best device which we have found is the
so-called self-feeding poultry fountain, such as we illustrate. This fountain
is made either of crockery or tin or galvanized iron. Tin or galvanized
iron is better than crockery, because if water freezes in such a dish, the
-dish will not be cracked. We calculate to use the crockery dishes in
houses where it is never cold enough to freeze. It will be seen by exam-
ination of the self-drinker that it is impossible for the pigeons to foul the
water. The reservoir holds quite a supply of water, which feeds down
as fast as it is drunk by the pigeons. We have seen beginners puzzled
by these self-drinking dishes; they cannot imagine why the water does

‘ (35)

36 National Standard Squab Book.

not all run out at once by the bottom hole. It is a simple principle in
hydraulics which you may demonstrate tu your own satsfaction by filling
an ordinary tumbler with water aad then inverting it in a saucer of
water. There is no way for the air to get to the inside of the tumbler
except by passing under the rim at the points where it touches the saucer,
consequently it does not flow down unless the water is removed from the
saucer, and then it ceases as soon as the water in the saucer rises over
the 1im of the tumbler again. In fact, some self-drinkers for poultry are
uiade of two pieces of pottery exactly on the principle of the tumbler and
saucer. These fountains are not so practical as the fountain which we
illustrate, because a pigeon can roost on the top of it and foul the saucer
with its droppings. In the fountain which we picture it is impossible for
droppings to reach the mouth containing the water, even if the pigeon
is perched directly on top of the fountain. The barrel shape of the foun-
tain makes it hard for more than one pigcon to perch at the same time on
its top, but one pigeon usually is found there. He gets up there, for the
special purpose, it seems, of fouling the water, but the fountain beats
him and he can’t do it. Neither can he put his feet in the water unless
he is an extraordinary gymnast capable of holding this body out at an
angle to the perpendicular. The result is, that in actual practice the
water keeps clean, and there is a supply of it ready about all the time.
«A fountain of a gallon capacity will keep-two or three dozen pairs of
breeders supplied all day. The fountain is filled by turning it on end and
pouring water down into the opening. If you fill the fountain at the same
time yon fill the bath pan in the morning, you will have done your duty
by the pigeons for the day.

There are several patterns of self drinkers ‘but the principle of all is
the same and you should select a pattern something like that we have de-
seribed and which appears to you to be best protected from soilings.
These fountains are for sale by every poultry supply store in every trad-
jug centre.

The best place for the batk van is out in the yard of the flying pen.
A pan 15 inches in diameter is right for a flock up to 24 pairs of birds
and it will do for a large flock if you renew the water. The pan should
be from four to six inches deep, not over six inches, for a pigeon will not
bathe in water where it would be likely to drown if pushed or sat on by
its mates. Having the bath pan in position on the ground of the ‘flying
pen, you take to it once each day, in the morning, a ‘bucket of water, aod
pour the water into the pan. Then you can go away to ‘business, if you
wish. The pigeons will fly to the pan from the interior of the house, or
from the roof, wherever they happen to be. Some will splash right in.
Others will perch on the rim and drink before they bathe. When the
water gets dirty, they kuow enough not to drink, unless they are very
sorely pressed indeed for water. The water does get quite dirty from the
bathing. A thick, greasy, white scum forms. The pigeons do not rustle
in the dirt, as a hen does, but rely on the water to keep them clean and

National Standard Squab Book. 37

dainty. They flap their wings in the water and enjoy it thoroughly. A
pigapn will never run away from water, as you will discover if when you
are watering your lawn you turn the hose on them. A summer shower
will find them perched on the roof where they can get it. In the winter
time, if ice forms in the bath pan, they will break it and bathe.

Let the dirty water stand in the bath pan all day if you choose, or you
may go to it an hour or two after you have filled the pan, and empty the
water. One bath a day is enough.

If there is a stream of water running through your property handy to
your squab house, build your flying pen out over it and you need never
trouble with bath pans or drinking water. If it is a deep stream, you will
have to contrive a shallow bath tub at the shore, or divert part of the
stream into a shaliow run. The squab raiser with a stream of water
handy should by all means make use of it and save himself the work of
carrying water in pails.

The bath pan may rest in a basin, if you choose, and the overflow
eaused by the splashing of the wings may be conducted to a sewer and
drained away. You may conduct water in pipes and have a faucet open-
ing out over the bath pan, which faucet you may control either directly,
or from a central station. An easy home-made arrangement to be used in
conjunction with the bath pan consists of a wet sink in which the bath
pan sits, and out of which the splashed water runs. In the winter it may
be advisable to give your pigeons their bath in the squab house instead
of in the yard of the flying pen, in which case you should have some

~device on the wet sink principle to prevent the floor of the squab house
from getting damp.

Feed may ‘be given to pigeons in a less guarded way, for they do not
soil the feed dish so freely as they do the drinking dishes. You may put
the feed in open dishes in the squab house. If you observe them when
eating, you will notice that they stand up to the feed dish in a somewhat
orderly manner and peck at its contents. They do not sit in the dish and
roll around in the feed as they do in the water. But they have one fault
when eating from an open dish and that is, to scatter the grains. They
will push in their bills and toss them around in a search after tidbits, and
seatter out on the floor kernel after kernel, and it will make your bump
of economy ache to see this grain scattered around. There do not seem
to be any neat, saving pigeons which go to the floor in the wake of their
prodigal brethren and eat the crumbs. They all have a fancy to the first
table and they get right at it and scatter the grain like the rest of their
fellows, and apparently the pigeon who scatters the most grain is the one
which struts around with the biggest front. The way to fool them is to
provide in the squab house a covered trough, that is, covered except at the
slit or points where they stick in their bills for food. With a. little in-
genuity you can cover an ordinary v-shaped trough so that it will be
hard for the pigeons to waste the grain. You may havea self-feeder made

38 National Standard Squab Book.

as big or as small as you choose and in which the grain will drop down as
it is eaten. ;

We illustrate one form of self-feeder with which we have had experi-
ence. It is a kind that rests on a post in a flying pen. We do uot recom-
wend this, however, for general use. We have had many customers who
built it and tried it on our recommendation write back to us that the pig-
eons did not seem to like it. It depends on the flock a good deal. Some flocks
take to it naturally on the principle of following the leader, but the aver-
age tlock of pigeons fight shy of it. Its construction is quite a trouble, often
necessitating the calling in of a carpenter. And one cannot be built short
of an expense of $3 to $5. Altogether it is not one of the essentials, and ex-
pericnece has taught us that it is best to recommend only the fundamental
devices. If you wish to build one, however, go ahead. We show the per-
spective view as well as the plan, elevation and cross section. If you
have a,self feeder, either in the squab house or outside on a ‘post, as pic-
tured, you may go away for a few days and have a sure feeling that your
pigeons will not starve while you are away.

We will try to present the matter of feed as clearly and fully as it seems
to us to be possible. A woman in Santa Cruz, California, said she would
like to raise squabs, and would begin by ordering her feed of us, exactly
as we recommended, to be sent to her by freight from Boston via the
Southern Pacific. A man in Cleveland ordered a quantity of red wheat
and cracked corn to be sent by freight from us, when there were thou-
sands of bushels of both staples in elevators in his city, in fact most of
the Boston supply had passed through his city. We did not like to run
the chance of losing the order for breeding stock either of the woman in
Santa Cruz or of the gentleman in Cleveland, but we wrote to both that
they ought not to go into the squab raising business if they were to be de-
pendent on us for grain, that it was too far to send and that if they
would look around home they could get what they wanted.

Here in New England we feed to pigeons red wheat, cracked corn,
hemp-seed, Canada peas, kaffir corn and buckwheat. Sometimes whole
corn is used, but this is a poor food for a flock of breeders, for if the big
kernels get into the crops of the squabs it will choke and plug them up
with a case of indigestion.

All the time people write to us and say they never heard of red wheat.
More write and say they don't know what kaffir corn is. Others are puz-
zled Wy hempseed, they have never seen any. That is surprising to us
here in New England, but no dowbt we would be just as surprised if we
were in our customers’ places.

Let us see if we cannot Jevel up the whole country on this question of
feed for pigeons. As a rule, we say, feed the grain which is nearest you.
This country has its corn belt, its wheat belt, its section where millet is
raised. Buckwheat is plentiful in another section. For your leading
grain, your staple, select that grain which you can get cheapest and
easiest. The point to remember is to feed a variety of grains. Keep this

National Standard Squab Book. 39

word variety in your mind all the time in dealing with your pigeons.
Their appetites do not grow keen on a monotonous diet and their health
will not be good on it. Vary the diet. ©

In order to find out what grains are convenient to you, go to your near-
est grain dealer or country gencral store. The dealer in nine cases out of
ten knows nothing about pigeons and their feed and if you give him the
name of a strange grain, he will be liable to shy and say he never heard
of it. The trouble with him is that he sells horse feed and is accustomed
to handling only the grains which horses need. He can get the grains you
wish by writing to his nearest port or railroad junction. There is nothing
odd or out of the way~-about the grains. They are going from one point
to another all the time. Sometimes they are scarce at certain periods of
the year. For instance, all this summer there has been no kaffir corn at
a reasonable price obtainable in Boston, so we have not fed it to our
pigeons, but have cut it out altogether in favor of the grains selling at a
lower price. Most of the kathir corn which we get in Boston comes from
Kansas. It is a splendid feed for pigeons. It is small and comparatively
soft, and their crops make easy work of it. It is nourishing and they like
it. Maybe your grain man sells a mixture for pigeons. If you will look
in this mixture you will find probably kaffir corn, as well as buckwheat
(in black kernels), also red wheat and Canada peas. Do not feed Canada
peas in great abundance to a house full of squab ‘breeders. We have fed
a bountiful supply of Canada peas to birds and later on found the crops
of some of the squabs distended with a great mass of somethiug which on
examination was found to be whole Canada peas. The parent birds had
simply filled their own crops with the whole peas, then taken a drink of
water and gone directly to the young squabs and allowed them to cram
their crops full. Syuabs are killed by these whole grains which the old
birds do not take time to properly break up. If you wish to feed Canada
peas in good measure, pound them up with a mortar and ‘pestle into finer
form and you will be on the safe side.

For the same reason, we sumetimes take cracked corn and pound it even
finer than it is when we buy it.

Do not feed an excess of corn, particularly in the summer time. (By
corn, we mean common Indian corn, not kaffir corn. Kaffir corn is harm-
less, even when forced on the birds.) The effect of corn is to heat the
blood. This is what you want in the winter time, but not in the summer.
If fed to excess in the summer time, it will cause canker in the old birds,
which is a sort of diphtheria, filling their throats with a thick, cheesy-like
compound, and the throats of some squabs also get filled up in the same
manner. By an excess of corn, we mean that corn forms the major part
of the diet. In the summer, feed two parts of red wheat to one part of
eracked corn. In the winter feed two parts of cracked corn to one part
of red wheat. In other words, set before the pigeons in the summer
twice as much red wheat as cracked corn, in the winter time twice as
much cracked corn as red wheat.

UAGAAY-ATAG AHL ating OL MOH ONIMOHS

=" MN ATTTEN NUTT

c
= RR ae:
ae 7
— SS ~<
¥en a ee

—

National Standard Squab Book. 41

White wheat fed to pigeons here in New England causes scours or
diarrhoea, but we have customers in the West who write us that they are
feeding white wheat with no bad effects. Use red wheat and you are ab-
solutely sure that your pigeons will not have diarrhoea.

All the grains which you feed should be old, hard, dry and sweet. If
they smell sour or taste bad to your own tongue, don’t feed them to your
pigeons. Above all, keep your grain dry. If you have the grain stored in
bins which are damp from ground water, or which catch the drippings
from the eaves, or through holes in the roof, first you will get sour grain
and then some of the grain will sprout, and this sprouted grain will de-
range the bowels of your birds and bring on dysentery. Do not let rank
little growths spring up in a dirty squab house or in the yard of your
flying pen. Pigeons will peck at green leaves and grass and will not be
harmed, but do not give them a chance to peck up sprouted grain and eat
the sprout, grain and ail, for if they do they will have diarrhoea. A
pigeon in good condition and busy with a nest ordinarily will not touch a
nasty little green sprout, but in the moulting season, when pigeons are in
the dumps generally, and feeling like having a stimulant, they will experi-
ment with these sprouts. Keep the floor of your squab house clean and
ihe yard of the flying pen raked up and you need not worry about this
matter.

Ground oyster shell should be piaced in a box handy for the pigeons to
get at. The purpose of this oyster shell is to provide the constituents of
the eggshell. The female pigeon needs it in order to form the egg.

Grit is needed by the pigeons to enable them to reduce to powder the
feed which they take into their crops. Tle muscles of the crop work
the grit on the grains and reduce the grains so that they mix with the di-
gestive fluids. There are special grits on the market advertised and for
sale at reasonable prices, but if there is a gravel bank near you, or a
deposit of fine sand, you do not need to buy grit. Simply cart two or
three bushels of the fine gravel or sand into your flying pen and cover the
ground with it. It is not necessary to cover the whole space of the ground
of the flying pen with grit. Some breeders use pounded glass.

It is poor policy to mix anything but red wheat and cracked corn to-
gether. If you make a mixture of peas and hempseed with cracked corn
and red wheat, you will find that the pigeons will dig down after the peas
and hempseed and toss the other grain around and waste it. The only
mixture, therefore, which we feed is a mixture of red wheat and cracked
eorn. According to the advice we have given, we take a grain scoop or
any measure, and in the summer time mix two parts of red wheat to one
of cracked corn; in the winter, two parts of cracked. corn to one of red
wheat.

We call the red wheat and cracked corn staples, because with us in
New England it forms the major part of the diet, and is the cheapest.
The hemp seed, buckwheat, Canada peas, kaffir corn and millet we call
dainties. We do not feed much millet, because we have the other grains,

42 National Standard Squab Book.

which are cheapest, but some of our customers in the millet sections of
the country feed a good deal of millet. In such cases they look on millet
as one of their staples, and the hard-to-get grains are classed by them as
dainties. The staple grains of which you will feed the most to your
pigeons are the ones which are cheapest for you. The more expensive
grains will be ciassed by you as dainties.

A good way to feed the dainties is to throw them out on the floor of
the squab house by hand. You will see the pigeons make a rush for
them and eat them with as much relish as a child eats candy. You should
feed the dainties about three times a week, throwing handfuls on the floor
until you see that the pigeons are satisfied and do not care for any more,

Do not throw any feed on the ground of the flying pen, for the earth is
liable to be damp, and this dampness will sour the grain, especially cracked
corn, and if the pigeons eat it, they will get sour crops, and the fluids
from the sour crops of the parent pigeons will make the squabs sick and
perhaps kill them, Do all your feeding in the squab house (supplemented,
if you wish, by the protected self feeder out in the flying pen) and your
pigeons will not have sour crops.

Do not lay in a big stock of cracked corn at a time, for cracked corn
exposed to sudden changes of the weather is liable to take up dampness,
and sour. Smell and taste it once a week or so and determine to your
own satisfaction that it is not sour.

Some squab breeders feed twice a day, as much as the birds will eat up
clean, but we do not believe in that system of feeding. Our own success,
and the suecess of our customers in squab raising, is based largely on
the fact that we insist on a continuous supply of food for the pigeons.
Focd should be at hand for them all the time. They do not gorge, as a
horse will if an unlimited supply of food is set before him. They are not
gluttons, and never get fat and pot-bellied. They always know when to
stop eating, and never waste food by eating grain that they do not want.
They do not lose their racy shape. A squab when hungry will squeak
loudly to inform its parents of that fact and if you observe a squab house
where the two meals a day are in vogue, you will note quite a chorus of
squeaks. In a house where there is feed always at hand, you will not
hear many hungry squeaks. It is greatly to your interest that the crops of
your young birds be filled with food. The more their crops are stuffed
with food, the quicker they will fatten and the fatter they will get. The
parent birds should at al] times be able to fill up their ‘crops with feed
and water and then fly to the nest to disgorge for the benefit of the
squabs.

Some small parent Homers are such good feeders, such good fathers and
mothers, that they stuff their squabs with grain and bring them up to a
surprising fatness. You cannot predict that the squabs from small par-
ents will be small, for this element of stuffing the feed into the young ones
is worth taking account of. We have had pairs of squabs which actually
at four weeks of age were bigger than their parents. This is not surpris-

National Standard Squab Book. 43

ing when you think that the squabs sit in their nest hour after hour doing
nothing but accumulate fat, and taking no exercise to train off this fat.
he old birds are ‘lying around and do not hare much fat ov them; they
are trim and muscuiar, and hard fleshed. You can tell an old pigeon after
it is cooked when you put your teeth into it, just as you can tell an old
fowl.

-To close this chapter, we will leave one thought with you which you
must not forget, and that is, to provide salt for your pigeons. All animals
need salt in order to keep strong and healthy. The safest kind of salt
for you to usc is rock salt, such as is sold for horses. Put a couple of big
lumps of it in the squab house and let the pigeons peck at it when they
wish. About once in two weeks wet the grain with salted water, then dry
the grain and let the pigeons eat it and they will get it into their systems
in this manner. Do not use powdered salt for if you do the birds may
eat too much of it and it will kill them. Coarse ground salt may be used,
but the rock salt is best.

Seuvas House Buitt or Logs.

Tue Martine Coop.

One way of mating squab breeders is to turn cocks and hens in equal number into the same
pen. The mating coop is used when the breeder wishes to pair a certain male with a certain
female. The above mating coop is divided by a partition. The cock is placed on one side of
the partition, the hen on the other, as pictured, They are left thus for a day or two to tease
each other. Then raise the partition, or take it out, and allow them to approach each other
when they usually will be found to have formed an attachment. This being the case, they
may be put into the large pen with the other birds, where they will find a nest box and go to
heusekeeping. If they fight when the partition is removed, try again, or try other mates. The
coop pictured above is two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep.

CHAPTER VI.
LAYING AND HATCHING.

Laying an Egg is Under the Control of the Pigeon’s Mind—Fertile and
Unfertiie Eggs—How the Cock Drives the Hen—One Day Between
Eggs—Hatch After Seventeen Days—How Squabs are Fed by the
Parent Birds—Mating Males and Females—Use of the Mating Coop
—Determination of Sex—Color of Feathers Has No Effect on Color
of Flesh—Pigeons Left to Themselves Will Not Inbreed—No In-
breeding Necessary fven if You Start With a Small Flock.

The hen pigeon builds the nest. When the nest is ‘built, the cock begins
to “drive’’ the hen around the house and pen. In a flock of pigeons on
the roof of the squab house, you always will see one or two cocks ‘‘driv-
ing’ their mates, pecking at them and nagging them with the purpose of
forcing them onto the nest to lay the eggs. The cock seems to take more
interest in the coming family than the hen.

The hen lays one egg in the nest, then skips a day and lays the second
egg on the third day. Seventeen days after’ being laid the eggs hatch.
The egg first laid hatchee a day befure the second, sometimes, ‘but usually
the parents do not sit close on first egg, but stand over it, and do not in-
cubate it. Sometimes one squab may get more than its share of food, and
the younger one will weaken and die. This seldom happens but if you
see one squab considerably larger than the other, the thing to do is to ex-
change with a syuab from another nest that is nearer the size of the re-
maining squab. ‘The old birds will not notice the change but will continue
feeding the foster squab.

The process of laying an egg is a mental operation. We mean by this
that it is not a process which goes on regularly in spite of all conditions.
The hen forms the egg in her body and lays it when she wants to, not
when she is forced to. In other words, the hen lays when conditions are
satisfactory to her. That she forms the egg at will is proven by many
things, principaliy py the fact that she allows one day to come in between
the first and the second eggs. No doubt, after she has laid the first egg,
she hurries the other along and lays it as soon after the first as she can,
and it takes 48 hours for the egg, complete in its wonderful construction,
to form. Hen pigeons in a shipping crate or close coop do not lay eggs,
hecause they know that there are no facilities there for raising young.
Once in a while you will find an egg in a shipping crate when the birds
are taken out, but it is a comparatively rare occurrence.

Of course, in order to lay a fertile egg, the hen pigeon must have re-

(45)

46 National Standard Squab Book.

ceived the attention of the cock bird. It is common for a hen pigeon at
five months, and sometimes four, to lay an egg, but as a rule those first
eggs from a young hen are not fertile because she has not yet mated with
the cock bird. After a hen pigeon has reached six months of age, and is
paired with a male, it is safe to assume as an almost invariable rule that
the eggs she lays will be fertile. When the male bird gets to be six to ten
years old, he may lose his vitality, and the eggs laid by his mate will not
be fertile. Then it is necessary to provide the female with a new mate.
The breeders, we sell are of prime breeding age, from eight months to
eightees months old, and the eggs laid by hens of that age will be fertile,
and of full size, and the squabs ‘bred from them will not be scrawny and
lacking in vitality.

From the day of its hatching to market time the squab is fed by its
parents. The first food is a liquid secreted in the crop of both cock and
hen, and called pigeons’ milk. The parent pigeons open their bills and the '
squabs thrust their bills within to get sustenance. This supply of pigeons’
miik lasts from five to six days. It gradually grows thicker and in a week
is found to be mixed with corn and wheat in small particles. When about
teu days old, the squabs are eating hard grain from the crops of the ma-
ture cock and hen, which fill up at the trough, then take a drink of water
and fly to the nest to minister to the little ones. You see how important
it is to have food available at all times.

In 14, 15 or 16 days after the first pair of squabs have been hatched, the
cock begins “driving” the hen again. This shows the necessity of a
second nest for the pair. In this second nest the hen lays two more eggs,
and the care of the first pair of squabs, now between two and three weeks
old, devolves upon the cock. When this pair is four weeks old, it is taken
out of the nest anc killed and both the mature birds are concerned then
only with the new hatch. This sequenee of eggs and hatches goes on all
the time.

If there are not two nests, the two vew eggs will be laid in the nest
where are the growing squabs and the parents in their eagerness to sit on
the new eggs will push the squabs out of the nest and they will die for
lack of sustenance.

The hen lays the eggs about four o'clock in the afternoon. The cock and
hen take turns at covering the eggs, the hen sitting during the night until
about ten o’clock- in the morning, when the cock relieves her, remaining on
until the latter part of the afternoon.

When the nappies are changed at the end of two weeks, the nest-box
should be scraped clean with a trowel. When the squabs are taken out
for market at the end of four weeks, the nappy should be washed and
scalded and the nest-box whitewashed. If the nappies are changed and
the whitewash used regularly, no trouble from parasites will result. In
the summer it is well to add a little carboliec acid to the whitewash as an
extra precaution. Sprinkle unslaked lime on the floor of the squab honse
and in the nest boxes.

National Standard Squab Book. 47

One way of mating pigeons is to turn males and females in equal
number into the same pen. ‘They will seek their own mates and settle
down to steady reproduction. Another method is to place the male and
female which you wish to pair in a mating coop or hutch. In the course
of a few days they will mate and then you may turn them loose in the big
pen with the others. The latter method is necessary when improving your
flock by the addition of new blood, or when keeping a positive record of
the ancestry of each pair. By studying your matings, you may improve
the efficiency of your tock. If you are raising squabs for breeders, you
should use the mating coop constantly so as not to inbreed, which the
young pigeons might do if left the chance.

In case a pigeon loses its mate by death or accident, the sex of the dead
one must be ascertained and a live pigeon of the same sex introduced to
the pen to mate with the odd one. Or the live one should be removed from
the pen and placed in the mating coop with a pigeon of the opposite sex.

The mating coop should have a partition of lattice work or wire. Place
the cock in one side, the hen in the other, and leave them thus for two or
three days to flirt and tease each other, then remove the central lattice
work or wire and they usually will mate. If they show no disposition to
mate but on the contrary fight, replace the partition and try them for two
or three days longer. If they refuse to mate after two or three thorough
trials, do not experiment any more with them, but select other mates.

The determination of the sex of pigeons is difficult. The bones at the
vent of a female are as a rule wider apart than of a male If you hold the
beak of a pigeon in one hand and the feet in the other, stretching them
out, the male bird usually will hug his tail close to its body—the female
will throw her tail. The best way to determine the sex is to watch the
birds. The male is more lively than the female, and does more cooing, and
in flirting with her usually turns around several times, while the female
seldom turns more than half way around. The male may be seen pecking
at the female and driving her. to nest. When one pigeon is seen chasing
another inside and outside the squab house, the driven one is the female
and the driver her mate.

Neither the squab-breeder nor the flying-Homer breeder is much con-
cerned about the color of feathers. There are blue checkers, red checkers,
black checkers, silver, blue, ‘brown, red, in fact about all the colors of the
rainbow. Color has no relation to the ability of a pair to breed a large
pair of squabs. We wish specially to emphasize the fact that the color
of the feathers has no influence on the color of the skin of the squab. A
white-feathered bird does not mean a whiter-skinned squab. The feed
affects the color of the meat a little. A corn-fed pigeon will ‘be yollower
than one fed on a mixture. Squabs with dark skins (almost black in
some cases) are the product of blood matings. The trouble with a dark-
colored squab is in the blood and the only remedy is to get rid of them
either by killing the parents or by remating. Usually the trouble comes
from one parent bird, which you can find by turning up the feathers and

Oxt WEEK OLD.
Two WEE
So rapidly do squabs grow that you will quickly Werxs Oxp.
notice their increase in size from day to day.

Turer WEEKS OLD.

Four Weeks Op.

National Standard Squab Book. 49

examining the skin. Having found the bird which is at fault, kill it. This
point has come up continually in our correspondence. The erroneous be-
lief that white-feathered birds produce the whitest-skinned squabs seems
to be widespread and we are asked sometimes for a flock of breeders “all
white.” Our experience with all white Homers is that they have less
stamina than the colored ones. (This is also the experience of poultrymen
with ali white fowls; they are not hardy.) The marketmen will take two
or three pairs of dark-skinned squabs in a bunch without comment, but
an excess of dark ones will provoke a cut in price. Breeders who are ship-
ping only the undressed squabs should pluck feathers now and then to
see Just what color of squabs they are getting. The dark-colored squabs
are just as good eating as the light-colored ones, but buyers for the hotels
and clubs, and those who visit the stalls generally, pick out the plump.
white-skinned syuabs in preference to the plump dark-skinned ones. As
a rule, squabs from Homer pigeons are white-skinned—the dark-colored
squab is an exception. i

Many beginners wish to know if it will be all right for them to ‘buy a
flock and keep it in one house for six months or a year, paying no atten-
tion to the mating of the young birds, but leaving that to themselves, so
as to get without much trouble a large flock before the killing of the
squabs for market ‘begins. Certainly, you may do this, providing extra
nest-boxes from time to time until your squab house has been filled with
nests; then you will have to provide overflow quarters. We are asked if
the flock will not become weakened by inbreeding, that is, a brother bird
mating up to a sister, by chance. According to the law of chances, such
matings would take place not very often. Pigeons in a wild state, on the
face of a cliff, or in an abandoned building, would mate by natural selec-
tion. The stronger bird gets the object of its affection, the weaker one is
killed off or gets a weaker mate, whose young are shorter-lived, so the in-
evitable result is more strength and larger size. Nature works slowly, if
surely. A lot of pigeons in one pen mating as they please when old enough
is the natural way, and if you follow this, you cannot go very far wrong.
We advocate matings by the breeder because it hurries Nature along the
path which makes most money for the breeder. We all know how Darwin
studied natural and forced selection vf pigeons. He took one pigeon with
a certain peculiarity, say a full breast, and mated it to another pigeon with
a full breast. The squabs from these birds, when grown, had breasts
fuller than their parents. Then these in turn were mated to full-breasted
pigeons from other parents, and the* grand-children had even larger
breasts. Darwin’s experiments covered a period of over twenty years
and in this time he developed little faults and peculiarities to an amazing
degree. Every intelligent, careful pigeon breeder is striving by his forced
matings to push along the path of progress the peculiarity in pigeons
which is his specialty. The breeder who selects most carefully and keeps
at it the longest wins over the others. By selecting from your best and
most prolific breeders the biggest and fattest squabs, keeping them for

50 National Standard Squab Book.

breeders and mating so as to get something larger and plumper, you are
all the time getting bigger squabs. HEvery breeder of squabs has it in his
power to increase the efficiency of his flock by studying his matings.
There is commercial satisfaction in breeding for size and plumpness be-
cause it puys at once, and at the same time the breeder has the satisfac-
tion of increasing the stamina and variety of pigeons.

To be master of the matings, the breeder should band his squabs. As
soon as they are weaned (that is, as soon as the breeder sees them flying
to the feed and eating it) they should be taken and put into a rearing
squab-house. When about six months old, the breeder should begin mat-
ing them by selection, using the mating coop, then when they are mated
turn the pair into a working pen with other adult birds. By looking at the
number oa the band of each bird, then on your record card, you know how
to avoid mating up brother and sister.

When the young birds are just over four weeks old, or between four and
six weeks, they are able to fly a little, and if they do not hop out of the
nest (or are not pushed out by the parents) you may push them out your-
self. They are now able to feed themselves and you should provide an
auxiliary feeding trough in the squab house for them. If these young
birds are left in the squab house, they will bother the old birds by begging
for food, and this infantile nagging will hinder the regular breeders in
their next hatch, so the very best thing to do is to put the young birds by
themselves in a rearing house, where they cannot bother anybody.

Of course there is likely to be a little inbreeding when you leave the
birds to choose for themselves, but not much. If the breeder has not the
time to make forced matings, then he may not care to make them. Re-
member in mating that like begets like. The parent bird that feeds its
young the most, and most often, will raise the biggest squab. Sometimes
a parent bird will have fine nursing abilities and will stuff its offspring
with food. These good-feeding qualities are transmitted from one genera-
lion to another and are as much under the control of the breeder as size
and flesh-color. Your biggest squabs will be found to have an extra-atten-
tive father or mother, or both. A pigeon with a dark skin, if mated to a
white skinned bird will produce a mulatto-like squab. It is the large, fat,
white-fleshed squab which you are after. Disregard the color of the
feathers when mating. If when plucking your squabs you come across a
‘nigger,’ that is, a squab with a dark skin, find out what pair of breeders
it came from ard whether the cock or the hen is at fault, and get rid of
the faulty one. It is important to start with adult birds that are not re-
iated, then you will not begin inbreeding. That is why we make 2
special effort with our adult birds to have them unrelated.

Some letters from customers make plain to us that_a clear knowledge of
what inbreeding means is not possessed by everybody. Several have
written to this effect: “If I buy two or three dozen pairs from you to
start, how can I increase the size of my flock without inbreeding ' Now,
inbreeding, or breeding in, is the opposite of breeding out (or line breed-

i National Standard Squab Book. 51

ing). When (1) a brother is mated to sister or (2) a father to a daughter,
or (3) a mother to a son, or (4) a grandson to his grandmother, etc., that
is inbreeding. We know it is forbidden by law for human beings to mate
in that manner, because (a) God in the Scriptures has forbidden it, and
(b) because the State does not wish to have to care for the puny, weak-
minded offspring that would result from such unions.. We all know that
the marriages of cousins often result in demented, diseased children. Now
suppose you buy two dozen pairs of pigeons of us, and number them Pairs
1 to 24. If you mate the offspring of Pair 2 (or any other pair) to the off-
spying of Pair 1 (or any other pair) that is outbreeding. What you do
not do, and what you try to prevent, is the mating of the offspring of
Pair No. 1 (or any other pair) to each other. So, you see, if you have
a dozen or two pairs, you need never inbreed,. for there is an infinite
variety of matings possible. Breeders of animals sometimes inbreed pur-
posely in order to get better color of fur or plumage, or finer bones, etc.,
but what is gained in these respects is lost in size and stamina. Fowls
hatched from studied inbreedings often are so weak that their progress
across the barnyard is like the tottering, falling progress of a drunkard.
There are no brothers and sisters in the flocks we sell. If you buy one
dozen or twenty dozen pairs of breeders of us, the pairs will be unrelated,
and you need never inbreed.

Two Views OF.oUR HOMERS.

The Homers we sell are extremely plump and full-breasted and breed the fattest and higheat-
priced squabs in the market. .

CHAPTER VIL
INCREASE OF FLOCK.

It Is Possible to Breed One Pair of Squabs Each Month, but in Actual
Practice This Is Seldom Attained—The Squab Raiser with Pure
Thoroughbred Homers Should Count on Hight or Nine Pairs of
Squabs a Year—The Common Pigeon Breeds Only Four or Five
Pairs of Squabs a Year, But Eats as Much or More Than the
Homer—Differences Between the Homer and the Common Pigeon—
Good Homers Scarce and the Market for Them Firm and Steady.

It is theoretically possible for a pair of pigeons to brecd twelve pairs
of squabs a year, for it takes only 17 days for the eggs to hatch, and
ithe hen goes to luying again when the hatch is only two weeks old.
So, if you.start with 12 pairs of Homer pigeons, and they should breed
one ‘pair of squabs a month, at the end of the first month you would
have 24 squabs; at the end of the second munth, 48 squabs; at the end
of the third mouth, 72 squabs; at the end of the fourth month, 96
squabs; at the end of the fifth month, 120 squabs. Now the first lot of
squabs which your birds hatched will be ready to mate and lay eggs,
so at the end of the sixth month you should have 168 squabs; at the
end of the seventh month, 240 squabs; at the end of the eighth month,
336 squabs; at the end of the ninth month, 456 squabs; at the end of the
tenth month, 600 squabs; at the end of the eleventh month, 768 squabs,
and at the end of the twelfth month, 960 squabs. Such figures are purely
theoretical and are seldom attained in actual practice. It may be called
the standard, the ideal, to which we are all working. You will have
some pairs in your flock which will raise ten and eleven pairs of squabs
a year, but the average will be eight or nine pairs. of squabs a year.
If you get only six or seven pairs, your flock is not pure thoroughbred
Homers, or your feeding and nesting arrangements are wrong. In our
visit to the New Jersey squab country, in the summer of 1902, we asked
every squab breeder with whom we talked how many pairs a year he
was getting from his birds, and about all of them said seven to nine.
This experience corresponds with ours. We remember particularly an old
gentleman, Preacher Hubbell, in Vineland, who had been in the squab
business for years but was, just going out of it, having sold his place,
pigeons and all, to a Swede farmer. He told us he had always made
squabs pay him and that his birds, of which he kept a eareful record,
raised him nine pairs to the year right along.

It is a well-known fact that the common pigeon will breed only four

(53)

ra

54 National Standard Squab Book.

or five pairs of squabs a year, and if handlers of big flocks of common
pigeons like Johnson of California can make a net profit of $1 per pair
a year from such low breeders, we think anybody of no experience is
justified in believing our statement that our Homers are capable of earn-
ing a net profit of from $2 to $3 per pair a year, taking into account not
only their fast breeding qualities, but the superior size of the squabs.
Here in New England we consider the common pigeons inconstant and
happy-go-lucky breeders. In the vernacular of the squab breeder they
are called an epithet which is applicd to a female of no morals. They
are not in the same class at all with the Homer pigeon.

The common pigeon, the pigeon which flies the streets of our cities and
towns, is a mixture of all kinds of pigeons, and it partakes of the faults
of each, and not of the virtues. Its outward appearance is large, but it
is an effect of feathers and not of flesh. Its feathers are loose and fluffy
and its muscles soft and flabby. Its head is smaller than that of a
Homer, the deficiency being marked in the curve of the skull which
covers the brain. The Homer has the largest brain of any variety of
pigeon, and discloses this fact by its behavior. It has more sense and
behaves with more intelligence. Its wonderful homing instinct marks
it above and beyond all classes of pigeons and it is this quality which
gives it a commercial value all over the world. The feathers of the
Homer are laid close Jike a woman’s glove and the muscles under it feel
as hard and firm as a piece of wood. Its breast is firm and well pro-
tected, with just the right amount of fullness. Its chest is large, indicat-
ing good lung power and staying qualities. Its wings are trim and
shapely, in flight the poetry of motion. The poise of its body and head
reminds oue of a racehorse listening for the signal to speed over the
course. The lines from the neck to the body descend in a long, grace-
ful sweep. Put a thoronghbred Homer into a flock of common pigeons
and even a novice, if told to pick out the bird which would fly the fastest
and furthest, would pick out the Homer. The Homer has a long bill (but
not so long as the Dragoon pigeon). The bill of the common pigeon is
short. Its bill is more hooked and is sharper pointed. Its head ds shorter
and more rounding on top.

The common pigeon is seldom bred in captivity, because it does not pay
fur the grain which it consumes. If bred in a wild state, it picks up a
living in the neighborhood, the owner not keeping it wired in. It is the
cheapest kind of a pigeon, and thousands of pairs are used by trap shoot-
ers. Undertakers sometimes buy the white common pigeons in order to
liberate them at graves, to signify the ascent of the soul to heaven. Com-
mon pigeons will live anywhere, do not get attached to any home, but a
Homer never forgets the place where it was bred and will search out its
home in long flights. Common pigeons will alight on any building and
will drink from different springs and wells, fouling them and making
themselves a nuisance in a neighborhood. The Homer will alight only
on its own squab house and drink only at its own home. Common pigeons

National Standard Squab Book. a8

sell for fifty cents a pair and are frequently offered as Homers. “Do Dot
start with common pigeons and think to learn the habits of squab ‘breeders
with them. If you cross a common with a Homer pigeon you will take
away the good qualities of the Homer and add nothing. There’ is not
one element in a common pigeon which if added to a Homer would im-
prove the offspring. It is hard to convince some people that there is any
difference in pigeons whose feathers are the same color. The result is
they buy the cheapest they can get. After feeding them for a time and
getting no profitable results, they are compelled to sell them to the first
trap shooter who comes along, and they go among their townspeople de-
claring that the pigeon business is no good. Remember this point, that if
you are going te buy grain and feed it to anything so as to get a profit,
it is the best policy to fecd it to that grade of animal which will show the
largest profit. Very few people are satisfied with shoddy suits nowa-
days, even if they lock almost as well as the all-wool garments. It is
the wear which the customer is after. Beware of shoddy pigeons. Buy
the best Homers you can get, they will wear best and give you the most
pride. Experienced poultrymen do not go here and there looking for
fowls at cut prices. They buy breeding stock of u reliable ‘breeder which
is reliable and sold at a price which will enable the seller to deliver a
high quality article. We can tell pretty well when an order for our

reeding stock comes from an old poultry man, for they all write: “I
want the best stock you can give me.”

Good Homers do not glut the markets. They are always fairly scarce,
and the price for them has always been well kept up. Beware of cheap
Homers for sale at cut prices. There is always something the matter
with such birds. They have been worked too long and are played out,
or if a flock is offered “at a bargain,” the birds do not produce the large,
plump, No. 1 squab, but only culls. If a squab breeder is going to quit
the business and offers you his flock of birds on the bargain counter,
make him give a good reason to you for selling. If he has been unable
to make the tlock pay, you may be sure that you will be unable to make
them pay. If he offers them to you without a good reason for selling,
the chances are that it is a poor flock and he has got tired of buying
grain for them, and wishes to saddle the burden on you. We are always
selling breeders and it is very much to our interest to ‘protect our repu-
tation by sending cut only good Homers that will make money for their
owners, and this is what we do, and our large business has been built
up by square dealing, and knowing the business thoroughly.

A pair of Homers capable of earning a pair of squabs in one monath
which will sell for at least 50 cents is worth more than $1 or $1.25 a pair.
A pair of birds capable of earning only a ten-cent or twenty-cent pair of
squabs once in two or three months is worth only 50 cents a pair. Jersey
cows are worth more than common cows because they earn more. Good
Homer pigeons, bred skilfully, are woith more than poor Homers because

they earn more.

‘UeIp[go pus usulom 107 ATperoedsa
‘aey 3y3 Uo BuTqz4oe uEqy rd uy a. (di pue Aynveq e1our st oxo, “syueyd qenbs yyim soqeqso Asqunoo dn 3uyqy Jo Ayyeroeds u oysur OM

‘SHAWOLSOA YO AO INO 40 WAV 000‘00ZS THL NO SanaOg

CHAPTER VIII.
KILLING AND COOLING.

Kill the Squabs in the Morning When Their Crops Are Empty—Not
Necessary to Use a Knife, Their Necks May Be Tweaked—Drive
the Animal Heat Out of Their Bodies by Hanging Them from Nails
—The Ideal Squab When Shipped Has an Empty Crop, Its Feet
Have Been Washed Clean, and No Blood Shows—Sorting Squabs
So as to Get the Highest Price from the Dealer.

The time to kill the squabs is in the morning, when the crops are empty.’
In killing them it is not necessary to use a knife. Hold each squab in
the manner shown in the illustration and break the neck with a sudden
pull and push. Do not pull too hard or you will sever the neck from the
body. Some of our customers have hard work to get this knack of tweak-
ing the necks and prefer to wring the necks, or to use a knife. To wring
the neck, hold the squab by the head in the right hand and throw the

_ body around in a complete circle, this act twisting and breaking the neck.

After the squabs are killed they must be cooled. In other words the
anima] heat must be driven out of their bodies. Provide a piece of board
or studding eight or ten feet long and every four inches along this stud-
ding drive a couple of nine-penny wire finish nails close together, but not
so close that you cannot squeeze in the legs of the squabs. A finish wire
nail has no large head like an ordinary wire nail. Suspend the studding
from the ceiling by means of wire adjusted at both ends of the studding.
This method of hanging it up is to prevent rats and cats from climbing
up onto the studding and walking along it and eating the squabs. Place
the feet of the squabs between the wire nails and let them hang down-
wards over night. In the morning the heat will be all out of their bodies
and you can pack and ship them. If you are delivering plucked squabs
to market, you do not need such an arrangement, but will throw the
bodies into a tub of ice water (or cold spring water) after you have
niucked them.

Ignorance of how to cool the killed squabs properly has discouraged
many a squab raiser. If you throw the squabs in a pile on the floor
after you have tweaked their necks, you will have a fermenting mass
and the following morning, when you are ready to ship, many of the
bodies will be dark-colored at the place of contact with the floor, or with
other squabs, and decay wili start from such discolored places. Hang
the bodies from the studding, as we have described, ‘and you will coo}

(57)

Incorrect Position or Hanps.

Correct Position or Hanps.

A squab is killed for market when it is plump and well feathered, usually when four weeks
old, although many are ready for market when a day or two over three weeks old. Hold the
hands close together on the neck, as shown in the bottom picture and break the spine of the
bird by pulling firmly and then pushing back. Do not put so much strength into the operation
that you pull the head from the body. This method of killing is faster and neater than using
a knife.

National Standard Squab Book. 59

them just right and you will be surprised that this part of the business
ever could have discouraged anybody.

If you number the nails which you have driven into the studding, you
will know just how many squabs you hang up, and you will not have
to handle the squabs a second time to count them.

The ideal squab which brings the highest price in the market is not
only large and plump, but has a clean crop, so that no food will be left
in it to. sour. No blood shows anywhere on the body and its feet are
elcan. Ship dn small quantities, especially in the summer. Do not pack
in an enormous box, or the bottom layers will suffer.

A squab should be killed, as we have stated, when from three to four
weeks old, most generally at four weeks. Do not wait until it is five or
six weeks old, when it may have left the nest. As soon as a squub is
old enough to get out of the nest and walk around on the floor of the
squab house, it quickly trains off its fat and grows lean and slender.
Its flesh ‘also loses its pure white color and takes on a darker shade.
You do not want either of these two conditions.

If you tie up your killed squabs by the feet when shipping to market,
do not tie a lean with a fat squab, for if you do the dealer probably will-
give you the price of the lean one. Put the fat squabs in one bunch and
the iean squabs in another bunch. If you are shipping to two dealers,
you can very often get the top price from both by giving one your best

squabs and the other your second best.

Fill this berry crate with nesting material (straw cut into six inch lengths, and hay, mixed
about equally) and place it in centre of squab house. The cover prevents the birds from fouling the
nesting material. They stick their bills through the slats, select the wisps they want, and fly to

nests.

KitLep Squass Hune to Coon.

After the, squabe have been killed they should be hung as this picture shows to cool. The

g or studding is several feet long and is suspended from the ceiling at ita ends

by wire, so that cats and rate cannot climb to the squabs. A pair of nails are driven in four
inches apart and the squabs’ legs set in between them.

CHAPTER IX.
: THE MARKETS.

Squabs with the Feathers on Taken by the Boston and Some Other City
Markets—The New York Market Wants Them Plucked and Pays
the Highest Price of Any Northern City—Interpretation of Quota-
tions of Squabs as Seen in the Newspapers—White-Fleshed Squabs
Are Wanted, Not Dark-Fleshed.

The Boston market, and the market in some other cities, will take
squabs with feathers on. It is only necessary for you to tweak the necks
of the squabs and send them to the train, after they have cooled over
night. Some shippers do not take the trouble to box the killed squabs,
but tie their legs together with string and send them along to market.
In the baggage cars of the trains running into Boston you will sometimes
see strings of squabs going in to the commission houses in this way.

The New York market wants the squabs plucked. The squab breeders
who have large plants and who ship to the New York market employ
pluckers and pay them by the piece. A skillful plucker will strip feathers
from squabs at the rate of ten to twenty squabs an hour. The proper
time to pluck the killed squab is immediately after killing. When picked
elean, throw the squab into cold water and leave it there over night to
plump out and harden the flesh. In the summer use ice water.

The squab puts on more feathers than flesh during the last few days of
its growth and if you see squabs which are only three weeks old, but
which are of good size, you may save a week on feed by killing the squab
at that age and plucking it. When the feathers are off of it, it looks like
the four weeks’ squabs which have not matured so rapidly.

If you are shipping to the New York market, you should pack your
squabs in a neat white wood box, printed if you please. Do not use a
pine box for if you do the odor of the pine will penetrate the squabs.

The New York market for squabs is the best in the north. Squabs
delivered by our customers there invariably bring from $1 to $1.50 per
dozen more than in the Boston market. This is because there are more
rich people in New York than there -are in Boston, and they are more
free with their money in providing luxuries for their table than Boston
folks. We do not mean to disparage the Boston market for squabs, which
is always good, averaging $3 a dozen, but we wish to emphasize the fact
that the New York market is a phenomenal one. Anybody living near
New York can make a fortune raising squabs. Our largest orders have
come from customers who are shipping to New York.

(61)

62 National Standard Squab Book.

Not all the New York newspapers print market quotations of squabs,
The New York Evening Sun is an exception. Ali through the winter of
1901 and 1902 sqnabs were quoted in the Evening Sun at $5 a dozen. This
means that a squab breeder shipping to New York should have got $6
and $7 for a choice product from private customers.

A correspondent in New York state sends a clipping from the New
York Tnribune’s market columns and asks for an interpretation. We
quote from it as follows:

“Pigeons, 20c.; squabs, prime, large, white, per doz., $3.50 and $3.75;
ditto, mixed, $2.75 and $8; ditto, dark, $1.75 and $2.”

The quotation, “Pigeons, 20 cents,’ means 20 cents a pair for common
old killed pigeons. These tough old birds are occasionally found in the
markets and are worth only 10 or 15 cents apiece. They are neither squabs
nor the old Homer pigeons, but are common pigeons such as fly in the
streets. A small boy might get a pair of these street pigeons and kill
them and give them to a butcher who would pay him 15 or 20 cents
a pair. These cheap pigeons come into the eastern markets largely from
the West in barrels and are sold to Boston commission men for five cents
apiece, or 50 cents a dozen. They are retailed at from $1 to $1.20 a dozen.
They are in the Chicago market masquerading as squabs. They have
been killed with guus and have shot in their bodies. If you ask for pigeon
pie at one of the cheap Bostoa restaurants, you will get a shot or two
against your teeth with mouthfuls. After every trap-shooting contest
some skulker goes over the field and gathers up all the killed and maimed
birds he can find, and sclls them for two and three cents apiece, or for
anything he can get, and these find their way into the markets. The
cruel practice of pigeon shooting by miscalled ‘“‘sportsmen’”’ on Long Island
is quite common, and the presence of these birds in the New York butcher
shops accounts for the above quotation in the Tribune. It is unnecessary
to add that such birds do not compete with squabs. They can be made
palatable only by stewing for hours in a pie, which takes out a little of
their toughness. ‘There is now a law in New York forbidding pigeon
shooting.

As to squabs, the quotation, “Prime, large, white, per dozen $3.50 and
$3.75,” is for the kind of squabs that are raised from our Homers, namely,
No. 1 grade.

By the quotation, ‘Mixed, $2.75 and $3.00,” is meant that these amounts
are paid for lots of birds composed of No. 1 and No. 2 grades, mixed. If
you sort up your birds carefully you will be able to get the No. 1 prices
for all. Some people do not know how to sort them, and they have to tbe
satisfied with the price of a mixed lot.

By the quotation, “Dark, $1.75 and $2.00,” is meant the dark-fleshed
squabs, as you have learned by reading our Manual. Squabs whose flesh
is dark do not sell for as much as the white-fleshed squabs.

Pigeons are of al! colors, i. e., as you see their feathers, and the squabs

National Standard Squab Book. 63

likewise, but when you pluck the feathers off the flesh is either a pure
white with a tinge of yellow or dark like a negro’s skin.

Quotations -for squabs as found in the market reports in the “news-
papers are always lower than they really are. The writers of the market
columns in the daily papers see only the commission men and cater only
to them; they smoke the commission men’s cigars and believe what the
commission men tell them. They do not see the producer at all. ‘he
object of the commission men is to get the squabs as cheap as they can.
When you are breeding squabs make up your mind to get from 25 cents
to $1 or more per dozen than you see quoted in the market reports. At
the same time the report quoted above was printed in the New York
Tribune a breeder in Mauricetown, N. J., was getting from $4.25 to $4.50
a dozen for his squabs. (This was the last week in January, 1902.) You
see, it does not pay to trust wholly to the market reports in the news-
papers. The motive of the city men is to get their goods as cheap as they
can. It is your motive to get as much as you can, and don’t ‘be fooled by
second-hand information. Go direct to headquarters yourself in person
and iearn the truth. If the middleman tries to hold down the price to
you, go to a consumer and make your bargain with him at top prices.

A breeder in New Jersey writes that there are several squab breeders
in bis town, all of whom give their regular time to other busingsses. He
continues: ‘‘I am now (February, 1902), getting 32 cents each as they run,
no sorting, for what few squabs I am now raising, and they are sold to
a man who calls every 'uesday for them. When I have enough, I ship
direct to New York by express. ‘They sort them in New York.”

This is doing extremely weli for unsorted squabs. It is only another
hit of evidence which proves the money-making condition of the New
York market. (The above correspondent’s breeders are not first-class, he
admits, saying he has been breeding for seven years and his flock has
run down.)

The Kansas City market does not yet know what a fat squab is. The
only things obtainable there are the squabs of common pigeons, which
are quoted low, as they are all over the country. A correspondent in
Atchison writes: “I wrote to the Kansas City dealer again, telling him I
thought his prices were pretty low for Homer squabs. He replied that
they had so few Homers offered that they did not quote them, and they
would be worth from $2 to $2.50 per dozen. He quoted common pigeon
squabs at $1.25 to $1.75 per dozen, as I wrote you before. That is better,
aud I want to try raising them as soon as I can get into a place where I
can handle them.” Sait

Fact is, the squabs that bring from $3 to $5 a dozen east of the Missis-
sippi will bring that (and more) as soon as the wealthy trade of Kansas
Ci a taste of them. ,

Find. out for yourself whether your market wants squabs with the
feathers on or off. We do not know such details about the saua eee
in every city in the country and cannot advise: you accurately on this
point if you write to us from a distant town or city.

CHAPTER X.
PIGEONS’ AILMENTS.

Canker a Filth Disease Which Makes Its Appearance in Nasty, Cramped
and Crowded Quarters—It is a Captivity Disease and a Sure Cure
for It is to Turn the Bird Loose to Get a Change of Food and
Plenty of Exercise—A Flock Supplied with Pure Food and Clean
Water Never Will Be Sick—Canker is Not Epidemic—It Does Not
Pay to Dose a Sick Pigeon, Better Turn It Out to Get Well.

The principal ailment met with by the squab breeder is canker. This
ailment is a puzzle to some breeders and they are alarmed when it makes
an appearance in their flock, as it does if the feed is poor er sour, the
water dirty, or the squab house filthy. The’ advice which they give
when they find a cankered bird is ‘‘Kill it.” That is the advice we used
to give at first, but now we know better. First, what is canker? It is
a disease eof which you know the cause (filth, poor feed or dirty water)
and whose symptoms you see in the form of a cheesy-like deposit in the
mouth of the pigeon, and breaking out around the bill. Catch the pigeon,
hold it in your lap and force open its bill and you will see a yellowish
patcn or patches in the mouth, and the mouth will usually be filled with
ua yellowish deposit which smells bad. ‘The disease is not serious. The
trouble lies with the feed and the filth and that is what spreads the
sane symptoms from one pigeon to another. A case of canker in your
flock should be a warning to you that the feed is wrong or water is
wrong, or that you have a filthy house. Do not get alarmed and kill the
bird. Catch the affected pigeon and carry it out of your flying pen and
squab house and throw it into the air. The bird may fly away and lose
itself, and if it does you are out one pigeon just as if you had killed it.
‘The chances are, however, as in the case of any sick animal, that it will
linger around home. Now you will be surprised to see how quick that
pigeon’s health will improve. Not having a steady supply of food before
it, it wili have to hustle for a living, and this exercise and the change of
living, anc the scanty living, will effect the cure. It will get more fresh
air, and a great deal more exercise, and more sun, than it would get if
left in company with the other birds. In about a week you will notice
that it will hold its bill tighter, and if there is a sore on the outside of
the bill you will see this sore dry up. In two weeks the chances are
that the yellowish deposit on the interior of the mouth will be entirely
gone. The pigeon will hover around the other pigeons. It will fly to the
outside of the netting and look at its fellows. Place a dish on the ground

(64)

National Standard Squab Book. 65

now and then with a litile feed and you will attract it. Catch it when
you have a favorable opportunity either with a net on the end of a pole,
or with a broom, pinning it into a corner. You may have to try several
times, but you will get it after a while. Its eye will be brighter and
signs of disease will be gone, and you can put it back into the squab
house with the others. The exercise, sunlight, change of food, and scanty
food, have made the cure. There are few pigeons so bad with canker that
they cannot be cured in this way. For that reason we have not much
hesitation in saying that canker is a captivity disease, caused by lack
of exercise as well as unavoidable filth and too much of the wrong kind
of feed. We have observed wild pigeons in the streets and we never
saw a case of canker among them. You may say to yourself that it is
quite a risk to throw out into the open air a pigeon which has cost you
from 75 cents to a dollar, but it is better to do this than to take the
advice cf all other breeders and books and kill it.

Powdered alum sprinkled in the drinking water now and then will tend
to ward off canker from a flock.

It does not pay to dose sick pigeons, because a cure seldom is obtained
by dosing, and you are out your time. The only remedies you need are
powdered alum and common brown ginger. The brown ginger is for the
purpose of counteracting any tendency to diarrhoea which you may ob-
serve. Sprinkle it in the drinking water.

The squab breeder who follows the advice as to feed and water, and
cleanliness of squab house, given in this Manual, will not have any sick
pigeons. It is so very easy to keep a pigeon in perfect health that the
fear of disease is a bugbear not worth taking into account. The element
of disease is a constant source of worry to the chicken breeder, and a
source of heavy loss to the best of them. We wish to assure all who
contemplate starting in the squab breeding business that the pigeon nat-
urally is a healthier and more rugged bird than the domestic hen and that
positively you will not be fussing with remedies and curealls, in handling
them.

“Going light,” or wasting away, is an ailment of pigeons occasionally
met with. The cause of it is an absence of grit and salt. If your staples
of feed are provided as we tell, and you give a variety of feed, and you
provide grit and oyster shells, you will have no cases of “going light.”
The disease is known by a steady wasting away of the pigeon. Catch
it and you feel a prominent breast bone, and scanty flesh, showing that
some element in the feed is lacking.

The principal cause of these ailments of pigeons, next to filth, is too
much corn. Corn is carbonaceous and produces fat, which heats the
blood and lays the system open to disease.

CHAPTER NI.

GETTING AHEAD.

Make Your Birds Pay for Themselves as They Go Along, Unless You
Wish to Wait Patiently Until a Small Flock Increases to a Large
One—Better to Take the Money Made from Sale of Squabs and
Buy More Adult Birds than to Raise the Squabs, Because It Is a
Long Jump from Ffour Weeks (the Killing Age) to Six Months, at
Which Age the Birds Begin Breeding—Shipping Points.

It is the birds and not the buildings which count in squab raising and
if you have $50 to start, put $35 or $40 into your birds and the balance
into your building. We have had customers start with a $100 building
and put a $10 lot of birds into it, continuing to buy $10 lots of us about
once a month until they had their flock to a good size, but we believe it is
best to let the buildings follow the birds, and not the birds the buildings.
In other words, let your birds earn buildings as they go along. It is
quite a drag on a small flock to weigh it down with an expensive building
much too large for it.

It takes patience to look ahead to the good time coming when you are
going to draw dividends. The time to make a squab plant pay is at the
beginning, or near it. When you can get fifty to seventy-five cents for a
pair of squabs four weeks old, kill them and take your money.

Put this down in your mind solid, where you will not forget it: Make
your pigeons pay for themselves as they go.

We sell to a great many poultrymen, and we like to get their orders,
for they kave been through the mill of raising feathered animals and are
practical, and they are quick to see the money in squabs, and when their
order for breeding stock comes along, it is in nine cases out of ten a large
order, even if they have had no previous experience. They know that
in order to sell squabs they have got to have birds enough to breed
syuabs and it is just as easy for them to spend $50 or $100 at the start
as it is for them to spend $10 or $i5 and use up $100 worth of time while
waiting a sear to begin selling squabs.

Many ‘beginners are so skeptical that they do not believe squabs grow
to market size in one month, or they have no confidence in their ability to
feed the mature birds so as to keep them alive. They wish to make a
start with a few pairs and actually convince themselves. We do not
believe in untried hands plunging into something of which they know
nothing, and we commend the caution of the beginner with squabs who
wishes to feel his way and “make haste slowly” as the saying is, never-

(66)

National Standard Squab Book. 67

theless we know it to be a fact that our customers who started with
large flocks are making splendid successes, and we are not so cautious
as we were in former books in advising a small purchase, at the start.
The rules for breeding we have given have stood the test of time; we
have not oad it said to us that they are misleading or erroneous, on the
contrary, our customers write and teli us that their experience corre-
sponds with ours, that the books are all right, and our business has in-
creased right along. When a customer orders $200 worth of breeding stock
of us and two months later $200 worth more (we sell to some customers
month after month steadily, as their means or their inclination permit
them to buy) we are given a large measure of confidence, first, that people
many of whom we never see and who are not experts) can start with
our writings and our breeding stock and make a success, and second,
that all we have advised about the industry is of general and convincing
application, aud third, that it does not take extraordinary skill to make a
success with squabs.

We fill all orders, large or small, with equal care and thoroughness, for
it is just as much to our interest to please’ the customer and get more
orders in the one case as in the other.

There is not much choice as to what time of year a start in squab
breeding should be made. Our customers who start in the winter have
been exceptionally successful because then prices for squabs are at the
top notch, and it takes only a few sales to make a new breeder thor-
oughly convinced to go ahead to success. We ship breeders all the year
round. A pigeon will not break down under either stifling heat or bitter
cold, ‘being a remarkable contrast to all other animals in this respect.

We fill orders in rotation and treat customers alike, and ship promptly.
Frequently we get orders to ship by first returning express, and it is very
difficult to do this. One customer in Chicago planned to start for Alaska
with 12 pairs of our birds, but he held back his letter so that we got it
only with two hours to fill crates and get birds to him before his de-
parture. We filled his order as a matter of “accommodation. :

In ordering supplies to be sent by freight; remember that it takes a
freight shipment some time to get to destination, especially when traffic
is congested in the spring or in the harvest season. Give us your order
for nappies, ete., before your house is ready.

The live breeders are shipped by us either in specially made pine crates
or wicker coops. Large shipments for remote points go best in the wicker
coops, which remain our property and are returned to us at our expense
‘by the express companies after the customer has released the pigeons.
These baskets are expensive and are fitted with large block tin feed and
water dishes. It is impossible to break them open with the roughest
handling. The birds have plenty of roum in them and arrive at their

destination in fine condition. :
The usual fault of inexperienced shippers is that the box or crate is too

A Pretty Squan Hovse anp Fryine PEN. :

National Standard Squab Book. 69

high, and too large, giving an opportunity for one bird to pass another by
flying over its head. If there is too much room between the top and
bottom of the crates feathers will be rumpled and pulled out, and the
birds by crowding, will suffocate one or two. A large, heavy ate also
adds enormously to the express charges. It is not pleasant to buy pigeons
and receive them in a cumbrous box weighing from 25 to 75 pounds, op
which the express charges are more than double what they would be ere
the birds cratéd properly.

If the birds are going to a point only a day or a day and a night dis-
tant, they need no feed nor water. If the destination is more remote,
two tin cups, one for grain, the other for water, should be tacked to the
inside of the crate. For a very long journey, a bag of grain should be
tied to the crate. It is the duty of the express messengers to feed and
water the birds en‘route, and they are so instructed by their companies.

Do you know that live stock is transported long distances by the express.
companies at the rate charged for ordinary merchandise? For carrying
live stock short distances, the animai rate (which is double the merchan-
dise rate) is charged. This is a peculiar rule, and it works so that the
buyer at a remote point gets his shipment cheaper than the buyer nearer
us. For instance, we can ship a crate of pigeons to Chicago from Boston
cheaper than we can to Buffalo. All the express companies doing busi-
ness in the United States and Canada have the same rule, which is, that
hetween points where the single or merchandise rate is $2 or more per 100
pounds, live animals, boxed, crated or caged, are charged for transporta-
tion at the single or merchandise rate.. Between points where the single
or merchandise rate is less than $2 per 100 pounds, live animals are
charged the animal rate (which is double the merchandise rate). In order
to obtain the lowest rate of transportation, the value of each pigeon must
be stated by the shipper at $5 or less.

We have seen breeders who have been shipping live stock for years
and they never heatd of the above rule of the express companies, and also
we have seen scores of express agents who did not know of their own
rule, but always charged the animal rate on animal shipments. But the
rule is found in every graduated charge book of every express company,
and the experienced express men and experienced shippers know all about
it. If the agent in your town is ignorant of the rule, ask him for his
graduated charge book and you will find it under the classification ‘“Ani-
mals.’ Every customer of ours entitled to the single or merchandise
rate on his shipment gets a card from us in our letter to him with the
rule printed on it. Many express agents at local points seldom handle a

“Hye animal shipment and do not know how to charge for it.

A live animal contract release, to be signed both by shipper and express
agent, is needed in all cases where the value of the shipment is over $5.
If pigeons which we. ship are killed in a smash-up, Wwe can recover from
the company. We have no hesitation, therefore, in guaranteeing the safe

[eo17oR1d sv [Tam SB pusy ‘aq 4nq qSno10q4 st WOONIysU0d OUT,

‘SNVIg YNQ OL ONIGUOOOW Ling ‘sLINQ NGL “asnOY{ LINQ FTdILTAW

National Standard Squab Book. 71

delivery of our pigeons to customers. Our responsibility does not end
when we have given them to the expressman. Our guarantee follows them
as long as they are in the hands of the express company. We will put
them into your hands. safe and sound.

Once in a while you will read of live stock and breeding associations
getting together and complaining about the “exorbitant rates” charged
by the express companies. ‘The trouble is not with the rates of the ex-
press companies, but lies wholly in the ignorance of the breeders who
meet to complain. ‘They simply do not know how to ship and how to talk
to the express agents.

We never read the above advice as to shipping live stock in any ‘book
or paper. It is the product of our own experience and the information
cost us at least $100 in excess charges before we learned how to get the
low rate. It is worth dollars to our customers, and that is why we have
given it here in detail.

Killed squabs go to market at the rate charged for ordinary merchandise,
no matter what the distance. Breeders having special customers who
wish the squabs plucked should pack them in a clean white wood box
(with ice in the summer) and nail the box up tight. Such shipments go
through in splendid condition and if the breeder has a choice article,
with his trade mark stamped on the box, he gets the fancy price. Squabs
which reach the Boston market from jobbers in Philadelphia and New
York are plucked and packed with ice in barrels. Breeders around Bos-
ton who reach the Boston market with undressed squabs send them in
wicker hampers or baskets on the morning of the day after they are
killed. fe

In the graduated charge books of all the inter-state express companies
dating from June. 1902, will be found a special classification indexed
under P as “Pigeons.” Tell your agent to look it up in his book if you
think he overcharges you. There it will be found that live pigeons for
breeding are carried for the single, or merchandise rate for all distances
for which the rate per one hundred pounds is $2 or more. For all dis-
tances for which the rate per one hundred pounds is less than $2, the
charge is now i 1/2 times the merchandise rate, and not double it. This
ruling practically puts pigeons on the same easy scale of eharges as
applied to common merchandise. No agent anywhere has a right to make
any extra charges whatever on a pigeon shipment.

There is no duty on our pigeons to Canada, Cuba or Porto Rico.

CHAPTER XII.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

Women and Squab Breeding—Atteutions of the Male to the Female
Pigeon—Equal Number of Males and E'emales—Birds Flying Wild—
Sale of Birds for Flyers—Variation in Size of Nest Boxes—How
Squabs Are Artificially Fattened—Shipping to Hngland—Training
Flyers—A. Remarkable Service for Messages Between Islands.

Question. J am a woman who knows absolutely nothing of squab rais-
ing. Do you think I can make a success of it? Answer. Our books are
written and printed for the purpose of telling an absolutely ignorant per-
son just how to proceed. If you will study this Manual, until you get the
general plan and method of procedure in your mind, there is no reason
why you cannot make a success of it. A woman is quick enough to
puzzle out a new pattern of embroidery or a blind cooking recipe the
terms of which are expressed in language utterly incomprehensible to a
man. We find that our women customers are just as quick to compre-
hend pigeons as soon as they get started. It is necessary to have confi-
dence, first that the birds can make money, and second, that you are able
to handle them right. Women succeed with hens quite as well as men.
They ‘‘take”’ to animals fully as well as men. The fact that you, our
eustomer, are a woman, ought to encourage rather than depress you, in
the squab business.

Question. I have an old poultry house 15 by 20 feet in size, ten feet
high. How many pairs of pigeons can I accommodate? Answer. We have
this question asked us many times, and our reply to all is the same.
Sometimes the customer varies it ‘by asking, How large a house do I need
to accommodate 100 pairs of breeders? Sometimes they say they propose
remodeling a barn loft which is 30 by 20 feet in size. The dimensions of
the building vary with the customer. You can always accommodate as
many pairs of breeders as you can make room for pairs of nest boxes.
Fix up your building to suit yourself, and put in as many nest boxes
as you wish. Then count your nest boxes and you will know how many
birds you can accommodate. You must have two nest boxes for every
pair of birds. If vou have 100 nest boxes, you should order 50 pairs of
birds. If you have 200 nest boxes, you, should order 100 pairs of birds.
For 24 pairs of birds you will need 48 nest boxes.

Question. How does the male bird impregnate the female bird? They
do not seem to me to act as roosters and hens do. Answer. The human
eye is not sharp and quick enough to follow the actions of the male bird.

72)

National Standard Squab Book. 73

He mounts the female in a manner which is called “treading.” A female
occasionally will ‘‘tread” the male bird, exactly as a female animal when
in excessive heat sometimes will mount the male, or another female. Cus-
tomers who had what they thought was a doubtful pair sometimes have
written us saying that each would tread the other, and that of course
both were males. After a while the same customer would write and say
that the pair fooled him and that he had two eggs from them. The
actions are in nine cases out of ten, of course, a positive guide, but there
‘are exceptions tuo every rule.

Question. (1) The legs of the pigeons you sent me are red; are they
inflamed? (2) The droppings are soft and mushy; I am afraid they have
diarrhoea; what shall I do? (3) Most of my pigeons ‘have a warty-like
substance on their bills, varying in size with the pigeon; how shall I get
rid of it? Answer. (1) The red color which you see is perfectiy natural.
The legs of all Homer pigeous are red. (2) The natural droppings of the
pigeon are soft and somewhat loose. When they have diarrhoea the drop-
pings are extremely watery and the tail feathers are soiled. Your pigeons
are all right and have no diarrhoea. (3) The growth of which you speak
is perfectly natural. It varies iu size with the pigeon, sometimes covering
the base of the bill, in other cases clinging closely to it.

Question. Can I figure with certainty that of each pair of squabs which
wy birds hatch, one is a male and the other a female? Answer. Not with
absolute certainty, but as a rule. It is Nature’s way to provide for an
equal number of males and females, for that is the way the species mate
and is reproduced.

Question. PEnclosed find $10, for which please send me settings of pigeon
eggs to that value, and send me the balance due, if any. Answer. We do
not sell pigeon eggs. It is impossible to use an incubator and raise pigeons
successfully, because there is no way of feeding the young squabs when
they are hatched. The life of squabs is nourished and prolonged from
day to day by the parent birds, which feed them. To raise squabs, you
must start by buying the adult breeders. You cannot start with the eggs.

Question. It seems to me that if each pair of squabs hatched consists
of male and female, that this couple is likely to pair when grown, being
well acquainted with each other. This would be inbreeding and would
weaken my flock. What shall I do? Answer. It is not the plan of the
species to mate and inbreed like this. If brother and sister mated as you
describe, the species would be extinct after a while. They will look for
new mates as soon as they get out of the nest and are of ‘breeding age.

Question. When are the young pigeors old enough to mate? Answer.
From four to six months.

Question. My birds do not know enough to go in from the roof of the
squab house when it rains. How shall I get them in? Answer. Let them
stay on the roof in the rain if they wish. The rain will do them no harm.

Question. Must I heat the squab house in the winter time? Answer.

74 National Standard Squab Book.

No. The heat from a flock of pigeons in a well-built house is consider-
able. You will get more squabs from your pigeons in the winter time if
you do heat your house slightly, not enough to cause much expense, but
just enough to take the chill off. Do not let your birds out of the squab
house on bitter cold days. :

Question. I live in Texas and I think in this climate your squab house
would be too warm and stuffy. Answer. You are right. Adapt the con-
struction to your locality. The poultry houses in Texas as compared to
those in the North are much less expensive and more open to the air,
aud your squab house should be built on the same principle.

Question. Suppose I cool the squabs as you direct and pack them into
a box for shipment. Shall 1 use ice? Is there any danger that the meat
will be discolored when they arrive at market? Answer. Ice is not neces-
sary in the fall, winter and spring. In the summer time you should use
ice, although if the shipment is for a short distance, ice may not be neces-
sary. in hot weather the squabs should not be killed until the night
before shipping. In the cool months you may keep them at home longer.
{f the squabs are cooled by hanging them from studding as we describe,
there is no danger that the meat will be discolored. The object of hang-
ing them from stndding is to cool the carcasses properly so that the meat
will not be discolored by contact.

Question. How shall I pack the killed squabs when I send them to
market? Answer. Lay them into the box layer on layer, in an orderly
fashion. Do not throw them in helter skelter.

Question. Can I hang the squabs to cool from studding suspended in
the barn, in the summer time. Answer. It is better to use the cellar of
the house, or the coolest roum in the house.

Question. I do not like your idea of keeping the birds wired in. They
are free by nature and it strikes me that they should have a chance to
get exercise by long flights. Answer. You must keep them wired in, or
they may leave you. Remember that the Homer is attached to the place
where it is bred, that is the Homer instinct. If you buy birds of us and
on epening the crate let them fly anywhere they choose, trusting to luck
1o have them come back to you, you may be disappointed and lose some
of the birds. You must keep them wired in all the time.

Question. You say your Homers are fine flyers. What is the use of
my buying them of you to fly in races or to sell again as flyers, if they
may desert me when I let them out into the open air? Answer. The
squabs which you breed from our birds will know no home but yours, and
they will not fly away from you. You can send them away, when they
are old enough, and time their flight back to your house, their home.
When you sell these trained flyers to others, you do not expect that they
will try to fly them, but that they will use them for breeders.

Question. How large are the mating coops? Answer. A convenient
size is (wo feet long, two feet wide and two feet high.

National Standard Squab Book. 75

Question. My birds seem timid and I am afraid to catch them. How
shall I go about it? Answer. Do not be afraid of hurting them. Take a
broom and drive one where you will, finally pinning it against the side of
the squab house, or in a corner. Grasp dt and hold its wings firmly and
it will not struggle. Or you may make a net on the end of a pole, like
an ordinary fish landing net, and scoop the bird into it as it flies through
the air.

Question. Suppose I have several squab houses, as you describe, but
tet all the birds together inio one large flying pen, where they can bathe
from one lauge fountain. Answer. This is all right if you do not wish
to keep close track of your birds. If the birds can roam from one house
to another, there is nothing to prevent a pair from building one nest on one
house and then going to another house to build the second nest.

Question. I believe I will put a strip of ‘wire or piece of wood across
the front of each nest box so as to keep each pair more secluded, and to
keep the nests from dropping out. Answer. Don’t do it. You do not
need, and the pigeons do uot like a dark, secluded nest. Don’t worry
about the nests falling out. Build the pigeon holes perfectly plain.

Question. How many squabs shall I pack in one box when sending to
market? Answer. Having picked out the size of the box you wish,
fill it up close with squabs, so they will not “shuck.” As to the size of”
the box, make it as big or little as you ‘please, but do not make it any
bigger than one expressman can handle easily. A good size is two feet
square and one foot deep.

Question. Send me two males and ten females. Answer. You must
buy your birds in pairs. They pair off in this way, namely, one male to
one female. One male does not have two or three females. We have
heard pigeon breeders talk of having one cock which would attend two
hens, but never had a case in our experience.

Question. After plucking the squab, and before sending it to market,
do you remove the entrails? Answer. No.

Question. In order to avoid the trouble of using the mating coop, may
I put an equal number of cocks and hens in the same pen? Answer. Yes.

Question. Can I discover the male and female organs by examination of
the birds with a magnifying glass? Answer. No. You can discover them
by dissecting the dead bird.

Question. Suppose I build the nest boxes larger, so as to give a shelf on
which the birds can alight? Answer. Don’t do it. The bird will fly
directly into the nest, or onto the nest box in front of the nest. You do
not need an alighting place. ; ;

Question. Seems to me that if I start with 48 pairs of birds, I ought to
have 96 perches. Auswer. The birds do not all perch at the same time.
While some are perching. others are on the nests, or walking on the floor,
or are outside in the flying pen, or on the roof. Put up a few perches

where you have room and let it go at that.

76 National Standard Squab Book.

Question. Should I cover the yard of the flying pen with grit? Answer,
No. Provide a box and keep the grit in the box. When the pigeons want
grit, they will go to the box and get it.

Qvestion. Are the carrier (flying) pigeons the same breed as your
Homers? Answer. Yes. A flying or carrier Homer is a Homer that has
been trained to fly a long distance.

Question. What is the difference between your Mated Birds and you
Extra Mated birds? Answer. They are our same breed of Homer pigeon.
The Extra Mated birds will breed squabs which are bigger and plumper
and for which you can get more money. They are our choicest Stock, the
best which we can deliver. i

Question. What are artificially fattened squabs? Answer. An arti-
ficialiy fatiened squab is a squab which has been stuffed by hand. Take
a syringe and fill it with fattening mixture of gruel-like consistency, open
the mouth of the squab and force the contents of the syringe into the crop
of the squab. Very few breeders take this trouble to bring their squabs to
au extraordinary size.

Question. I wished you had shipped my breeders in one large erate, then
the express charges would not have been so much as for the two crates
which you used. Answer. You are mistaken. An express shipment goes
by weight and not by number of packages. The express clerks put all the
erates going to one customer on the scales together and weigh them all
at once and on the total weight the charge is based. They prefer to
handle a large shipment in small packages, rather than in one large pack-
age.

Question. I live in England; can you ship me twenty-four pairs of your
breeders? Answer. Yes; the transportation charges will be $4. In
addition you will have to pay the butcher or steward of the boat ten
shillings for feeding and watering the birds. Send us $6.50 in addition to
the regular price of the birds and we will ship to you all charges prepaid.
In shipping to Cuba and remote points in the United States and Canada, we
do not have to pay anything extra for the feeding and watering of the
birds; the express charges include the feeding and watering.

Question. What is a Runt pigeon? Please quote prices on a dozen
pairs of Runts. Answer. A Runt pigeon is a special breed of pigeon, re-
markable for its large size. They come all colors, as a Homer does. The
white Runts are an exceptionally beautiful bird and command large prices,
as high as $6 to $15 a pair. The squabs which Runts breed weigh from 18
ounces to 1 1/2 pounds at four weeks. If Runts bred as fast as Homers,
they would be jnst the bird for squab breeders, but they are fatally slow
in breeding, as a rule. The Homers raise two pairs of squabs to the Runts’
one. Therefore it is of course more profitabie to raise Homers. We do
not sell Runts and do not advocate their use either as a separate breed, or
crossed up with Homers. The large, plump, thoroughbred Homer is the
best.

National Standard Squab Book. vi

Question. What is the difference between the Homer and Antwerp
breeds of pigeons? Answer. No difference. The name is used inter-
changeably to apply to the same breed of pigeon. In New England we
speak of them mostly as Homers. In New Jersey they are called more
often ‘Antwerps.

Question. Can I 1eed some of my squabs by hand if necessary? Answer.
Yes. Mix up a mushy, soft handful of grain, hold the squab in the left
hand, close to your body, and with the thumb and first finger of your
right hand force the mixture into the bill. ‘The squab will swallow and fill
its crop. A backward squab may ‘be forced in this manner.

Question. Can you sell me twelve pairs of young Homers, about eight
weeks old? Answer. No. It is impossible to tell the sex of pigeons ex-
cept by looks and habits when they are six to eight months old, so we
cannot send out mated pairs of birds under that age. Any ‘breeder who
undertakes to furnish squabs several weeks old in mated pairs cannot do
so and is imposing on you.

Question. Please ‘give recines for cooking squabs. Answer. See the
cook books. Squabs are generally served broiled. They should be drawn,
singed and washed. Cut off the heads, split into two parts, season, put on
a lump of butter and broil over a hot fire. Place close to the fire at first
so as to brown the outside and retain the juices, then hold further away
from the fire to complete the cooking. If roasted, leave them in a hot
oven for thirty minutes. For roasting, squabs may be stuffed with cran-
berries or currants. Baste every ten minutes with spoonfuls of hot water
and butter.

Question. How shall I train the young birds raised from your Homers
to fly? Answer. There is a large business in flying Homers and if you
liave a pen or two of trained birds you can sell them at fancy prices.
There are homing clubs all over the country which have contests and it is
worth while for a breeder to work for a reputation of breeding and selling
fast flyers. ‘Lhe young Homers when five months old are strong enough
to be trained to fly. Take them in a basket (having omitted to feed them)
a mile or two away, and liberate them one by one. They will circle in
the air, then choose the correct course. You should have left grain for
them as a reward for their safe arrival home, and an inducement for their
next experience in flying. Two or three days later take or send them
away five miles and repeat. Next try ten miles, and so work on by easy
Stages up to 75 or 100 miles. If you have a friend in another city, you
may send your birds in a basket to him with instructions to liberate cer-
tain ones at certain hours, or you may send the basket by train to any ex-
press agent, along with a letter telling him to liberate the birds at a cer-
tain hour and send the basket back to you. If you wish to have the birds
carry & message, write it on a piece of cigarette paper (or any strong
tissue), wrap the paper around the leg of the bird and tie with thread, or
fasten with glue or a stamp; or, you may tie the tissue around one of the

1

78 National Standard Squab Book.

tail feathers. A thin aluminum tube containing the message may be fast-
ened to a leg, or to a tail feather. A trap window should be constructed to
time the arrival home of birds. ‘his is an aperture about six inches square
closed by wires hanging from a piece of wood at the top of the aperture
and swinging inward, but held close to the aperture by its own weight.
he pigeon cannot fly out but on its return home (if you have sprinkled
grain on the inside of the house, next the wires) the bird will push the
wire door and go in. It takes only a day or two for the pigeon to become
accustomed to the trap. It you connect the trap with a simple make and
break electric circuit, the pigeon on its arrival home from its flight will
ring a beli in any part of your house or barn. When you have a record
of the flyers, you will have a guide for mating. The majority of fanciers
recommend a medium-sized Homer. A large hen should be mated to a
small cock, or a large cock to a small hen. Instead of mating birds of
equal age, try an old cock with a young hen, and vice versa. For vitality
and stamina, it is best to mate birds of different colors. A pair of breed-
ing pigeons will occupy the same pair of nests year after year, and they
uever will change mates, but you may break up an undesirable mating if
you choose and re-mate the birds according to your determination, using
the mating coop as described. What is perhaps the best pigeon service in
the world has been in use for several years between Newton Roads, Auck-
land, New Zealand, and the Great Barrier and Maro Tiro Islands, some
75 miles distant. A boy of 16 years worked up the service and makes a
large income from it. About 20 messages an hour are carried back and
forth by the Homers. A year ago the government declared its intention of
laying a cable from Auckland to Great Barrier. The project was aban-
doned, however,-as the residents of the little island decided that they were
well pleased with’ the pigeons, and that a cable would not be patronized.
The government offered to buy the whole pigeon outfit from the boy
owner, but he refused. There are from 400 to 500 pairs of pigeons in the
service.

Question. In the case of young birds mated up for the first time at five
or six months of age, is it best to destroy the first eggs, or let them go
ahead and hatch in the regular way? Answer. Let them go ahead and
hatch and learn to fecd their young. It will improve them for the uext
hatch.

Question. Please describe the self feeder more fully and explain ite
operation. Answer. The hopper of the feeder is V-shaped so that the
grain will fall by its own weight to the centre at the bottom, which is cut
away as shown in the illustration so that as the birds peck up the grain,
miore falls from the hopper. The slit where the birds eat should be about
half an inch in width, just enough to prevent the grain from runnivg out
faster than it is eaten. The object of the lower steps of the feeder is to
give the birds a chance to alight before jumping up onto the board where
the grain is exposed.

Question. Can I use the upper part of my hen house for pigeons aBu

National Standard Squab Book. 79

. so will the igi interfere in the flying pen with the hens? Answer.
: ee cee hen upper part of your hen house and the pigeons will not
e harmed by the hens, nor the hens by the pigeons. It is best to build
the flying pen in two stories so that the pigeons cannot fly into the hen
house to try to nest.

Question. To gaat room, I would like to build my pigeon house in two
stories. Answer. That is all right. Build the top flying pen out over
and extending beyond the bottom flying pen if you wish to separate the
flocks on the ground floor from thé flocks upstairs.

Question. What are the bands for pigeous’ legs and how are they
applied? Answer. The seamless band is a ring of aluminum three-
eighths of an inch in diameter and from three-sixteenths to one-quarter
of an inch in width. You cannot apply it to an old pigeon. It is put on
either leg of a squab when the squab is four or five days old, by squeezing
the toes of the squab through the band. As the leg of the squab grows,
it becomes impossible to remove the baad except by cutting it off. On
the band, before putting it on the leg of the squab, yor may stamp year
of birth and your initials, or anything you choose. We do not sell the
bands, which are quite expensive, costing from three to four. cents apiece
as they are furnished by poultry and pigeon supply houses, and this cost
makes them impracticable for the average squab breeder. We sell an
outfit consisting of aluminum tubing, dies, ete., by which the squab
breeder may make his own bands at a cost of two or three for a cent.

Question. Since I bought twelve pairs of you, I have kept a careful
account of the feed and find as you state that five cents a month for a
pair of breeders is right. Grain has been much higher than usual this
summer (1902) and it strikes me that under normal conditions of the grain
market the cost-of a pair of squab breeders would be less than five cents
a mouth, or sixty cents a year. Answer. Our figures of cost were ascer-
tained not by “skimping” the birds, but feeding them liberally, and our
estimate of five cents a month for a pair is based on a lower cost of graip
than prevailed in the spring and summer of 1902. It is possible by close
purchase of grain and careful feeding'to get the cost under sixty cents per
year per pair.

Question. What pattern of trowel do you recommend for cleaning the
nappies and nest boxes? Answer. The common trowel such as brick-
layers use is too pointed. The best pattern has a square point and a stout
blade with strong handle. With such a trowel you can clean out the nap-
pies and nest boxes very effectively.

Question. Can pigeons be raised on the sea coast as well as inland?
Answer. Yes; the Homer pigeon is descended from a variety of pigeon
which first bred among the cliffs bordering the sea shore.

Question. Do the squabs fly out of the nest before they are four weeks
old? Answer. No; they look old enough to fly at four weeks, and their
wings seem all ready for use, but they stay in the nest and are fed by

80 National Standard Squab Book.

the parent birds, and when you wish to kill them you find both in the
nest ready for you.

Question. Your book states that pigeons sometimes lay their eggs on the
floor. But it does not say anything about taking the eggs and putting
them in a nappy. Would the birds follow their eggs and accept change
ef nest from floor to nappy? Answer. No; you must leave the eggs
where they Jay them. You can handle a nest and change eggs from one
nappy to another, if you wish, but you cannot move eggs from one place
in the squab house to another and expect the birds to find them and go
on with their laying.

Question. Do all squab breeders heat their houses in the winter time;
{ mean those who do a large business like yourself. Answer. No; some
breeders of many years’ experience believe that a warm house is detri-
mentai to the health of the birds, on account of the sudden change of
temperature from a warm house to a cold flying pen. The object should
be merely to take the damp winter chill off the air. If you have a warm,
tight squab house which you will close when night comes, you will need no
heat.

Question. In the case of a long house, say four units long, should there
be wire netting partitions between the units, so as to separate the birds
into four flocks? Answer. Such an arrangement is more practical than
one long house. It is better to keep track of four small flocks than one
large flock. You can keep account of the birds both on paper, and with
your eyes, with more precision.

Question. How would a cement floor for the squab house do? Answer.
Do not have a cement floor. It will be too cold and damp.. Rats will
burrow under it and breed. The best flooring is made of two layers of
inch board, with tarred paper between.

Question. How is salt cat made? Answer. Take 16 quarts of sand,
cight quarts of slaked lime, four quarts of ground oyster shells, one pint
of salt, one pint of caraway seeds and mix with water into a stiff mud.
Form into bricks and set away to dry. The water with which you mix
should have a tablespoonful of sulphate of iron and a tablespoonful of
sulphuric acid for tonic and disinfectant. The birds peck at this mixture
and it is believed to have a tonic and strengthening effect on them.

Question. Shall I crowd one of the units with nest boxes, or would it be
better to have a smaller number of nest boxes and build another unit to
accommodate the new birds which I am going ¢o ‘buy. Answer. Better
enlarge your squab house. In case of doubt, you will be on the safer side
if you do not crowd the birds.

APPENDIX A,
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK.

By ELMER C. RICE.

CALIFORNIA MARKET.—The California
market for squabs is excellent, especially at
the fhvalid resorts. In San Francisco it is
not so good as at the Southern Coast places
frequented by rich travelers. We print the
following letter:

Poultrymen’s Union of California, 413 Front
street, San Francisco (Jan. 28, 1908): ‘‘Your
valued favor just received and in reply would
say that usually the quotations in the papers
are close to being correct, but if you desire
to call and see us at any time, we will give
you exact quotations. There is always a
good market here for large, fat squabs. They
are readily selling today at $3 per dozen.’’

SUMMER RESORT MARKETS.—The pleas-
ure and vacation resorts all over the country
are good squab markets. Maine squab breed-
ers ship to Boston in the winter but in the
summer they get better prices at Bar Harbor
and elsewhere along the coast. The White
Mountain resorts in New Hampshire are a
fine summer market, also the resorts along
the eastern coast of Massachusetts. Newport,
in Rhode Island, is a good summer squab
market. Two or three of our customers in
the vicinity of Lenox, Mass., and in North
Carolina, and Florida, are quite enthusiastic
over the splendid market at their doors.
Wherever the good eaters go, winter or sum-~-
mer, there is the demand for squabs. -

HOSPITAL TRADE.—A woman in the state
of Washington wrote us that two big hos-
pitals in a city near her had offered to take
all the squabs she could supply. She moved
out, bought a farm and in January, 1903, we
shipped her four baskets. Under date of Feb.
7 she replied: ‘‘Please pardon my delay in
acknowledging the receipt of the shipment of
fifty pairs extra mated Homers I ordered from
you. I have been so busy with them that I
have not really had time to write. Out of
the whole lot there was only one dead one,
which surprised us.’’ (As we had shipped two
pairs more than the order called for, or 52
pairs altogether, the customer had no com-
plaint.) ‘‘The birds are perfect beauties and
we are greatly pleasel with them. They seem
to like their new home. Thanking you for
your kindness and with best wishes.’’

The hospital trade in squabs is worth cater-
ing to, for they are such a delicacy that
they are greatly esteemed by physicians.
There may be a suggestion in this for you if

(Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice.)

yok do not care to deal with commission

BRANCHING OUT.—We have put some of
our best birds, in largest orders, for 300 to
1,000 pairs, right into the heart of the squab
country around Philadelphia, showing that our
ideas and our birds are all right. On Feb.
9. 1903, we received the following letter from
Heacock & Hokanson, architects, of Phila-
delphia: é

“Enclosed please find 25 cents for a plan of
your style of squab house. Our client in-
forms us that you have prints showing the
details of house, nests, self-feeders, etc. We
have two clients who have been making some-
what of a success at this work and are now
ready to build houses with every essential
and practical feature necessary to make a
success on a somewhat larger scale.’’ on

SQUABS IN UTAH.—The following letter
comes to us from James A. Hepburn, Utah,
dated Jan, 24, 1903:

“Enclosed find check for $1.70 for which
please send me postage paid your leg band
outfit. I recently received your book on pig-
eons and although I have been breeding
Homers for flying for a long time, I learned
many things of interest to me from the book.
T intend now to increase my flock and raise
squabs for the market also. I find I can sell
all I can supply here to the local markets.’’

SQUABS NOT GAME.—A correspondent
writes us that she does not think she can
market squabs in her state because the game
laws are so strict. In reply we wish to state
that squabs are not game, but are a domes-
tic product same as chickens, and can be
marketed in any state or territory at any
time of the year in any quantity without vio-
lating the game laws.

CHICAGO MARKET.—The Chicago market
for squabs is fairly good, but nowhere near
so good as the markets of New York, Phila-
delphia and Boston, because the only squabs
obtainable there in large quantities are the
inferior squabs of common pigeons. We have
customers in Illinois who have written us
that their fat Homer squabs from our birds
are salable at prices from $1 to $2 in excess
of the prices quoted by the Chicago com-
mission men. The Chicago market is an
eager one, and the dealers are imploring
squab raisers to sell, saying they will take
all offered. We advise our customers in the

ql)

2 National Standard Squab Book.

Middle West to sell their squabs to the trade
direct over the heads of the Chicago commis
sion men until the latter advance prices. We
print herewith some letters from Chicago
commission houses, showing that they want
them both with the feathers on and off, de-
pending on the dealer:

. B, Hayden, Jr, & Cot, 214 and 216
South Water street, Chicago, Illinois (Jan.
26, 1903): ‘‘Your favor of the 24th inst. at
hand and in reply will say, fat dressed
squabs bring $2 to $2.25 per dozen. We han-
dle them in any quantittes.’’ .

Gallagher Bros., 191 South Water street,
Chicago, Ill. (Jan. 26, 1903): ‘‘We have your
favor of the 24th to hand and noted. In re-
gard to handling squabs will say, we are in
a position to handle any quantity to good
advantage. We are now getting fancy squabs
from Wisconsin, which are selling at $2.50
per dozen, about seven pounds to the dozen.’’

C. H. Weaver & Co., 129 South Water
strect, Chicago, Ill, (Jan. 29, 1903): ‘*Your
favor of the 27th received. The market on
squabs is $2.25 per dozen for the weights you
speak of. We can handle all that you will
be able to ship us, but would advise making
a small shipment at first, so that we will get
an idea of your stock and dressing.’’

Theo. C. H. Wegeforth Co., 133 South Wa-
ter street, Chicago, Ill. (Jan. 28, 1903): ‘‘In
reply to your favor requesting us to quote

you prices on squabs will say that there is a’

very good demand for them on this market at
present and when fine they will bring from
$2 to $2.25 per dozen but in order to bring
these prices, the squabs must be fat and
welgh on an everage about three-quarters of
a pound each, and for such there is a ready
sale. If you have any, or receiving, you can
safely ship all you can get.’’

H. R. Waszko, 213 South Water street, Chi-
eago, Ill. (Jan. 29th, 1903): ‘‘In reply to
your letter of Jan. 27th, we wish to say that
we can handle your squabs, in fact we can
place any amount at the extreme top market
price, for we are heavy receivers of dressed
squabs, especially from South Dakota and
Wisconsin. Squabs should weigh not less
than six or seyen pounds per dozen. Should
be dry-picked as the trade that can pay
fancy prices want them No. ft, and we quote
then firm at $2.50 per dozen, but they must
be fancy. We-think we can get you still
higher prices but we can tell from your- first
shipment to us just where we can place
them and what we can Go. See that they are
well cooled off before shipping. Trusting
that you will favor us with a good shipment
as soon as possible and also give us an idea
of how many you can ship us daily or
weekly.’’

Peter Britten & Sons, 2 and 4 Fulton street,
Chicago. Ill. (Jan. 30, 1903): ‘There is no
limit to the amount of squabs we can handle,
as we have inquiries for the same at all

times. We assure you, and you can rely on
us to obtain the highest possible price for
your stock at all times.’’

Cougle Brothers, 178 South Water street,
Chicago, Ill. (Jan. 29, 1903): ‘‘Replying to
your favor of Jan. 27th will say that good
fat squabs are worth from $2 to $2.50 per
dozen. We can handle all of that kind
you can get. The best way to ship them is
just to pinch their necks, cool thoroughly and
pack in a box. Do not bleed them nor take
the feathers off. We hope you can ship us
some of this kind of squabs as we need
them.’’

F. W. Melges & Co., 10uv South Water
street, Chicago, Il. (Jan. 28, 1903): ‘‘Re-
plying to your favor of the 27th in regard to
squabs we beg to say that there is a wide
range of prices according to quality. If they
are fine fat birds we can handle advanta-
geously all you can ship us. We shall do all
in our power to obtain the very top price for
same at all times.'’

A. Booth & Co., 63-65 Lake street, Chicago,
Ill. (Jan. 25, 1903): ‘If squabs are well
dressed and weigh eight to nine pounds to
the dozen, we can use them at $2.25 per
dozen F. 0. B. Chicago.’’

H. G. Lane, buyer for the Wellington Hotel,
Wabash avenue and Jackson boulevard, Chi-
cago, Ill. (Feb. 2, 1903): ‘‘In reply to yours
of Jan. 26th about squabs would say that we
are buying the large white squab you speak
of. We have them shipped with the feath-
ers on and market price for the best squab
is $2.75 to $3.00 per dozen.”’

William H. Taylor Co., 156 and 158 South
Water street, Chicago, Ill. (Feb. 4, 1908):
“Your letter at hand in regard to squabs,
Would say we could use all your squabs you
can ship. We would just as soon have them
with the feathers on as off. We can offer you
$2.50 now for good stock. Should at any time
market do better, we should certainly give it
to you. Please let us know how soon you
can ship and how many each week. We have
the trade for them and can do as well as any
one for you.’’

Herman Weber Co., Inc., Union Hotel and
Restaurant, 111-117 Randolph street, Chicago,
Til. (Feb. 3, 1903): ‘‘Your favor of the ist
to hand. I am buying squabs fresh in the
Market all the time and am paying $3 per
dozen for same. You can bring in two dozen
of your squabs and if satisfactory will buy
same of you right along.’’

The letter last quoted above, that from
Herman Weber, is an indication of what
the consumer in Chicago is paying for in=
ferior squabs. It rests with you whether you
will be satisfied with breeding a prodyct
which commands a price of $2 to $3 a dozen,
or $3 to $6. If you put squabs weighing ten
peunds a dozen and over into the Chicago
market, you can get from $3 to $6 a dozen.

NEW YORK MARKET.—In the first part of

National Standard Squab Book.

January, 1903, we received the following let-
ter from the manager of the squab depart-
ment of a commission house in Washington
market, New York city:

“Your name and address as raisers of fancy
squabs was given me-by Mr. Howes of De-
troit, Michigan, who was over to your place
a few days ago. As I have heard of your
plant before and have tried to get your ad-
dress so as to write to you for squabs, I hope
this letter will mean some business for us
both. If you have any squabs to ship, I
would like to get your output, and can use all
you can ship at full. market, and make you
prompt returns day received and sold.- This
week I am returning the following prices:
Squabs weighing ten pounds to dozen and
up, $4.50 per dozen; eight pounds and up, »
seven pounds and up, $3.50; six and one-half
pounds and up, $2.60; dark, $1.80 per dozen.
If you will prepay charges, account of sales
will be sent you same day goods are re-
ceived, less-five per cent. commission.’’

Letters like the above come to us from all
parts of the country, and’ squab breeders
whom we have ‘supplied get similar communi-
cations. The .poultry and game dealers in all
sections are after squabs all the time and
could sell a great many more than they are
now able to get hold of. The above letter is
written notwithstanding the fact that in New
Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania alone are
today four or five thousand squab breeders,
many of them with large flocks of over one
thousand pairs of birds each. In the town of
Moorestown, New Jersey, to take only one
case, are from 200 to 300 squab breeders. As
we say in our Manual, people in these sec-
tions keep hens for their own use, but not for
market, for they know that squabs pay better
than hens. Poultrymen in other sections of
the United States are fast finding this out
and are putting in squabs along with poultry,
or giving up poultry altogether. In spite of
the large output of squabs from the 4,000 to
5,000 breeders in New Jersey and Eastern
Pennsylvania, which go into the Philadelphia
and New York and Boston markets (for the
squab raisers in New England supply only
about one-tenth of the Boston demand), there
is all the time a scarcity of squabs, as the
above letter proves. This letter comes to us
because we have the reputation for dealing
in a fancy product. There are breeders
of squabs who send to market an inferior
product from’ small and cheap Homers, and
such squabs are not the kind which commis-
sion dealers are anxious to get. Be sure you
are able to breed a fancy squab by getting
your breeding stock of us. Some beginners
are anxious as to express rates, not compre-
hending that they can ship squabs long dis-
, tances at a trifling cost. The express rate
from Boston to New York is $1 per 100
pounds. This means that an express team
will call at our door, get a box of squabs

3

weighing 100 pounds, transport it to New
York, and in that city deliver it by team to
the commission dealer for $1. In the case of
a box of our squabs weighing twelve pounds
to the dozen, about eight dozen and the box
would weigh 100 pounds. If we delivered
them in New York at the price quoted, $4.50
Per dozen (or $36 gross), we would net, de-
ducting his five per cent. commission and the
$1 express charges, $33.20. The commission
man would resell the squabs to his trade for
$5 to $8 per dozen. By a dozen squabs we
mean in this case and in all cases. where

prices are quoted, twelve squabs. We do not
mean one dozen pairs of squabs. We mean
six pairs of squabs. Squabs are always

quoted at so much per dozen, not so much
per dozen pairs.

On January 8, 1908, the New York squab
buyer above quoted offered the following
prices for squabs: For squabs weighing ten
pounds to the dozen and up, $4.75; eight
Pounds and up, $4.50; seven pounds and up,
$3.60; six and one-half pounds, $2.75; dark
and No, 2 squabs, $2.

On January 25th, 1903, he offered the fol-
lowing prices: Ten pounds and up, $5.50 per
dozen; eight pounds and up, $5.00 per dozen;
seven pounds and up, $4; six and one-half
pounds, $3; dark and No. 2 squabs, $2.10.

On February 6, 1908, he offered us the
Same prices as last quoted, adding that he
would pay $3 to $3.75 per dozen for squabs of
average weight and grade. In this letter he
said: ‘‘As I have been getting quite a few
letters from some of your squab customers of
late, I want to thank you for same,’ and
hope to get some of their birds and prove to
their satisfaction by the prices large fine
birds will sell at, that squab raising if prop-
erly carried on is a very profitable and pay-
ing industry.. The demand for squabs in “on
the increase and will be from now on, as
the game laws of all the states are such as
to prevent much small game from reaching
the several markets, where there has been a
big supply of. such at low prices that _squabs
will now take their place; so ,that new, be-
ginners have nothing to fear from a ‘glut. by
over production of good-sized squabs. a This
we have proven to our own satisfaction when
we introduced the large or royal squab to our
best hotel and cafe, trade in this market, dur-
ing the past season, and it now looks as
though our demand will be greater this com-
ing season.- The buyers of these large
birds see they are worth the difference , in
price, that they have a better call for them
once they introduce them to the sonsumer,
Encourage all your buyers to invest in birds
that produce large, plump squabs. It will
Pay them best in the end and make a better
demand for their grade of birds.’ :

On Feb. 16th, 1903, he offered us the fouow-
ing prices: Squabs weighing ten pounds to
the dozen and up, $6 per dozen: nine pounds,

to a Philadelphia
the best stock.

meelf that we have

1903,

the fastest train out of Boston for

was shipped by us in February,

lace and saw for hi

P

7

ho visited our
It filled an Adams Express car attached to the Federal Express,

the South.

y poultry w

This order, filling eighty-five baskets.

breeder of fanc

National Standard Squab Book.

$5.50 per dozen; eight pounds, $5 per dozen;
seven pounds, $4 per dozen; six and: one-half
pounds, $3 per dozen; dark, $2.10 per dozen.

The above quotations are a good indication
of what the New York market for squabs is,

One of the practical ways we have of
helping our customers is to refer them to
such first-class buyers of squabs as the firm
above quoted. We will give the address of
the above New York firm to you when you
buy breeding stock of us.

SCRANTON MARKET.—The following let-
ter is from Chandler and Short, commission
merchants, 15 Lackawanna avenue, Scranton,
Penn., dated Feb. 15, 1903: ‘‘We have yours
in regard to squabs. They are worth
from $2.75 to $3 per dozen, dressed, on our
Market. Whatever you ship, we will en-
deavor to get the very highest market prices
for, All you have to do is to have the
feathers picked off.’’

CLEVELAND MARKET,—The steward’s
department of the Union Club, 158 Euclid
avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, sends the follow-
ing letter under date of Feb. 13th, 1903: ‘I
am in receipt of your letter of yesterday and
beg to say regarding your questions about
squabs, that they are worth to us from $3 to
$3.50 per dozen for the best and largest
squabs either dressed or in the feather.’’

W. H. Bennett, proprietor of Oyster Ocean
Cafe, 368 Superior street, Cleveland, Ohio
(Feb. 12, 1903): ‘I use about one and one-
half dozen squabs a week. Price averages $3
per dozen the year through.’’

W. dH. Seager, Sheriff street market,
Cleveland, Ohio (Feb. 12, 1903): ‘‘I purchase
squabs when offered in this market and have
sent to California for them on special occa-
sions, The market price varies from $2.40
to $4 per dozen.’’

Gibson Pinkett Company, Fulton market,
21-25 Prospect street, Cleveland, Ohio (Feb.

12, 1908): ‘‘We buy squabs and pay what
they are worth. Price runs from $2.50 to $4
per dozen. We could use fifty dozen or more
today.’’

iY
KANSAS CITY MARKET.—The market for
squabs here is steadily improving. Here are
some letters bearing on the subject:

From James R. Peden & Co., 404 Walnut
strect, Kansas City, Mo. (Jan. 26, 1903):
“Send your squabs to me. I have _ good,

steady demand for them and will take all
you can offer. Top prices paid, or handled
on commission.”?’ (Mr. Peden ships squabs
«3 New York city and other points east.)
W. M. Woods, produce company, stalls 12
and 13 west side, City Market, Kansas City,
Mo. (Jan. 24, 1903): ‘‘The market for squabs
is- good. Prices range from $1 to $1.50 for
common stock and from $1.80 to $2 and $2.25
for fancy. I am sure you will find a market
for your squabs and if they come up to the
Mark you have set for them, will command
a much better price. Kansas City market

5

for squabs is growing. I will take your/
Squabs at market Price day received,’’

C. T. Wiggins, East entrance City market,
Kansas City, Mo. (Jan. 26, 1903): ‘It is only
a question of how many you can supply. I
can handle all the squabs you will offer and
will pay you good prices for them. The
demand is strong and increasing. Hope you
will soon make a start with me.’’

George O. Relf, steward, Midland Hotel,
Kansas City, Mo. (Jan. 27, 1903): ‘‘We can
use squabs almost any time at $2.76 per
dozen, If you have some now we will take
one or two dozen and if O. K. will very
likely use them right along.’’

Ewins-Dean Hotel Co., proprietors Hotel
Metropole (St. Joseph, Mo.) and Hotel Balti-
more (Kansas City, Mo.) (Jan. 30, 1908):
“Kindly quote me prices on Squabs by the
dozen. I have been using about two hun-
dred per month and expect to use more. If
your prices are right; you will hear from me
in a few days.’’ (Signed) E. G. Venable,
steward.

E, Klidey, the New Coates House, Kansas
City, Mo. (Jan. 29, 1903): ‘‘We are using a
few squabs which we buy from the commis-
sion men here at $2.50 per dozen. Let me
know what price you want for yours and we
may be able to use eight or ten dozen 2
week.’”

D. P. Ritchie, steward Hotel Baltimore,
Kansas City, Mo. (Feb. 6, 1903): ‘Your favor
of Jan. 27 received. We pay $2.75 per dozen
for fancy squabs delivered, with feathers
on.”

OUR PIGEONS GOING AROUND CAPE
HORN.—We have sent our breeding stock
about everywhere, but one of the most curi-
ous orders we ever had is from Captain Lane
of the ship Kennebec, which arrived in Bos-
ton in November, 1902, from Seattle, with a
cargo of lumber. At this writing (Feb. 18,
1903), Capt. Lane is making arrangements
with us to supply him with a breeding out-
fit of our Homers, which he will instal on
his ship so that on his long return voyage
to San Francisco (or Seattle) he will have
fresh squab meat regularly. Capt. Lane is
part owner of his big ship and is accom-
panied by his wife and young son. He has
visited our place and knows about our birds
and our methods.

SQUABS IN NEW MEXICO.—Here in the
east we would not look upon New Mexico as
a fancy market for squabs, but here is a
letter from a customer in Albemarle, New
Mexico, which proves that he is getting in-
terested (Jan. 29, 1903): ‘‘The pigeons you
sent me on the 20th were received yesterday
in excellent condition, and am well pleased
with them. Please find enclosed a money
6rder for thirty dollars, for which send me
twelve more pairs of your extra mated thor-
oughbred adult pigeons. Ship as ‘efore by
Wells Fargo express.’’

sajodedpia 943 you ‘durpring ayy Jo saa¥e ayy Wosy AUNAYS st Ud BurAg oyg JO doz ey, *12498q pooy 10} Bun0d 103 Jo sHVENby
ay} reay avo Aagy “Joo. ay 03 uo dn spirq 043 FurQQe[ UBq} 10930q SI STUY, ‘“Seqored 1oopqno Jo yueutaZuvs1e 9} O0N

‘SUSQOH YAQ JO AXNO AO AGI HLNOG THL AO LUVG dO MATA

National Standard Squab Book.

SOUTHERN MARKET.—Our breeding stock
has gone to every state in the South. If you
live in any part of the South, you can market
squabs as readily as poultry is marketed.
One of our Southern customers, who lives in
Citronelle, Alabama, has been to Boston to
see us. Under date of January 30, 1903, he
writes: ‘I have received Homiers from two
others, but they do not compare with yours.
I will build my second house very soon as
the Grst one is filling up fast.’’

LONG DISTANCE SHIPMENTS.—To all
inquirers we wish to state again emphati-
cally that we cértainly do guarantee the safe
arrival of every bird, no matter in what part
of the world you-live. We are learning all
the time how to handle the long distance
shipments best and experience has taught us
little wrinkles about the baskets and the
arrangements of the feed and water dishes
which are valuable. The express messengers
get their instructions not from guesswork or
from written notices or tags, but from a
board a foot square on which is printed in
bold type the necessary directions. This
winter (1903) we have shipped every week to
California. One order of 200 pairs for Santa
Ana, California, filled seventeen baskets.
Of the 400 birds, only one turned up dead,
but as we had sent along four more pairs
than the order called for, we were seven
birds ahead on the count. Another large
shipment to San Rafael, California, in Janu-
ary, 1903, brought back by return mail the
following letter, which we print exactly as
we got it, word for word, and altogether it is
one of the best recommendations for us to
people who live at a distance that we ever
received:

“Yesterday, A. M. (Jan. 20th) at 8.30 we
received your_letter advising us of the ship-
ment of 100 pairs of Extra Mated Homers, on
Jan. 14th; advising also that the pigeons
would reach us before the letter. Well, they
did not arrive until 4.30 today, Jan. 21 (7)
seven days on the road. We notice that
seven days is also required to get your ship-
ments to Los Angeles; and when you assume
that they will reach here at or before the
receipt of notice of shipment we think you
are mistaken. Nevertheless, be this as it
may, the birds reached us tonight at 5.30,
every bird in first-class shape—every indi-
vidual one being in first-class shape; giving
evidence of being shipped in perfect condition
and having plenty of feed and water en
route. Your feed ran short, as evidenced by
charges of. 40 cents made by express com-
pany for feed provided by them, which we
are only too glad to pay, and at same time
shows care and attention of express company
messengers—a good fault. Every bird in the
lot is bright and active, and they come into
a first-class home, a fine house and flying
pen, plenty of feed and a galvanized iron
pan 6 inches deep with water 4 inches deep

7

running constantly. Dimensions of pan, 4
feet 6 inches by 2 feet 10 inches, guarantee-
ing plenty of bathing facilities. They were
liberated after dark, but the early morning
will afford all the bathing facilities they will
need, and we prophesy they will embrace the
opportunities afforded at first opportunity.
We wish to compliment you on your prompt
methods of doing business, and on the su-
periority of the birds shipped us. They were
indeed high class birds, in fact, Mr. Rice,
they are better stock than we expected to
receive. Your sending us 4 extra pairs above
order was a graceful act on your part, one
which we fully appreciate, and thank you
right here for it. Your shipment was nearly
a weék before we expected it, but by extra
exertion we got all ready in time and they
have a fine home. Express charges at $14 per
hundred Boston to San Rafael, 270 lbs. weight
of shipment, amounted to $37.80 plus 40 cents
for feed, $88.20 total, at merchandise rate.
Still at rate given in your circular $4 for 24
pirds (12 pairs), this is too much by a
margin. $4 rate to San Francisco per 12
pairs is not just correct, still we are not
kicking, for the difference is not very much.
Note this, 201 birds came out of those bas-
kets, mow we are sure, absolutely sure of
the count; two people kept count as each
bird was liberated and 201 birds came out
of the crates. If 100 pairs are mated, what
will we do for that poor lone bird? We
await for suggestions; pretty tough on that
lone bird, 3,500 miles from home, but he or
she is here sure. In conclusion we thank
you for your promptness, your honesty and
your fair, square dealing and will keep you
posted as to our progress as per your sug-
gestion. We thank you for the crates; they
are fine. We wrote you yesterday and look
for reply in accordance with your usual
promptness.’’ ,

We sent the above letter to Mr. R. H.
Dwight, agent for the Wells-Fargo Express
Company in Boston, and he was quite as
pleased as we were. Through Mr. Dwight’s
co-operation our through western shipments
by the Wells-Fargo have been a remarkable
success. The only difficulty we have ever
had on account of long distance trade came
when we were shipping in crates, not bas-
kets. We sent a large order into San Fran-
cisco and on the way four of the crates were
proken into by rough handling and forty-
two birds got away. The Wells-Fargo Ex-
press Company settled with us for the loss
of those birds and we made good to the
customer, sending the missing birds on, and
the customer was out not a cent for further
express charges, for the Wells-Fargo people
carried the birds deadhead.

The baskets in which we now ship cannot
be broken open except with the aid of an axe
and they can be thrown ten feet across a
depot platform without being injured.

‘ssoudumyd pues ouresy ade, 11043 e30NT \

‘SHENOH YOO {0 anoay

National Standard Squab Book.

There is a minor criticism in the above
letter in the matter of express charges, Ac-
cording to the figures which we give in the
circular headed ‘‘Express Rates,’’ the cus-
tomer should have been asked to pay about
$83, instead of $37, as he did pay. We be-
lieve the figures which we give to be correct
in every case—the slight variation which
may come as it came in this case is due to
the fact that no two persons will weigh up
the same lot of goods exactly the same, and
that, of course, the birds vary in weight,
The weight when the shipment starts is less
than when it finishes, because at the end
the bottoms of the baskets are covered with
manure. (The grain which we send for feed
is not weighed in and charged for transpor-
tation.) If the waybill is lost or delayed,
and the agent at destination weighs the
shipment, he will get a greater weight, and
consequently a higher rate, than the express
employee who weighed the shipment here jn
Boston.

We wish to say further that if you think
we have figured the express rates to you too
low, send us money which we claim to be
correct and we will prepay all charges, thus
putting on ourselves and not on you the dif-
ference, if there is any.

COMMON PIGEONS AGAIN.—We have had
some of the old-time raisers of squabs from
common pigeons on the ranches in the Mid-
dle West write us for more proofs that Hom-
ers are ahead of common pigeons.

In reply we will print here the letter
which we received in January, 1903, from. a
customer as follows:

“I have for sale between four and five
hundred pen fed common pigeons. Can you
use them, and at what price? Should you
not be in a position to use them yourself
Probably you could refer me to some one
that is in the market for some ‘fine pen fed
birds. The Homers which I purchased of
you some time last summer are doing very
nicely, and have to make more room for them
is the reason of wanting to dispose of my
common birds. Thanking you in advance for
favor asked.”

We asked him to tell us if he had not
found our Homers more profitable than com-
mon pigeons. He replied as follows:

“In reply to yours will say that your state-
aunent of the Homers being more profitable
than the common birds is true, as the fact
has been demonstrated to me in the past
five or six months, by my experience of hav-
ing the two lots side by side in separate
Pens. My common birds referred to are fine
birds and will sell them F. O. B. at $2.50 per
dozen, which, taking the plumpness of the
bird in consideration, is very reasonable.’’

The above breeder lives in Missouri and
we expect to sell a good many of our Hom-
ers to him and to those in his state who

oy

know of his experience. His letters are at
our Boston office, where they May be seen.
We will not give his name by mail because
he is a customer, but if you think the above
letters are made up by us, you write to the
Boston office of Dun’s or Bradstreet’s com-
mercial agencies and ask for one of their
men to be sent to our office to investigate.
PIGEON MANURE.—Our advice in the
Manual as to pigeon manure has interested
pigeon breeders all over the country, nearly
all of whom say that they never have taken
pains to save it, and when it got too thick
they have scraped it up as best they could
and used it for fertilizer. They want to know
how we keep it pure, and all about the
market, ete. :
The pigeon breeder who does not make pro-
vision for the purity of the manure and the
steady sale of it is just throwing bank bills
straight into the fire. We have erected_a
special building at our place for just the
manure, and take every precaution to keep
the manure free from straw, sawdust, sand,
etc. ‘The building stands at the back of one
of the long houses, and about halfway in the
whole plant, so that we can reach it easily
with a wheelbarrow from the houses. There
is a slide cut in the north wall of what we
call No. 2 squab house, and through this
slide the manure is shovelled from the
wheelbarrow (standing in the passageway)
directly into the manure house, where it
stays until there is from $50 to $100 worth
of it, when we bag it up and send it off.
First we take the wheelbarrow empty down
a passageway and stop at a unit pen, then
go into the unit pen with a bushel basket
and scrapers. We use a trowel to clean off
the nest-pans, a tree-scraper to clean out
the nest-boxes and a hoe or a floor chisel
(same as is used to clean off snow and ice
from city sidewalks), six inches wide at the
blade and with a long handle so that it can
be used easily while the operator is standing.
In scraping the floor, the manure rolls up
with little exertion off the blade of the
chisel. It is shovelled into the bushel
basket and the basket taken out into the
passageway and dumped into the wheelbar-
row. It takes one man not over thirty min-
utes to clean a pen thoroughly and the
product of each pen is between two and three
bushels, or from $1.20 to $1.80 for half
an hour’s work, which is pretty good pay.
(We have been getting in the winter of 1903
sixty cents a bushel from the American Hide
and Leather Company of Lowell, Mass.) We
ship the manure by freight in bags. We buy
these bags when we can from farmers who
have large herds of cows and who use con-
siderable grain, and they let the bags go for
one and two cents apiece. Second-hand bags
in the Boston junk shops cost from four to
nine cents apiece. The leather people let

10

the bags pile up and then send them back
to us in a bunch. We are particular to save
. not only the manure in the unit pens, but
in the sorting and mating cages and coops.
We cover the floors of these cages with bur-
lap, not tacking the burlap down, but
stretching it over three finish nails tacked
at the backs of the cages and two nails
tacked at the front of the cages. The
manure cakes and dries on the burlap as it
would on the floor. When there is a layer
about half an inch thick, all tramped hard,
dry and odorless by the constant hammering
of the feet of the birds, we take the burlap
off the nails and stretch it outside, bottom

up, then sprinkle water on the back and
the manure drops off in large cakes. The
burlap then is dried and _ replaced. This
method saves an immense amount of time
which otherwise would be consumed in
scraping the floors of the cages. We have
108 of these cages at the farm and in our

Boston shipping room, each capable of hold-
ing from 12 to 20 pairs of birds, and we have
burlap carpets on all of them. We use a
large amount of burlap not only for this
purpose but for small grain bags to go with
orders for breeders to distant points, and
also for the floors of our shipping baskets.
We buy this burlap in large rolls weighing
150 pounds and containing from 300 to 320
square yards. We do not hem it or sew it in
any way for the cages, simply cut it and in
stretching it over the nails fold the raw
edges under. ?

Having read the Manual, you know that we
do not use sand or sawdust in our squab
houses, so we are able to deliver manure
which is absolutely pure. The tanneries do
not like to get lots of impure manure and
of course pay more for the unadulterated
article. It is just as easy and more business-
like to keep this by-product pure.

The manure in the houses has no odor,
but when we have got it scraped up and
banked in the manure house, it gives forth
a pungent, ammonia-like smell. As the
manure house is entirely cut off from the
Squab houses by the slide in the passage-
way, this pungency does not trouble any-
one. It is not a nasty smell, anyway.

We have had customers from as far off
as Ilinois write that they were quite
charmed with our story about the manure,
and that they were saving up bags of it to
ship by freight to the American Hide and
Leather Company at Lowell, Mass. This
tannery is a branch of the Leather Trust,
which has other tanneries, so use your wits
and find out which tannery is nearest you,
and ship to that one. If you can find a
tannery not in the trust, sell to that, if you
wish to. If you sell to a trust tannery, the
check which pays you will come from the
New York office of the trust, same as ours
do. We recommend our New England cus-

National Standard Squab Book.

tomers to ship to Lowell. We have always
found the leather people square in measuring
the manure, in fact they have given us credit
on two or three occasions for more than we
thought we had. They pay after you have
sent your bill of lading and the report of
the measurer has gone to the New York
office. You need not be afraid of swamping
the leather trust with pigeon manure. They
will take all you can scrape up. They use it
to take the hair off the raw hides, and it is
said to be the only substance which will do
this job thoroughly without injuring the
hide. Chemicals which are used as substi-
tutes when pigeon manure cannot be had are
said to be injurious to the hide.

We write the above to help you sell the
Manure from your squab houses. Do not
ask us to advise you further on this point,
for we cannot. If you cannot find a tannery
within shipping distance, try the florists.
We are informed that the florists’ exchange
in New York city is a good place to sell
pigeon manure, and customers near that
city have told us that they are selling there.

SQUABS IN THE POULTRY PRESS.—The
magazines devoted to poultry are beginning
to take up squabs on account of the in-
creasing interest shown by poultrymen in
the subject. In the Poultry Keeper for Nov.
15th, 1902, appeared a contribution by A.
Spiller. After giving the general arrange-
ments for caring for the birds, he says: ‘‘At
about four weeks of age the squabs are
ready for market. Some markets require
them dressed, others only killed. Good
breeding pigeons will hatch and rear from
six to eleven pair of young a year. The cost
to keep a pair of breeders, including the rals-
ing of the young, at the present time is
about eighty cents a year, this, of course,
varying some with location and cost of
feeding stuff. Wild game birds are becom-
ing more scarce each year. The properly
raised squab pigeon comes nearer taking the
place of these wild birds than anything else.
That they make fine eating, those who have
eaten them can not deny. There is always
a ready sale for good plump squabs at
hotels, restaurants, markets and private fam-
ilies, prices ranging from $2.50 to $4.50 per
dozen, depending upon quality and season.
When one begins to raise pigeons it is better
to try to secure strains from some reliable
breeder who has stock bred along profitable
lines. There is a difference in regard to
breeding and feeding qualities and results
obtained which warrants the paying of a lit-
tle more at the start in obtaining more
profitable stock. The writer is in favor of
the straight Homer, carefully selected as to
size, shape, breeding and feeding qualities,
as it is well known that the Homer pigeon
is one of the best feeders and breeders of
any variety, and the numbers they will pro-
duce in a year more than balance any slight

National Standard Squab Book.

advantage that may be obtained in size.
The breeding of pigeons is fascinating to
most people. It is true there are some
losses, but with care and some experience
in management the few losses that occur to
the beginner may: be reduced to a very small
percentage. The work is light and not as
exacting as in some other lines, affording a
lucrative employment almost from the start
to those who are not strong, as well as to
the most robust. A flock once mated will
give but little concern to their owner, as
they remain constant for life regardless of
the numbers contained in the flock, and for
years will amply repay in profit and pleas-
ure for the feed and care given them.’’

We wish to call the special attention of
our readers to that portion of the above
article by Mr. Spiller where he says that the
cost of a pair of breeders is eighty cents a
year. We say the cost is sixty cents a year.
In his article, Mr. Spiller says nothing
about keeping the pigeon manure free from
dirt and selling it to tanneries. This must
be done in order to hold the feed bill down
to its lowest notch. We say that the
manure will pay one-third of the grain bill,
and taking Mr. Spiller’s figure of eighty
cents, and deducting one-third from it, we
have as the net cost fifty-three cents.

We asked one of our friends living in
West Newton, Mass., to ask Mr. Spiller if
his estimate of cost was made when he was
saving the manure and selling it to tanner-
ies. Mr. Spiller replied by letter as follows
under date of Feb. 16th, 1903: ‘‘No, the
manure was not taken into consideration at
all. I do not know what the tanneries pay
for it.’’

The owners of large flocks of common pig-
eons in the West who are breeding squabs
for market do not sell the manure and for
this reason they lose an important source of
revenue, It is remarkable to us_ that
pigeons pay with them at all. Certainly the
manure is a very important by-product, and
you should~<figure on selling it just as you
figure on selling the squabs.

NEWSPAPER MARKET QUOTATIONS.—

Only a few of the daily newspapers of the

country are in the habit of printing regularly
market quotations on squabs. The Boston
Globe has an article about once a week for
the information of the household and in this
article squabs are regularly quoted. At
Thanksgiving time, 1902, the Globe quoted
squabs at. from $4 to $5 per dozen. In the
Globe of Feb. 14th, 1903, squabs were quoted
at $4.50 and $5 per dozen. If our New Eng-
land customers will buy a copy of the Friday
or Saturday Globe each week, they will prob-
ably find this household article containing
the quotations for squabs on one of those
days.

—Our customers sometimes cut from the
hewspapers quotations for squabs and send

II

them to us. In the winter of 1902 we received
a clipping from the New York Evening Sun
of Feb. 28, 1902, in which white squabs were
quoted at $5 a dozen and dark squabs at
$3.50 a dozen. We are told that the New
York Evening Sun prints every Friday even-
ing a household market column giving quo-
tations on squabs.

The Rural New Yorker, an old-established
and progressive farmers’ weekly, printed the
following ‘quotations for squabs as whole-

sale prices ruling Feb. 6, 1908: “Squabs
prime large white, per dozen, $3.75; mixed,
$2.75 and $3; dark, $2 and $2.50.”

The Albany (New York) Express, on Feb.

9, 1903, printed the following quotations:
“Squabs, native, $5; Philadelphia squabs, $5
per dozen; pigeons, $1.50 per dozen.’’

The Chicago Tribune, on March 10, 1902,
printed the following quotations: “Squabs,
prime, large, white, per dozen, $3.’’

The St. Louis Republic, on Dec. 2, 1902,
printed the following quotations: ‘‘Squabs,
white, choice, dozen, $2.75 and $38; mixed,
$2.25 and $2.50; prime dark, $1.87 and $2.’’

The San Francisco Chronicle, on April 2,
1902, printed the following quotations:
“Pigeons, young, $2.50 and $2.75; ditto, old,

$1.50 and $1.75.’’ ,

SQUABS IN THE STATE OF WASHING-
TON.—The squab raisers in New Jersey, New
York and Pennsylvania are very well satis-
fied with the New York and Philadelphia
markets for squabs, and we have done con-
siderable talking about the New York mar-
ket ourselves, but let us tell you that the
market for squabs on the Pacific Coast is a
fine one, too. Here in the East we think
Seattle is a long way from home and you
may find some city chaps around us who
think that city is but just on the edge of
the tall timber. If you live out in Michigan,
Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky,
or any state in that section, you ought to
feel pretty sure that the markets for squabs
around you are good, after you have read
what we are going to tell you here about the
market for squabs in Seattle and its vicinity.

‘These letters were obtained for us by a
customer who lives near Seattle:

Fulton Market, corner Second avenue and
Columbia street, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 11,
1903): ‘‘Yours at hand and will say that if
your birds are as you say, we can use on an
average of twenty dozen per week at $2.50
per dozen, feathers on.’’

A. D. Blowers & Co., 817-819 Western ave-
nue, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 12, 1903): ‘‘Your
valued favor to hand regarding squabs. In
reply will say that most of the squabs used
in this city are brought from the east and
held in cold storage, so that native birds
will no doubt sell much better than this
article. We have made some inquiry about
them and find that it will be no trouble in
selling four to six dozen a week, and no

Virw From PassaGEeway.

View From Iyterior oF Squaz House.

Above are two views of a model made to illustrate what we call the dowel system of feeding and
watering. It isa great time-saver in along house. Between the floor of squab house and the lowest
tier of nest boxes is_one foot space. Fill this space with three-eighths inch doweling set one and one-
half inches apart, as pictured. (This doweling comes in any length from a carpenter and is very
cheap.) Set galvanized drinker and feed trough as shown. The trough has a three-quarter inch slot
in its bottom so that the grains will fall into position ready for eating on the back side of the bottom
strip into which the dowels are driven. The birds stick their heads through the dowels to eat and
drink, and cannot foul either grain or water. Push a wheelbarrow with grain along the passageway
and a house one hundred feet long can be attended to in fifteen minutes. Without this arrangement,
if you go into each unit pen to feed and water, you will use up at least an hour, and it will be harder
work. By this method you need enter the breeding pens only when killing or cleaning times come.

National Standard Squab Book.

doubt many more, as the trade would open
up. We do not think there is anyone in
this part of the country who raises them
for sale, and think if you can produce a
good article that you will have no trouble
whatever in selling them here. The price for
eastern squabs is $2.25 to $2.50 per dozen.
Some of the customers prefer to have them
plucked, others alive. We think it would be
better, perhaps, in the first shipment to
send them alive until a regular trade was
established. Our commission for selling
them will be ten per cent. of the gross sales.
If you have any nice ones, it would be well
for you to send two to four dozen along and
see what we can do with them for you.’’

(It is better to ship squabs killed and prop-
erly cooled. Do not send them alive to your
market. Few butchers in the commission
men’s employ understand how to kill and cool
a squab right. Do your.own killing and cool-
ing and packing as we have given you pre-
cise directions and you will know (not guess)
that your product is reaching the consumer
in perfect condition.)

Palace Market Co., Second avenue, Seattle,
Wash, (Feb. 11, 1903): ‘‘Squabs such as you
speak of would be worth 20 to 25 cents each.
Would prefer the feathers on. We can use
all you have.’

California Commission Company, 923 West-
ern avenue, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 11, 1903):
“Your favor to hand and contents noted.
In reply we heg to state that squabs are
selling from $2.50 to $3.50 per dozen, accord-
ing to the quality of the birds. We want
them with the feathers on and not drawn.
You may ship us two or three dozen for a
trial and then we will be better able to tell
what we can do for you and see how many
we can handle at a time. Our commission
is ten per cent. on all goods. We are cer-
tain that we can give you entire satisfaction
and know that our business methods will
please you. We make prompt returns and
keep shippers well posted on the market con-
ditions. Trusting to’ be favored with your
further valued orders.’’

C. W. Chamberlain & Co., 905-907 Western
avenue, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 13, 1903):
“Yours of the 9th at hand and contents fully
noted. Squabs, such as you’ mentioned,
would sell here for about $3 per dozen. Our
selling charge is ten per cent. Twelve to
fifteen dozen per week could be disposed of
from present information: at hand. They
should be shipped alive.’’ .

F. Gayton, steward Ranier Club (this
club is composed of the richest men of Se-
attle), Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 13, 1903): ‘‘I am

in receipt of your letter with regard to
squabs. Yes, I want some squabs at any
time. Will be glad to have them. I will

take a dozen at 25 cents each, either dressed
or undressed, three dollars per dozen. After
I see the first birds I can tell whether I can
take them regularly.”

13

Williams Bros., Gilt Edge Cafe, Everett,
Wash. (Feb. 12, 1903): ‘In reply to yours
will say, I cannot say at present how many
Squabs I can use, but will start with two
dozen a week, picked, at $2.50 per dozen.
Ship as soon as you please and will look the
market up for you in the meantime.”

Gordon & Co., commission merchants,
Western avenue, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 138,
1903): ‘“‘Replying to your letter will say that
we have telephoned to several of the hotels
and restaurants here that would be apt to
use squabs and we find that there are some
places that make a specialty of using them
and we do not believe we would have any
trouble in disposing of them nicely. We
would suggest that you send down a small
box of them and let us show the customers
just what they are and find out just what
they will be willing to pay for them. They
have been selling recently for 25 cents each.
If you care to make this shipment, we will
be glad to get it.’

Seattle Market, Cor. First avenue south and
Washington street, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 10,
1903): ‘In reply to yours would say, it
would be a good idea for you to ship us in
two or three dozen squabs for sample, I could
get the hotel and restaurant people’s opinion
on price and quality and be able to talk to
you on quantity. Eastern frozen squabs are
selling on this market for $2 to $2.25 per
dozen. If your stock is as you say, I think
it would be a better seller than frozen
goods.”’

Maison Barberis, restaurant and dining par-
lors, 204-210 James street, Seattle, Wash.
(Feb. 11, 1903): ‘‘We will take thirty dozen
Squabs every month; have them plucked, and
will pay you $3 per dozen. Please answer
and say about what day of the month you
will send them in.’’

E.. C. Klyce & Co., commission merchants,
906 Western avenue, Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 13,
1903): ‘‘Yours regarding squabs to hand, We
have investigated the market here and find
a good many of the first-class hotels and cafes
will take them at very fair figures. There
seems to be a variance of opinion as to what
they will pay, but we presume that the sup-
ply has been very limited, and they would
pay just about whatever the seller would ask
in order to get them. We think the averr ge
price would be about $2.50 to $2.75 per dozen,
Of course there would be some bidding
among the different buyers in case they were
scarce, and we might get more for them.
We have immediate access by *phone and
salesmen with all our customers who serve
squabs for short orders or otherwise. By
this means you would be in close touch with
the people most in need of them and would
always try to get you top notch prices. We
believe this is a good investment for you to
grow them for this market. Of course you
would have to start in and graduate up to
find how large the volume of trade will be,

SELF-FEEDER FOR GRAIN.

This trough gives excellent satisfaction with us. We do not sell it, but will tell you how to have
it made, Itis four feet long. At the bottom of this page you will see a sectional view of it. The
grain is put into the hopper, H. It drops in the direction indicated by the arrows into the spaces, AA,
where it is eaten by the birds. As fast as they eat, more drops down. The strip through which they
stick their heads is three inches wide and the slots are cut with a band or keyhole saw. The V at
the bottom of the trough is made from a solid piece of four by four. It is solid so that rats cannot
get inside of it and hide and pilfer the grain. The inch square pieces at the front of the bottom
prevent the birds from pecking the grain out on to the floor. One-inch lumber is used in the con-
struction for every part except the slot-boards, BB, which are three-eighths inches thick. The top
and bottom are of twelve-inch boards, the sides of ten-inch boards. The top is held in place by a
hook and eye at each end as pictured. The trough will hold from three days’ to two weeks’ supply
of grain, depending on the size of the flock. Put the trough not in the flying pen, but inside the
squab house. Or, you may build a half-trough(slot-board down one side only) and set it in the
passageway, and it will fill the space between the lower tier of nest boxes and the floor. Here it may
be filled from the passageway, and you will not have to enter the unit pen. We have tried all kinds
of self-feeders and r d this pattern as the best of all. If you adopt it in connection with
the dowel system (illustrated on previous page) your dowels will be used only behind the drinker, this
trough taking up four feet of the rest of the space. Make it either longer or shorter than four feet,
to suit the size of your flock, if you wish.

National Standard Squab Book.

that we can command you on them. Any-
thing in the way of game, fowls or meats
are staple sellers at good prices,’’

Hamm & Schmitz, Hotel Butler, Seattle,
Wash. (Feb. 12, 1903): ‘In reply to yours,
will say that we could use three dozen a
week of the squabs and will pay three dollars
per dozen for plucked birds, laid down
here,’”

The above letters indicate to us that peo-
ple in the state of Washington who eat
squabs have to pay from $3 to $4 a dozen
for the cold storage, frozen kind. Poor as
these are (they are the lightweight squabs
of common pigeons) they are iff active de-
mand. Of course the consumers would pay as
much, and no doubt more, for fresh-killed
squabs bred from our fine Homers. The com-
mission men are certainly eager to get

squabs. They are willing to pay -from $2
to $3.50 per dozen. They resell them ata
profit.

The above letter from E. C., Klyce & Co.
is sensible and could well be written by any
commission firm in any state in the Union,
or by any commission firm anywhere that
sells poultry, eggs and butter. Wherever
there is a sale for hens and chickens, dressed
or with feathers on, there is a sale for squabs
at higher prices not only because they are
a greater delicacy, but also because good
eaters everywhere know they are a greater
delicacy, and expect to pay, and do pay, more
for squabs, pound for pound, than they pay
for hens and chickens, geese and turkeys.

We ship to Seattle by the fastest express
trains. The birds go from Boston to St.
Paul (Minnesota) by the Wells-Fargo Express
Company. At St. Paul the birds are taken
by the’ Northern Pacific Express Company,
which has charge of them to destination.
Every express messenger in the employ of
these two companies on this long route has
handled our shipments and made ae fine
record, and is trained to the work of feeding
and watering all sizes of shipments, Our
Seattle trade can be sure that their ship-
ments will be treated right and will reach
them in perfect condition. That is what we
guarantee. :

MORE LETTERS.—Here are more letters
from squab buyers, unclassified, as they came
to us in the first part of February, 1903:

Allyn House, Hartford, Conn. (February,
1903): ‘In answer to yours will say we
are continually using squabs. We buy them
plucked in all cases. We pay all prices, ac-
cording to size, age, and condition when re-

ceived. They run from $2.25 to $3.25 per
dozen. Sometimes the market is. a little
higher.” S

Russell’ House, Detroit, Michigan. (Feb-
Tuary, 1903): ‘In reply to your letter would
say that we use quite a few squabs here. Am
paying at present $2.50 per dozen for

splendid stock. Tf you care to send me any

TS

at that, you to pay the ex
glad thoes ees xpress, I should be
uquesne Club, Pittsburg, Pi .
ae ae “Wish to know, fegea
0. rst quality, should you have abo I
dozen on hand, I would pay you per aeeee
Squabs plucked and delivered, from $3.50 to-
$3.75 per dozen. If price suits you please
let me know.’’ Signed by E. Max Hein-.

E (Feb. UJ,
if you have squabs

a superintendent,
neoln Hotel, Lincoln, Nebraska. Feb,
16, 1903): ‘‘Replying to your letter. we can.

use about two dozen squabs per week in our
cafe at present. Will pay $2.
delivered here, feathers vat rn eee MOOR,

Hoted Victoria, Pittsburg, Penn. (Feb, 18,
1903): ‘‘In regard to your letter, will say,
we use about one dozen or one and one-halt
dozen per week, just depends on the business,
and will pay $3.50 per dozen delivered here
at the hotel.’’

Fred Harvey, general office, Union Depot.
Annex, Kansas City, Missouri, Chicago office
Cor. l7th street and Wentworth avenue.
(Feb. 14, 1903): We can use 15 to 20 dozen
squabs per week if the birds are yery nice
and the price reasonable. Can use em with.
feathers on. Do not know what we can af-
ford to pay, it depends entirely on the birds.
If you will please send three dozen squabs.
by Santa Fe baggage car to Kansas City,
charging them at such a price that you can
afford to furnish them, I will use them as a
sample. If the birds are not of the right
quality and the price is too high, we will not.
need any more, but if the birds and price are
right, we can use quantity given above. I
enclose baggage car shipping bill; be careful
to fill it out correctly. This bill is made in
duplicate: you hold one copy as your receipt
and the other goes with the birds. Please
erritas squabs in a small box with a little
lce.**

Hotel Savoy, Ewins-Childs Hotel Co.; pro-
prietors, Kansas City Missouri. (Feb. 16,
1903): ‘‘What is your lowest price on best
squabs In five dozen lots? We are not in the
habit of scnding out of town for our sup-
plies, but if you have something better than
we can get here, it is possible that we can
do business with you.’’ (Signed by George
Thompson, steward).

Frank EE. Miller, superintendent Dining

Service, Missouri, Kansas & "Texas Railway
system, No, 707 Chestnut street, St. Louis,
Missouri. (Feb. 16, 1903): ‘‘I have your

favor relative to squabs. It is proper for you
to state the price per dozen. We occupy eight
or ten large dining stations and require a
large number.’’ :

Hollenden Hotel,, Cleveland, Ohio. (Feb. 19,
1903): “In* reply ~ to ‘ your- letter making in-
quiry regarding squabs I will state that we
are paying $3.00 per dozen for nice dressed
squabs. We do not buy any unless they are
fully dressed, no feathers on.’’

16

Louls A. Fisher, Manager Century Club,
Cleveland, Ohio. (Feb. 17, 1903): ‘‘We buy
all our squabs in New York as the prices of
three and four dollars per dozen prevailing
in this city are too high—that is, we buy
cheaper in New York than here.”

A. §. Barnett, steward Morton House,
Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Feb. 11, 1903):
“In reply to your inquiry in regard to
what we would pay for squabs such as you
have, we are paying $2.25 per dozen. Should
you consider our price an object, would be
pleased to learn how many you could fur-
nish a week.’’

Hotel Schenlen, Pittsburg, Penn. (Feb. 10,
1903): ‘‘Your squabs must be according to
the weight and you should find a ready mar-
ket for such stock. Nice white squabs are
bringing $3.50 today.’’

Hotel Rider, Cambridge Springs, Penn.
(Feb. 11, 1903): ‘‘We can pay you $2.25 per
dozen for genuine squabs (no pigeons) de-
livered here. Can use six or eight dozen
at a time, but we do not want anything but
young birds.’’

E. A. Goodrich & Co., commission mer-

chants, 103 South Water street, Chicago,
Illinois. (Feb. 13, 1903): ‘Your favor at
hand. If you mean fat young pigeons that

have left the nest and can fly, they are
worth 75 cents to $1 per dozen, and the trade
wants them alive. (This is the way the
trade in Boston wants them, but they pay
more), If you mean nestlings, or very young
pigeons which have not left the nest and are
unable to fly, we can get you $2 to $2.25 per
dozen, dressed neatly. Hither kind is good
sale at prices named and can handle for you

National Standard Squab Book.

any quantity from five dozen to one hundred
dozen. If nestling tle in one-half dozen
bunches packed in ice and ship by express.’”

A FINAL WORD.—Our object in printing
the letters from marketmen and other squab
buyers, in this appendix, is to convince any
intelligent man or woman that there is a
market for him, provided he goes to raising
squabs, no matter where he lives. We have
hundreds of similar letters on hand, but we
have not room to print all, and we think we
have printed enough. If you are not con-
vinced by what we have printed that there
is a paying market for squabs within five
hundred miles of you, do not write to us and
ask us to tell you the names and addresses
of squab buyers in your town or city, or
your county, for that we may not be able to
do, but sit down at your writing desk, or go
out in person, and find out for yourself.

Tt is unnecessary to argue the squab mar-
ket within anyone of common sense who
lives east of the Mississippi and Missouri
rivers, and on the Pacific coast, and within
shipping distance of Denver. If you live in
a barren territory or a forelgn country, and

wish to take up this subject with us, we
will reply to the best of our ability, but
remember that you are on the ground, and

can find out such facts for yourself better
than we can tell you.

This Manual is intended to te a book of
facts, backed up by evidence. If anybody has

any additional facts as to squabs which will
improve this Manual, we will be glad to con-
sider same,
cepted.

and will pay for them if ac-

aries aac

ee

es.

Farce er ne

PRES PEE
ape saan peer eae

jRseeys seewnia Seon

Sere ee =