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The National
Standard Squab Book
ELMER C. RICE
FOUNDER OF THE SQUAB INDUSTRY IN AMERICA
The National
Standard Squab Book
By Eimer C. Rice
(Mail address, Post Office Box 175, Boston, Mass., U. S. A.)
A PRACTICAL MANUAL GIVING
COMPLETE AND PRECISE DIREC-
TIONS FOR THE INSTALLATION
AND MANAGEMENT OF A _ SUC-
CESSFUL. SQUAB PLANT. FACTS
FROM EXPERIENCES OF MANY
HOW TO MAKE A PIGEON AND SQUAB
BUSINESS PAY, DETAILS OF BUILDING,
BUYING, HABITS OF BIRDS, MATING,
WATERING, FEEDING, KILLING, COOL-
ING, MARKETING, SHIPPING, CURING
AILMENTS, AND OTHER INFORMATION
Illustrated with New Sketches and Half Tone Plates
from Photographs Specially Made
for this Work
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS |
1915-1916
Copyright, 1901, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1902, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1903, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1904, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1905, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1906, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1907, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1909, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1910, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1911, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1913, by Flmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1914, by Elmer C. Rice
Copyright, 1915, by Elmer C. Rice
All rights reserved.
A WELL-BUILT NEST.
“A book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but
to perpetuate it. The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and
useful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can
say it. Heis bound to say it clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events.”
— Ruskin.
PRESS OF GEORGE H. DEAN
BOSTON, MASS.
sep 71915 247"
©rAa411556
GON TE NES
Preface ‘ : . : :
Chapter I. Squabs Pay . . 5
Chapter II. An Easy Start
Chapter III. The Unit House
Chapter IV. Nest Bowls and Nests
Chapter V. Water and Feed.
Chapter VI. Laying and Hatching
Chapter VII.
Chapter VIII.
Increase of Flock
Killing and Cooling
Chapter IX. The Markets
Chapter X. Pigeons’ Ailments
Chapter XI. Getting Ahead
Chapter XII.
Supplement
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Questions and Answers
Plymouth Rock Carhomies
Carneaux and Homers Not in Same pen
A Monthly Squab Magazine
More About How to Tell Sex :
How to Keep Down an Excess of Cocks
Squab Houses of Two and Three Stories
Squabs Fed Artificially
Nests on the Floor ;
A Plan to Get Rid of Rats and Mice
How to Make Perches
Pittsburg Market
Low Quotations
How to Kill Cats
Breeding True to Color
Sulphur and Iron Water
Pigeons that Fly Away
No Coal Ashes
Temporary Pen and Breeding Ber
Twigs for Nesting Materials
Clamoring for Squabs in Washington Binie
Oklahoma and Indian Territory
Avpendix G
ILLWStRA TIONS
Page Page Page Page
LNOLANO? Gono. 6 mato at 6] Pigeons Sunning ...209| Whole Corn....... 289 | Artificial Feeding. . .335
Well-Built Nest.... 8]/Squab House In- Coarse Cracked... .289 Wemee and Pig-
P.R.Homers...... WAS Mterioneeeroaee ace 210) Fine Cracked...... ZS eOUS Hee re 338
Back Yard House .. 18] Womanand Squabs.211| White Wheat...... 290 Pifty- Dollar Homer.340
Cheap Nest Boxes.. 22|BackofBarn...... 212) Poor Red Wheat... .290| White Plumage
Attic Squabbery ... 24|Shipshape Pen..... 213| Wheat Screenings. .290| Squabs......... 342
Unit Squab House... 26| Feather Nest...... QIAN Barley astsn reac 291 | White Carneaux.. ..344
Solid Nest Boxes. 28) Different Sizes. .... Pi NOatseye enero. 291| Dressed Squab... . .346
Nest Boxes on Inexpensive Start ..216|Sunflower Seeds... .291| Big Texas Homers. .347
Cleatsicn es ae 30] Row of Beauties... .217) American Millet... .292|Simple Feedbox.. . .348
Interior of House. .. 32| Tame Pigeons...... 218| Siberian Millet.....292)Florida Squab
Pretty Aviary...... 36] Ready to Kill...... 219} Golden Millet. . 292)\\sablousen jasc ote 349
Multiple Unit House 38|Squabs 25 Days. ...220|Rice Unhulled..... 293 | Muslin Ventilation .350
Interior of Same.... 40|IntheSnow....... ASR Ce ny, nshonaladastoy stare 293|Squabs, Fruit,
Multiple Unit House 42| Squabs 3 Weeks... .222|) Buckwheat........ 203i Chickenseecen 351
Squab House Fix- Squabs 12 Days. ..223|GraniteGrit....... 294|Plymouth Rock
GUTES ele eistersieia- as 46|Few DaysOld..... 994) Quartz Grit... .2...- 2904) | SeHomerwe. aoe 352
Berry: Crates. 2.22: 50) Nest of Stems... ...225|Same Crushed..... 294| Montana Homers. .353
Rich Man’sFarm .. 58| Raised from Extras.226| Health Grit......_. 295| Allfrom One Pair... .354
Eggsin Nest...... . 64| Carneaux......... 227|CoarseShell....... 295| Trained Homer. . . 1355
Squabs just Hatched 64| Carneau and Homer 236] Pigeon Shell....... 295|Waterin Sight..... 356
SquabsOne Week.. 66|Double Squab Mixed Grain....... 296 |Seventeen Ounces. .357
Squabs Two Weeks. 66} Se Housemeaeeeeere 243!|South Carolina Ostriches and
Squabs Three Weeks 68| Extra Homer Male.250| Plant.......... Homers 358
Squabs Four Weeks. 68)Extra Homer Ordinary Quarters.301]Funnelsto Bleed. . .359
Mating Coop...... 10\ebemalene seers 52| Home Made....... 302] Male and Female... .360
Venice Pigeons..... 74|Barn Fly Pen...... 256 | Association Button .304| Montana Plant ....361
Tweaking Squabs.. 80| Three Squabs...... 257 | Hanigan’sSquabs. .305] Killing Chute... . . .362
Squabs Cooling.... 82|/Any Old Place..... 259] Carneaux Squabs. ..306) Ohio Squab Farm . .363
Dressed Squabs.... 86] Protected by Hill. ..262|}Squab Plant Moved 307|Carneaux......... 364
Log Squab House... 88] New Jersey Plant...264)|FertileEgg........ 8 | Bunches of Squabs. .365
PaimBillangen cect ee 90| Another View...... 265| Rat-Proof Feeder.. "309 Oregon Plant...... 366
How WeShip...... 98} Minnesota Plant. . .266|Schweitzer Letter ..310] Homersin Texas. . .367
Feed Troughs...... 108] Banquet Squabs.. . .268}A.Silz’ Portrait... .311|Back Yard Plant. ..368
Killing Machine... .115} Mississippi Plant.. .269| Drayload of Squabs.311|Big Plymouth
Nest Boxes........ 118) Massachusetts Poultry Show Pen. .312| Rocks.......... 369
Pigeonson Rock ...138] Plant.......... 270|Ten-Cent Crate... .313)Carneau Squab... . .370
Mating House..... 140] Another View...... 271|Heineman Letter. ..314| White Homer... ...371
IME Gb Gace nee 142} California Fly Pen..272|Bob Wires......... 315| Ten Pairsa Year. . .372
Pigeons Outdoors...146]SmallOpenings. ...273|Woman’s Plant... .316] Viewsof Homers. . .373
DowelSystem..... 50] Squabs on Platter. .274|Blue-Bar Racer. . ..317|Four Homers. ..... 76
ASoiziWwettenes a. 188] In British Columbia 276 | Silvers and Splashes 318] Novel Fly Pen..... 378
McLaughlin Letter . 190] City Squab House. .278|Ohio Plant........ 319| Carneaux in Ne-
Heineman Letter. . .192) Pair of Big Squabs. .280|Fly-Pen Trapped. ..320)__braska.......... 380
Plymouth Rocks. ..194) Odd Aviary........ 282|Mrs. White’s Car- Homersin Kansas. .382
Illinois Plant...... 196} Tobacco Stems.....283] mneaux........... 321 |Smail Squabhouse. .384
Florida Plant...... TOS Rock: Salta veye leer 284|Fresh Air Plenty. ..322/Two Kinds of
IB nSyinnoare Ging dn 199| Sorghum Seed..... 285 | Big Homer Squabs..323}_ Squabs.........386
New York Plant... .200) Health Grit........ 286| Nailsfor Cleats. . . .324] Perkins’ Energizer. .388
Pigeonson Pole. ...202| Red Wheat........ 287) Baby and Squabs. . .325} Mr. Steward’s Hom-
Cheapest House... .204| Canada Peas....... 287)| Pour WeeksiOld.. ..328))) ers: se oa0- 6 soe = 390
Aine Shemh ss Sauaces 206} Hempseed.... . .287| Boy and Pigeon. . . .330|Tirst-Class Homers. 392
This Customer... . .206| Wood Screws. . .288| Maerzke’s Plant... .331| Hillside Slope Farm.394
Beautiful Splashes..207|KaffirCorn....... 288} Iowa Squab Farm. .333] Kansas Squab Farm 398
Barsand Checks. . .208]Sorghum Seed..... 288
PREFACE.
This Manual or Handbook on Squabs is written to teach
people, beginners 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 industry. 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 capacity. 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 beautiful pet stock as well as money makers,
so much the better, but we never would breed anything not
useful, salable merely as pets. It is just as easy to pet a
practical 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 present 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 everybody ought to know.’’ It has been our experi-
ence in handling this subiect and bringing it home to people
that the little points are the ones on which they most quickly
go astray, and on which they wish the fullest information.
After they have a fair start, thev are able to think out their
operations for themselves. Accordingly we have covered
11
12> NARIONAL STANDARD SO UAB BOOKS
every point in this book in simple language and if the details
in some places appear too commonplace, 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 enthus-
iasm for the squab industry.
It has surprised a great many peopie to learn that Homer
pigeons are such a staple and workable article. They have
been handled by the old 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, 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 thousands of customers, 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.
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
PREFACE 13
proof of these squab teachings is shown in the successes made
by our thousands of customers with no other knowledge 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. é
Dy (Ga IS
1907 EDITION.
The old plates of this book have been fairly worn out by
much printing, so great has been the demand for it, especially
during the past five years. The sales have been larger than
for any other work on birds or animals ever written. For this
1907 edition, the whole book has been reset in new type, and
new plates made.
The outlook for the squab industry during 1907 and the
years to come is of high promise. More people are eating
squabs than ever before and more people are raising them.
At no time within our memory has the market been over-
stocked with squabs, and prices have kept up all along the
line. Only yesterday we were visited by a gentleman and his
niece from New York City who stated that they had priced
squabs there December 31 and found them seven dollars and
fifty cents a dozen. The dealers who offered them at this
price had paid the breeders for them from four dollars to six
dollars a dozen, according to their postal card quotations sent
out in December. :
We shall be pleased to hear from our friends after they have
read this book, and welcome any suggestions for its improve-
ment, or for the betterment of the squab industry. The
author will gladly answer all such letters and advise fully as to
location and construction of buildings, and management of
breeding stock.
E. C. R.
1915 EDITION.
Just a line to assure readers of this work that it is com-
plete, up to date. Note particularly the new matter on the
back pages. EB. C. R.
BLUE-BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMERS.
CHAPTER I.
SQUABS PAY.
Experience of a Customer who Started in January, 1902,
Erected a Plant Worth Three Thousand Dollars and Made
Money Almost from the Start—Settlements of Squab Breeders
in Iowa, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvantia—
Large Incomes Made from +igeons—Squab Plants Known
to be Making Money—The Hard-Working Farmer and the
Easy-Working Squab Ratser—No Occupation for a Drone—
No Exaggeration.
“Will it pay me to raise squabs?”’ is the first question
which the beginner 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 readv to believe because he knew from
his own personal experience that a squab grows to market size
in four weeks and is then readily marketable. 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 buildings. 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 flying pens, all built by skilled labor in the best possible
style at a cost of at least three hundred dollars apiece. With
his buildings and their fittings and his birds, his plant repre-
sented an expenditure of between two thousand and three
thousand dollars.
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
15
IGe NA RION AL SIAN ADS O1Win> BO Oks
than the average beginner would spend. He is a superin-
tendent 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 was a paying venture almost from the very
start. Everything that we wrote about squabs as money
makers came true in his case. One of the sons, a lad of nine-
teen, came on to see us the first summer and told us the story
of their success. He was after more breeding stock. He
said he had many calls from peovle 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 not done
any advertising, and had not sold live breeders to any extent,
but figured their profits solely on the sale of squabs to com-
mission houses, and they were getting for them just what
we said the commission men would pay.
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: “ lowa is quite a squab
breeding State. There are plants in Ruthven, Osage, Wallake
and Estherville. The owner of a plant in Ruthven I know
very well. He showed me his account books; he was shipping
from seven hundred to eight hundred dollars worth of squabs
last month. He is making a profit of three thousand to five
thousand dollars a year. He ships to the Chicago market,
as do nearly all the Iowa breeders. He never gets less than
two dollars and fifty cents 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 1nethods.
We discarded common pigeons some time ago. If our lowa
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. E. H. Grice, who lives in the northern part of
Vermont, visited us. Mr. Grice had just returned from a visit
to the West, and stopped for a while at Ruthven, lowa, where
SQUABS PAY 17
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 one hundred 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 Cal.fornia. We
visited many squab breeders in eastern States in June, 1902,
noting the buildings and methods and finding out from them
if they were satisfied with the financial returns. All were
enthusiastic and said it was easy work, that squabs beat
hens 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. The Homers
were small, not being able to raise squabs weighing over seven
pounds to the dozen.
Somebody has said that a squab plant of one thousand 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 1s no work for a drone
or a “ 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 fifty to five hundred dollars 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 careless,
improvident person, who is generally in debt, should not start
squab raising. It is a sensible industry for sensible people.
The profits to be made with squabs vary with the individual
and with the management of the birds, exactly as with poul-
try. It is important to have only mated or even pairs in the
pens and all birds not producing should be kept in a separate
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SQUABS PAY 19
pen and removed to breeding quarters only after they have
gone to work. The chief difficulty with a beginner is the
matter of sex. The male and the female pigeon have no
marks to distinguish them, and the beginner must determine
their sex by observation. He must study his birds and come
to know them. Some beginners will not equip themselves by
study and observation to make a success and may breed in a
hap-hazard fashion for a year or more without knowing the
sex of the birds they raise. Birds which you raise will go to
work more quickly, look better and breed better than any birds
you can buy, because that is the temperament of the Homer,
to be attached to his home, to love it, and to try to reach it if
he can. Anybody who has doubts as to his ability to raise
squabs should start with a small flock and breed up until he
has acquired skill and experience.
As part of this Manual, in the supplement and appendices,
we print many letters from customers who started with small
flocks and won striking successes. It is not necessary to get
a fancy price for the squabs to make the business a success.
In confirmation of this we have in mind the work of two of
our customers, young men named Lunn, who have received
only two dollars to three dollars a dozen for their squabs,
selling to dealers who retail them for four dollars to six
dollars a dozen. These brothers have told-their story in one
of the poultry papers as follows:
“In February, 1905, we got the idea of going into the squab
business. We spent some time looking around and in March,
1905, we bought what we thought was the best stock, namely,
the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. We bought twelve
pairs. The birds arrived on March 22, 1905, and were as
fine a looking lot of birds as we had seen anywhere. We now
(December, 1906) have three hundred pairs. One hundred and
fifty pairs are well mated and working. The other one
hundred and fifty pairs are all young birds. We raised all
our young birds up until September, 1906, and since then have
been selling squabs weighing from nine and one-quarter to
ten and one-half pounds and receive twenty-three and
twenty-five cents each. We feed the best of grain, using
cracked corn, kaffir corn, red wheat, buckwheat and peas and
alittle hemp. We also give a little rice once or twice a week.
During the moulting season we added barley to regular
20 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
rations, which was a great help to the birds all that time. We
use the self-feeder as described by Mr. Rice in his Manual and
we find with it the grain is always clean. We have made the
feeding question one of the most important of all and find
that the best results are obtained by keeping plenty of grain
and good clean drinking water before the birds at all times.
The drinking fountains used are automatic and are scalded
once each week. About once a week we give a teaspoonful
of gentian to a gallon of water. We keep fresh water in the
flying pens for bathing purpose at all times during the summer,
and in the winter we allow our birds to bathe twice a week at
noontime. One thing that is very essential with pigeons is
to be kept clean. Our houses and nests are cleaned every
week and we also spray the floors, nests and walk with a
liquid disinfectant. We have never been troubled with lice,
vermin or any disease of any kind. For nesting material we
use tobacco stems, cutting them into pieces of about six
inches, which we consider the best material for the purpose,
and also a safeguard against lice. We feel satisfied with
what our birds are doing and have done in the past, so well
~ satisfied, in fact, that we have now under construction build-
ings that will accommodate nearly one thousand pairs of birds.
And the cost of keeping or feeding will not exceed one dollar
a year per pair, so that squabs selling from two dollars to
three dollars per dozen are sure to leave a good profit.”’
Looking at the financial showing of the Lunn boys, made
in twenty-two months, we find that starting with twelve
pairs, for which they paid us thirty dollars, they raised three
hundred pairs, worth at the same rate seven hundred and
fifty dollars. From this must be deducted the grain which
they bought in that period. They start the new year with a
fine plant capable of earning a big percentage of profit on its
valuation.
OVA TEI OI I OR
AN BASY 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 Flying Pen—
Lining the Squab House with Nests— Use of Egg Crates—
How to Put up the Perches—Duifference between the Nest
Box, Nest Pan and Nest— How to Tell How Many Pigeons
can Occupy a Certain Building—A Large Flock of Pigeons
1s Eastly Cared for when Split up into Small Flocks—
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
building, 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 under 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 England) 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
21
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26
JAIN JENS) SASSI ol IE: 27
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 most cheaply and
quickly) 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 new for ten or fifteen cents each,
and 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, 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 there are points in the low-priced arrangement
not possessed by the fancy kind. It is on the same principle
by which a humble small boy with bent pin and worms and an
old pole catches more fish than the city angler with a twenty-
five dollar assortment of hooks, lines and artificial flies. 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,
ip hdd
ver Pip
NEST BOXES BUILT OF LUMBER. =.
as shown.
ZAIN, SASS VSI aR IE 29
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 different 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 object,
while a pair of something else, as in this case, means two
objects.
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Removable centre piece —
1
SINGLE NEST-BOX
CONSTRUCTION.
(SEE UPPER PICTURE).
Whenthe nest boxes are
built of lumber (one-half
an inch or five-eighths of an
inch thick) the construc-
tion shown in the upper
drawing (surrounded by
black line) should be em-
ployed. The bottoms are
not nailed, but slide in on
cleats asshown. The re-
sultisasliding shelf. This
shelf may be pulled out at
cleaning time and a better
and quicker job of cleaning
done. Thenest bowls
may be screwed directly
to the bottoms of the nest
boxes. If that is done, it
will not be necessary to
screw the nest bowls to
blocks of wood, to give
them stability. The nest
boxes should be from ten
inches to twelve inches
square.
DOUBLE NEST-BOX
CONSTRUCTION.
(SEE LOWER PICTURE.)
Thisdouble boxis
favored by many. It is
comparatively new in de-
sign. Lhe picture was
drawn and this description
was written in. February,
1913. Pages 45 to 50 of
this book were put into.
type and plates made be-
fore that date. This
double nest box is a gocd
one. The box has two
feet frontage. The re-
movable centre piece is
fourinches high, two feet
frontage and one foot
deep. he shelf or base-
board, also removable, is
deep enough so that
a porch (or perch) four
inches wide is left for the
birds to alight on. This
shelf, or baseboard, slides
on cleats, so the whole
arrangement, except the
vertical uprights, takes
apart for cleaning. The
nestbowls, twoin number,
are screwed to the baseboard in the centre of the two squares formed by the removable
centre piece. Some builders prefer the single
It is a matter of individual preference.
30
nest-box construction, others the double.
Each style is good and we endorse both of them.
Jal IN TAS) VAS) IIE TE 31
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
raise 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 out-
side of the building with building paper, and shingle or clap-
board it. You may putaskylight in the roof for ventilation,
Improve 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 in the opening. The old birds will fly
by your head, perhaps, and may strike you with their wings,
but they will not fly into 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 in 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 all, is
a knowing bird.
We sell perches of our own manufacture which are cheaper
than they can be made at home out of lumber. Price, five
cents each, ten for fifty cents, twenty for one dollar, one
hundred for five dollars. Sample by mail for eight cents.
These perches are pictured in position in the squabhouse on
the next page (32). They are just screwed into the wall
wherever convenient. Put up as many perches as you please
about eighteen inches or two feet apart on the inside of your
squabhouse, on the walls. The arrangement should be about
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AUN EAS VST ARTE 33
as shown in the illustration. You cannot have one long
pole inside the squab house 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 overturned 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. Otherwise 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, grass cr pine needles out of
which the pigeons build their nests.
The floor of the squab house should be kept clean. We
formerly advised that a layer of sand or sawdust half an
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 will pay from one-quarter
to one-third of the grain bill. Use an ice chisel to scrape the
droppings from the floor, and pack the manure away in barrels
or bags. Clean the fioor 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 by freight to tanneries in Lowell,
Lynn, Peabody and Danvers, and are paid for it at the rate
of sixty cents a bushel.
We have a building eighty feet long built especially for the
drying and storing of the manure. During the years we have
been in the squab business, we have sold enough pigeon
manure to pay for nearly all the pigeon buildings on our farm.
Some pigeon raisers with crude methods know nothing of the
szalue of the manure and lose this by-product. They either
ruin it by putting sand or sawdust on the floor of the squab
house, or else waste it on their gardens. The pure manure
is too valuable for home use. To fertilize our flower and
vegetable gardens, and hay field, we scrape up from the
flying pens, outdoors, the gravel which has become saturated
with manure. It is surprising what an increase in vegetation
this manure-soaked gravel will cause. Fresh gravel is put
down in the flying pens.
34) sINATEO NAL Siege ie DeS Ove 5: © Orke
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 old-style
earthenware nest bowls, no soap was necessary. We used
warm water in washing them and the manure caked to them
formed 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 under-
side. The manure will drop off in large pieces from the
inside and 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. Aim
to cut down the factor of personal drudgery, so as to leave
your time clear to observe, plan, and execute intelligently.
Beginners who load themselves dow.: with a daily round of
exacting duties soon lose heart, thr patience gives out and
they become disgusted. We have known breeders of rabbits
to fail simply because they raised them in hutches. Each
hutch had a door and two dishes, one for feed, the other for
water. Every day, the door of the hutch had to be opened,
the hutch cleaned, the dishes refilled (and often cleaned), and
the door closed. It took fifteen or twenty motions to do this
for each hutch. Multiply this by twenty to thirty (the
number of the hutches), and the burden grew unbearable.
It was not surprising that in three or four months the breeder’s
patience was worn out. The factor of personal drudgery had
become greater than the rabbits. 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 is 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 num-
ber of animals. When you think and reason for yourself,
you understand how much more practical it is to give sixty
animals one minute of your time than one animal one minute.
Time is money and if you are too particular, and too fussy,
and thougntless about these details, it is a clear case of the
chances being sixty to one against you.
VAL IN JENS) VAS) RaW I 30
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 cuts down the efficiency of
your own labor, and adopt every device that will give you
control in the same time over a greater number of pigeons.
It takes brains and skilled labor to run a poultry plant
successfully. Every poultryman knows that he cannot
entrust the regulation of temperatures 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 for squab-breeders, leaving
the time of the owner free for correspondence and the more
skilful work.
The primary object is to breed squabs for market as cheaply,
as easily and as fast as possible, without the expenditure of a
dollar for fanciful or impractical appurtenances.
Do 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. We have many customers in Canada. In coldest
weather, the old birds hover the squabs more carefully.
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 illus-
tration (page °4) shows how to utilize a window of 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 Illinois, a rich horse breeder having
36 = NATIONAL SiN Avie) SO Ans; 15.010 Ke
a barn some two hundred feet long, 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.
A PRETTY SQUAB HOUSE AND FLYING PEN.
Gis Ae IDI. Tai ke
THE UNIT HOUSE.
Best Possible Construction for a Squab Plant— The Wind-
Break Formation of Roof -— Dimensions of the Unit —
Multiplying the Unit to Increase the Capacity of Your
Plant — A Passageway behind the Nest Boxes — Number-
ing the Nest Boxes, and the Ma. agement of a Card Index to
Correspond — Cost of the Unit Construction is from Three
Dollars to Five Dotlars a Running Foot — Working Drawings
— The Nest Bowls.
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 nest boxes 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 same 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. Itisa
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 bookcases to
accommodate 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 brilt of boxing and set in a vertical row
at the back of the house, forming a wall 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 ten-inch by eleven-inch pieces the proper distance
37
“quel SIG & UILO} 0} 400} ALOU 10 OOS “006 ‘OOT worjonsysu09 SI) pueixq
‘ASNOH LINO HIdI LINN
38
dpi aeON Tie EOS, 39
epart. 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.
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 nest bowl
from being pushed out. Early in our experience we built
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.
Pigeons, especially a new flock in a new home, breed best
in a house which is somewhat dark, and not too glaring with
light. If your window is situated so as to let in a flood of
light, you will get better and quicker results by shading it so
that the interior will be dim. Some breeders advocate that
the nest boxes have fronts of wood (removable) so that the
nest box will be darkened. The same result will be accom-
plished if the window of the house is shaded so as to temper
the light and prevent it from streaming into the nest boxes.
The dimensions of this unit squab house are as follows:
Length, sixteen feet; width, twelve feet; length of flying pen
from end of house to end of yard, twenty feet; distance from
floor of squab house to ridgepole, twelve feet; two windows
in south wall of squab house, each two feet two inches wide
and three feet ten inches high. One window in north wall of
squab house, two feet two inches wide and three feet ten
inches 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.
If you wish, you can set up rows of nest boxes on the
east and west walls of the squab house and accommodate 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.
INTERIOR OF MULTIPLE 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. ‘lhe
nest boxes are empty egg crates. 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 arrange-
‘ment best because the troughs can be filled more quickly from the passageway, and
the time of opening and closing doors and going into pens is saved.
I lalie, (OL INDIE Jel OlSya, 4]
Build the first unit so that you can extend it either to the
east or west (as your land lies) to increase your accommoda-
tions. Your squab house will always remain sixteen feet
from north to south, but it may be either twelve feet from
east to west, for one unit, or twenty-four feet for two units,
or thirty-six feet for three units, and so on. Of course you
can build one long house sixteen 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.
Fanciers breeding flying Homers from our birds, or squab-
raisers who wish to keep track of every pair of birds, can
provide a card index (the cards being perfectly blank and
three by five inches in size), number the cards to corre-
spond with the nest boxes, and on these cards keep a record
of what the birds in the nest boxes do. These cards, which
are blank except for the numbers they bear, can be kept in a
tray such as the manufacturers of card indexes advertise in the
back pages of the magazines and you can pick out any card
you wish, or turn to it, at once. It is much better than
keeping a record in a book, for you cannot tear out the leaves
of a book, as you can throw away a card, nor can you shift one
page from one location to another, as you can a card in a tray.
The floor of the squab house rests on cedar posts and is
two feet from the ground. The floor is built of two thick-
nesses 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
can 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 best possible manner, will
be from three dollars to five dollars a running foot. That is
to say, a unit plant twelve feet long will cost from thirty-six
to sixty dollars. A plant consisting of three units, thirty-six
feet long, will cost from one hundred and eight to one hun-
dred and fifty dollars. We publish and sell for ten cent
working drawings showing just how to build a unit in
every detail, On the same sheet are working drawings
for building a simple squab house (without passageway) to
cost from fifteen to twenty-five dollars. Also on the same
sheet we give data showing how one of our friends built a
‘jeotjovid sv [eA Sv oWOSpuRY ‘a[durIs nq YSno1OY} SI UOTONIySUOD oY,
‘SNVId UNO OL PNIGUOONOV LIING SLIND NAL “ASNOH LINO ATdILTIAW
EE NOON VEO OSs 43
squab house and pen capable of accommodating two hundred
and twenty pairs of breeders at a cost of one hundred and
thirty dollars. In ordering, simply say you wish plans and
specifications for squab houses.
Some who wish the best construction write us to ask if a
cement floor is not better than a wood floor. It is when
properly laid, but not when laid thinly and poorly. A thin
floor with a poor foundation looks good when freshly laid,
but the first winter causes the dirt foundation to shrink and
swell, then come cracks in the cement. Rats and mice burrow
in the dirt up to the cement and find their way through the
cracks to the squabs. In a short time, they are a nuisance.
We have seen a squab house built with cement floor which
cracked as described and every time the owner and his dog
took a walk down the alleyway, they found rats to kill.
Finally the whole lot of cement had to be pounded to pieces,
shoveled up and carted off. The way to stop rats and mice
is to erect the building on posts as we have described. Rats
and mice live in the dirt and they cannot get up into the
squab house. If a cement floor is properly laid of sufficient
thickness on a good foundation according to our concrete
block squab house building plans (see next page), it is proof
against frost, will not crack, and will wear forever.
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 side of the roof, and on this slope the
birds would sun themselves and make love. This ‘“ jag”
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 tiving pen we erect
perches as shown in the picture. The fact that the birds
rest easily on these perches (as the photograph in Appen-
dix A shows) is proof that they are contented and pleased
by such an arrangement. We have found, too, that they
can hear the squeaks of their young for food better than if
they are up on the roof, and better attention to the squabs
is the result. It was formerly thought unsafe to erect perch-
ing poles in the flying pen directly in front of the windows,
the fear being that birds darting suddenly out of the windows
44 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
would strike the perching poles and become injured. Sucha
fear goes on the assumption that a pigeon cannot take care
of itself in flight. They are quick of eye and quick of wing,
and are intelligent to a high degree, and we never knew a
bird to be injured by flying against horizontal perches in the
flying pen. They never strike them but always fly between
them or alight on them.
Please note particularly that if you erect one Jong 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.
Note. On page 41 we tell of building plans which we sell
for ten cents. Those plans show how to build the unit squab
house of wood as shown on page 26 of this book, or, if the
construction is extended, the multiple unit squab house of
wood as pictured on page 42. Lately, on account of the
increased cost of lumber and the wide spread of the use of
cement. we have had calls for plans for a
CONCRETE BLOCK SQUAB HOUSE.
We now sell at ten cents plans for the unit squab house of
concrete block construction. These show the perspective
view as well as the ground floor plan and elevation. You
will find probably in your town, or nearby, a dealer in the
cement blocks of which this house is built. The general
plan of this concrete block squab house is the same as our
wooden squab house, with the exception that the south side
has one large pivoted window frame to be covered with cloth
(no glass) so as to accustom the pigeons to the prevailing
tempecature of fresh air at all seasons of the year, and to
secure at all times good ventilation.
In ordering building plans, please specify whether you want
the wood building plans or the concrete block building
plans. They are ten cents each, or both for twenty cents.
(GIEUAIZI NOIR he
NEST BOWLS AND NESTS.
Do Not Use the Old-Fashioned Nest Pans—Obvious Faults
of the Earthenware Nappy— The Wood-Fibre Nest Bowl
—How the Pigeons Choose Nest Boxes—What to Use jor
Nesting Material— How the Birds Manage their Nests.
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 used for a pigeon nest bowl
the common kitchen yellow earthenware nappy. We em-
ployed 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, but they
have faults which are obvious. They are flat and not round-
ing on the bottom. 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 and to give fresh albumen to the
germ) 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 clean only
with water. The washing of the nappies becomes a tedious
task and is often neglected. In winter weather, the earthen-
ware dishes become so cold that one’s fingers are numbed
by handling them—and the squabs which sit in them are
numbed, even frozen.
Later we perfected a nest bowl made of wood which met
every objection raised against earthenware. We sold thou-
sands of them during the two years we had them on the market
and they gave good satisfaction except when some were
made of improperly seasoned lumber, in which case they
would crack and split after a few months’ use. After study
and experiment to remove this objection, we had expensive
patterns and moulds made and began the manufacture of
45
OLD-STYLE NEST PAN. WATER DISH. LARGE NAPPY. SMALL NAPPY.
Do not use either the old-style pigeon nest pan or open water dish.
THE WOOCD- PULP NEST BOWL.
This is made in one size (nine inches diameter of bowl). ‘To give stability, the
bowl may be fastened to a 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. The bowl may be screwed
rectly to the bottom of the nest box. (See page 48.)
BATH PAN AND DRINKER. HAND BASKET.
One bath pan to every twelve pairs of birds is necessary. The hand basket
(price $3.50) is used in large plants to carry. the squabs from the nests to the killing
place. The squabs should not be killed in sight of the parent birds.
46
INVEST IOUNIES eV IND) INU S IES) 47
these bowls out of wood pulp. Their success was quickly
demonstrated and now we sell nothing else. These wood-
pulp nest bowls have all the advantages of the wood bowls
and at the same.time are practically indestructible, cannot
warp or split. The wood pulp of which they are made is
thick and exceedingly tough, being solidified under many
tons’ pressure. We sell these wood-pulp nest bowls in one
size only, nine inches in diameter. Price, nine cents each,
one dollar and eight cents per dozen, twelve dollars and
ninety-six cents per gross. We make prompt shipment from
Boston same day order is received, inany quantity. No order
is filled for less than one dozen. We have the exclusive sale
of these goods and they cannot be obtained elsewhere. They
are not manufactured in the United States. We import
them. Beware of imitations.
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 do not sprawl, and no cases of deformed
legs in the squabs are found. (5) It is unbreakable. (6)
When shipped either short or long distances, no packiu1g is
necessary, they are lighter and the freight bill is smaller.
(7) And finally the birds “ take’”’ to them more readily than
to earthenware, getting to work more quickly and producing
more squabs.
We make this wood pulp nest bowl in only one size as
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 nest bowls
for every pair of pigeons (in other words, one nest bowl to
every pigeon). If you order twenty-four pairs of breeders
you will need forty-eight nest bowls. If you order ninety-six
pairs of breeders you will need one hundred and ninety-two
nest bowls.
We know our birds will breed more successfully in these
nest bowls than in earthenware, and to make it an object
for you to buy them, you may deduct the freight charges
on nest bowls from your order for birds. First order your
nest bowls sent by freight, then when you order your breeders,
48° NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
send us your freight receipt and count the amount as cash.
Or you may order your birds at the same time you do the
nest bowls (and other supplies) and when you get your freight
receipt send it to us. Orders for one dozen to four dozen
bowls should go by express with the birds (tied to the basket),
unless it is desired to have the bowls go with grain, grit, shells,
etc., by freight.
Place one nest bowl in each one of your nest boxes. Let
the pairs choose to suit themselves. At the end of the month,
when you take out the squabs, take out the nest bowl, clean
it and put it back.
Many customers who do not use egg crates or orange
boxes, but build their nest boxes of half-inch or five-eighths
lumber, have written us that they used the construction
which we illustrate on page 30, and which is good, because
cleaning can be better done. The bottoms of the nest boxes
are removable and rest on cleats, as the picture shows. The
cleats are seven-eighths or one inch square and are nailed
to the uprights. When this construction is employed, it is
not necessary that you have a block or base screwed to our
wood-fibre nest bowl. The nest bowl may be screwed -
directly onto this removable bottom. If you use egg crates
or solid-built nest boxes, you will have to give the wood-pulp
nest bowl stability by screwing it to a base of wood seven
inches square and about three-quarters of an inch thick.
When the squab house is ready for the birds, each of the
nest boxes has one of these nest bowls. The pigeons build
their own nests in them, taking the nesting material and flying
to the nest bowl with it. The average nest 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 nest bowl 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 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 nest
bowl gets bare again as it was in the first place. The small
NESE BOWLS AND NESTS 49
amount of manure which then sticks to it is removed with a
trowel.
The use of this wood-pulp nest bowl has lightened the
work a great deal for they never have to be washed. They
should not be washed, for water weakens them, particularly
at the bottom, where the screw hole is. A washer should
be put under the screw head to hold the bowl tight and to
prevent its turning while being cleaned. We ship these
washers and screws with the bowls.
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 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 floor of the squab house and rear their
family there. Let them choose for themselves.
The nests are built by the birds of straw, grass, hay or pine
needles. The birds fly to -the pile, select what wisps they
want, then fly to the nest boxes and arrange the wisps in
a nest bowl to suit themselves. Tobacco stems are recom-
mended for nesting material, because the odor from them
will have a tendency to drive away lice, but they are not
necessary if the nest bowls are used and ordinary cleanliness
observed. The tanners do not want manure mixed with
tobacco stems which have dropped down from the nests.
The stems, when wet in the vat, stain the hides. When
tobacco stems are used for nesting material, it is impossible
to prevent many of them. from dropping to the floor, where
they are tramped by the birds into the manure. The tanners
do not care if some straw and hay are in the manure. Before
cleaning out the squab house, the loose straw and feathers
should be swept out with a broom.
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 berry
crate prevents the birds from soiling the nesting material.
505 NAME OIN AE Sed NID ATR 5S1O "CAs 3) OOS
They will not build nests with dirty nesting material. It must
be first-class, clean, dry and sweet or they will not use it.
Some of our customers use pine needles successfully for
nesting material. We have never tried them because they
are not plentiful around our farm. Where they are in abun-
dance, we recommend that they be tried.
When a new lot of pigeons are placed in a squab house,
they will cause annoyance, while they are learning their new
home and getting ready to go to work, by making manure in
the nest bowls, where they roost. This cannot be prevented.
The remedy is, to clean once a week.
Fill this berry crate with nesting materia! and place it in center of squabhouse. For
nesting material use twigs, dried grass, tobacco stems, pine needles, straw, hay, stems of
leaves, small dried stalks or anything else of this nature. Give the birds a good variety
of nesting material. Some birds will use one kind, some another. Renew the nesting
material once a week. It should be cut into lengths of from four to sixinches. Keep it
not only in the above crate inside the squabhouse but also make a small pile outdoors in
the flypen, protected from rain.
CHARGER Vi
WATER AND FEED.
Necessity of Pure Water and Plenty of it—The Kind of
Drinking Dish to Use and the Kind Not to Use—Manage-
ment of the Drinking Fountain and Bath Pan—The Feed
Trough and Self-Feeder— Feeding Habits—What Grains
to Use—How to Mix Red Wheat and Cracked Corn— Use
of Grit, Oyster Shell and Salt—How to Feed the Dainties
—Keep Feed before Your Flock All the Time.
Pure water and plenty of it is good for pigeons. When the
weather is not too cold, it is the custom of pigeons to get
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 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.
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 manure 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
we have found is the self-feeding fountain, such as we illus-
trate on page 46. This fountain is made either of crockery
or galvanized steel, or iron. Gaivanized tion or steel is better
than crockery, because if water freezes in such a dish the
dish will not be cracked. It will be seen by examination
of the self-drinker that it is impossible for the pigeons to foul
51
52. NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAB BOOK
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 not all run out at
once by the bottom hole. Itisa simple principle in hydraulics
which you may demonstrate to your own satisfaction by fill ng
an ordinary tumbler with water and 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 ovei
the rim of the tumbler again. In fact, some self-drinkers
for poultry are made 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 fountain makes it hard for more than one
pigeon to perch at the same time on its top, but one pigeon
usually is found there. He gets 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 into the water
unless he is an extraordinary gymnast capable of holding his
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 you fill the bath pan in the morning, you
will have done your duty by the pigeons for the day.
Cleanse these fountains at least once every two weeks
with sca’ding hot water containing squab-fe-nol (pigeon
disinfectant; see our price-list for description).
The best place for the bath pan is out in the yard of the
flying pen. A pan fifteen inches in diameter is right for a
flock up to twelve pairs of birds. The pan should be from
four to six inches deep, not over six inches, for a pigeon will
WATER AND FEED 53
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, and 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 know
enough not to drink, unless they are very sorely pressed
indeed for water. The water gets quite dirty from the bath-
ing. 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 dainty. They flap their wings in the
water and enjoy it thoroughly. A pigeon will never run
away from water, as you will discover if when you are water-
ing your lawn you turn the hose on them.
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 shallow 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 caused by the splashing of the wings may be con-
ducted to a sewer and* drained away. You may conduct
water in pipes and have a faucet opening 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.
34 NANO N AL SIAENIDATKeD SOAs 3 OO1E
In northern latitudes it is not necessary nor desirable for
the pigeons to bathe on cold winter days. Wait until a warm
and sunny day comes. It will do the birds no harm to go
for weeks in the winter without bathing. Many of our
customers write us that they allow their birds to bathe in the
winter seldom or not at all.
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 troughs (or on a flat
board with a rim around it) in the squab house. If you
observe them when eating, you will notice that they stand up
to the feed 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 and that is, to scatter the grains. They will push in
their bills and toss them around in a search after tidbits, and
scatter 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 for 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 ingenuity you can cover
an ordinary v-shaped trough so that it will be hard for the
pigeons to waste the grain. You may have a self-feeder made
as big or as small as you choose and in which the grain will
drop down as it is eaten.
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 recom-
mended, 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 thousands 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
WATER AND FEED 55
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 dependent 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 cracked corn, red
wheat, hemp-seed, Canada peas, kaffir corn, — the foregoing
as a rule, and sometimes, when cheap, buckwheat, millet and
barley.
It was formerly thought that whole corn was not a good
food for pigeons, on the theory that the old pigeons would eat
the large kernels and then, perhaps, feed them to squabs,
choking them. In practice, not one case in one hundred like
that will be found. Whole corn is much relished by pigeons.
They will eat it before they will eat anything else, except
hempseed, and there is no danger in using it. In many
sections of the country, we find, good cracked corn is not so
easy to procure as good whole corn. The grain dealers take
their poor whole corn, sometimes, and work it over into
cracked corn. Gvod whole corn speaks for itself and when
you buy it there is no doubt about it.
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 puzzled by hemp-seed, they have never
seen any. That is surprising to us here in New England, but
no doubt we would be just as surprised if we were in our
customers’ places.
Let us see if we cannot level up the whole country on this
question of feed for pigeons. As a rule, we say, feed the
grains which arenearest 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, feed corn. The point to remember is to feed a
variety of grains. Keep this word variety in your mind ail
the time in dealing with your pigeons. Their appetites do
not grow keen on a monotonous diet, they will not lay the
eggs they should, 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 nearest grain dealer or country general store. The
56 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
‘dealer in nine cases out of ten knows nothing about pigeons
and their feed and if you give him the name ot a strange grain,
he wili be Hable 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, nearly every fall there is no kaffir corn
at a reasonable price obtainable in Boston, so we do not feed
it to our pigeons then, but cut it out altogether in favor of
the grains selling at a lower price. Most of the kaffir 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.
A liberal supply of Canada peas and hemp-seed is necessary
for a good egg production.
Do not feed a great excess of corn, in the summer
time. (By corn, we mean common Indian corn, not kaffir
corn. Kaffir corn is harmless, 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.
Red wheat is better than white wheat to feed to pigeons
because it is not so likely to cause diarrhcea. (See supple-
ment of this book.)
Beware of feeding too much wheat. Pigeons fed on an
excess of wheat are constantly out of condition with continual
diarrhoea and will lay no eggs while in that state. We recall ©
vividly cases of pigeons doing poorly caused by the owner’s
stupidity in feeding too much wheat. One customer in
Kansas fed nothing but wheat and got his birds so weak that
they could not fly off the ground. Another in California with
a flock of over one hundred pairs had not been able in six
months’ time to get more than one quarter of his birds at work.
He complained bitterly that his birds were ‘“ not mated,”
were all cocks, and so on, but after further correspondence
WATER AND FEED a7
disclosed that he was feeding nothing but wheat, with the
exception of a handful of peas in the middle of the week and
a handful of hemp-seed on Sunday !
A properly balanced ration is necessary to egg production
in the case of pigeons, same as poultry.
Wheat is a good regulator for pigeons but corn is the great
fattener and the main staple.
When anybody fails with pigeons, if you pick up and handle
the birds you will find in nine cases out of ten that they have
sharp breastbones, which means that they are improperly
nourished, out of condition, and of course cannot produce
eggs because they have not the blood and fat to do it.
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 derange 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 all, 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 experiment with these sprouts. Keep
the floor of your squab house clean and the yard of the flying
pen raked up and you need not worry about this matter.
Ground oyster shell should be placed 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 The
muscles of the crop work the grit on the grains and reduce
the grains so that they mix with the digestive fluids. Cart
two or three bushels of gravel or sharp sand into your flying
pen and cover the ground with it. It is not necessary to
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WATER AND FEED 09
cover the whole space of the ground of the flying pen. For
fuller discussion of shells and grit, see supplement.
It is poor policy to mix anything but wheat and
corn together. If you make a mixture of peas and hemp-
seed with cracked corn and wheat, you will find that the
pigeons will dig down after the peas and hemp-seed and toss
the other grain around and waste it. The only mixture,
therefore, which we feed is a mixture of wheat and corn.
Fill the self-feeder with whole corn and wheat, in the propor-
tion of three parts of the corn to one of wheat.
We call the wheat and corn staples, because with
us in New England they form the major part of the diet, and
are the cheapest. The hemp-seed, buckwheat, Canada peas,
kaffir corn, millet and barley we call dainties. We do not
feed much millet, because we have the other grains, 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 the cheapest for you. The more expensive grains
will be classed 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 and your
pigeons will not have sour crops.
Do not lay in a big stock of cracked corn ai 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.
60" NATIONAL STANDARD SO UAB BOOT
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 success of our customers »
in squab raising, is based largely on the fact that we insist on
a continuous supply of food for the pigeons, when they are
breeding. Use the self-feeder only with birds that are pro-
ducing squabs. A new flock should be fed by hand twice
daily what they will eat up clean in ten minutes. Keep them
eager, active and racy. Do not let them get too fat, for if
you do they will not start laying. Some beginners will use
up weeks trying to get their birds started, others get all their
pairs going in a few days. It is a matter of skillful feeding,
exactly as in the case of hens. The best of mated pairs will
not produce eggs unless nourished, because the act of copula-
tion, as in the case of hens and roosters, has nothing to do
with the volume of egg’ production, but only with the fertility
of eggs.
Food should be at hand in the self-feeder for birds which
are breeding. They do not gorge, as a horse will if an un-
limited supply of food is set before him. They are not
gluttons, like pigs. 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 all 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.
Squab breeders differ concerning self-feeders, same as
mothers differ about ways of bringing up babies. Each squab
breeder thinks his method of feeding is the best. We speak
not wholly from our own experience, but the experiences of
thousands of customers extending over many years. There
was formerly the same prejudice against self-feeders for
poultry, until a man in Ohio, raising poultry with striking
success by the aid of self-feeders, made his brethren sit up and
take notice. In our stories of success printed at the back of .
WATER AND FEED 61
this book and elsewhere, are many cases of small flocks
increased enormously, and the writers take pains to state
that they are using the self-feeder. That is talk that means
something. The loudest advocate of no self-feeder is the
man who is trying hard to sell his Homers by some kind of a
story different from what we tell. It does not matter to him
what he says, so long as he combats us. It is the game of such
chaps to contradict all others and pose as the only real,
simon-pure know-it-alls on pigeons.
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. We have had
pairs of squabs which actually at four weeks of age were
bigger than their parents. This is not surprising 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. The old birds are flying around and do not have
much fat on them; they are trim and muscular, 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.
Provide salt for your pigeons to keep them strong and
healthy. The safest kind of salu for you to use 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.
Put two more lumps out in the flying pen. When rain comes
the water will wash some salt off the lumps into the gravel.
(Empty the bath pans upon the lumps of salt.) The pigeons
will eat this salt-impregnated gravel all around the lumps for
an inch or so down into the ground.
Do not feed powdered salt, for if you do the birds mav eat
too much of it and it will kill them. Coarse ground salt may
be used, but the rock salt is best.
Some green stuff is much relished by pigeons. It is good
for them and will increase the egg, and, consequently, squab
production. They are very fond of cabbage now and then,
which should be chopred fine before being fed. (We mean
raw, not cooked, cabbage.) When vines grow over the flying
pen, they will be seen pecking at the green leaves. Green
clover may be cut up and fed to them in conjunction with
grain. It should be remembered that green stuff, as enu-
merated in this paragraph, is fed only as a relish.
62° NATIONAL STANDARD SO UAB BiOOre
Table scraps, or what is commonly known as swill, should
not be fed to pigeons.
Rice may be fed, if plentiful and cheap. It has a tendency
to correct diarrhoea caused by too much wheat.
Some of our customers have been influenced by adverse
criticism of our self-feeder to abandon it and feed in open
troughs, but they have gone back to the self-feeder. One of ~
these customers was Mr. Tyson, who started with several
hundred pairs of our birds three years ago and now (1907) has
the largest and best plant in the State of New Hampshire.
His wife and son, with himself, have attained a high degree of
skill and proficiency in the handling of their pigeons. The
squabs they are breeding weigh at least nine pounds to the
dozen. They ship to New York City, where they get very
high prices. Mr. Tyson started by using the self-feeder for
grain, as we advise, but being influenced by something seen in
print, abandoned it and gave the open-trough method of feed-
ing, twice or three times a day, a thorough trial. Immediately
the birds began to fall off in production, and the squabs fell
off in weight, some lots getting so skinny as to lose nearly two
pounds to the dozen. That experience was enough. The
Tysons went back to the self-feeder and now their squabs are
plump, as they were in the first place, the old birds are in
better condition, and breeding better.
Do not put into the self-feeder a great lot of grain, but only
enough to last about two days. A great quantity is liable to
take up moisture in a spell of rainy weather and go stale, and
is not relished by the birds as if it were supplied iresh every
two or three days.
Remember that grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell grit.
You must have both. We sell tons of our Plymouth Rock
health grit, and it is the best economy to feed it. We have sold
it for twelve years and our customers recommend it unre-
servedly. Weare shipping it constantly all over the United
States. Beware of imitations of the Plymouth Rock health
grit, the ‘just as good” kinds, etc. See page 116 of this book
for directions for feeding our health grit. See page 286 for a
photograph of it.
CHAPTER VI.
LAYING AND HATCHING.
Laying an Egg is under the Control of the Pigeon’s Mind—
Fertile and Infertile Eggs—How the Cock Drives the Hev —
One Day between Eggs— Hatch after Seventeen Days
—How Squabs are Fed by the Paren’ Birds—Mating
Males and Females— Use of the Mating Coop—Determina-
tion of Sex—Color of Feathers Has No Effect on Color of
Flesh— Pigeons Left to Themselves Will Not Inbreed—No
Inbreeding Necessary even 17 you Start wih 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 breeding pigeons you always will see one
or two cocks “ driving ’”’ 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 hatches a day before
the second, sometimes, but usually the parents do not sit
close on the first egg, but stand over it, and do not incubate
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 exchange with a squab from
another nest that is nearer the size of the remaining 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 is in condition to, and 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, principally by the fact
that she allows one day to come in between the first and
63
THE QUICK GROWTH OF SQUABS FROM EGGS TO KILLING AGE
IN FOUR WEEKS IS ILLUSTRATED ON THIS PAGE,
PAGE 66 AND PAGE 68.
EGGS IN THE NEST.
SQUABS JUST HATCHED.
64
LAME NGRAN LD. HAG EENG 65
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 forty-eight hours for the egg, complete
in its wonderful construction, to form. Hen pigeons in a ship-
ping crate or close coop do not lay eggs, because 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 received 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. You can tell by holding the egg up to the light
fter it is five or six days old. If no embryo shows, the
egg may be destroyed. In starting a flock, always purchase
the adult, mature breeders. We formerly repeated the state-
ment from hearsay that the male pigeon may lose vitality
when from six to ten years old, but this is not so, as we
know now from experience that customers to whom we sold
six to eight years ago are breeding at the same rate the same
pigeons with which they started, and they were from one to
two years old when sold.
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’
milk 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 ten days old, the squabs are eating
hard grain from the crops of the mature cock and hen. They
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 im-
portant it is to have food available at all times.
In fourteen, fifteen or sixteen 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
SQUABS ONE WEEK OLD.
SQUABS TWO WEEKS OLD.
66
LEA VOnINIG WAGN ED) Ft AUh CG EUENIG 67
weeks old, it is taken out of the nest and killed and both the
mature birds are concerned then only with the new hatch.
This sequence of eggs and hatches goes on all the time.
If there are not two nests, the two new eggs will be laid in
the nest where are the growing squabs. 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 squabs are taken out for market at the end of four
weeks, the nest bowl and nest box should be cleaned. If
this cleaning is done once a week, no trouble from parasites
will result. In the summer it is well to add a little carbolic
acid to the whitewash as an extra precaution. Sprinkle
unslaked lime on the floor of the squab house and in the nest
boxes, and spray squab-fe-nol freely.
One way of mating or pairing 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 pairin a mating coop or hutch. In the course of a few
days they will mate or pair 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 flock.
In the case of a new flock of pigeons shipped to a new
home, all do not go to work at the same time. Those pairs
which get to work first are bothered by the slower pairs. To
judge from the advertisements of some breeders, anxious to
claim everything for their birds and their wonderful matings,
the beginner would think that all the birds he buys from them
will go to work immediately when released in their new home.
This is far from the truth. The pairs will go to work to suit
themselves as to time. Some will be quick, others slow. As
fast as each pair goes to work, it should be caught and placed
in the breeding pen. The first pen, into which the birds
SQUABS THREE WEEKS OLD.
SQUABS FOUR WEEKS OLD.
Ready to be killed for Market.
68
ILA AONE AINE) Tele INC Ie ING 69
were put on arrival, then can be used for the rearing pen for
youngsters raised in the breeding pen.
In case a pigeon loses its mate by death or accident, the sex
of the dead one must be ascertained. 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 pair, or mate. If they show no disposition to
pair but on the contrary fight, replace the partition and try
them for two or three days longer. If they refuse to pair
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 concerned 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 wisit 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 white-
skinned squab. The feed affects the color of the meat a ttle.
A corn-fed pigeon will be yellower 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
2 RS
3
4
iE
is
k
;
oe
5
THE MATING COOP.
One way of mating squab breeders is to turn cocks and hens in equal numbers
into the same pen. The muting coon 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 othe: fhen raise the partition,
or take it out, and allow them to approach each othc_ 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 house-
keeping. 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.
LAYING AND HATCHING 71
either by killing the parents or by remating. Usually the
trouble comes from one parent bird, which you find by turning
up the feathers and examining the skin. Having found the
bird which is at fault, kill it. This point has come up con-
tinually in our correspondence. The erroneous belief 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 are smaller and have less stamina than
the colored ones. The marketmen will take two cr 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 shipping 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 squabs in preference tothe plump dark-skinned
ones. As a rule, squabs from Homer pigeons are white-
skinned—the dark-colored squab is an exception.
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 attention to the mating or pairing 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 pair by natural selection. The stronger
bird gets the object of its affection, the weaker one is killed
oft or gets a weaker mate, whose young are shorter-lived, so
thc inevitable result is more strength and larger size. Nature
works slowly, if surely. A lot of pigeons in one pen mating or
pairing 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
72> NATIONALE STANDARD SOUAB BOOKS
along the path which makes most money for the breeder.’
We all know how Darwin studied natural and forced selection
of 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
grandchildren had even larger breasts. Darwin’s experi-
ments covered a period of over twenty years and in this time he
developed li tle 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 peculiar-
ity 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
breeders and mating so as to get something larger and plumper,
you are all the time getting bigger squabs. Every breeder
of squabs has it in his power to increase the efficiency of his
flock by studying his matings. There is commerical satis-
faction in breeding for size and plumpness because it pays
at once, and at the same time the breeder has the satisfaction
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 one of the rearing pens. When about
six months old, the breeder should begin mating 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 on 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 yourself. They <72
now able to feed themselves. 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
CANIN GH AUN D ATC Alen G 73
to put the young birds by themselves into a rearing pen,
where they cannot bother anybody.
Of course there is likely to be a little inbreeding when you
‘eave 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. Remember in mating that
"xe begets like. The parent bird that feeds its young the
most, and most often, will raise the biggest squab. Some-
times a parent bird will have fine nursing abilities and will
stuff its offspring with food. These good-feeding qualities
are transmitted from one generation 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-attentive
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 and 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 related, then you will not begin
inbreeding. That+is why we make a 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?’ When (1) a
brother is mated to sister or (2) a father to a daughter, or (8)
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 chil-
dren. Now suppose you buy two dozen pairs of pigeons of
us, and number them pairs one to twenty-four. If you mate
the offspring of pair two (or any other pair)to the offspring of
pair one (or any other pair) that is outbreeding or cross-
(4. “NAITONAL, STMMDARD SO UAB EE OO Te
breeding. What you do not do, and what you try to prevent,
is the mating of the offspring of pair number one (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
purposely in order to get better color of fur or plumage, or
finer bones, etc. 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. We never heard a real pigeon breeder worry
much about inbreeding, because the likelihood of it in a flock
of even a dozen pairs is extremely remote, as we have demon-
strated above.
PIGEONS IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE, VENICE.
Get acquainted with the pigeons which you buy of us, and let them get ac-
quainted with you. They will work all the better for being tame and docile. These
igeons in Venice are fed by tourists on corn only. A peddler selling whole corn
for two cents a package sits all day long on the steps at the base of the monument.
Several photographers in the square make a specialty of taking pictures of tourists
feeding the pigeons; snap shots by amateurs are constantly being made. In this
city of canals, these pigeons get no grit, in fact nothing but the corn, and they would
die if obliged to pick up a living for themselves. They are healthy, proving the
incorrectness of the assertion that a feed of nothing but corn will cause canker.
They are small, however, of stunted growth. They are so tame that they will perch
on your hand and eat grains of corn held in your lips.
Gye ia ke Vir:
INCREASE OF FLOCK.
It ts Possible to Breed One Pair of Squabs Each Month, but
in Actual Practice this 1s Seldom Attained—The Squab
Raiser with Pure Thoroughbred Homers should Count on
Six to 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 breed
twelve pairs of squabs a year, for it takes only seventeen
days for the eggs to hatch, and the hen goes to laying again
when the hatch is only two weeks old. So, if you start with
twelve pairs of Homer pigeons, and they should breed one
pair of squabs a month, at the end of the first month you
would have twenty-four squabs; at the end of the second
month, forty-eight squabs; at the end of the third month,
seventy-two squabs; at the end of the fourth month, ninety-
six squabs; at the end of the fifth month, one hundred and
twenty squaps. 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 one hundred and sixty-
eight squabs; at the end of the seventh month, two hundred
and forty squabs; at the end of the eighth month, three
hundred and thirty-six squabs; at the end of the ninth
month, four hundred and fifty-six squabs; at the end of the
tenth month, six hundred squabs; at the end of’the eleventh
month, seven hundred and sixty-eight squabs, and at the end
of the twelfth month, nine hundred and sixty squabs. Such
figures are purely theoretical and are seldom attained in actual
practice. You will have some pairs in your flock which
will raise ten and eleven pairs of squabs a year, but the
average will be seven to nine pairs of squabs a year. If you
get less, your flock is not pure thoroughbred Homers, or your
feeding and nesting arrangements are wrong. In our visit
to squab breeders in 1902, we asked every one with whom
75
io, NARIONAE Soe ehOyiReDs SOWA EiOOIG
we talked how many pairs a year he was getting from his
birds, and about all of them said seven to nine. This expe-
rience 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 careful record, raised him nine
pairs to the year right along.
It is a well-known fact that the common pigeon will breed
only four 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 one dollar 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 earning a net
profit of from two to three dollars 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 lappy-go-lucky breeders.
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 ant 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 a white flesh ring around
the eye, but the common pigeon has none. 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 like 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 protected, with just the right amount
of fullness. Its chest is large, indicating 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
one of a race-horse listening for the signal to speed over the
ENCREASEY OF HEOCTS 17
course. The lines from the neck to the body descend in a
long, graceful sweep. Put a thoroughbred 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 is shorter and more rounding on top.
The common pigeon is seldom bred in captivity, because it
does not pay for 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 shooters. Under-
takers sometimes buy the white common pigeons in order to
liberate them at graves, to signify the ascent of the soul to
heaven. Common 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 sell for fifty cents a pair and are
frequently offered as Homers. Do not 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 improve 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 declaring that the pigeon business is no
good. Remember this point, that if you are going to buy
grain and feed it to anything so as to get a profit, it is the
best policy to feed it to that grade of animal which will show
the largest profit. Very few people are satisfied with shoddy
suits nowadays, even if they look almost as well as the all-
wool garments. It is the wear which the customer is after.
78 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAB BOOK
Beware of shoddy pigeons. Buy the best Homers you can
get, they will wear best and give you the most pride. Ex-
perienced poultrymen do not go here and there looking for
fowls at cut prices. They buy breeding stock of a reliable
breeder which is reliable and sold at a price which will enable
the seller to deliver a high quality article. We can tell when
an order for our breeding 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 flock 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 upon you. We
are always selling breeders and it is very much to our interest
to protect our reputation by sending out only good Homers
that will make money for their owners. 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
month which will sell for at least fifty cents is worth more than
one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five cents 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
fifty cents a pair. Jersey cows are worth more than common
cows because they earn more. Good Homer pigeons, bred
skilfully, are worth more than poor Homers because they
earn more.
(Clabae iia Waegl
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 Natls —The Ideal Squab when
Shipped has an Empty Crop, tts 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
tweaking 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 animal 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 studding 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,
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 plucked them.
When plucking the feathers from the killed squabs, the
79
INCORRECT POSITION OF HANDS.
CORRECT POSITION OF HANDS.
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 bottcm'
pies and break the spine of the bird by pulling firmly and then pushing back.
0 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.
80
TREEENGSAND COOLING 81
operator should moisten his thumb and forefinger in a basin
of water, to give him a grip on the feathers. They come off
easily and an experienced picker will work very rapidly. A
sharp pen-knife, or knife such as shoemakers use, is necessary
to remove some of the pin feathers. They should be shaved
off.
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 will start from such discolored places.
Hang the bodies from the studding, as we have described, and
you wll! cool 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 fice
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 clean. Ship in 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 squab 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 coor and takes on a darker
shade. Youdo 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 lean 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.
KILLED SQUABS HUNG TO COOL.
After the squabs have been killed they should be hung as this picture shows ta
cool. ‘lhe wooden scantling or studding is several feet long and is suspended from
the ceiling at its ends by wire, so that cats and rats cannot climb to the squabs. A
pair of nails are driven in four inches apart and the squabs’ legs set in between them
82
(CIEAIETNDIRE IDS
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
—Inter pretation of Quotations of Squabs as Seen in the News-
papers—WIute-Fleshed Squabs are Wanted, Not Dark-
Fleshed.
The Boston market, and the markets 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 dealers in this
way.
The New York market demands 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 clean, 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.
83
84 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
Squabs delivered by our customers there invariably bring
from one to one dollar and fifty per dozen more than 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 four
dollars 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.
Not all the New York newspapers print market quotation
of squabs. The New York Evening Sun is an exception.
All through the winter squabs are quoted in the Evening Sun
at five dollars a dozen. This means that a squab breeder
shipping to New York should have got six dollars and seven
dollars for a choice product, from private customers.
A correspondent in New York State sends a clipping from
the New York Tribune’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 $3; ditto, dark “S175
and $2.”
The quotation, *‘ Pigeons, 20 cents,’’ means twenty cents
a pair for common old killed pigeons.. These tough old birds
are occasionally found in the markets and are worth only
ten or fifteen 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 fifteen or twenty 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 fifty cents a dozen. They are retailed at from one dollar
to one dollar and twenty cents a dozen. They are in the
Chicago market masquerading as squabs. They have been
killed with guns and have shot in their bodies. If you ask
for pigeon pie at one of the cheap Boston restaurants, you
will get a shot or two against your teeth with mouthfuls.
After every trap-shooting contest some skulker goes over the
2?
Ue Fp VILA LG ELIS 85
field and gathers up all the killed and mained birds he can
find, and sells 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 ‘‘sports-
men ’”’ 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 care-
fully 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 be
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 all colors, 2. e., as you see their feathers, and
the squabs 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 newspapers 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. The
object of the commission men is to get the squabs as cheaply as
they can. When you are breeding squabs make up your mind
to get from twenty-five cents to one dollar or more per dozen
than you see quoted in the market reports. The only way to
find out the truth about the squab markets is to go into them
and offer to buy squabs, not to sellthem. Then you will learn
the true prices.
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‘SdVNO0s GCaSsHud AAUHL
PAE MAR KE TES 87
At the same time the report quoted above was printed in
the New York Tribune a breeder in Mauricetown, N. J., was
getting from four dollars and twenty-five cents to four dollars
and fifty cents 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 newspapers. The motive
of the city men is to get their goods as cheaply asthey 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 learn 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 his town, all of whom give their regular
time to other businesses. He continues: “‘I am now (Feb-
ruary, 1902), getting thirty-two 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 Tuesday for them. When
I have enough, I ship direct to New York by express. They
sort them in New York.”
This is doing extremely well for unsorted squabs. It is
only another bit of evidence which proves the money-making
condition of the New York market. (The above correspon-
dent’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 two dollars to two dollars and
fifty cents per dozen. He quoted common pigeon squabs at
one dollar and twenty-five cents to one dollar and seventy-five
per dozen, as I wrote you before. That is better, and I want
to try raising them as soon as I can get into a place where I
can handle them.”
Fact is, the squabs that bring from three to five dollars a
dozen east of the Mississippi will bring that (and more) as soon
as the wealthy trade of Kansas City gets a taste of them.
88 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAS BOOK
Find out for yourself whether your market wants squabs
with the feathers on or off. We do not know such details
about the squab market in every city in the country and can-
not advise you accurately on this point if you write to us
from a distant town or city.
The best way to find out the facts concerning the squab
market is to go from place to place, or to write, offering not to
sell squabs but to buy them. The squab sellers are much
more interested in a possible buyer than a possible seller.
They receive letters from many inquirers about markets but
as a rule pay scant attention to them unless the writer is
really producing squabs and has them for sale.
SQUAB HOUSE BUILT OF LOGS
GCHAPTER: 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 tt 1s 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 1s Not Epidemic —It does Not Pay to Dose a
Sick Pigeon, Better Turn 1t 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 or 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 of 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 patch or
patches in the mouth, and the mouth will usually be filled
with a 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 same symptoms from one pigeon to
another. A case of canker in your flock should be a warning
to you that the feed or water is wrong, or that you
have a filthy house. Do not get alarmed and kill the bird.
Catch the affected pigeon, 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 quickly that pigeon’s
health will improve. Not having a steady supply of food
before it, it will have to hustle for a living, and this exercise
and the change of living, and the scanty living, will effect the
ge
PAIR OF HOMERS BILLING.
This illustration is made from a photograph of a pair of our pigeons caught in
the act of billing, or kissing. The pigeon on the left is the male and on the right
the female. Billing is one of the acts of love making. Mounting and treading
generally follow immediately after billing.
80
PIGEONS: AILMENTS 91
cure. It will get more fresh air, and a great deal more exercise,
and more sun, than it would get if lett 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 now and then with a
little 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 exer-
cise, 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 w:ld
pigeons in the streets and we never saw a case of canker among
then. 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
seventy-five cents to a dollar, but it is better to do this than
to take the advice of all other breeders and books and kill it.
If you do not wish to throw a sick pigeon out into the air
to get well, construct a box with wire netting over the front,
and put the pigeon in there for special feeding and watering
until it gets well.
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 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 then. We wish to assure all who
92 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAB BOOK
contemplate starting in the squab breeding business that the
pigeon naturally is a healthier and more rugged bird than the
domestic hen and that positively you will not be fussing with
remedies and cure-alls, 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 breastbone, and scanty flesh, show-
ing that some element in the feed is lacking.
Another cause of “ going light ”’ is the failure to feed enough
grain, or enough Canada peas. Do not stint the peas for they
are full of protein, which makes flesh and blood. Pigeons with
no protein in their ration cannot produce eggs and squabs.
A third cause of “ going light ’”’ is the fast driving of the fe-
males by the males. A bird found thin and poor in the breeding
pen is almost always a female which is being worked hard at
domestic duties. Take her out of the breeding pen away from
her mate and keep her alone or with other females in a small
pen. Give her the usual variety of nourishing grain and let
her rest and build up for a fortnight, or a month if necessary,
until she is plump again, then put her back into the breeding
pen with her mate.
“ Going light’ is not a germ trouble and is not contagious,
but the same cause which produced one case will produce others.
CHAPTER: XI.
GETTING AHEAD.
Make your Birds Pay for themselves as they Go Along,
unless you Wish to Wait Patiently until a Small Flock
Increases io a Large One — Better to Take the Money Made
jrom Sale of Squabs and Buy More Adult Birds than to
Raise the Squabs, Because it is a Long Jump from Four
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 it you have fifty dollars to start, put thirty-five
dollars or forty dollars into your birds and the balance into
your building. We have had customers start with a hundred-
dollar building and put a ten-dollar lot of birds into it, con-
tinuing to buy ten-dollar 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.
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 have 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
squabs and it is just as easy for them to spend fifty dollars or
one hundred dollars at the start as it is for them to spend ten
dollars or fifteen dollars and use up one hundred dollars’ worth
of time while waiting a year 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
93
94 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
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 1s, nevertheless 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 had it said to us that they are misleading or erroneous;
on the contrary, our customers write and tell us that their
experience corresponds with ours, that the books are all right,
and our business has increased right along. When a customer
orders two hundred dollars’ worth of breeding stock of us and
two months later two hundred dollars’ 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; second, that
all we have advised about the industry is of general and con-
vincing application; and third, that it does not take extraor-
dinary skill to make a success with squabs.
There are failures with squabs, even by college professors,
because some beginners are unsuited to the business. Many
are lured into it by get-rich-quick stories. It would amaze
you to read the letters that some beginners write. You never
can tell a man’s pigeon and poultry ability by his orthography
and grammar. Letters in crude spelling and crooked writing
frequently come from the most successful squab raisers. The
knack of caring for animals successfully cannot be acquired
by some. Given two women, with cooking materials and the
same cook books, one cooks splendidly, and the other mis-
erably. Why? Well, it is the same with pigeons. Some
can and some can’t. However, the failures at squab or
poultry raising seldom blame themselves.
There are many of the naturally careless, improvident
persons who have turned to squabs to help them out of finan-
cial holes, and they have made a failure of squab raising.
Many of us remember the furore over raising chicken broilers:
for market, which started a score of years ago. The fact that
GETTING AHEAD 95
some were making money at it started a burning hen fever in
hundreds of young and old people anxious to make a lot of
money quick. Clerks and society women from New York
moved into the suburbs on small farms and began to try to
make realities of their dreams. Not accustomed to manual
labor, they made a sorry mess of it. Writers of that period
tell of chicken gentlemen and ladies who went about their
daily round of duties with their delicate hands carefully pro-
tected by kid gloves. It did not take long for the end for such
experimenters to arrive. They returned to the great city
sadder, but wiser. The squab industry has suffered also the
past five years from such treatment. Many have played
with it as a child would with a new toy, giving up their
pigeons in a few months at the slightest discouragement.
The past ten years are strewn with the wrecks of imitation
squab advertisers and their guarantees. Every spring, when
demand for breeder: is greatest, some of these come to life
again, or new ones crop up, and they get what harvest they
can, many of them selling what they can pick up in the way
of culls, such as we ourselves sell to Faneuil Hall marketmen
to be killed. These advertisers start advertising in January
and by June they have quit.
The following, from the pen of an old poultry writer,
appeared in a farm periodical of large circulation in January,
1907: ‘“‘So far, every attempt made in this country to estab-
lish a large poultry (chicken) farm has been met by failure.
The extensive and successful plants of today are the outcome
of a small beginning and a gradual growth. True, the main
cause for failure has been the lack of experience; men have
undertaken work for which they were not qualified.”
So it is the rule with squab and poultry failures, especially
women, to blame everybody but themselves. Such persons
learn bitterly that experience is indeed a factor.
The place and flock of the one who fails with squabs tell
their own story. The drinking fountains are seldom washed,
the pen is seldom cleaned and the place has a run-down look
generally, sometimes being positively filthy. The grain is
bought and fed on the catch-as-catch-can principle with no
provision for variety. The cheapest grain is bought, or it is
ignorantly bought, and may be full of weevils, or sour. The
owner of such a place generally matches the place.
96 ~NATIONALYSTANDARD SOUABEOOTS
Some advertisers selling breeding stock try to give the
impression in their advertising that they control the matings
and love affairs of the pigeons they sell, to the uttermost
degree. ‘‘ Wes are the ones who can start you right,” they
say, ‘with our guaranteed mated pairs.”’ Their pigeons, how-
ever, behave just the same as all pigeons. You have just as
much control over the minds of your pigeons as anybody.
We have the finest equipment for mating in America, as it is
the largest, a thousand mating coops being in constant use.
One of the buildings is heated by a hot-water plant so as to
get quick results in mating in the winter. It is natural for
pigeons to breed, same as all animals. Do not believe that
the man who offers to sell you pigeons has it in his power to
control them after they have left his hands. ‘The control of
your pigeons is in your hands absolutely. If you raise an
excess of cocks, or if you have an excess of either sex, for any
reason, you should procure enough of the opposite sex to
match up evenly. You should have some mating coops
(ordinary boxes with wire fronts will do) and in them you
should pair up birds to suit yourself as to color of plumage, or
size, or special characteristics, as you raise them.
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 custcmers 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 thoroughly 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 different from other animals.
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 twelve
pairs of our birds, but he held back his letter so that we got
it with only two hours to fill crates and get birds to him before
his departure. We filled his order as a matter of accommoda-
tion.
GETTING AHEAD 97
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 nest bowls and
supplies before your house is ready.
The live breeders are shipped by us either in specially made
pine crates or wicker coops. “The wicker»coops 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 tin feed and
water dishes. It is impossible to break them open with the
roughest handling. The birds have plenty of room in them
and arrive at their destination in fine condition.
The usual fault of inexperienced shippers is that the box
or crate is too 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 crate
feathers will be rumpled and pulled out, and the birds by
crowding will suffocate one or two. A large, heavy crate
also adds enormously to the express charges. It is not
pleasant to buy pigeons and receive them in a cumbrous
box weighing from twenty-five to seventy-five pounds, on
which the express charges are more than double what they
would be were the birds crated properly.
If the birds are going to a point only a day or a day anda
night distant, they need no feed nor water. For a 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 pigeons are transported by the express
companies at the rate charged for ordinary merchandise under
the classification in force for 1907 on? The rate is found in
every express book (ask your agent to show it to you if there
is any dispute over charges) now as follows: “ Pigeons,
homing, merchandise rate.’ Tell the agent to look in the P’s
for Pigeons and he will find it there.
For carrying most live-stock short distances, the animal
rate (which is double the merchandise rate) is charged. This ©
is a peculiar rule when it was formerly applied to pigeons, and
it worked so that the buyer at a r-mote point got his ship-
ment cheaper than the buyer nearer us. For instance, we
HOW WE SHIP PIGEONS.
Care and skill exercised in shipping live pigeons are large factors in Satishyins
customers. It is not a pleasant experience to send money away for pigeons an
have them reach you in a home-made box, generally of enormous weight, and bearing
enormous express charges.
We originated the above style of shipping and have two thousand shipping
baskets in use. They are expensive but by their use we are able to guarantee safe
arrival. The customer receives his shipment in faultless condition.
The small bag of grain on top of the basket, tied to it, is for the use of the express-
man in feeding the birds en route. The tin water dish is at the end of the basket,
outside, where it ought to be, not inside.
These shipping baskets remain our property and are returned to us empty at our
expense after the customer has released his birds.
GETTING: AHEAD 99
could ship a crate of pigeons to Chicago from Boston cheaper
than we could to Buffalo. All the express companies doing
business in the United States and Canada have the same rule,
which is, that between points where the single or merchandise
rate is two dollars or more per hundred pounds, live animals,
boxed, crated or caged, are charged for transportation at the
single or merchandise rate. Between points where the single
or merchandise rate is less than two dollars per hundred
pounds, live animals are charged the animal rate (which is
double the merchandise rate). Poultry (not pigeons) are
charged the one and one-half rate when the rate per one hun-
dred pounds is less than two dollars.
In order to obtain the lowest rate of transportation, the
value of each pigeon must be stated by the shipper at five
dollars or less.
We have seen breeders who have been shipping live-stock
for years and they never heard 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 expressmen 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. Many
express agents at local points seldom handle a pigeon ship-
ment 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
each pigeon is more than five dollars. If pigeons which we
ship are killed in a smash-up, we can recover from the com-
pany. We have no hesitation, therefore, in guaranteeing the
safe delivery of our pigeons to customers. Our respon-
sibility does not end when we have given them to the express-
man. 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 express companies, but lies
wholly in the ignorance of the breeders who meet to complain.
1005) NATIO NAT ST AUN ATCO: SOWA: pe OOKG
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 one hundred dollars in
excess charges before we learned how to get the low rate.
It is worth dollars to our customers.
No express agent anywhere has a right to make any extra
charges whatever on our pigeon shipments.
There is no duty on our pigeons to Canada, Cuba or Porto
Rico, when we send with the pigeons and also to the customer,
as we do, a certificate of purity of breed, declaring that the
pigeons are for breeding, and not to be killed for market.
Squab 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 the Plymouth Rock 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 Boston who
reach the Boston market with undressed squabs send them in
boxes or wicker hampers or baskets on the morning of the day
after they are killed.
Since January 1, 1913, killed squabs have been mailable by
parcel post in the zone where the shipment originates. One
squab may be sent to a customer inside the zone for only a
nickel. Squabs which are mailed by parcel post should be
wrapped first in white waxed paper and then in stout brown
paper or corrugated pasteboard. The parcel post is helping
those squab breeders who wish to sell one or two or three pairs
or more direct to consumers with a quick delivery. Live pig-
eons cannot be mailed.
Killed squabs go to market by express not at the express rate
charged for ordinary merchandise, but at a specially low rate
known as the ‘“‘ general special’’ rate. For full particulars
how to get this great saving in express charges when shipping
killed squabs, see page 401 of this book, where the whole matter
is explained in thorough detail. Do not assume that your ex-
press agent knows about this low rate. Some of them do but
most do not and it is money in your pocket to tell them.
(CG lel Al le WII DU.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Women and Squab Breeding — Attentions of the Male to the
Female Pigeon — Equal Number of Males and Females
— Birds Flying Wild—Sale of Birds for Flyers —
Variation im Size of Nest Boxes— How Squabs are
Artificially Fattened — Shipping to England — Training
Flyers — A Remarkable Service jor Messages between
Islands.
Question. JI am a woman who knows absolutely nothing
of squab raising. 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 person 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 toa man. We find that our women
customers are just as quick to comprehend pigeons-as soon as
they get started. It is necessary to have confidence, 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 customer, are a woman, ought to
encourage rather than depress you, in the squab business.
Question. 1 have an old poultry house fifteen by twenty
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 one hundred pairs of breeders? Sometimes
they say they propose remodeling a barn loft which is thirty
by twenty feet in size. The dimensions of the building vary
with the customer. You can always accommodate in theory
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
101
102 NATIONAL SAN DARED! SiOvCAB) 5 OOK
as many nest boxes as you wish. Then count your nest
boxes and you will know how many birds you can accommo-
date. You must have two nest boxes for every pair of birds.
Always allow more nest boxes than there are pigeons, and do
not crowd the birds, as we have explained on page 29.
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. He mounts the female
in a manner which is called “ treading.’’ A female occasion-
ally will “ tread ’’’ the male bird, exactly as a female animal
when in excessive heat sometimes will mount the male, or
another fema's. Custcmers who had what they thought was
a doubtful p ur 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 to every rule.
Question. (1) The legs of the pigeon you sent me are
red; are they inflamed? (2) The droppings are soft and
mushy; I am afraid they have diarrhcea. What shall I do?
(8) 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 perfectly natural.
The legs of all Homer pigeons are red. (2) The natural
droppings of the pigeon are soft and somewhat loose. When
they have diarrhoea the droppings are extremely watery and
the tail feathers are soiled. Your pigeons are all right and
have no diarrhcea. (3) The growth of which you speak is
perfectly natural. It varies in 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 my 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 mates and
is reproduced.
Question. Enclosed find ten dollars, for which please send
me settings of pigeon eggs to that value, and send me the
valance due, if any. Answer. We do not sell pigeon eggs.
OOES TNO N Si AND AUN SS WEB IS: 103
It is impossible to use an incubator and raise pigeons success-
fully, 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 pigeons old enough to
mate? Answer. At 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. No. The heat from a flock of pigeons in a well-
built house is considerable. 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 construction 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, and 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 I useice? Is there
any danger that the meat will be discolored when they arrive
at market? Answer. Ice is not necessary 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 necessary.
In hot weather the squabs should not be killed until the night
104 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
before shipping. In the cool months you may keep them
at home longer. If 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 hanging them from
studding 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 in 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? Amswer. Itis
better to use the cellar of the house, or the coolest room in the
house.
Question. I do not like your idea of keeping the birds
wiredin. 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. Re-
member 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 opening the crate let them fly anywhere they choose,
trusting to luck to 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 two feet long, two feet wide and two feet
high.
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
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 105
in acorner. Grasp it 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 let all the birds together in one large flying pen,
where they can bathe from one large 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. 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 7 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 mat-
ing 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 wish to put a strip of wood across the
front of the nest box? Answer. See page 30 and follow the
directions there given. There are differences of opinion with
regard to nest boxes and each has its advocates. If you use
either design shown on page 30, you will be safe, for both are
in successful use. If in doubt, fit up some boxes in one style
and some in the other and see how they work. The pigeon will
fly directly into the nest, or onto the nest box in front of the nest.
196 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
Question. Seems to me that if I start with forty-eight
pairs of birds, 1 ought to have ninety-six perches. Answer.
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.
Question. I live in England; can you ship me twenty-four
pairs of your breeders? Answer. Yes; the transportation
charges will be four dollars. In addition you will have to pay
the butcher or steward of the boat ten shillings for feeding
and watering the birds. Send us six dollars and fifty cents
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, remarkable 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 six dollars to fifteen dollars a pair. The squabs which
Runts breed weigh from eighteen ounces to one and one-half
pounds at four weeks. If Runts bred as fast as Homers, they
would be just 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 profitable 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.
Question. What is the difference between the Homer and
Antwerp breeds of pigeons? Answer. No difference. The
name is used interchangeably to apply to the same breed of
pigeon. In New England we speak of them mostly as
Homers. In some places they are called more often Antwerps.
Question. Can I feed some of my squabs by haiid if nec-
essary? 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
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 107
mixture into the bill. The squab will swallow and fill its
crop. square stock. The box
also is of one-inch
stack, so as to be heavy
The box
and strong.
is deco cnough us pre-
j vent birds from throw-
OPEN TROUGH WITH REVOLVING BAR inecout the erainiaHen
enough for twenty
birds for one meal is in it. There is space between the edge of box and the bar ample
for the birds to feed, but not enough space for them to get into the feeder. The fact
that the bar is pivoted does not prevent the birds from alighting on it but, being pivoted,
the bar turns as soon as they alight on it and off they go. They soon learn to keep off
it. The illustrations and descriptions of both these troughs are taken by permission
from the Naizonal Squab Magazine.
Praneet Yas tS
Ss
108
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 109
tie with thread, or fasten with glue or a stamp; or, you may
tie the tissue around one of the tail feathers. A thin alu-
minum tube containing the message may be fastened to a
leg, or to a tail feather. A trap window should be constructed
to time the arrival home of birds. This 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. The 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 goin. It takes only a day or two for the pigeon to
become accustomed to the trap. If you connect the trap
with a simple make-and-break electric circuit, the pigeon on
its arrival home from its flight will ring a bell 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. What
is perhaps the best pigeon service in the world has been in use
for several years between Newton Roads, Auckland, New
Zealand, and the Great Barrier and Maro Tiro Islands, some
seventy-five miles distant. A boy of sixteen years worked
up the service and makes a large income from it. About
twenty messages an hour are carried back and forth by the
Homers. A year ago the government declared its intention
of laying a cable from Atickland to Great PBrrier. The
project was abandoned, 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 four hundred to five hundred
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 feed their
young. It will improve them for the next hatch.
Question. Please describe the self-feeder more fully and
explain its 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
tO NO UNGATE, STANDARD SQOUAB BOOK
illustration so that as the birds peck up the grain, more falls
from the hopper. The slit where the birds eat should be
about an inch and a half in width, just enough to prevent the
grain from running out faster than itis eaten. If the grain is
pulled out on the floor, tack a strip of wood, like a lath, so as
partly to block the holes.
Question. Should I cover the yard of the flying pen with
your grit? Answer. No. Providea box and keep our grit in
the box. When the pigeons want grit, they will go to the
box and get it.
Question. 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 are artificially fattened squabs? An-
swer. An artificially fattened 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 an
extraordinary size.
Question. I wish you had shipped my breeders in one
large crate, 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 crates
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 package.
Question. Can I use the upper part of my henhouse for
pigeons, and if so will the pigeons interfere in the flying pen
with the hens? Answer. You may use the upper part of
your henhouse and the pigeons will not be 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 henhouse to try to nest.
Question. To save 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 the flocks upstairs.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 11]
Question. What are the bands for pigeons’ 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 band
except by cutting it off On the band, before putting it on
the leg of the squab, you may stamp year of birth and your
initials, or anything you choose. We sell an outfit consisting
of aluminum tubing, dies, etc., 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 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 month,
or sixty cents a year. Answer. Our figures of cost were
ascertained not by “ skimping”’ the birds, but feeding them
liberally, and an estimate of five cents a month for a pair is
based on a low cost of grain, and on selling the manure.
Question. What pattern of trowel do you recommend for
cleaning the nest bowls and nest boxes? Answer. The
common trowel such as bricklayers 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 nest
bowls and nest boxes very effectively.
Question. Can pigeons be raised on the sea-coast as well
as inland? Amswer. 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 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 nest bowl. Would the
112 (NATIONAL SEAN DARD SOUAB EBOOK
birds follow their eggs and accept change of nest from floor te
nest bowl? Answer. No; you must leave the eggs where
they lay them. You can handle a nest and change eggs from
one nest bowl 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; I mean those who do a large business like your-
self. Answer. No; some breeders of many years’ experience
believe that a warm house is detrimental 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 preg¢ision.
Question. How is salt cat made? Answer. Take sixteen
quarts of sand, eight 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 strength-
ening 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 to buy? Amswer. Better enlarge your squab
house. In case of doubt, you will be on the safer side if you
do not crowd the birds.
(See following pages for points which may occur to you and
which are not covered in these questions and answers.)
SUPPLEMENT
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
By ELMER C. RICE
Don’t wait until your squabhouse is built before you order your supplies and
pigeons. Supplies going by freight should be ordered from two weeks to a month
ahead of the time you want to use them. Pigeons go by express much faster,
as fast as passenger trains, but we want your order from a week to three weeks
ahead of the time you want the pigeons shipped. Give us all the time you can
on pigeon shipments. Get your orders in early. Order ahead. Supply orders
going both by freight and express are shipped the same day we get them unless
the customer specifies something different. Remember that freight trains which
carry supplies such as grit, grain and large lots of nest bowls are slower than the
express trains on which the pigeons are shipped.
We are always glad to give advice on pigeon topics without charge but cor-
respondents always should enclose a stamped and addressed envelope for our
reply. Letters should be as brief as possible. If you ask questions which we
are to answer, number them and keep a copy of your letter so that we may
reply by number without repeating your question.
Our Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, is the best-selling work on
breeding or farm-life ever published in any country, and has been carried in
the mails to every part of the civilized world.
Our business is too much a matter of pride with us, too large, and too suc-
cessful, to permit of a single patron being dissatisfied. We have spent over
$200,000 to put our trade on a firm and successful footing and we cannot afford
to run the risk of displeasing a customer. If resources, skill and experience
count for anything, and we think they do, we intend to keep on furnishing the
best pigeons possible, and patrons can rest assured that they are getting for
their money the greatest possible value. Moreover, we have one price to all;
the customer in California can buy of us as cheaply as our next-door neighbors.
Our farm is always open to inspection and customers may make their ‘own selec-
tion of breeding stock, if they desire.
Our general advertising in the high-class magazines and other periodicals
not only induces the breeding of squabs but also leads people to eat squabs.
For every one who sees our advertising and writes for particulars and starts
breeding, there are a score of men and women who inquire of their butchers
_ or marketmen for squabs in order to eat them. Squab dealers in every section
of the United States and Canada are reporting an increased demand with which
the supply cannot begin to keep pace.
We take some pride in the squab industry. We were the pioneers in it
and we put it on a commercial basis. We have fostered it on correct lines
and according to sound business principles, and the growth has not been a
113
114 NATIONAL, STANDARD: SQUAB BOOK
““boom,’’ as some other things in the past have been boomed, but has been
steady and sure and successful. We paint no extravagant picture as to the
profits of squab raising, and we show proofs every step of the way—stories
of success of our customers who started green and are making money.
That there are occasional failures is to be expected. We give no recipe
and sell no machinery for transforming an incompetent person who fails at
many tasks into a success. But the history of this industry and of our
business demonstrates with a power that cannot be denied that squab
raising is right.
No business climbs up the hill of profit steadily for any length of time
unless it is absolutely fair, advertised by true statements, and giving a true
money’s worth. When we began to tell the country about squabs, people
would come to our office and say, ‘‘Well, it reads pretty good, but is it true?”
We did not have much evidence ready then, but we have now. Our answer
is the present condition of the squab industry, forging ahead with giant
strides to its place alongside of eggs and poultry, millions of dollars in value,
and the unsolicited letters from our customers which we print, showing the
most remarkable and convincing progress of this breeding.
We have already printed a great many of these letters in years past, and
we print more in this Supplement. We have room here to show only a
small part of such testimony. For every letter printed here we have scores
just as convincing. These communications have come to us unsolicited,
day by day, as the business brought them, and more are coming every day,
and they are our answer to doubters. They are the proof that what we say
avout the business and what we teach in the Manual, is true, and is being
worked out successfully. We do not print the names and addresses of the
writers of these letters because many of them are regular buyers of our
birds, and moreover, we cannot advertise other breeders free of charge.
These letters and the testimony they give are valueless if they are not
genuine. Each and every one is genuine, and moreover, we guarantee
their genuineness, and will produce the originals at any time to satisfy
anybody. In these days when many ‘“‘testimonials’’ are unblushingly
“worked up” without a shadow of foundation, there are skeptics, and to
such who cannot come to Boston and see us, we recommend that they send
one of the commercial agency men to make the inquiry and handle the
evidence. We have never yet had the genuineness of our letters from
customers questioned, for they “‘ring true’’ and are in the simple language
of facts Which cannot be counterfeited, but we are ready at any time for
any doubter.
What others have done and are doing with our birds, you can do.
KILLING MACHINE. To kill squabs with clearly. The neck of the squab is placed
extreme rapidity we have made a machine
with which the operator can work with much
ease and satisfaction. The method of tweak-
ing the necks which we describe and illustrate
in the Manual is slow when compared with
the work of this machine, and is repugnant
to many, especially women.
The illustration shows the construction
between the movable arm (or lever) and the
lower arm, and the lever is brought down
upon the neck, breaking the bones, crushing
the spinal cord and killing the squab instantly.
The operation produces no blood, nor does
it break the flesh. The two edges of the
upper and lower arms, where they come to-
gether against the neck of the squab, should
SNE enV EA NT
not be sharp so as to cut the flesh, but should
be rounding, and slightly flat at the points
of contact.
The base-board is made of three-quarters
or one-inch lumber, twenty inches xs and
seven inches wide. The upper arm (or lever)
is of half-inch stock, one and three-quarters
inches wide and fifteen inches long.
lower arm is of half-inch stock one and three-
quarters inches wide and eight and one-half
The
inches jong. The two upright pieces in
front, nearest the hand of the operator, are
each of seven-eighths or inch stock, one and
three-quarters inches wide and three and
three-quarters inches high. The two upright
pieces in back, furthest from the hand of
the operator, are each of seven-eighths or
inch stock, two and one-half inches wide
and three and three-quarters inches high.
The pin at the back of the machine on
which the lever turns is of one-quarter inch
brass or iron rod two and one-quarter inches
iong.
The upper arm (or lever) is bevelled or
cut off at an angle on lower corner (behind
the uprights, and consequently invisible
In the picture) so that the lever can be raised
to an angle of forty-five degrees, thus per-
mitting the neck of the squab to be inserted
between the arms at a point just back of
the farther uprights. When the upper lever
is at rest upon the lower arm, there should
be no space between the two; they should
butt flush together.
The whole machine is built of wood with
the exception of the metal pivot and the
screws which hold the parts together. It
is not necessary to mortise the uprights
into the base-board. The screws which
fasten the uprights are started underneath
from the back side of the base-board and
go through the base-board. Nails may be
used instead of screws to hold the parts
together, but the job will not be so strong.
The base-board should be nailed or screwed
to a bench or table so as to give firmness
and solidity in operation. Carry the squabs
in a basket to the machine and kill them
there; do not take the machine into the pens
and kill the squabs in sight of the other
birds.
We do not sell this squab killer. It should
be built by you or your carpenter.
Customers with large plants have told us
that this tool is a handy article, and we
115
have found it indispensable. The squabs
can be killed as fast as you can work the
lever. The pressure is considerable and
the cords are crushed at once. The squab
is not strangled but is paralyzed, and made
lifeless at once. ;
For those who do not care to build a wood
squab-killing machine as described above,
we sell pincers, to accomplish the same
urpose in the same way; see our catalogue.
hese pincers should be oiled at the joint,
and the joint worked so that they will open
and close freely. When first purchased
the joint is tight, and works hard.
For dealers who wish squabs bled, use the
knife which we describe in our catalogue.
WEANING THE YOUNG BIRDS. If you
are starting with a small flock with the
expectation of raising your own breeders,
do not take the young birds away from
their parents out of the breeding pen until
they are weaned. They are not thoroughly
weaned until they are six or seven weeks old.
It is true that many of them hop or fly or
are pushed out of the nests when they are
from four to five weeks old, but they con-
tinue to cry for food when they are
hungry, and the old cock bird of the pair
which hatched them will be seen feeding
them on the floor. The youngsters at this
time are feeding themselves, but to keep
them strong and rugged they need the crumbs
of parental food which they get as described,
and for which they cry, or squeak. These
crumbs have been moistened by the parent
bird and consequently digest quicker and
better.
When the youngsters are weaned, take
them out of the breeding pen and put them
in the rearing pen. (The rearing pen is
fitted with nest-boxes, etc., exactly the same
as a breeding pen.) You can tell by their
looks when they are old enough to remove,
even if you have not kept track of their age.
The substance (called the cere) at the base -
of the bill of an old pigeon which is white
will be a dark brown on a squab or young
bird. A squab in the nest is so fat as often
to be bigger than either of his parents, but
after he has got out of the nest and hustled
around on the floor he trains off that fat and
becomes thin and rangy and can generally
be told from an old bird, if in no other way,
because he is smaller.
A poor beginner will sometimes be heard
to say: “Many of my young birds are
dying.’”” When he says that, you may-be
sure that the trouble, every time, is with
him, and not with his birds, provided, of
course, his parent stock is rugged and hand-
some. Itmay be deduced, without asking any
further questions, that he is taking his young
birds away from the breeding pen before
they have the strength to support themselves.
The precarious period of all animal life is
the weaning age. Some beginners who have
had no difficulty in raising squabs te market
116
age have had losses because they supposed
that a full-fledged youngster was able to
take care of itself, but we never knew a
case of this which we could not straighten
out simply by recommending the breeder
to keep his young birds longer in the breeding ~
pen.
NEED OF HEALTH GRIT. It has been
our experience in dealing not only with
many thousands of beginners in the squab
business, but also with a great many breeders
of considerable experience, that comparatively
few have a proper appreciation of the value
of grit. Pigeons have no teeth and must
have grit te take the place of teeth, otherwise
they cannot prepare their food for their
stomachs properly, and will not do well.
We have had customers take the most
extraordinary care with regard to the grain,
but supply absolutely no grit, and then they
complained because their birds were not
breeding properly, and that the squabs
were not plump.
Grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell
grit. You must have both. The grit is
needed, as stated, to grind the grain, while
fae oyster shell is needed to supply the
coustituents out of which the female pigeon
forms the egg.
The yard of the flying pen must be gravelled
ilot grassed, and out of this gravel the birds
get considerable grit. If you watch them,
you will see them pecking at this gravel in
the flying pen constantly. Beach sand, or
sand of any kind, may be used in the flying
pen instead of gravel. The flying-pen yard
should be renewed with fresh sand or gravel
every six weeks, for although it may look
the same to you, you must remember that it
does not look the same to the birds, for they
have been going over it constantly picking
out the particles which they liked. In the
winter time when the flying pen may be
covered with snow, it is well to keep a pro-
tected box filled with gravel or sand in the
squab-house. By a protected box, we mean
a box which the birds cannot foul, but which
allows the grit to fall down as fast as eaten.
In a protected box in the squab-house
there should also be fed the Health Grit
which we sell. We have used all kinds of
grits, and the grit we are now using and
selling to the exclusion of everything else,
is the only grit which pigeons will eat greedily
(thus showing that it is good for them).
It contains salt, and no salt need be. provided
in’ lump form if this grit is supplied. The
grits commonly manufactured and sold for
poultry, made out of granite, etc., are useless
for pigeons, and it is a waste of money to
buy them, for common gravel or sand would
be fully as good, and cost nothing. hes
A flock of pigeons under any conditions
and in any part of the country will do better
when our Health Grit is fed. The squabs
will be ready for market a few days earlier, they
will be plumper, and both they and the old
NATIONAL SIRAGNDARD SS OUAB EOO ke
birds will be in rugged health, and will keep
so. We keep this grit before our own pigeons
constantly, and consume and sell more tons
of it every year than of any grit in the
market. It is used by practically every
large squab breeder of our acquaintance.
We recommend it in the highest terms,
knowing in our own experience that it pays
for itself many times over.
We charge two dollars per 200 pounds
for this grit. We do not sell less than 200
pounds. We ship it in bags and it goes at a
low freight rate. A hundred-pound bag will
last a small flock for months. It is as good
for hens as for pigeons. This grit should be
kept in and fed from a wood box. Do not
put it in a tin or galvanized iron box.
OYSTER SHELL. A great deal of oyster
shell on the market is unfit for pigeons, not
being ground fine enough. It is quite
difficuit in some sections of the West and
South to get oyster shell, which has to be
transported from the seaboard. The oyster
shell which we supply our trade is put up
in one-hundred-pound bags. Price 75 cents
per 100 pounds. No order filled for less
than fifty pounds; price of fifty pounds,
forty cents. It is ground fine and is just
right for pigeons. It should be fed to the
pads from a protected box in the squab-
ouse.
INSECT SPRAYER. Pigeons have a
long feather louse which is not harmful.
The mite which causes the only trouble is
small, about the size of a pin-head, called
the red mite, because after it has sucked
the blood of the pigeon it is colored red.
We have gone a whole season without seeing
any of these mites in our breeding houses.
Tf lice of this kind, or any kind, are discovered,
the insect sprayer which we illustrate here
will be found useful. The barrel is filled
with kerosene (or water in which squab-fe-nol
has been poured) and a fine spray driven
against the nest-boxes and nest-bowls, or
even against the birds.
These insect sprayers are well made of
heavy tin.
We sell them for fifty cents
each. They cannot be mailed, but should
be sent by express, or with other goods
by freight.
Birds which are lousy may be dusted
under the feathers, next the skin, with any
good lice powder, or with tobacco dust.
The best time for such treatment is at night,
when the birds may be readily caught and
S OME VME NT
handled. It is also a good idea to throw a
pinch of tobacco dust in the nest, on and
around the squabs, about once a month during
the summer.
Lice are the terror of chicken raisers, but
we never knew a squab raiser, if intelligent, to
be troubled very much or very long with lice.
Once free of lice, the birds almost in-
variably keep themselves clean. It is only
the loft where cleaning is badly neglected
which is troubled with lice.
There is a light-colored grub which some-
jtimes forms in the manure on the bottom
‘of the nest-box, but no trouble comes from
it and it does not get on the bird.
RED AND WHITE WHEAT.
possible for us to tell what is the difference
between red and white wheat. We do not
know the chemical constituents which color
one kernel red and another variety white.
This question is asked us by inquirers who
have never heard of red wheat, yet it is 2
common and staple variety of wheat quoted
daily in the Chicago and other grain markets.
If you cannot get red wheat where you live,
feed white wheat, which is fed regularly by
nine-tenihs of our customers. As we say
in the Manual, we feed red wheat instead
of white wheat because it is not so much
of a laxative. When we cannot get red
wheat, which happens at some periods of
some years, we feed white wheat.
The effect of wheat is to keep the bowels
of the birds open and regular. There is
not much fattening substance in wheat.
That function is performed by corn.
Birds fed on wheat and nothing else get
so weak that they do no breeding. We
have found this out by the experience of
customers. Now and then a customer buys
birds without thinking that they must eat
to live. After he has got them he suddenly
recalls that they must be fed and starts out
to find something. We recall vividly one
Kansas customer of this kind who was induced
by some grain man to buy a lot of wheat
and nothing else. After feeding his birds
nothing but wheat for two weeks, he wrote
us that they were dumpy and showing no
inclination to build nests. ‘‘They are all
the time on the fluor,’’ he wrote, ‘“‘and cannot
fly.”” He had made them so weak by feeding
the wheat that they could not fly to their
nest-boxes, to say nothing of building nests.
USE OF LEG BAND OUTFIT. The
aluminum which we sell with our leg band
outfit is seamless tubing and by the use of
the outfit you produce a band which is
seamless and which can be applied only
to a squab, because, of course, the feet of an
old pigeon are too large to be squeezed through
the band as a squab’s can be squeezed. To
make an open band (which can be applied
to the leg of a full-grewn pigeon) out of the
closed band, you simply make a saw-cut
lengthwise the band, then open the band
It is im-
117
with your fingers, put it around the leg of
the pigeon, then close the band again. If
any one has old pigeons which he wishes to
band, he will find this band outfit quite as
serviceable as if used only for banding squabs.
We have sold thousands of these band out-
fits, and customers like them _ first-rate.
We can furnish open bands (to be applied
to the legs of full-grown pigeons) made of
aluminum, V-shaped joint; each band
numbered, a first-class band in every way,
for one cent each, or one dollar for one
hundred, postage paid.
MANAGEMENT OF BATH PANS. The
sixteen-inch bath pan which we recommend
and sell is better than a larger size, no matter
what the capacity of your plant. It is
easier emptied of water, there is less strain
on the arms, and it is kept clean easier.
There should be one bath pan for every
twelve pairs of birds. If you have about
48 pairs of birds in each unit, you should
have four bath pans in that unit, outside
in the flying pen. You can get along very
well with one drinking fountain to a unit
with that number of birds, or a less number
of birds, but if you do not have bath pans
enough the bathing water will get dirtier
than it should and the birds should not be
given an opportunity to drink this dirty
water.
In the winter, when the birds are shut
up in the squab- house frequently for days
at a time, it is not necessary to bathe them
every day. Bathe them once each week,
taking the bath pans into the squab-house
and letting the pans stand before them for
about an hour. If you let the water s.and
in the bath pans in the squab-house in te -e
winter time all day, they will pe ed
much out onto the floor, and the house ~
get damp.
If your plant is a small one, the best we
for you *®o manage is this: At evenir,
(sunset, sometimes before) your birds will
all leave the flying pen for their nests and
perches inside. Then fill the bath pans with
water. When the following day dawns, and
before you are up, the pigeons will fly out and
take a bath. When you get up, go to your
pigeons and empty the bath pans, turning
them bottom side up and leaving them that
way all day.
The price of these sixteen-inch bath pans
is forty cents, crated ready for shipment.
KILLING WITH A KNIFE. Some dealers
in squabs wish them to be killed with a knife
as this gets out the blood and makes the
flesh somewhat whiter. Find out whether
or not the man to whom you are going to
sell the squabs wants them bled. The way
to kill them with a knife is to insert the
knife inside the bill and cut the jugular vein.
Then hang up the squab bill downward and
let the blood drain out. By using the knife
on the inside of the throat you do not make
ELS
a wound which is visible to the eye of the
consumer. Use a knife with a long, narrow,
sharp blade. We sell them for forty-five
cents each, postage paid.
CONCERNING NEST BOXES. Many
customers who do not use egg-crates . or
orange boxes, but build their nest-boxes of
half-inch or five-eighths lumber. have written
us that they have used the construction
which we illustrate herewith and which is
good, because cleaning can be better done.
The bottoms of the nest-boxes are re-
movable and rest on cleats, as the picture
shows. The cleats are seven-eighths or one
inch square and are nailed to the uprights.
When this construction is employed, it is
not necessary that you have a block or
base screwed to our nappy or nest-bowl.
The nappy or nest-bowl may be screwed
directly onto this removable nest-box bottom.
Tt is not necessary to nail a strip of wood
across the fronts of the nest-boxes, to prevent
the squabs from falling out. A
The squabs stay in the nest until they
are ready to leave it, and it is very rare to
find one on the floor. It will be noticed
that in the cities, the street pigeons nests
in many cases will be found on the open
cornices of high ildings, and if squabs
stay in such nests until they are able to
fly, the beginner with squabs ought not to
be worried about his birds’ nests which are
only a few feet from the floor.
SQUABS IN CHICAGO. The following
article is taken from the Chicago American:
Squab Farming is a new Chicago Industry.
Little Capital is Required and Persons of good
Judgment and Care can Realize Good
Profits from Pigeon Culture.
Tf all the birds in all the pies were suddenly
to lift their voices in song like those in the
nursery rhyme, the chorus would be loud
and long, for raising of squabs for food is a
constantly growing and lucrative industry,
and withal very fascinating.
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
A number of farms, each sheltering several
hundred birds, are being conducted within
easy reach of the Chicago market.
Such clubs as the Union League and
Athletic are always ready buyers. Plump
birds are readily sold for a dollar apiece fur
breeding purposes, and their squabs at $4
a dozen for food. As in any field of labor,
the best results come from studied and
carefully planned effort. Utmost cleanliness
in food and in the little compartments to
which each bird comes with unerring instinct
to nest enters largely into success.
Eggs of clear black or white birds are
difficult to hatch because the birds of those
colors are very restless and nervous, not
caring for their eggs; sometimes only one in
a dozen being matured.
In four weeks the young bird is ready for
the market. Many of the squab farms are
side issues of those employed at other voca-
tions during the day, and bid fair to attract
the attention of those seeking quick returns
from a smali outlay.
Attention to recognized habits of the
birds, sanitary conditions and good breeds
for parent birds are all that is necessary to
success. :
ACTUAL TESTS CONVINCED THEM.
In Appendix A in our Manual, we tell of
a sale of our Homers which we made in
February, 1903, to a_ship captain, who
intended to sail from Boston around Cape
Horn to the Pacific coast, with stops, the
whole voyage to be made in about a year,
the pigeons to furnish fresh squab meat for
the long journey. The ship went to Florida,
from Boston, thence to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
safely, and sailed from there October 1, 1903.
Under date of June 22, 1904, the Captain
wrote us as follows from New York City:
“The birds proved all you claim for them,
and even more. I put them in a small house
I built, four by eight, and four by four flying
pen, on March 7,1903. (This was on the deck
of the ship.) They all hatched before April
6, and up to June 5, 1904, every bird had
hatched twelve times, and one pair thirteen
times. I saved one pair of the first hatches,
that were born about April 6, and in October
they hatched their first pair, and up to June
5 had six hatchings, which I think was pretty
good. I am satisfied. that if the birds are
taken care of there is Lig money in them,
and just as soon as I can get a location in
New Jersey, near New York City, I will send
to you for two or three hundred pairs. Ihave
an option on a place now and will know
tomorrow. I am pretty sure I shall get it
and by next Monday I am in hopes to begin
my houses. As soon as I get them ready,
I will send you a draft for what birds I want,
As my houses are built I will order and fili
them and I hope you will try and give me a
good lot of birds. I shall build for one
thousand pairs this summer and increase
next year if the birds are as good as those
SUE PEEVE NT
you gave me. In two weeks you may expect
to get an order for two hundred pairs, so you
can begin to get them paired off. Any sug-
gestion you can give me about the houses will
be very acceptable, as I am going to begin
to build at once.”
Since the above was written, he has built
his first house and we have shipped him
the first large lot of birds. His experience
is certainly convincing. Any one who has
doubts can start with a small purchase of
birds and find out the facts for himself, just
as this customer did.
We are continually filling large orders for
customers who started with a small purchase
and did well. Why don’t you start with
two dozen or so pairs and have the experience
of this Michigan customer whose order we
received this summer: ‘‘A short time ago
I received twenty-five pairs of your Homers.
They are all doing finely, every bird being
lively and full of vim. They are almost all
at work now,nest-building, and I am more
than satisfied with rcsults thus far obtained.
I am about to build two houses, each house
to accommodate two hundred and fifty
pairs, divided into five flocks of fifty pairs.
Enclosed find New York draft to pay for
four hundred and fifty pairs Extra Homers.”
Under date of July 1, 1904, a customer
writes us from an Ohio town: ‘The Homers
I purchased of you two years ago this month
have been doing very well, in short, their
increase has been marvelous, averaging nine
and one-half (9'4) pairs per year for the
two years I have had them. I now have
quite a flock, bred exclusively from the
three pairs of mated birds purchased from
you, but think it is about time to get some
new blood in the flock; therefore will you
kindly quote me your prices for birds from
one to three or four months old, equal parts
cocks and hens, so that I may turn them
in with my young birds to prevent as much
inbreedinz as possible in that way. I want
to say that I at first had some doubts as to the
profits of the business, but must confess that
they are even more than you have ever
claimed.”’
Some of our most successful customers are
women. One writes us this summer as
follows: ‘‘Enclosed find post-office money
order for $7.03, payment for the following
order: three dozen wood nappies, three bath
pans, four galvanized iron drinkers. Ship
by freizht or express as is cheaper. Some-
thing over a year ago I bought twelve pairs
of pizeons of you. Imperative duties have
prevented my giving them as much attention
as I would wish. but they have increased and
prospered with but trifling loss. There are
now more than forty pairs nesting, and
altozvether a flock of something over one
hundred and fifty. I have sold none, not
having had time even to sort them out and
send them to market. JI hope soon to get
into the lofts and put things in first-class
shape and weed out all the culls. I
119
am very well satisfied with my experiment.”
A customer in New York writes: ‘There
have been two pigeon fanciers here this
week who say they have no such fine stock
as ours, nor have they seen anything like
them.”’
BOSTON PRICES. The squab market is
improving every year, and breeders every-
where are getting better prices, even right
here in Boston, the centre of the section
where our business is done, and where the
interest in squabs is very great. The follow-
ing quotations from the Boston Daily Globe
cover a period of over five years, and, as will
be seen, prices are firmly maintained. New
York prices are better than these:
March 28, 1903......$4.00 and $5.00 a dozen
Apr. 25, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
May 23, 1903....... 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen
Aen D/, WOE 5 ob noo 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
ule OOS Mean eee eo SO laid ozern
Aug. 22, 1903....... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
Sept. 19, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
Oct. 24, 1903........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen
Novy. 14, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
Dec. 5, 1908......... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Jan. 30, 1904....... 5.00 and 6.00 a dozen
Feb. 20, 1904............... 4.50 a dozen
Mar. 12, 1904........ 5.00 and 5.50 a dozen
Apr. 30, 1904........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen
May 28, 1904........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
June 11, 1904....... 3.600 and 4.00 a dozen
July 23, 1904........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
Aug. 13, 1904....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
Aug 20,1904........ 3.50 and 4:00 a dozen
Sept. 10,1904....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
Oct.8,1904......... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
Nov. 5, 1904... .3.00, 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
Dec. 31, 1904....... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Jan. 7,1905......... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Mar. 25,1905........ 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Apr. 1,1905......... 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen
May 27, 1905........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
June 3, 1905........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
July 8, 1905......... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen
Aig 2 90S pea eres ee oe 42504 dozen
Sept. 23,1905....... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen
Oct. 21, 1905........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
Dec. 16, 1905........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
Jan. 20; 1906.................4.00 a dozen
Mar. 31, 1906....... 4.25 and 4.75 a dozen
Apr. 7,1906......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen
Mari Z OO 0GM ey setae beet o5>O ardozen
June 16, 1906....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
July 28, 1906................. 3/50 a dozen
Nao OF a O0GE ee 4 eee enc ODO adozem
Octe2090G eee cee OOF aidozen!
ano OO Meenas eee Oso Olandozen
Jan. 19, 1907........ 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Mar. 9, 1907........ 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen
Mare 35a O0 smears 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Apr. 6, 1907......... 4.00 and 5.09 a dozen
June 29, 1907....... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen
Sept. 28, 1907............. .. 4.00 a dozen
INGA SOO 3.00 and 4.50 a dozen
Dec. 14, 1907........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
Jans, L9I0S ee eeeeeees O00 A dozen
120
ve 25 GOS aia. eciers $4.00 and $5.00 a dozen
eb. 8,1908......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen
Wileres Ay WSUS AW eecad 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen
Mar. 21,1908........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
Apr. 11, 1908........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen
May 9, 1908......... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
une 6, 1908........ 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen
ailve Serl WO ae ate 5 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen
uly 18, 1908........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen
(This edition of this Manual went to press
in August, 1908. If you write-us in 1909 or
later for Boston quotations we will give them
to you by letter.)
Sometimes different newspapers published
in the same city will give varying quotations
for squabs, as it depends largely on the
reporter who writes them. For example,
in the Boston Globe for Feb. 8, 1908, squabs
were quoted at $4 and $5 a dozen. In the
Boston Herald of that same day is the follow-
ing quotation: ‘“‘Squabs are high at $5 and
$6 a dozen.”? On March 14, 1908, the Boston
Globe quoted squubs at $3.50 and $4 a
dozen, while the Boston Herald quoted them
at $5 and $6 a dozen.
In every large city are published trade
bulletins known as ‘“‘Price Current,’ ‘‘Boston
Prices,’”’ ‘‘“Market Bulletin,’ “Smith & Jones
Price Current,’’ etc. In some large cities
one printer will furnish a great many middle-
men with the same printed sheet, putting
at the head of each the name of a dealer or
firm. The prices given in these trade sheets
are never the true prices, but are what these
middlemen would like to pay to get the farm
products quoted. This is quite an important
subject to farm people but we do not remem-
ber ever having seen the attention of poultry
and produce raisers called to this matter
before. For example, these price current
sheets in New York will quote squabs at
$2.50 a dozen when the leading squab buyers
in that city, such as Messrs. Silz, McLaughlin,
and Knapp & Van Nostrand are paying
from $4 to $6 a dozen to squab breeders and
reselling to their New York retail trade at
$5 to $8 a dozen. These trade sheets and
the trade columns in the daily newspapers
(which are supplied with quotations by the
dealers) not only quote squabs at prices
which they would like to pay, but poultry
and everything in the nature of farm produce.
Their object, of course, is to get farm produce
as cheap as they can. If a producer objects
to the small price they offer him, they will
send -him their printed price quotation sheet
and write, ‘You will find the market prices"
enclosed.” The producer not only of squabs
but of all kinds of farm produce should inform
himself of the true market and the only way
to do so is to go into that market by letter,
telephone or in person and offer to BUY,
not to sell. When you have found out, for
example, that the dealer wants $6 a dozen
for squabs which he has for sale, you can go
to that man with your squabs and get $4 a
dozen. Don’t let him take more than his
fair share of the profits, Some of the poultry
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
and produce buyers are not reliable. The
Rural New Yorker is a farm paper which
keeps its readers posted on unreliable and
irresponsible middlemen in New York State.
Assure yourself that the man or firm which
is going to buy your squabs is not only
prepared to pay you good prices but is able
to give you cash returns promptly.
The best way to sell squabs is direct to the
private trade at about double what the
middlemen pay. A customer of ours in
Illinois who is a printer gets at the private
trade by the use-of a handsome circular
giving photographs of squabs and telling
what they are, prices, etc. He circularizes
the rich residents and also sends out the
circular in reply to newspaper advertise-
ments. His plan works well and gets him
the top prices. We have told many of our
customers of the plan and we tell it again
here so that you may get up such a circular
if you wish and go after the private trade.
It will be noticed, in the above table of
prices, that although the supply of squabs
has greatly increased during the past five
years, the demand for squabs created by
our advertising has more than kept pace
with it. Prices at this writing (1908) are as
igh or higher than we have ever known
them.
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. Not a few
breeders raise squabs by the hundred and
are successful in every detail of the manage-
ment of their plant except selling the product.
Some beginners seem to think they will be
perfectly helpless without the co-operation
of some dealer.
It is a shame to raise fine squabs and
then sell them to some commission man or
other dealer who immediately resells them,
in most cases for double what he pays you for
them. It is the steady practice of the dealers
in Chicago, for instance, to pay from $2 to
$3 per dozen and resell them for $3 to $6 per
dozen. If you don’t believe this is true,
drop your role of a squab seller and go into
these markets to buy and you will see how
much profit is being made off your goods.
The squab dealers and commission men
do not advertise for customers. The squabs
are just as salable in your hands as in theirs.
Many people would prefer to buy of the
producer, being surer of a fresher and more
satisfactory product.
If you are producing squabs, by all means
sell them to the consumer and get the price
which the middleman is getting. It is
essential, however. if you are going to do this,
that you make it known in some way that
you have goodsquabsto sell, Think of the
tich people, the well-to-do people, the good
diners around you or nearest you, and figure
out for yourself a way of getting to them
the information that you are selling something
which they want and will buy steadily.
Perhaps a neatly printed circular sent by
mail will do it, Or an advertisement in the
SUPPLEMENT
mewspaper in your territory which will
produce results. Or you might pick out two
or three likely families and make them a
present of a squab or two to get them started.
The products of the plants of hundreds
of our small customers are spoken for ahead
of capacity all the time by a neighborhood
trade, and this is what you should aim at.
This is the way the finest butter and eggs
and poultry are sold, and also squabs, and
the plants of our customers who are selling
squabs direct to the consumer are paying
better than the plants of other customers
whose product is marketed with poor judg-
ment.
Don’t be too fast to seli to a hotel. Some
farmers and breeders get the idea that if only
they can find a hotel to take all their goods,
their fortune is made. In every city there
are one or more first-class hotels which want
the best of everything and pay accordingly.
On the other hand, there are many hotels
which do not care for the best. For example,
few hotels care for the best ducks, because
a single dinner order is half a duck, and half
of the biz, first-class, expensive ducks is more
than a diner wants, so the hotel keeper of
course prevents waste by buying a small
duck. Same with squabs. The hotel buyers
are sharp bargainers, and if they think that
their trade will be satisfied with a seven or
eight-pound squab, they will take such a
bird rather than pay more for a ten or twelve-
pound squab. The average squab breeder,
like the average farmer and gardener, is
content to sell to the middleman, and if you
make the acquaintance of a good one, of
course you avoid some bother, yet it has been
our experience that it is just as easy to sell
squabs to the consumer as to anybody else,
in fact, aiter you have started with him
he will come after you and pay you a great
deal more than anybody else, still he is
paying just what he always has paid, and he
is better satisfied. Squabs are phenomenal
sellers and it is well to take advantage of
this condition, which is not always true of
poultry.
MR. McGREW CALLS. The following is
from the pen of Mr. T. F. McGrew, associate
editor of the Feather, poultry editor of the
Ceuntry Gentleman, also a widely quoted
writer for the government’s bureau of animal
industry, and a lecturer for the New York
State Board of Agriculture. He is one of the
best known judges of poultry and pigeons in
the United States. The visit to our farm of
which he speaks was made in November,
1903; since then our stock of Homers has
been increased.
“Tt was our pleasure within the last two
weeks to visit the home plant of the Plymouth
Rock Squab Co., at Melrose, Mass. We were
beautifuiiy entertained by Mr. Elmer C. Rice
and his family. The buildings at the home
plant are by far the best that we have ever
seen for squab growing. Each building is
121
constructed for the best possible light, air,
and sanitary conditions. Those who may
be interested in squab growing will find it to
their profit to communicate with Mr. Rice
at Boston for the printed matter which gives
a full description of his plant and methods
of doing business.
“We saw at this plant 12,000 full-grown,
well-matured Homing Pigeons ready for dis-
tribution for growing squabs. In all our
experience we have never seen a better lot
than these. They are large, vigorous, full-
breasted, broad-shouldered specimens such
as one would select for producing squabs of
the best chara.ter. There are Blues, Blue
Checks, Silvers, Reds, and mixed colors such
as would naturally be produced through the
cross mating of any of these varieties. While
We were there Mr. Rice shipped from the
plant between five and six hundred birds,
all of which are sent out in large roomy
baskets, the baskets returnable at the shipper’s
expense. Sofaras wecan calculate, we are un-
der the impression that Mr. Rice is doing a
very large business. In addition to this we
carefully perused a number of letters received
by Mr. Rice from localities as far west as San
Francisco, as far south as Florida, all of
these communications speaking in the highest
ed: the shipments made to them by Mr.
ce.
RUNTS NOT DESIRABLE. From the
Farm Journal—‘‘Our remarks in the October
issue respecting the relative merits of large
and small birds were put in a way to be
easily misunderstood.
“By large birds we meant Runts and that
class, usually found only in the hands of
fanciers and experts in pigeon breeding.
They are not at all desirable for squab
breeding.
“Common pigeons are not hardy and
prolific in proportion to their smallness. The
largest of these should be selected for breeding
always.
“There is a great difference in the size and
quality of what are called common birds.
Where they are chosen as the basis of a squab
breeder’s business a careful selection should
be made.
“Of all the pure-bred types, we know of
nothing superior or equal to the Homers for
breeding squabs. They are hardy and
prolific and rear large, meaty squabs. ‘There
is also room for selection in Homers, some
being much larger than others.
“When a breeder already has a flock of
common pigeons he can greatly improve it
by the infusion of Homer blood.’
USEFUL MESSENGERS. We have quite
a call for our birds irom physicians having a
country practice. They leave two or three
birds at a patient’s house to be let loose when
the doctor’s services are needed. In cases
of expected confinement at a distance of
several miles from the doctor’s home, our
122
birds are extremely useful. We earnestly
advise country physicians with a wide ter-
ritory to cover to look into this matter
and ¢dommunicate with us. It will be money
in their pockets.
DEMAND IN COLORADO. We have had
the same experience with the Western trade
as the following writer in the Western Poultry
World, of course excepting Calitornia, which
is one of the best squab markets in the
country. What he says is conservative and
sensible and bears out what we have always
maintainec, that wherever there are men
and women who are good eaters, there squabs
will be eaten. If you live in a town where
a squab never was seen, but where there are
people who set a good table, to them you
certainly can sell squabs:
“Having been asked by your editor to
write an article on pigeons or squab raising
and also having said I would, I commence
by stating a few facts which I have gained
from both practical experience and inquiries
from Eastern breeders. In the first place,
I want to say that little is known of this
industry in the West, and in fact it has not
been known in the East until about ten years
ago, when they began to take it up about
the same as the Western people are doing
now. Many got discouraged at finding it
was not a get-rich-quick scheme.
“IT am constantly having letters from
different parts of the country asking me
if squab raising pays, and saying that from
inquiries they have made at meat markets
and of commission merchants, they are told
that there is no demand for them. Of course
there is not at the present time, for if there
was they could not get them. No man can
sell what he has not got. I once went to a
gentleman and told him my plan of starting
a squab farm, and he in turn went to his
market man and asked him what he thought
of it, and he said I was either lazy or crazy.
Now this man knew absolutely nothing o
squabs, and never had any in his store, and,
consequently, never had any calls for them.
I dare say that if one were to go to every
market in the city they would tell you the
same thing, and nine out of every ten people
would tell you they had never eaten a squab
in their lives; still I have people—come
right to my door—who come a good distance
out of their way and want to buy squabs of
me. The reason hotels and restaurants do
not continually have them on their bill of fare
is because they cannot be supplied at all
times. Today they can set perhaps a dozen
and tomorrow, if they wish any, they cannot
get them, and even then they are obliged to
take common squabs and not Homers. As
to the demand, I want to say right here, that
I know one concern that will contract to take
400 dozen a week at good, fair prices. Two
parties that I know of risht here in this city
are constantly in receipt of letters from hotels
and clubs in Denver wanting to buy squabs.
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
In the East, where there are ten squab farms
to one in the West, the prices are higher than
here. It is because of the demand.’’ .
ELEGANT PROFIT. The following is from
Vick’s Magazine, an article on squab raising
by a practical breeder:
“Of recent years the demand for the
toothsome squab has been so great that the
supply does not come up to the demand.
Where years ago they were used only for
invalids, now they are on the bill of fare in
almost all restaurants and hotels. They
command good prices at all seasons and an
elegant profit is derived from them by the
raisers. It used to be that pigeons could not
thrive when housed up, but now the former
obstacles have been overcome and better
success is made where they are confined than
where they have their freedom.
“The squab business if conducted properly
will bring in a large percentage of profit
considering the first capital invested. Only
a few hundred dollars are required to start
where such a sum would be nothing to com-
mence in such a business as stock keeping,
etc., and yet with a few hundred pairs of
pigeons any one with a little judgment can
make a living for himself and family. Many
farmers’ sons could make nice yearly incomes
by stocking a part of their barn (not used
for anything else) with pizeons. The risks are
not so great as with chickens, but the birds
must be attended to and not neglected.
“With chickens one must not only feed
the old, but must also give the little ones
their meals, but not sowith pigeon breeding.
You feed the old birds, and they feed their
young. One person can feed a thousand
pairs of birds in about a quarter hour, the
rest is left for the old ones to do. The little
birds are fed from pre-digested food from
the crops of their parents, who by a sort of
pumping force the food into the squab’s
mouths. It talces no longer time for a person
to feed a lot of birds with young than it does
without young.
“After the squabs are four to five weeks old
they are ready for market. It costs but one
and one-half cents per pair for feeding birds
a week and their young also, so with the
prices received for the squabs, which is forty
cents per pair in summer to eighty cents per
pair in the winter, one can imagine the
percentage of profit.
“Squabs of the largest size demand the
highest ma~ket prices. so it pays to commence
right by buying only good large stock. The
amount of labor required is almost nothing,
in fact unless very large numbers are kept,
one will have only a few hours’ work daily.
The writer has nearly 2,000, and it takes only
fifteen minutes to feed and half an hour to
give fresh water. Of course it takes a dav
or two a week for killing young ones, and a
day or two each month for cleaning buildings,
then the work is about done. One person
can attend 1,000 pairs nicely and have ample
SU BREE VME NE:
time to do other work around a place. The
writer finds it a snap to other occupations and
one is nis own boss and can go or come when
he pleases. It is the business for a young
man; he can advance as he saves money.
There are some who commenced on a few
dollars and by careful saving now operate
plants of thousands of pairs of birds.
“The larger the pigeon, the larger the
squab, the higher the price. The breeding
houses need not be heated artificially in
winter as the birds can withstand any tem-
perature and in cold weather sit upon their
young until they are feathered sufficiently
to stand the cold.”
ENLARGED HIS PLANT WITH PROFITS.
Experience of a Breeder who Made it Pay
from the Begiuning. In Country Life, a
muuthly magazine, one of the handsomest
and hizhest-toned publications, the experience
of a gentleman in squab raising gives the
followinz facts: ‘Six years azo I did not
have a bird, but I invested fifty dollars in
purchasing twenty-five pairs of extra-choice
Homer pigeons, remodelling a poultry house
for their accommodation. Ihad kept pigeons
for pleasure for five years, previously, and
felt that I knew a little about them. In these
six years I have not invested another dollar
exceptinz the dollars the birds have earned,
and my present establishment of five houses
and fifteen hundred piseons, which has
cost me two thousand dollars, is all paid for.
In addition, for the last three years, I have
aid out from five to seven dollars each week
or the wages of a helper, to dress the squabs
and clean the houses, for my regular business
would not permit .ne to attend to these duties
myself.
“The consensus of opinion of all experienced
Squab breeders stamps the Homer as the best
pizeon for this purpose. This variety is
stronz and vigorous; a hearty feeder and good
worker; brizht-eyed, alert, and active;
stocky, symmetrical and full-breasted, which
counts so much in squabs. They are also
prolific, and their squabs are full-feathered
and fit for market in four weeks.
“T was very fortunate in getting my first
twenty-five pairs of birds. These were
Homers, full-blooded, and had established
records for flying, having taken first honors
in several contests.
“They not. only averaged me seven and
one-half pairs of squabs a year, but stamped
their vitality on the birds I have selected
from their young.
“As my _ profits accrued I purchased
straight Homer stock, picking from the best
near-by breeders, as well as. those of estab-
lished reputation at a distance.
“T alwavs put a lot of new birds in a clean
coop by themselves, give generous supply
of feed and water, and have plenty of nesting
materials in the coop, and if they have come
from a distance put a good poultry powder
in their feed for the first meal, and let them
123
alone for a few days. If they are strong,
healthy birds they ought soon to begin to
carry materials and build nests. When nest
building is fully under way I transter each
mated pair to permanent breeding quarters.
When I find a pair of birds mated, I call my
assistant and tell him which bird to keep his
eyes on, and not to lose sight of it a single
instant. At the same time | note the other
bird and catch it. I pass the caught bird
to the assistant. He points out the other
bird and it is soon caught. I band all
purchases as well as those I raise.
“My weekly expense for feeding my flock
of fifteen hundred pigeons during the month
of December, 1903, was eighteen dollars and
thirty cents for the following: Three hundred
pounds of cracked corn, three bushels each of
wheat, peas and kaffir corn, one and one-half
bushels of millet, one bushel of hemp and half
a bushel of cracked rice. The rice I do not
feed regularly, but give when the bird’s
bowels are loose, for which condition it is an
excellent corrective. Feed is now much
higher than last year.
“Pigeon-keeping for squabs may fitly be
termed a twentieth-century industry, for
only during the last five years has it by its
rapid development attained to the dignity of
a special business. The business will surely
still more increase during the first decade
of this century. The price of squabs has been
strongly maintained during the five years
just passed, notwithstanding the marvelous
increasein the business. The business furnishes
a way by which either men or women (for
many of the latter have successfully taken
up squab raising) can embark in an enterprise
which does not call for severe bodily exertion
and which if intelligently managed will yield
good dividends.”
SQUAB RAISING ON THE FARM.
Pigeons Kept in the Upper Part of Duck and
Poultry Houses.—The following is from an
article in the Country Gentleman, entitled
“A Combination Plant, Fruit, Bees, Fowls
and Squabs”’:
“For growing squabs some have separate
houses, some use the lofts of old barns, and
many are so constructing their poultry
buildings as to have quarters for growing
squabs in the second story of the poultry
houses. This is gained by laying a flat roof
on top of the poultry house, on top of this
a double thickness of tar paper well coated
with hot tar, with a board floor laid over it.
This provides the floor for the pigeon house,
the roof for the pouitry house, and makes it
absolutely vermin proof both ways. A large
duck grower of our acquaintance has squab
houses of this character built over his duck
brooder houses and his poultry houses.
Several thousand pairs of breeding pigeons
are kept in this way, with a hanging outdoor
flying aviary for the pigeons. When it has been
successful on so large a scale, smaller growers
need not hesitate in adopting such a plan.
124
“Of course cleanliness, care and sanitary
conditions about the plant are imperative.
The most successful squab growers do not
scatter sand or dirt of any kind on the floor
or in nest boxes. Neither do they use any-
thing but straw for the birds to build their
nests. The droppings are all thoroughly
scraped up from the board floor, from the
nest boxes and under the perches once or
twice a week with a hoe, and stored awa: in
bags and sold at 50 to 60 cents per bushel.
They are used by tanners in making the very
best grades of leather. These droppings are
of no value when mixed with tobacco stems,
shavings, sawdust or sand. Grain or feed
of any kind if mixed in with them will not
injure their value, nor will some little straw
or feathers count much against their value.
Buy a good sharp hoe; floors constructed in
this way can be thoroughly cleaned by scrap-
ing up Once or twice a week, and in this way
nue sanitary conditions will be of the very
est.
“Those who do not care to dispose of the
droppings in this way in some instances
spread from six to eight inches of soil from
their land overthe floor of the squab house.
This is allowed to remain from three to six
months. Usually at the ertd of the moulting
season all the nest boxes and the whole house
is thoroughly cleaned out and the entire con-
tents of same dumped on the floor, scraped and
hauled away and scattered over the land.
This makes an excellent fertilizer. We know
of one instance where a large number of
squabs are kept in this way, and the house is
cleaned but twice a year. In the spring all
the cleanings from the house are hauled out
and spread over the land for the growing of
summer crops. After the fall moult, the
place is thoroughly cleaned up for winter,
the cleanings of the house are stored away
in a dry place and retained until spring.
Many persons would call this a filthy, un-
healthful way to keep a squab house, but
some of the most successful breeders follow
this plan. The presence of the five or six
inches of dry soil on the floor keeps it in good
condition throughout the season. The cloud
of dust that is raised at times by the pigeons
flapping their wings and flying about is
almost a certain guarantee against insect
attack. However, we do not advise this
method. We simply give the facts as we
have seen them.
“The only limit to the extent of such a
plant is the ability of those who possess it
properly to care for and manage all its
branches at a profit. Where there is a family
of boys and girls it might be well to engage
the attention of all in growing these several
kinds of products, and to lend encourage-
ment to each by giving him a share of the
profits. Scattered all over the country are
thousands of families in country places con-
tinually worrying and wondering why they
cannot keep their children at home. The
teal reason so many of the young people
NATIONALE SRA NDAD SO UA 150.016
leave the farm is that they are compelled to
work continually and never receive any
portion of the income for their labor. If the
parents would allow their growing families
to make an equal sum of money or in propor-
tion to what they can make by leaving home,
there would be far less complaint on this
score. All children wish to have the privilege
of earning a few dollars that they may call
their own.”’
The following paragraph is from the same
paper in its report of the New York pigeon
show, January, 1904:
“There seems to be a depression in the sale
of high-class pigeons. Well-favored speci-
mens of the highest character still sell at top
prices, but the absence of any commercial
value for a large number of pigeons that are
grown detracts from the numerous sales that
their producers might have. If producers of
the hundreds of varieties of beautiful pigeons
would turn into the market as squabs the
greater part of all their product that was
not valuable for the exhibition room, greater
returns would come for those which were
saved for exhibition purposes. There is a
grand stride forward in growing squabs.
The combination of poultry-growing with
squab-growing works well. and is being
adopted by so many small farmers as to
create an unusual demand for all grades of
pigeons that are good for this purpose.
“Tt is well for those who go into the squab
business to remember that the price is graded
by size and quality. During winter squabs
that would average eight or nine pounds to the
dozen have sold at retail in the New York
market at from 35 to 40 cents each, while
those which averaged two or three pounds less
to the dozen sold at from 12% to 20 cents.
It takes quite as much time and as much
care and food to produce the small specimens
that bring the lower prices as it does to pro-
duce the higher grades which bring the better
prices. People are beginning to find this out,
and taking advantage of the knowledge, are
looking about for the best quality of pigeons
to produce the best market squabs.”’
SQUAB PIN-MONEY. The following para-
graph appeared in the January, 1904, issue
of the Designer, a monthly magazine for
women published by the Butterick Publishing
Company of New York City:
“A young woman of my acquaintance
has kept herself supplied with hats, boots and
gloves during the past year by selling the
squabs of six pairs of Homer pigeons. They
Tequire very little care, and the young are
ready for market when four weeks old. My
friend is so well pleased with her success that
she has added seven pairs to her stock, and
confidently expects to dress herself completely
on the sum derived from the sale of her
squabs.—M, P.”
THEY FLEW HOME. A dispatch from
Paris, printed by the Baltimore Sun, says:
SUPPLEMENT
“A man named Maraud complained to M.
Brunet, Police Commissary for one of the
districts on the south side of the Seine, that
he had been robbed of six valuable carrier
pigeons and said that one of his friends had
seen them at the house of another man.
“The magistrate went to the place indicated
and there saw some birds. ‘How did you
come by them?’ he asked of the man. ‘Oh,
I bought them months ago.’ was the reply.
“““Well, bring them to my office,’ said Mr.
Brunet. There he had a wax seal attached
to each bird’s leg and the birds liberated.
“They flew back to Maraud’s house and
an hour later the thief was on his way to
the police depot in the black maria.’’
SQUAB INDUSTRY’S GREAT GROWTH.
Address Delivered Before the New Jersey
State Board of Agriculture. Years ago when
poultry and egg production was being first
advocated extensively, there were many
fears expressed that the business would be
overdone, that chickens and eggs would come
to be common and low priced, and the fear
that there would be no money in the business
no doubt kept many out of it. Nevertheless,
more and more have gone into poultry and
eggs year after year, and millions of dollars’
worth of both are marketed yearly. Whole
communities, like Petaluma, California, are
given up to poultry and eggs. Eggs got as
high as sixty cents a dozen in the large cities
the past winter (1904).
Some people not informed as to squabs
think that if many go into squab raising the
prices are going to drop until there is no
profit in the business. On the contrary,
prices for squabs have been increasing every
year here in the East, and they are going to
increase in the West in the years to come.
Consumers who have read our advertising
all over the country are eating squabs who
never ate them before, and the effect of our
advertising on the general squab market
everywhere has been to boost prices. Well-
to-do people who are led to get into the habit
of having squabs on their tables keep on
ordering them, and tell others, and thus the
market grows.
If all the Homer breeders we have sold
during the years we have been in business
were concentrated in one plant, we could sell
the entire squab output of that one plant to
any one of a hundred commission men in one
of the large cities. ; i
New Jersey is doing well with squabs.
Other States, notably California, Iowa,
Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts are
producing a great many. Just what is being
accomplished in New Jersey comes as a
surprise to people who look upon this business
as something new and untried. At the
annual meeting of the New Jersey State
Board of Agriculture in January, 1904, an
address was given by Mr.G.L. Gillingham on
Squab raising, in the course of which he said:
“The production of squabs for the markets
125
of our large cities is an industry that is reach-
ing considerable proportions in this State.
And, although it is growing yearly, yet the
prices seem to be advancing; showing that
there is an unlimited demand.
“The great scarcity of game all over our
country compels the keepers of first-class
hotels and restaurants to look for something
to take its place, and at the same time be sure
of a supply at all seasons of the vear. There-
fore they have hit upon the squab to fill this
void, and now when one calls for quail on
toast, or order of a similar nature, it will
very often be found that the quail was raised
in a pigeon loft, and is much younger, more
tender and juicy than the quail would have
been, could it have been secured.
“This is a business that can be carried on
in connection with pouitry raising, and is one
that may be conducted upon village lots
by women and young persons, if need be, and
by those whose other business takes their
attention during the middle portions of the
day, as the labor connected with it is not
heavy. It is particularly adapted to women
who wish to add something to their income.
In fact, women are more apt to succeed in
it than most men, as it requires close atten-
tion to the little things, as it is the many
little things that go to make up the final
profits at the end; as women are generally
more patient and thorough with small details
they will be more successful.
“The extent to which this business is
conducted in some parts of our State may
be shown by stating that in one town in
Burlington County of about 3000 inhabitants,
the purchase of one dealer the past year was
56,982 squabs, for which he paid $16,400;
while another dealer bought perhaps a little
over half as many more, bringing the aggre-
gate to 86,000 squabs, for which the people
of that town received nearly $25,000; while
another single grower in the same county
shipped from his own lofts between 13,000
and 14,000 birds.
“The cost of feed and care for a working loft
of pigeons is about per pair per year
(manure not sold). Some put it much lower,
but at the present prices of feed, if proper care
is given, we should not figure much lower
than $1.
time of writing this, six hundred and thirty-
six squabs (636), without those consumed at
my own table, but I contemplate marketing
the squabs this fall as the overcrowding stage
is rapidly approaching.
If you can find time I shall be glad to hear
whether or no, in your expert opinion and in
the above circumstances, you think that I
have been fairly successful. Although I feel
reasonably satisfied with my progress, were I
to start again, ab initio, I think that I should
do so with a complete flock of fully matured
birds rather than waste the time consumed
raising stock, by breeding, to a business
basis. Wishing you continued success.—W.
C., Massachusetts.
DOING GREAT WORK. The Homers
which you sold me two years ago are doing
great work. I am perfectly satisfied with
them.—F. S., New York.
TOOK FRIEND’S ADVICE. Enclosed find
an order for birds and supplies with remit-
tance. A friend here was much pleased with
our birds from your lofts amd decided to go
into the business. We prevailed on him to
order from you because we felt your birds were
the best. He could have bought here in
Illinois at a much cheaper rate but he took
our advice. So we trust you will do well by
him and trust you will send us another order
blank like the one enclosed.—Mrs. K.., Illinois.
MULTIPLIED SIX-FOLD. About two
years ago next June, I bought of you 60 pairs
of your Extra selected Homers and they were
a very fine lot of birds, and I have raised a
very fine lotofbirdsfromthem. I haveabout
400 birds now, and they are straight bai
wing and mottle with the exception of about
eight chocolate.—A. C., New Jersey.
GETTING THREE DOLLARS A DOZEN.
Please send me your new literature on squabs.
I bought 18 pairs of you in 1903 and now have
a flock of 190 birds and am getting $3.00 for
my squabs in St. Louis. If any one in this
section writes to you for squabs you may refer
them to me.—F. L., Missouri.
These are strong letters.
Read them over.
NEIGHBOR PLEASED. Your favor of the
21st to hand, also price list of $1.70 for Extra
Homers in 300-pair lots. Mr. J. A. Westen-
dorf, of this city, purchased of you on a trial
order five pairs of Extra. Why cannot yeu
make me the $1.70 rate for 50, 100 or 200-pair
lots? In going over my buildings I find that
I cannot accommodate 300 pairs so would not
like to order that number for fear of being too
crowded.
Mr. Westendorf is pleased with his birds
and if the birds you should send would be the
equal of those I would be more than satisfied.
—A. S., Missouri.
ENTIRELY SATISFACTORY. Please send
me the feeding slip that you have published
as your daily feeding ration. The birds we
got from you are entirely satisfactory.—J. D.,
Pennsylvania.
RECOMMENDED BY ANOTHER. Will
you kindly let me know how I can expect to
receive birds ordered from you to be sent to
the above address? I have been recom-
mended to try your birds by Mr. R. Warner,
of 9 DuBois Avenue, and if you can guarantee
safe shipment I will place an order with you
as soon as I hear to this effect. And if they
are as you represent them, I shall be a regular
customer of yours. If you will give me the
desired information, you will greatly oblige —
G.S., New York.
THIS SHOWS WHAT A CUSTOMER DID
WITH TWELVE PAIRS OF OUR BIRDS.
My Extra Plymouth Rock Homers have done
finely. I sent to Boston $30 for 12 pairs.
The birds arrived before I expected them and
they all looked fine. I got my first egg March
21,1905. Iraised all of my young to increase
the flock for one year and found at the end of
the year that I had 271 young birds, all seam-
less banded, and as fine a lot as I ever have
seen. This year I am selling squabs and
mated pairs, raising my best young, and have
already sold squabs and mated pairs which
have to date netted me $60. 1 have sold my
squabs for $3 a dozen, and mated pairs for
$2.50 a pair.
I now (September 10, 1906), have 400 birds
that I have raised. A good lot of them are
worthy to be put in the show pen, and if they
were they would be among the winners.
Whea I went into the pigeon business I
bought what I thought was the best stock to
be obtained, namely, Extra Plymouth Rock
Homers, and my flock shows that I did not go
wrong, for every one that has seen my birds
pronounces them the best lot they have ever
seen together.
- My birds now are in the midst of moult,
but most of them are breeding right along.
You want some assurance, when you buy
pigeons, that you will be treated right, as these customers were.
liu
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1900.
Inow have 95 mated pairs at work and as soon
as the moult is over I snall begin mating again.
By November | expect to have 50 pairs more
mated and at work.
{ feed tae best of grain, using cracked corn,
kaifir corn, red wheat, buckwheat, a little
hemp, and during the moult sunflower in the
head, letting the birds pick cff the seed as they
ke.
I use the self feeder Mr. Rice describes in his
Manualand I find with it the feed is always
clean. Inever feed on floor. I use automatic
water fountains and scald them out every two
or three days. I give the birds a good clean
bath every day.
I have trays to feed any dainty which I
have, removing trays when seeds are eaten.
One thing that is essential with pigeons is
cleanliness. I clean loft every Saturday,
cleaning out nests that have young, putting
in new straw, and spraying over lofts with
liquid disinfectant.
I have followed the instructions of Mr.
Rice’s Manual and found it to be good solid
advice.
In the past 18 months I have been in a good
many pigeon lofts and have seen exhibits at
New York State Fair and Rochester, N. Y.,
Pigeon Shows, and never have seen any better
birds than I have raised from the Extra
Plymouth Rock Homers.
Iam perfectly satisfied with what my birds
nave done and when I buy more they will
surely be Extra Plymouth Rocks.
The feed bill will not exceed eighty-five
cents a year per breeding pair. I use tobacco
stems for nesting material and like them.
I shall always try and speak a good word for
the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, for I
have found them always ready to assist at any
time.—W. R. R., New York.
THEY HAVE NOT LOST A BIRD. I wrote
to you some time ago in regard to the squabs
we got from you in the month of May, or
tather pigeons, 50 pairs, and have yet to lose
sur first bird, which not only speaks well for
your birds but it looks as if we are giving them
the right attention.
There is one thing we wrote to you about,
those not working—but they are doing fine
and, counting your birds, we have 100 pairs,
besides we have sold some which were
greatly admired.
The hotel we take them to in Washington
gives seventy-five cents a pair all the year
round dressed, the commission merchants
never higher than 60 cents a pair.—M. B.,
Maryland.
MANUAL INDISPENSABLE TO SUCCESS.
In regard to the National Squab Book which
you publish, would ask if you ever revise it.
The one I purchased of you in May 1904, is
all rigat and I could never have raised the
number and quality of squabs I do wituout its
guidaace. Of course you are learnmg new
points about your business and if you have a
later edition than mine please let me know.
The Homers have started in on their annual
spring campaign and from all appearances
they are going to outdo their former produc-
tions. With best wishes for your continued
success.—A. T., Ohio.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO HIM BY
OTHER CUSTOMERS. Some time ago I
wrote your company for their free book on
squab raising. Later I sent for your National
Standard Squab Book. Ihave read each one
from start to finish and am well pleased with
them. I have made up my mind to give the
squab business a trial as Iam quite sure that
there is money in it, if properly conducted.
I realize that to make a success of any
business one must thoroughly understand it.
As I have had no experience in this line 1 wish
to start in with a small number and increase
them as I grow to understand the business.
My plan is to buy 12 pairs of the very best
breeders that I can obtain and keep only the
best of their increase for breeders till I get my
flock to the desired size. Now, from reading
your books and having you highly recom-
mended to me by other parties, I have made up
my mind that you can give me what I want in
this line.—H. B., Illinois.
FROM FOUR PAIRS TO THIRTY PAIRS
IN NINE MONTHS. Nine months ago I
bought of you four pairs of Extra Homers.
I had to move them twice to make room. I
have now 60 first-class Homers. I have had
several chances to sell some of the squabs
but I think too much of them. By studying
your manual carefully I have not lost a bird.
aon a friend of your Homers.—W. M., New
ork.
NO DISEASE. You no doubt have my
name on your books as a purchaser of 10 pairs
Extra, which I purchased of you last winter.
I am still enthusiastic over the industry. I
have all the original 11 pairs you sent me and
33 young, all the offspring of your birds, 55
birds in all. They are every one in finest
condition, disease has never touched my flock.
—J. P., Virginia.
FIVE MONTHS IN CALIFORNIA. When
I received those birds from you in March [
turned them into a pen and have been so taken
up with other work that they have been left
to themselves until now. At present I am
taking all the working birds out and banding,
and when they have young squabs I have
Beware of anybody who tries to make a sale to you by running down the Plymouth Rock
Squab Co.
Insist that he show you letters like these in proof of his claims.
171
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
VHE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906
moved them also, putting them in a corres-
ponding section in the other pen, the arrange-
ment of the pens being the same. I find that
the old birds find their young and go right on
keeping house just the same as before they
were moved. At present I have 100 young
birds, the oldest being less than five months
and already at work. The squabs are fully
developed and out of the nest at three weeks.
I expect to have about 80 or 90 pair of birds
at worl: about the first of November. Then
I shall begin to ship.—E. R. C., California.
GETTING ALONG IN VIRGINIA. Please
ship by freight to us six drinking fountains
and six bath pans. We got some birds of you
last year. They have done very well.
Thank you for the advice—P. N., Virginia.
GENEROUS TREATMENT OF CUSTOM-
ERS. Your letter of May 21 was most satis-
factory and certainly very generous. I hope I
made it very plain to you that you were not at
all to blame for the loss of one of my pigeons.
Your offer to replace it free of charge was
quite in keeping with my impression as to
your very generous treatment of your cus-
tomers. I have at last found that the lost
pigeon was a female and if you think a white
pigeon would be well received by my colony
of three checkered, I would like to have a
white female Extra Homer pigeon. My
pigeons are in fine order and doing well.
Mrs. H. C., Georgia.
LOST ONLY ONE SQUAB IN FIVE
MONTHS. Five months since, come the 12th,
I received of you, by express, 13 pairs of your
Plymouth Rock Homers. Up to date I have
lost but one squab (and I think he was killed
by a dislocation of the neck), possibly 10 eggs,
several by frost. I have 54 squabs, most of
them able to take care of themselves, and
seven pairs of eggs. Three pairs of young
ones have hatched and begun to build their
nests. Now I wish to ask you if you think
they are doing well. I do, and Iam proud of
my intelligent birds. I am now preparing
to remove all young ones from the pen except
those that are mated and then as fast as the
others mate, to do as you say, put them into
the breeding pen. I shall also build on
another unit to my breeding pen in a short
time, as I figure on 110 birds in my present
house.
I wish I was financially able to put in a good
plant as these birds have demonstrated their
fecundity. I notice you say that there is
little liability of nest-makers mating. ~ have
not discovered any with the few I have. I
have just gone through the nest boxes with
whitewash containing a good per cent of
Is there anybody in your town who has failed at squab raising?
as they would with a new toy, then they give them up.
172
with them and not with the pigeons.
carbolic acid and vitriol solution. I clean
out houses often and so far have not had a
sick bird. Occasionally I put ginger in the
drinking fount and I firmly believe it is by
following your plain and definite instruction
that they keep as well.
I hope I am not trespassing on your valu-
able time but cannot resist telling you how I
am getting on with your stock—W. G. P..
Wisconsin.
CONVINCED AFTER TRIAL. I have de-
layed in writing you as I wanted to see how
the birds were going to turn out. Can say
now, I am more than pleased with the birds.
I have now 18 squabs and five pairs of eggs.
Three squabs died and six eggs went to waste.
That is all over with now. Don’t expect that
to happen again. As far as I can see squab
raising looks to be very simple and profitable.
I have a nice clean house and running water
so the time spent is nothing. Enclosed you
will find my check fer 12 pair Extra more.—
J. S., Washington.
GETTING FOUR DOLLARS A DOZEN
FOR SQUABS. Please send me as speedily
as possible 25 pairs of Extra Blue Homer
Pigeons. Ihave now about 125 pairs of birds
bred from the original 20 pairs I bought from
you about 18 months ago. and am selling
squabs at $4.00 a dozen. I am building a
coop 48 feet by 14 feet which will accom-
modate about 600 birds and if successful will
enlarge my plant shortly.
Will you kindly supply me with the name
of the large Commission house in New York
mentioned in your circular? The original
birds were bought from you in November
1904 and shipped to my partner in the busi-
ness.—H. B., New Jersey.
QUICK TIME. I have read a large num-
ber of your testimonials, none like this how-
ever. Now I will make an affidavit that I
received the 38 pairs Saturday morning, put
them in the pen by tena.m. I gave them a
few tobacco stems from a crock on the floor
in the corner. At five p.m. a hen laid an
egg. She laid her second egg to-day, Monday,
and is now setting. Can any of your cus-
tomers beat this?—S. H., Illinois.
THINKS WE ARE TRUE BLUE. I am
giving my pigeons occasionally lettuce or
some raw cabbage, which they most heartily
enjoy. Is this conduct prudent? The last
batch of birds you sent me ‘‘Extra selected”
were magnificent. You people (The Ply-
mouth Rock Squab Company) seem to be
“true blue.” I like to deal with your kind;
don’t find them all the time. Please answer
Some play at pigeons
If they bought of us, the trouble is
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
the above and return to me._ Yours well
satisfied with your treatment.—O. J., Illinois.
SUCCESS IN TEXAS. In October 1905
I purchased from you 25 pairs of birds and
since that time I have had fair success in
taising squabs. I have about 175 young
birds on hand at present. They are all
strong and healthy, having had the best of
care, and a great many of them are mating
now.—W. B., Texas.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR LETTER. I
received the birds all O.K. The last ones
were every one all right, as were the first.
A thousand thanks for your kind, courteous,
and prompt treatment in all our business
dealings and you will be sure to hear from us
again. If our letter will help you any, you
are perfectly welcome to use it. Thank you
again.—J. C. H., Michigan,
SELLING MANURE. Some time ago I
bought 24 pairs Homer Pigeons from you.
I have had fairly good luck with them, having
increased my flock to about 200 pairs. I
want to write you in regard the manure.
You state in your National Standard Squab
Book, that the Leather Trust used it for
tanning purposes. Now I have considerable
on hand and I wrote them. They said in
reply, that they did not use it at all, which
was a surprise to me as I have been careful
in saving it.—W. H. H., Pennsylvania.
Answer. - The trust does use pigeon manure
or did, the last we knew. We shipped to one
of the Lowell plants of the American Hide
and Leather Co. for three years. Perhaps
your letter was directed to one of the plants
of the trust which does not use pigeon manure.
We have printed so long the fact that pigeon
manure is salable to tanneries of the trust
that the New York office of the trust has been
bombarded with pigeon manure letters for
the last five years to such an extent that they
are sick of the topic there and give an in-
quirer poor satisfaction. For some time we
have been selling our pigeon manure to
leather men whose factories are within ten
miles of our Melrose plant. Their teams call
for it and take it away with very little trouble
to us. We get sixty cents a bushel for it,
same as usual. If any customer of ours
wishes to ship manure to New Jersey or New
York, we will help him to find a buyer there,
as we have letters from tanneries in both
States on file asking us to sell them ‘“‘pigeon
pure.”
HIS FLOCK GROWING. About a year
ago I bought some birds from you, some
$2.00 per pair and some $2.50. My flock is
growing and seems to be getting along pretty
good, having now 180 birds—will soon have
200 birds. I thought I would try and sell
some now. They are all good birds. I want
to try and sell what I raise now and if possible
make a business of the squabs if there is
enough in it to warrant putting up more
buildings and getting more stock.
It costs me about $1.90 per week for feed
for this amount. Am I feeding enough?—
M.eN., Massachusetts.
BUILT NEW HOUSE. I have built a
new house for my pigeons. Have increased
my flock from the original six pairs to 50,
besides selling 30 pairs of squabs. Could I
have done any better than that?
Have been having some trouble bya few
going light and have followed your advice
and think have got the better of the difficulty.
I lay the trouble to the poor quality of wheat
they have been furnishing me. It seems to
be all shrunk up and they don’t eat half of it,
—A, D. V., Pennsylvania.
Answer. More pigeon troubles are caused
by wheat, or too much of it, than almost any-
thing else. Squabs which are thin and dark
are caused by too much wheat in the ration.
Pigeons fed on too much wheat get thin, with
sharp breastbones, and will not lay as they
ought to. A good ration of Canada peas and
hempseed is necessary to bring eggs and keep
the flock in condition. pigeon will not
thrive if not kept in condition by nourishing
food. The results of too much wheat are
loose droppings, stupid and non-productive
birds. Pigeons should be active and eager.
IN FINE CONDITION. My birds I bought
a little over a year ago (12 pairs) are still
doing fine; have sold several small lots of
squabs. Ihave been following your manual’s
instructions as close as possible. Ihave about
sixty pairs. They are in fine condition and
have lots of eggs and youngsters.—C. W. H.,
North Carolina.
SQUABS WEIGHING NEARLY A POUND
APIECE WHEN ONLY THREE WEEKS
OLD. Please send me your price list on birds
and supplies as I intend to get about ten
more pairs of Extra Homers and want to get
them of you. The birds I have now, which
I got from you, are doing fine and I have
doubled my flock. I could sell all the squabs
IT have but want them for breeders.
Would you kindly advise me if oats are
good for breeding pigeons if fed moderately.
Also do you think it wise to sell my squabs
when they are from two and one half to three
weeks old, as some of them will weigh about
fourteen ounces at that age.—A. P., Ohio.
Look up the standing and character of the concern with which you contemplate dealing.
Your bank will find out the facts for you.
tion are worthless.
} Avoid advertisers whom you find out by investiza<
Have their ratings looked up for you.
173
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW.
1906
THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
——————
Answer. Pigeons do not care much for
oats. Pigeons in the street eat them, as they
eat peanuts or bread. Of course if you have
oats handy and cheap, you can feed some,
but pigeons will eat almost every other grain
in preference. When squabs weigh 14 ounces
they can be killed, no matter what their age.
MOVE THEM AS YOU PROPOSE. Ihave
pigeon breeders in unit numbers one and
three. Squabs in unit number two, | from
one to three months old. I wish to put num-
ber three with number one. Number three
is breeding right along. Will it hurt to move
nest, pigeons and squabs out of number three
into unit number one? Will it damage eggs
and squabs to do so? If rot I can move
them through unit number two, as I can let
number two in flying pen while I am moving
number three.
I shall want more pigeons by fall. I got
‘3 pairs from you last year, and I have 100
P-irs in all now, so you see I have done well
with them. I wish you would answer as soon
as possible as I do not wish to molest them
before I hear from you.—J. P. M., Michigan.
Answer. Move them as you propose,
putting the nests in the same relative posi-
tions in the new nest-boxes. You will lose
few, if any.
INCREASED STOCK. In May, 1903, you
sent C. I. Bruce forty (40) pairs of your
igeons at $2.50 a pair, and in 1904, twelve
12) females. We have sold and increased
stock since then by breeding, until, at present,
we have about three hundred (300) birds.—
Miss H. J., Connecticut.
BEST HOMERS HE EVER SAW. You-
favor of the 12th June, answering my inquir ”
ot the 9th June, was dulyreceived. Thank
for the information. I had fully intended t5
visit your plant, but, just as 1 am ready to
start, my wife, who was to accompany me on
a two weeks visit tc the New England coast
is taken sick. I have seen the birds which
you sent to my neighbor, Mr. P. C. Evans,
and they appear to be all you claim for them,
tae best specimens of Homers I have yet had
the pleasure of seeing.
Tf you can let me have a small lot of one-
half dozen pairs, at same price as paid by Mr.
Evans, you may enter my order for same,
with dozen bowis, for early delivery.—G. W.
G., Pennsylvania.
FLOCK WENT TO WORK QUICKLY.
Out of the seven pairs of Extra Homers you
shipped me June 2, 1906, I have already
(August 10) got twelve squabs. I am very
much pleased over having such good success.
We were the first.
widely imitated. But imitators who copy or
you our birds. We have no agents.
but I have no way of marking them. You
will please send me an outfit for marking
them by mail. Send about what yo1 think
a beginner ought to have. As the business
grows, will send you a larger order.—L. L.,
Nebraska.
A WOMAN’S WORK. I have 90 pigeons
on hand, bred from the 26 my husband bought
of you a year ago last April—Mrs. H. C.,
Illinois.
STRICTLY ALL RIGHT. A friend of mine
of this city recommended you to me as being
strictly all right. I will thank you to send
me your literature explaining the cost of
starting a squab farm of about 250 pairs,
raising and marketing same, as I contemplate
going in that business. Thank you in ad-
vance for any information that you may give
me.—wW. M. A., Alabama.
RESULTS TELL THE STORY. As all of
my birds secured from you in May this year
have their second pairs of young ones and I
think will continue to multiply as fast, will
you kindly forward me a list of commission
men as stated in your letter of recent date.
Am perfectly satisfied with the results ob-
tained from your birds. If you have any
inquiries for birds in this locality I will be glad
to attend to them for you.—J. L. T., Indiana.
SIZE OF SQUABS A REVELATION. We
are pleased to advise you that we ate our first
squab from the lot of birds you shipped in
May last Sunday and wish to state that the
size of these squabs is a revelation to us, being
almost twice as large as any we have ever been
able to secure.
The enclosed list will give you an idea as to
their productiveness. I also would like to
have you answer the questions contained
therein.—H. B. R. Illinois.
OUR BIRDS BETTER THAN WE CLAIM.
My birds reached me in good order and was
glad to see them when I got home from work
safe and sound. I think the American
Express Co. is about the best there is. Every-
body that sees your birds say they are the finest
they eversaw. I think when anybody is look-
ing for good birds they don’t need to look any
further than your place and I know they will
go ahead of any birds in this town for looks
and flying. I think we will stay here till we
get a good flock of birds then we will move
outside of town. The next time I send for
birds I will try and send you a bigger order.
Your birds are better than you claim for
them. Some of them have eggs before their
young ones are two weeks old. They get so
Our birds and methods revolutionized the squab industry and are
find fault with our printed matter cannot give
174
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS oy
THEY WERE RECEIVED bY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
big they just about can’t sit in the nest. I
think if you would put an advertisement in
some of the evening papers you would get
some more trade. I am advertising your
birds to everybody I know.—J. S., Wisconsin.
COMPLIMENTED BY AN EXPERIENCED
UDGE. One of my hens made her nest and
thought she was ready to lay but she sat all
one day and part of the next and did not, but
had her mouth open panting and seemed very
sick. I telephoned to Mr. M. to come and tell
me what to do. When he came he held her
in warm water for 15 minutes and then fast-
ened her in her nest. In ten minutes she laid
her egg and got all right.
Mr. M. holds the world’s record for three
hundred miles and has some of the most val-
uable birds in Chicago, and he said my birds
were very fine, in fact he said he could have
hardly told them from his own, they resembled
them so much.
When so good a judge will compliment
them so highly I feel very proud of them.—
A. B., Illinois.
SQUABS WEIGHING ONE POUND AT
TWO WEEKS. I thought you might like to
hear from the birds you sent us a year ago.
They have been working overtime since. We
have 54 birds now with several nesting. Every
one is a solid color the same as the old ones.
The squabs we have weighed have averaged
a pound at three weeks old. One weighed a
pound at two weeks.
There is a party here getting birds of all
kinds and colors and claims they are better
than what we got for Extras on account of the
bands.—J. W., South Dakota.
Answer. It is quite common for parties
selling poor Homers to put bands on their legs,
some of them quite ornamental, in an endeav-
or to enhance their value, same as putting
a gaudy label on cheap goods. It is the pig-
eons that count, not the bands. Bands are
useful to number the birds, that is all.
NO. 1 PLYMOUTH ROCKS ARE GOOD
HOMERS. It will probably be fall before I
get my house built and give you an order for
more birds. If money is not too scarce the
order will be for your best birds, for the No.
1 Plymouth Rocks are doing even better than
che Manual claims them to. Your Extra
birds must be wonderful.—W. H. W., Massa-
chusetts.
WE ‘‘ SHOW THEM ” OUT IN MISSOURI.
I received the grits and oyster shell all O. K.
My birds jump on to *.1e grits and hemp seed
inahurry. They are doing well. I will have
about sixty squabs this month and quite a
number mating this week. I had an order
for 100 squabs this morning. It made me
sick to think I could not fill it, but my time
came aftera while. I will build another house
soon and I want 100 more of your birds. Mr.
Hall’s birds look well. They came through
nice. He is well pleased and I think he will
order more. ‘There are two more people talk-
ing of going into the squab aE. I wi
try to get an order for you.—J. W. H., Mis-
souri.
HAS NEVER SOLD ANY SQUABS LESS
THAN NINE POUNDS TO THE DOZEN.
About three years ago I purchased of you six
pair of Homer pigeons for which I paid $2.50
per pair. My flock are all from the stock I
bought of you and I have some nice birds. I
have never sold any squabs under nine pounds
to the dozen at four weeks old. I never sell
my birds after they have left the nest for
squabs. Will you send me your price list for
grains, that is, Kaffir corn and red wheat.
I would like the address of Boston dealers.—
C. E. W., Rhode Island.
LETTING BIRDS FLY. I would like to
have your opinion and advice on a matter that
is very important to me. I have a beautiful
start with your birds, have followed your book
exactly and the result has been very gratifying.
Now what I want to do is to buy about three
hundred more old birds from you and pen
them. Will the young birds be as prolific,
mate and hatch as well if properly fed, watered
etc., exactly as my pens are, if I allow them to
trun loose on my farm? There is no danger of
them being shot and I would much prefer
allowing them the run of the farm. I have
the buildings that I could convert into com-
fortable houses at once, and I will appreciate
your thoughtful opinion and advice in the
matter for I know you are headquarters.—
T. W., Tennessee.
Answer. Birds which you raise you can
let fly because they know no home but yours,
but Homers which you buy you cannot let fly
safely because they know another home (their
old home) and their instinct and desire to go
home may lead them to leave you.
NEW JERSEY NEIGHBORS ALL AGREED.
The six pairs of birds received from you the
first day of May are still doing fine (July).
One pair has her third pair of young at this
writing—less than three months. The rest
will hatch this week. Mr. Tevis (the neighbor
I spoke to you about in a former lester) came
over after me to see the birds that he had
just received from you. They are fine birds
and he is very much pleased with them and
sorry that he did not take my advice and send
The squab industry is growing every year.
Prices were better and they are going to be as good or better in 1907.
175
before.
squab eating is growing in every section.
More squabs were bred in 1906 than ever
The habit of
1906
LETTERE FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
to you in the first place, but ne bought about
60 pairs from a New Jersey dealer. He
showed him a letter that was supposed to have
come from a man that bought birds of you,
saying that he didn’t want any more of them.
But now he sees the difference when he has
them side by side. Mr. Webster, my next
door neighbor, is so well pleased with the
way mine are doing that he is going to send
for a few pairs this fall. I would if I could,
and had the room.
I now have 16 pairs of the Plymouth Rock
birds. My pen is open to any one that wants
to see the birds before they send to you for
breeders. I thank you for the fine birds you
sent to Mr. Tevis. It shows that I didn’t
exaggerate your ability, to send six pairs or
100 pairs of fine birds.—D. C. T., New Jersey.
FINEST FLOCK HE HAD EVER SEEN.
A year ago to-day we received eighteen pairs
of your Homers. Our flock now numbers
nearly 100 pairs and all are doing fine. We
have sold a few pairs at $1.25 per pair, and
have had any amount of inquiries after squabs.
We have had a number of fanciers up to look
at the flock, and all seem to think they are
an exceptionally fine lot of birds. One
gentleman who keeps an excellent lot of
imported birds said they were the finest flock
he had ever seen, which speaks well for your
birds.—B. B., Michigan.
BEST BIRDS IN HIS CITY. Find en-
closed $16.34 for which to send me a dozen
of your Homers, a dozen of nest bowls, and
two feet of aluminum tubing. Would have
liked to send an order sooner but had no
place to keep them. My ‘birds are doing
fine. We have moved into a larger place
where I can let my birds out in a wire cage.
Your birds are the best I ever saw and the
only ones I ever intend to keep. I have sold
off all my young stock so I have more room
for the others —J. B. T., Wisconsin.
SPLENDID WORK WITH SPLENDID
BIRDS. I wish to advise you now (August,
1906) of the splendid luck I have had with
the six pairs of birds purchased from you last
May and which were received at my home
on May 17.
These birds, within a week after arrival,
commenced to construct their nests and, out
of the six pairs, five began hatching within
two weeks and every egg produced a squab.
Two squabs weighed at the age of four weeks
and two days, 16 ounces, after plucking, and
the remainder weighed from eight to 12
ounces. The two squabs, weighing 16 ounces,
were the largest I ever saw and I thought you
would be interested in knowing the weights.
On account of not having room for any
more birds, | am killing the squabs as they
mature but would have liked to have mated
the two large squabs, as I believe that their
offspring would have averaged 16 ounces
each.—S. P. N., New Jersey.
DOUBLED IN THREE MONTHS. En-
closed find money order for $1.70 for which
please send leg band outfit. The birds I
bought of you in April are doing fine. They
have doubled themselves.—W. A., Missouri.
DOING WELL IN CANADA. Saw your
advertisement in R. P. Journal, ‘‘Squab book
free.’ Anything new in it? I have your
book of 1904 with two dozen your Homers.
They are doing fine. What would you sell
me one dozen more?—P. I. B., Quebec.
ORDERS FOR A FRIEND. I enclose you
herewith a check for $30. Please ship to
enclosed address 12 pairs of your Extra
Plymouth Rock Homers. Be sure to send
him some nice ones.
Those we bought of you some time back
are doing nicely and if these show up as weil
I think that I will be able to send you some
more orders soon.—S. W. ‘T., Georgia.
HAS DEALT WITH THE FAKIRS. The
pigeons that youshipped to us have arrived
in fine condition and the best of health. We
are shipping back to you, via American
Express the wicker basket in which you sent
our pigeons. Also our many thanks for the
trouble you took in selecting the different
colored pairs.
I wish to say that the pigeons are beauti-
fully mated, because one pair have started
in business already, the hen having laid two
eggs, and all the others have showed promis-
ing signs of mating.
After having dealt with poultry fakirs and
receiving their treatment, I fully appreciate
your kind treatment which is so unlike that
of these fakirs, but your endeavors are not in
vain, as I soon expect to order some more
pairs. Your treatment has encouraged me.
I have provided an excellent house and pen
forthem. Thank you for your interest shown
in this matter.—L. J. H., Illinois.
IN THE BLUE GRASS STATE. Could
you kindly tell me where I could get some
white Homers? The Plymouth Rock Homers
New laws passed a year ago by the legislatures of Massachusetts and New York forbid the
sale of quail except in the months of November and December.
for every quail found in the hands of any marketman or restaurant keeper.
The penalty is a heavy fine
Quail are no
longer found on bills of fare in these two states except around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Sauabs are on the bills of fare all the year everywhere.
Other states, it is said by sportsmen,
will follow Massachusetts and New York with a similar game law.
176
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
I got from you are doing fine—R. L. J.,
Kentucky.
HIS SECOND ORDER. Enclosed please
find express money order for five dollars for
which please send me three pairs of your No. 1
Plymouth Rocks at your earliest convenience.
A previous order which I received from you
has been doing fine.—J. E, D., Pennsylvania.
PROLIFIC BIRDS. I purchased 12 pairs
Homers of you about 18 months ago and they
have done fine work for me. I have 50 pairs
mated birds, saved the best ones and sold the
second class.—-J. A. D., Pennsylvania.
SENT SISTER GOOD BIRDS. I enclose a
money order for $17.88 for which please send
three dozen nappies and six pairs blue
checkers. You sent my sister such fine birds
that I would like the order duplicated.—H.
S. B., New York.
RECOMMENDS OUR BIRDS TO EVERY-
BODY. The birds arrived in good order and
Iam pleased with them. I have 14 fine birds
from the first ones I bought of you and I think
the last four pairs will go to work soon. I
recommend your birds to everybody.—J. M.
M., Philadelphia.
HE KNOWS OUR TEACHINGS ARE
RIGAT. I have read your Manual carefully,
studied every point as I went, because I
wanted to impress it on my mind. I have
found in my own experience that pigeons do
just as your Manual says. Your book is
worth two or three dollars instead of 50 cents.
I want to thank you for the favor you did
at finding the weight and charges. of some
things for me. Would you kindly tell me
what would be the cost of freight charges on
one hundred, two hundred and three hundred
pounds of grain?—G. A. S., Georgia.
FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR WOULD NOT
BUY HIS. Birds came Friday at noon, and
accept many thanks for the fine birds you sent
to me. My friend says $5.00 per pair would
not buy his.—J. P. B., Georgia.
PLEASANT BUSINESS FOR A WOMAN.
You will possibly remember that a year ago
last April I bought from you twenty-five pairs
of your Extre Homers.
I now have some eighty pairs in my house
and have used something like two hundred
squabs. My birds have done well and I have
lost only one of my original stock. 2
I am thoroughly convinced that there is
money raising squabs and it is a very pleasant
business for a woman, requiring only a little
time each day to attend to them and one soon
becomes very much attached to them—Mrs.
M. L., Kentucky.
GENEROUS TREATMENT. The pigeon
that 1 wrote you about a few days ago has
died. I think it must have been injured in
shipping: It was a female. I think your
promise to send another a very generous one,
and I would appreciate it very much. In
about two or three months I expect to order
more birds of you. The others are doing
excellently.—A. H. B., Massachusetts.
TRADE BEGETS TRADE. I have been
instrumental in making some sales of pigeons
for you. At least I have recommended you to
several people who said they would buy of you.
Did a doctor of Fairhope buy a lot
of pigeons of you? He came over here to see
me about what I thought of the business and I
recommended you to him strongly. I just
sold 30 pair of my pigeons to Dr. O. F. Caw-
thon and E. J. Buck and I recommended them
to buy 10 or 12 pairs of you. I will continue
to advertise you all I can. Later on I want
to rearrange my house and build up a big
place and I will send to you for what I need.
—M. O., Alabama.
GOOD INCREASE IN SIX MONTHS.
Yesterday I wrote you for the Manual or
National Standard Squab Book, but I forgot
to tell you of some of your birds I have seen.
Last August or September a doctor friend of
mine in Brunswick bought of you six pairs of
Homers. In two or three weeks they began
to lay and hatch. He sold four or five pairs
at $1.00 to $2.00 a pair. He has now between
seventy and eighty total. They are beauties
and if mine are as pretty and do as well I don’t
think I will be disappointed. Please send
Manual as quick as possible.—G. S., Georgia.
GOOD RECORD FOR FIRST MONTH. I
deem it will be gratifying if you know how the
13 pair of Homers I received from you on May
3d are doing.
There has not been a sick one in the lot and
they are very much admired by all who see
them, and are pronounced first-class Extra
stock.
They are contented and very busy all the
time. Eight pairs are breeding now, with
three nests each having a pair of nice healthy
squabs. I think this a splendid record for the
first month in a new home.—S. H. W., Penn-
sylvania.
LOST HIS TEXT BOOK. Please find en-
closed $1.00, and send me another Nat-
ional Standard Squab Book. I have mis-
Remember, these are stories told in 1906, by customers who are really raising squabs
with our birds and not merely talking about what they are going to do.
17
satisfactory results day after day.
They are getting
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW.
1906
THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906
placed my other one and can’t find it. My
birds are doing well. I have had 15 pairs of
young birds since [had them. I sold one pair
of old white birds for three dollars to a bird
store.—H. K., Missouri.
ATTRACTING ATTENTION. Please to
send some literature to address of gentleman
enclosed, descriptive of the squab business,
and give him prices on same. I have been
talking with him in regard to the business and
as he has a couple of farms over in Michigan,
I have no doubt but what he will make an
> investment.
The pigeons that I purchased of you last
spring are doing very nicely. Our pen is
attracting considerable attention. We have
about 75 in it now and we are about to build
larger accommodations.—T. T., Illinois.
ENLARGING PLANT. Will you kindly
advise the address of party who purchases
pigeon manure?
My birds are getting along very nicely.
Intend putting up a large house for them in
the near future and will write you later regard-
ing wire for flies—B. T., New York.
SWAMPED WITH SQUAB ORDERS. It
is impossible for me to fill the orders that I
have for squabs. Iam sending you an order.
Please get them out as soon as possible.
When I receive them, I will order another
dozen Extras. I now have about 350 pair of
breeders. They are doing fine— H. 6.,
Louisiana.
SATISFIED WITH ALL. I received the
two baskets containing 36 birds on Thursday.
Pardon delay in not answering sooner, as I
was out of town. I am perfectly satisfied
with all the birds I bought of you and hope to
be able in the future to secure more. Am -
shipping the two baskets this morning by
National express, homeward bound.—J. W.,
New York.
GOOD REPORT. Please find enclosed a
money order for which please ship me 12 pair
pigeons as I saw some birds which you shipped
to Mr. Walter of this town. I received a
booklet from your firm some time ago but did
not order birds until I saw Mr. Walter report
on his. I decided to give you an order if
you can send me mixed colors. Ship via
Adams express. Wishing you success.—L. D.,
Pennsylvania.
ONE YEAR’S GOOD TRIAL. Qucte me
prices on your No. 1 Homers. Those
bought of you one year ago are doing nicely.
—C. M. R., Pennsylvania.
THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY ONE
OF OUR CUSTOMERS TO HIS FRIEND IN
A NEIGHBORING TOWN. I am pleased
to know that you are getting along so nicely
with your squab house. Wish you could see
the last comsignment of birds I received from
the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. of Boston.
They are beauties, and they commenced
building their nests the second day after they
arrived. I have no idea where you are going
to purchase your birds but I certainly think
you will make no mistake if you get them
from Mr. Rice, for the ones he sent me are
the finest I ever saw.
iI am confident if you buy your birds of Mr.
Rice he will use you right for he has done the
right thing by me.—F. B., New York.
WANTS 500 PAIRS IN THE SPRING. My
pigeons are doing very well but they are
shedding a great many feathers. I want to
make arrangements early in the spring for
500 pairs of your best stock, but before build-
ing my houses I want to take a trip to Melrose
and look your plant over, in order to get all
the ideas about construction, maintenance,
etc. I enclose separate slip with a few
questions that I would like to have you answer
if it is not too much trouble—J. W., North
Carolina.
LOST ONLY ONE BIRD, AND THAT BY
ACCIDENT. I recently bought a few pairs
of birds that you sold to a gentleman in this
city about March Ist. He was moving to St.
Louis and had to dispose of the birds. With
what I got from you and the seven pairs I
bought from him I now have 65 birds. Have
never lost but one bird and that was my own
fault for I was experimenting on it and accident-
ally killed it. Ihave a market in St. Louis for
all I can ship at $4.00 per dozen. If not ask-
ing too much would you kindly give me the
address of a couple of Chicago and New York
commission men that handle squabs.—W. E.
T., Missouri.
STARTED WELL. I write you in regard
to the pigeons you will remember we bought
of you (24 pairs) about two years ago this
month. Our Homers have done very nicely.
I have about 200 pairs. We sold 40 pairs
last year. We have quite a nice little plant
started.—A. C., Wisconsin.
DOING WELL, GOING TO BUILD. Please
send me a plan for your multiple unit house.
My pigeons are doing fine —D. B., Illinois.
STARTED IN TO MAKE REFORMS.
Please find enclosed check for nine dollars
Meee eee ee ee ee ee ee
Somebody handling the small, stunted Homers may tell you that eight pounds to the
dozen is good weight for squabs and that squabs are not bred to weigh more from Homers.
That is true, from his Homers.
Plymouth Rock Homer squabs.
In these pages you will find that eight pounds is low for
178
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906,
tor which kindly send us one dozen drinking
fountains. We would like you to get these
off as soon as possible.
I was very much pleased with my visit to
your plant at Melrose which I made yesterday,
especially with your facilities for mating
birds up. Got some new ideas along with a
lot of good advice from your superintendent,
and to-day have started in to make a few
new reforms here.—T. H. D., Connecticut.
KNOWS PLYMOUTH ROCKS BY EX-
PERIENCE. I saw your advertisement of
Homer Pigeons in a magazine. I would like
very much for your company to send me one
of your catalogues, and how much you charge
for Homers a pair. know from experience
that a Plymouth Rock Homer is a good
breeder. A friend of mine got some from
your people a short time ago, but I did not
inquire as to the price of them. In answer
to letter from you, I will send for some, and
if they are satisfactory, I will be glad to get
more, as I am a great pigeon fancier.—W.
A., Illinois.
GNE YEAR’S SATISFACTION. Send one
bushel of Kaffir corn and one bushel of Canada
peastome. It may interest you to know that
the birds I bought from you a year ago are in
every way satisfactory. I have doubled the
number of workers in that time and have had
all I wanted for my own table, and sold quite a
number.—J. B. H., Massachusetts.
SOME WEIGH 14 OUNCES WHEN 15
DAYS OLD. I received vour pigeons in May
when I was in Longueuil. They have done
well, as I have had some which weigh 14
ounces at 15 days old. What do you think
of a mirror in my squab house? I will be
very pleased to receive all your advertising
booklets.—G. C., Canada.
SUNFLOWER SEEDS ARE GOUD. Your
book doesn’t say anything about feeding
pigeons sunflower seeds. Will they eat them
or isn’t it good for them to have them? Please
let me know. The pigeons I got from you are
doing pretty well, I think. I may get more
next year.—-B. J., Vermont.
Answer. Sunflower seeds are a good pigeon
food and are used by many of our customers.
They are rich and oily and should not be fed
in excess, but as a dainty. A good way to
feed them is to throw the whole head in front
of the birds and let them pick out the seeds
themselves with their bills.
BREED WELL IN CALIFORNIA. En-
closed find money order for 40 cents for which
kindly send me two feet of your aluminum
tubing for bands. Also send one of your
price lists, as mine has been mislaid,
Twenty-four pairs of Homers purchased of
you one year ago are doing fine. Flock now
numbers 150.—W. J. M., California.
CONTINUOUS SATISFACTION. Enclosed
find check which is to cover enclosed order.
All the birds which you have sent me so far
are very satisfactory.—G. S., New York.
FINEST BIRDS AROUND. Your birds I
bought of you a year ago are going fine—the
finest birds around, so my friends say.—Mrs.
J. J. M., Massachusetts.
HOTEL KEEPER RAISING HIS TABLE
SQUABS. Am very glad to know that you
were pleased with our menus and will con-
tinue mailing them to you from time to time
if you do not object. I hope that the temp-
tation will be strong enough to cause you to
come to our city and look over our squab
farm. I have been quite successful and have
a fine lot of birds. It is more than likely,
however, that I shall want some additional
birds in the very near future. I would like a
few show Homers, Dragoons and Runts’
For squab raising purposes, I could not ask ©
anything better than I now have. Will mail
you an order for supplies in a few days.—W.
S., Georgia.
BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY BIRDS. Will you
please quote me the price of your wicker
shipping baskets, size for 12 pairs, or kindly
forward me the address of the manufacturers
of same. Also state in your letter if the drop-
pings must be entirely free from straw and
feathers, or reasonably so, to satisfy the pur-
chasers at the tanneries. The six pairs I pur-
chased of you two years agu have increased to
150 or 170, besides what I have killed, and the
stock has proven entirely satisfactory in every
way. I have taken pains to follow your
instructions to the letter so now I have the
above number of beautiful, healthy birds.—
W. H. Y., New York.
Answer. It is impossible to get all straw
and feathers entirely out of the manure,
Sweep out what you can with a broom before
cleaning the squab-house. The leather peo-
ple do not care if some scraw and feathers get
in but they do not want gravel and tobacca
stems. The latter discolor and stain when
wet.
BIRDS THAT FLY AWAY. On about
April 20, 1905, we bought of you six Plymouth
Rock Homer pigeons. Since then they have
For six years we have had a complete monopoly of the fine trade cf the United States. We
sell more Homers every year than all other firms and breeders combined. The reason for this
is that our birds demonstrate their value and make friends wherever they go.
9
We intend to maintain.
This supremacy
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW.
1906
THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON :N NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
done exceedingly well, and we have got a
pretty good start in pigeons now, but what
I write you to-day for is this. This morning
at 9 o’clock one of the birds we got of you got
out of the flying pen. She flew into the air and
started for Boston. This was a brown bird,
and we thought she might arrive at her
destination, so I wish you to keep a lookout
for her and see if you can tell if she gets there.
If she does arrive, would you mind letting me
know? I am anxious to know if she gets
there. This was a female bird and she left
a young bird about a week old in the nest.—
R. H., Iowa.
Answer. No Homer would fly that dis-
tance. We receive many letters like the
above. Customers should watch the doors
of squab-house and pens and not let their
birds get away.
LARGE, HEAVY AND FULL-BREASTED.
Enclosed find money order for one more
dozen pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock
Homers.
I did not rush a letter down to you the
same afternoon I received the other birds for
the reason that I wanted to try them out
first. The dozen pair of Plymouth Rocks,
on their arrival weighed exactly 22 pounds,
while a few days later I received another
dozen pair from another company and they
weighed only 17 pounds. They were not
full-breasted like your birds.
I received first shipment on the 2nd of
March. They are now working like good
fellows. Have three nests with eggs in.
You will hear from me occasionally with
further orders.—A. P. S., Michigan.
WANTS TO BUY SOME GOOD ONES.
Kindly send your catalogue and any other
printed matter you have about pigeons. Ai
acquaintance wants to buy some good birds
and he is going to look at my lot that I
received last Thursday. i feel sure I can
land him as a customer for you.—H. D. C.,
Pennsylvania.
GOING SLOWLY. Please send free book,
“How to Make Money with Squabs.’” The
birds bought of you are doing well now and
some of their young are hatching. Have
enough now to ship a dozen a month now.—
W. M., Maryland.
JUST THE BIRDS. I thought I would
let you know how my birds are getting along.
They arrived on Tuesday, May lst, as I wrote
you. Thursday of the same week one pair
had commenced to build. At this writing
four pairs have eggs. The others are build-
ing. That is what I call going right to work.
I am very much pleased with them. There
was a party here this morning looking at
them. He talks of putting in one hundred
pair, and says they are just the birds that he
wants. He is coming up to see your plant.
Of course I showed him my birds and told
him just what they were doing and where
they came from so I think he will be a cus-
tomer for you. Ishall advertise the Plymouth
Rock birds wherever I have a chance. Thank
you for your kindness.—J. C., New Jersey.
SQUABS WEIGHING ONE POUND APIECE
WHEN ONE MONTH OLD. I received my
pigeons from you April 20, 1905. I have one
pair that has hatched eleven (11) times up to
the 22nd day of April, 1906, so you can see
that they have had fairly good care. I now
have 110 birds and am getting them fast now
and will commence shipping when I get 70
or 80 pairs. I have weighed a number of
birds four weeks old that weighed 16 ounces
and I think that is very good.—L., F., Iowa.
QUICKLY AT WORK. Please pardon my
delay in acknowledging the receipt (right
side up) of the pigeons you shipped to me at
Harpers Ferry, W. Va., which place I left
before the shipment arrived. My wife
informed me that they were all in good shape
and the finest specimens she ever saw. Also
thought they had returned the baskets to you.
As soon as I go home, which will be in a few
days, will send you another order. My wife’s
third letter tells me that 16 pairs out of the 18
have gone to setting. Don’t think you can
beat that athome. We have everything good
to feed them peas, kaffir corn, wheat and
millet, and we intend to make a success of
the business.—W. S., Virginia.
SQUABS HAVE AVERAGED ONE POUND
APIECE. Enclosed please find certified
check for $173.98 for which kindly send me
birds and supplies as enclosed. Kindly send
the shipment of birds as soon as possible as
I would like to receive them before Tuesday.
All my birds are doing nicely. My squabs,
under your system of feeding, have averaged
a pound apiece and I expect from the present
outlook of things to make them average a
good deal more.—E. H. M., Pennsylvania.
THIS WOMAN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
KNOWS WHAT A FINE HOMER IS. A
week ago I wrote you complaining of non-
acknowledgment of my remittance sent in
with my order. As I was beginning to
wonder if it had miscarried, I am pleased to
be able to inform you that I received the best
possible answer to my letter in arrival of
the birds I ordered from you. They arrived
The equipment at our farm for mating birds cost $2000 and no expense was spared to
make it perfect.
A thousand mating coops are in constant use.
The principal mating house
is heated by hot water so as to get the best and quickest results in the cold months.
180
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
about the same time as your letter (May 1st).
All of them are in first-class condition and I
am very pleased with them, as I consider
that they are a fine lot of birds, and I think I
know what a fine Hoiner is when I see it, as
my father and brothers have bred and sold
trained flying Homers for years in Lancashire,
England, some of them worth twenty-five
dollars a pair. Although I never heard of
squab raising before I came to Canada three
years ago, when I first saw your book adver-
tised in Muusey’s I thought it was some kind
of game bird reared in captivity. and sent for
your book more out_of curiosity than any-
thing else. I think I shall like the business
very much and shall probably be sending
another erder in a month or two when I see
how 1 -o on with the birds I have got. Thank
vou v../ much for the two pairs extra you
sent, also nest bowls. They were a very
agreeable surprise to me as I did not expect
anything like that on such a small order.
The express charges were six dollars, and 25
cents duty on nest bowls. Tf. you would
write me from time to time giving me your
prices I shall be much obliged —Mrs A. R.,
Canada. ;
SQUABS WEIGHING FROM 13 TO 16
OUNCES. Please send me at your earliest
convenience the names of reliable merchants
to whom I can ship squabs, in New York.
The 80 pairs I bought of you last fall are doing
well. I sold squabs that weighed from 13
ounces to almost one pound apiece. I have
over 1C0 pairs of young ones that I am sav-
ing for stock.—H. J., Ohio.
WORTH THEIR PRICE. Some time ago
I sent you an order for three pairs No. 1 and
three pairs Extra Homers, stating that I
wished to compare with Homers a friend of
mine was ordering at a very much lower
figure. In a word, after due comparison, I
order six more pairs Extras. Please send me
fine birds —C. J., Illinois.
SQUABS WEIGHING 16 TO 17 OUNCES
EACH. Please find enclosed remittance for
which send me 12 pairs and supplies noted.
The dozen pairs you sent me started i: to do
business last month, having been moulting up
to that time. The first two pairs squabs
hatched, at one month old, weighed one pound
each, with one that was 17 ounces. That is
very good, is it not? I am well pleased with
them. Make this dozen as good and I shall
be more pleased.—C. B. G., Connecticut.
HIS FOURTH ORDER. Enclosed you will
please find money order for which you will
please send me as soon as possible one dozen
Our whole time and energies are given to squabs. ¢
handled—promptly, courteously and thoroughly, with every detail attended to.
It is a business with us, pushed steadily every day in the year except Sun-
answered at once.
pairs Extra bred Homers (fourth order.)—L
., Louisiana.
SUPERIOR IN LOOKS AND WORKS.
The birds (60 pairs) arrived on the late train
from St. Paul on Sunday night last, and
remained in the depot here until early on the
following morning when we took them home.
Outside of the injured ones mentioned, I will
say that the birds arrived in perfect condition
and are fully up to what we expected them to
be. They are now “at home” and present
— beautiful appearance. The birds which you
sent me last November (nine months ago) are
entirely satisfactory. and “ out-class” any
I received from the or those which my
friend here received from the same people.
Mine are plump, his are “ cranish,” long-legged
and long-necked. i would not keep that kind
of birds. My triend has not accommodations
for pigeons, and wanted to sell out. A doctor
who for several years rented offices in my law
office building here, looked them over with the
view of purchasing the outfit, and I advised
him to do so, to get a start in the business.
He visited my lofts, and saw my birds, wanted
to buy some from me, and after he saw mine,
he would not buy of my friend. I gave him
your address, but have not seen him since, ©
and do not know whether he has made a pur-
chase or not. I have none to sell at this time
as we are trying to increase the flock to at
least 1200, for which we have ample accommo-
dations, then we will begin to sell.
There is no mistake in saying that the birds
which I received from you, out-class those
which the have sent here. If your
Mr. Rice should ever come to this country I
would be pleased to have him stay with me
and look over the “‘ greatest ’’ farming coun-
try on earth.
My elder boy (17 years of age) visited the
great Minnesota State Fair. Saw Dan Patch
break his record, reducing it to 1.55 flat. He
looked the pigeons over as a matter of course,
and he tells me that he could find no Homers
there which compared with ours. He intends
to exhibit some at the fair next fall—H. M.,
Minnesota.
MADE A SUCCESS AND GOING AHEAD
ON A BIG PLANT. I havea party that wants
to go into the squab business with me, and it
is possible that I will call on you during Nov-
ember for 2000 breeders. I have done very
well with the 800 I have, encouraging enough
to put in quite an extensive plant. I would
like to have your personal opinion as to
whether 2000 birds will do as well in 20 units of
100 birds each with one fly 12x48x200 as they
would in 20 units with 20 flies 10x12x48. On
We handle trade as it ought to be
Letters are
lays and holidays, and not a side issue or an amusement,
181
1906
LETTERS FROM
CUSTOMERS 1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
en a
account of labor I would prefer the one large
fly, but I want no experiments and leave the
matter with you. I can get $4.00 per dozen
for a large portion of my squabs, and would
like to have an opinion as to what 5000 of
your breeders would net us yearly when we
taise our own feed on the farm.
WE SUPPLY HENS TO THOSE WHO
NEED THEM. After recommending your
firm to A. F. Kennelley of this city and he
being a purchaser from you recently, I find
that he is well pleased with treatment accord-
ed him. Enclosed please find $5.00 for five
female birds to be used as breeders. I bought
some birds from a friend of mine and he had
five odd cocks which I want to mate up.
You will forward these by first express to my
address.—H. E. W., Ohio..
BEST BIRDS HE EVER SAW. The
Homers ordered from you reached me in due
time and in excellent condition. They
certainly are the finest birds I ever saw.
really believe they are a finer lot than the
first consignment, if that be possible. The
second day after their arrival they commenced
building their nests, which I imagine is a
pretty good record.
Some of my friends have secured birds from
other parties and although I have not seen
their birds, I am confident they can’t tell me
that they have a finer lot than mine.
Tf I have an opportunity of securing you
any customers I shall be only too glad to do
so.—B. Y., New York.
BEST HOMERS IN CALIFORNIA. Birds
received in Al condition. Your birds have
stirred up quite some interest here and what I
hear from people who know is that your birds
are the best in the colony. As it is I am well
pleased with the bunch. I have a house
12x32 feet divided into four pens 8x9 feet
with a three-foot passage running the length
and everything up to date. That also has
opened their eyes in the building and arrange-
ments in an up-to-date squab house. I have
had the birds less than a week and am pretty
well advertised already. The market here
is strong at $3.00 to $3.50 and the demand
far exceeds the supply.—C. H., California.
SOLD YOUNGSTERS FOR $2 A PAIR IN
KANSAS. Enclosed find remittance for one
leg band outfit. My pigeons have been doing
fine, and are keeping busy allthe time. Have
sold off the young pigeons at eight weeks old
for $2.00 per pair. What is the difference in
Canada peas and the peas we raise here?
Will the common peas do to feed to the
pigeons?'—G. W.S., Kansas.
These are strong letters.
Read them over.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NEW YORK
MARKET; HIGH PRICES WHICH ARE
GOING HIGHER BECAUSE OF THE NEW
LAW FORBIDDING ENTIRELY THE SALE
OF QUAIL EXCEPT IN NOVEMBER AND
DECEMBER. I take the liberty of asking
you for a little more advice for the birds I
bought from you last November. Of sick-
ness I have not seen any sign of it. I lost only
two of them, one of apoplexy I think, because
it fell like shot dead, the other one died of
diarrhoea. Of the young squabs, the cas-
ualties have been a little higher, but out of
50 I did not lose more than six, or 12 per 100.
Now I wish you would give me your
opinion how I have progressed, if I am on the
regular average or if I am under it.
The prices for squabs on the ~~— York
market have been very high all winter—have
reached as high as $6.50 a dozen for squabs
of over 10 pound a dozez, and $4.59 for birds
of near eight pound or so. Of course private
trade is better and I have been able to sell
squabs tor 50 cents apiece easily.
I have a set of birds that give me three
eggs and have hatched them successfully
with three days late for the extra one. Does
that happen often?—H. G., New York.
WILL NOT BUY ANY HOMERS BUT
PLYMOUTH ROCKS. Last May I ordered
from you twelve Plymouth Rock Homers.
They arrived on the eighth of May and on the
twelfth of the seme month the first egg was
laid. Five pairs of them went to work almost
immediately and have been at work ever
since. I raised the squabs during the summer.
IT have now 13 pairs of mature pigeons. Twelve
pairs work constantly and I am very much
pleased with them and want to thank you
for them and as you are so kind as to offer to
answer questions and to help we people who
do not know all about raising squabs I shall
be so much obliged if you will give me a little
help. My present ambition is to increase my
plant. I want to buy some Extras from you
as soon as I can raise the capital. I can buy
Homers nearer home but yours have done so
well for me that whatever new stock I get I
would like to get from you. You say in your
book that you will give your patrons the
address of a good New York buyer. Will you
please send me the address?—C. O., New
Jersey.
BRANCHING OUT. Please quote me your
best figures on the following: Homer pigeons
in pairs ready to go to work in lots of 20, 50
and 100 pair lots. Hempseed in bushel lots.
Health grit in 100 pound lots. I have your
prices of last year but presume there are some
changes. I purchased 12 pairs of Homers
from you last spring and they raised me about
You want some assurance, when you buy
pigeons, that you will be treated right, as these customers were.
182
1906
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906,
60 young ones by the first of November.—
W. H., Iowa.
BLOOD AND HIGH BREEDING COUNT.
Enclosed find draft for which you will send
by Pacific express, Extra Homers, as per
memorandum. Several weeks ago I ordered
15 pairs of . When the birds came I did not
think they were much more than common
birds. A friend in our town wanted some
breeders and I got him to try your birds.
They came last night. There is a big differ-
ence between the birds. My first birds do
not show any white on bill to amount to any-
thing and they are most all white or very
light color. Yours show their high breeding.
Blood tells, when you put them together.
sold mine at half price to-day to get shut of
them. What I want is blooded stock or
nothing. Please send me a good collection
of assorted colors, blues, reds and checkers.
I ordered one of your squab books some time
ago and I think it the best I ever read on
pigeons.—J. A., Missouri.
TRIFLING DEATH LOSSES. In January
of this year I purchased 12 pairs of your
Extras. They are now (April) in fine condi-
tion and have hatched out 24 young ones, 22
of which are living and doing fine-—W. J.,
Massachusetts.
SEVEN PAIRS WORTH $25, THIS
ARKANSAS CUSTOMER THINKS. Writing
you a few lines to let you know that I got the
pigeons all O.K. They were all well. I got
them two weeks to-day and out of the seven
pairs, four pairs of them have built and are
setting on eggs already. I would have
written you sooner but wanted to see what
they were going to do. I would not take
$25 for the seven pairs. Sending the basket
back this evening with the letter. You can
put this letter on your list. I think it is the
only one from Arkansas.—C. W., Arkansas.
GOOD SHOWING AFTER THEIR 3000-
MILE JOURNEY. Enclosed please find Wells
Fargo Express money order for $1.70 for which
please send me by mail post paid, one leg
band outfit at your very earliest convenience.
My birds received from you March 17 are
doing fine. They got right to work and one
month from the day I received them I had
three pairs of squabs hatch. Since then one
more pair has hatched and two more pairs are
setting and two pairs building. I think that
is a pretty good showing in six weeks for 10
pairs after travelling 3000 miles. I lost one
hen. She got sick and I could not find what
was the trouble. She did not have diarrhcea,
but just seemed to droop and die. The
remainder of them are as fine as could be.
Will you please quote me prices on nine pait
Extra Homers to be delivered in June cr July,
Caunot tell yet just when I will be ready fer
them, but either June or July sure. Best
wishes for your continued success.—E. M.,
California.
ARKANSAS CUSTOMER IS PLEASED
WITH SQUARENESS. I received your Man-
ual a day after I wrote that letter, and J
received another one. I have sold both cof
them, and find enclosed $1.00 to pay for your
extra one and another one for myself. You
people treated me so well I won’t buy any
Homers from anybody else. I was surprised
at your squareness and have told every one
about it and got them all a-going in the right
direction. I was very, very much pleased
with your Manual.—G. R., Arkansas,
HIS MONEY TALKS FOR HIM. Last
August U purchased 124 pairs of your Extras
and am now in the market for about 375 pairs
more. Iam also in need of some extra hens
of the same quality. Can you supply same?
Also let me know if you can furnish these birds
in pairs in the following colors: blues, blue
checkers and red checkers in any number I
may desire. Please state your very lowest
price on above number of pairs. Let me hear
from you by return mail, as I am in a great
rush for the birds.—S. T., Indiana.
CANNOT SAY TOO MUCH IN PRAISE OF
OUR HEALTH GRIT. Enclosed find $2.00
for 100 pounds of health grit. I find this grit
the best on the market for pigeons. I cannot
say too much for it as it keeps the pigeons in
fine health. Although the price is high I
would never be without it. I have quite a
few people that want to get this grit from me.
Can you let me have it cheaper, so that I can
make something out of it? Answer and let
me know.—R. O., New Jersey.
BIG SQUAB FARM WHOSE OWNER
BOUGHT HIS BREEDERS OF US. I visited
a squab farm last Sunday and before I left
found that the owner bought his breeders of
your company, five hundred pairs. He has
1100 pairs at present and is making a fortune.
After seeing this farm I was more than cone }
vinced that the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. .
is O. K. If I get as good a lot of birds as
he has I certainly will be pleased.
Iam sorry that I did not figure on handling
more birds than I did. Have built house to
accommodate 100 birds. Enciosed find stamps
for which please send plans and specifications
for squab houses. No doubt you will receive
a larger order from me in a short time. Will
notify you in a few days when to ship birds.
Beware of anybody who tries to make a sale to you by running down the Plymouth Rock
Squab Co.
Insist that he show you letters like these in proof of his claims.
188
1906
STORIES OF SUCCESS ON
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS
THIS PAGE ARE NEW.
1906
THEY WERE RECEIVED BY
THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906.
I want to have everything complete before I
have them shipped.—I. S., New York.
HAS TRIED THEM AND KNOWS. I am
at present debating with myself and with
some of my relations in regard to starting in
the pigeon business. My folks are trying to
persuade me that it is going to cost too much
to start, and that I will not realize any great
profits very soon. As I see, and at the best
I can figure it out, it will take about $100 to
start in with fifty pairs of breeders and builda
home to accommodate them, getting the price
of building down as low as possible with lum-
ber at its present price. What I want to
know is, do you think it would pay me to start
and about how long do you think it would
take to get back the amount paid out if I
relied entirely on the birds?
I think I could get it back in four months
at the most, because I have three pairs I pur-
chased of you in January, besides the young
onesIhaveraised. I have watched and studied
their ways and know something about them.
I know how fast they breed, etc. Now am I
tight in my estimation as to the time it would
fake to regain my money and would you
advise me to start if possible? My birds I
have now are doing fine.—S. A., Massachusetts.
MANURE FOR SALE. Will you please
give me the address of some firm to which I
can sell my pigeon manure? My pigeons are
doing well this spring. —T. O., New York.
RHODE ISLAND SUCCESS. I am enclos-
ing money order for which kindly send me
enclosed supplies. If this money order does
not cover cost do not delay the grain but
send me bill for extra. My birds are all doing
finely.—B. O., Rhode Island.
THIS IS THE KIND UF PLAIN TALK ONE
LIKES TO HEAR. I am finding,out for my-
self if there was money in squabs and I have
found it to be true by other squab breeders.
I was to a man’s place this afternoon and he
said he had no trouble in selling his squabs
for a good price. I guess the only trouble
is people are sleeping half the time. That’s
why they don’t know much about squab
breeding. If a fellow doesn’t believe in squab
breeding, all he has to do is to open his eyes
and look around. I’ve been to a couple of
bird shows and have seen nothing to go ahead
of your birds yet. My friend was saying what
nice birds they had at the show, and I thought
IT would go down with him. We had to pay
25 cents to get in. After we looked at the
birds, he said that mine would get the first
prize if I would take them down. Then I
‘ound out that I have some of the biggest birds
Is there anybody in your town who has failed at squab raising?
as they would with a new toy, then give them up.
184
them and not with the pigeons.
in town. I would like to get some pictures
taken and show you some of the birds I got
from yours. I found your book to be a book
anybody can read and knows what he is read-
ing about. Everything is so plain—what a
beginner wants to know about breeding birds.
I was thinking of sending you my third order.
Tf I do, it will be next week. Hoping you are
doing a good business. My birds are doing
fine. Your birds are the best breeders and I
won’t take any others.—S. C. H., Wisconsin.
NEST BOWLS ALL RIGHT. Please find
a money order for one dozen more of your nest
bowls. They are O. K. Put them in the
house one evening and on going in the next
found that a pair had already taken posses-
sion and started anest. Have 11 pair setting
on eggs and they are doing fine. I intend to
purchase more from you later as I am going
to build a unit to start this spring and enclose
money for your plans for squab houses.
Wishing you every success.—W. A., Massa-
chusetts.
ENLARGING. Enclosed find check for
which please send me seven pairs of your
Extra Homers and one dozen fibre nests.
Send by American express. This time I
would like to have different colored birds.
The birds and supplies you sent me in Janu-
ary came in good shape. I was well pleased
with same. Am thinking some of putting in
50 or 100 pairs more this summer if I can
arrange for another house.—H. B., Indiana.
BEST EVER SEEN IN OKLAHOMA.
Enclosed please find money order for which
send me your best Extra Homers as specified.
Send all blue-speckled birds, as shown on
right of special offer sheet. Your last ship-
ment of birds are fine ones and every one that
has seen them say they are the finest they ever
saw. Trusting these will be the same or
better and that I may receive them at your
earliest convenience.—W. H., Oklahoma.
BUYING MORE AFTER ONE YEAR’S
EXPERIENCE. A little over a year ago, I
bought 24 pairs of your pigeons. Now I wish
to buy 300 pairs of your Extra Plymouth
Rock Homers and am fixing a house for them
and will be in s.ape to receive 75 pairs a
month, say March 1, April 1, May 1 and June
1. I see that $1.70 per pair is your price in
lots of 300 pairs and upwards. I should
want the best birds as I believe they are the
cheapest. Now if this arrangement is all
right, you can let me know and I will send
yeu $127.50 for the first 75 pairs. I want
your best birds.—E. F., Ohio.
Some play at pigeons
If they bought of us the trouble is with
APPENDIX D
(Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice)
Squab market prospects for 1908 and 1909 are excellent, as encouraging as they ever have
been — always a hungry demand.
To keep the subject up to date we give on the following pages afresh lot of facts bearing
on the industry.
We have pictures mostly contributed by customers to whom we have sold breeding stock.
During the past ten years the demand for squabs has more than kept pace with the supply
and this is true today (January, 1908) although the supply has been systemized by us and
enormously increased, for in this period we have sold over half a million Homers, and we
estimate that now there are breeding on the Western Continent, from these Plymouth Rock
Homers, at least two million pairs of Homers. The squabs from these Homers bred from stock
originally sold by us are in every market on this continent where poultry is sold.
These figures show what we have done for the squab industry, and they are conservative. In
fact, before we began shipping breeding stock, the squab business was of no volume. Our
methods and our birds have created this new vast industry. Our efforts, of course, would have
been useless without the co-operation of a large and enthusiastic body of customers, whose
joyalty is our pride and satisfaction.
Let the good work goon. More people are going to eat squabs. Squabs for dinner are now a
settled habit with hundreds of thousands of families. Our advertising constantly in the best
periodicals suggests every week to many new people that squabs are a new delicacy for their
tables, and thus the demand grows.
We print on left-hand pages immediately following letters received in December, 1907, from
three representative New York squab buyers, Messrs. Silz, McLaughlin and Heineman. We
have selected these to show the present eager market for squabs bred from our birds. They
were written by these dealers when prices for everything were temporarily set back by the
short-term panic. Prices for squabs during 1908 and 1909 will be as high or higher than in any
previous year. ~
We have selected these New York marketmen for reference because they have been largely
instrumental in working with us to standardize and develop the national squab market. Mr.
McLaughlin’s system of grading by weight per dozen is now in common use not only in his own
city but all over the United States. Refuse to ship your squabs to anybody who offers you a
small price based on count. Grade your squabs by weight and get what you are entitled to for
the big squabs bred from our birds. Weigh them yourself and you will know just what you will
get from the dealer.
You will see in Mr. Silz’s letter that he is pleased to get squabs from our birds because they are
so much better. Mr. McLaughlin advises our breeders, and to keep free from other kinds.
Messrs. Heineman advise the use of nothing but our best breed of birds. This is expert testi-
mony by practical business men who control the squab trade in the largest city in America.
Knapp & Van Nostrand, 208 to 243 Washington street, New York City, write us under date of
December 4, 1907, stating that they are paying the following prices for squabs. (This firm
divides with the three others above mentioned the greater part of the enormous New York
squab trade). ‘‘ Ten to twelve pounds to the dozen, $4.50; nine pounds to the dozen, $4.00;
eight pounds, $3.25.” Their letter continues: “ We receive and sell hundreds of dozens every
week. Squabs from shippers mentioning your company compare favorably with general receipts,
Sales have increased in New York.”’
When customers of curs wish to begin shipping squabs to the four firms above mentioned
orany other New York squab dealer, we give letters of introduction which will smooth the —
for them.
185
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
No matter in what part of the United States or Canada you live, we will put you in touch
with your nearest best squab buyer, provided of course you have not a private trade of your
own, which always pays best. In Pittsburg, for example. there is a concern which has a very
large trade and is constantly after good squabs. They write us: ‘For eight-pound squabs we
are paying $3.00 a dozen, nine-pound $4.25 a dozen. When communicating with your custom-
ers, kindly let them quote us price on the different sizes. We would like to get in touch with
some shippers who can supply us the year around with what squabs we want. We can use
100 pounds to 150 pounds per week. Kindly put us in touch with some good shippers.”
A correspondent living in West 36th street, New York, writes us under date of October 12
1907, after personal investigation of the New York City markets: “I am studying up the squap
business. with the intention of going at it up at my home in Pennsylvania, when I can con-
veniently see my way to it. Your statement about the market for the product in 1902-1903
still seems to hold good here in New York. I was down at Washington Market not long ago to
inquire of commission men how the call for squabs runs. They all said that the supply hardly
equals the demand. Many of them were selling or offering for sale little bony, discolored
percasses that would hardly tempt a starved cat. So when I am ready I shall talk business
with you.
In the first part of our Manual we quote prices in a great many cities in force in 1903 or
thereabouts. We have not the space to follow the quotations in these cities year by year.
What is true of New York is true of Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Fran-
cisco, Seattle, Portland, all the large places. The demand everywhere continues eager at high
Prices as vou can readily find out for yourself if you live near a city. In your nearest city you
will eae Plymouth Rock squabs going in regularly to the dealers there and dominating the
market.
We quote as follows the prices prevailing in New York City from the summer of 1907 to the
end of the year. These quotations are not retail prices, remember, but are what a dealer paid
breeders for supplying him with squabs. The first quotation, in each case, is for squabs weigh-
ing ten pounds to the dozen. The second figure is for squabs weighing nine pounds to the
dozen. The third figure is for squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen:
July AL Rich No a CEE en ea $4.00 $3.20
July DPA aorta RET OGTORTCROAP EERE 4.40 BIS (fb) 3.15
August AR ue ete er shacatereie vais sels 4.20 3.50 3.00
NEptemiberme Menor een ee ne 3.50 PAD
Septemipenvs Overy serie ce 4.50 B35 765) 3.00
October Ae Menaeuaueyadstekanetets Mies he CD 3.85 SE20
INovermibersrdmuaniinne mers tice OO 4.00 3.50
Nome bern Siro eisai eroicie eccuess 4.75 4.00 3.50
December's PO aces tn cues ober cicinie ones 4.40 3.60 3) 5)
December Ome ee ee Eien ne 4.20 3.40 Bia 15)
The reader of all the quotations we print must be impressed that the chorus for the big
squabs grows each year larger in volume and more insistent. Dealers want the big ones and to
get them they offer the very attractive bait of substantially-increased prices. It is folly for
anybody to start breeding squabs now with inferior birds, for his squabs (weighing six or seven
pounds to the dozen) will be crowded to the back of the counter in every market and the
breeder will have to be content with a price which will pay for the grain, perhaps, but little
more. This is not unsupported talk by us, unfounded sayso, but, in the words of our ex-Presi-
dent, is a condition and not a theory. We have actually supplied the breeding stock whose
squabs now constitute the squab markets of the country and are making the weights and
Prices. Before we introduced the Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, there were in the New York
or Philadelphia, or anv markets, no squabs weichine over eight pounds to the dozen. No such
Squabs were traded in because no such squabs existed, in commercial quantity. Now they are
2 the markets every day by thousands of dozens weighing from eight to twelve pounds to the
ozen.
The letters which we print on the following pages are selections from a large number received
by us in 1907. These show a sreat many facts bearing upon all sides of the industry and we
recommend their readine for the news they contain. Many of the writers note ways of their
own showing original thinking and adaptation. "We withhold the names and addresses of the
writers for the business reasons stated so many times by us, but we assure new friends as well as
old, that all are genuine, every one, written by real customers not connected with us in any
way except by the sale of our birds and supplies to them. The original letters are filed at our
office in Boston, where we will show them to anybody. If some one is holding back an order
from us thinking that any letter here is ‘‘ made up,’’ and cannot come in person to Beston to
see these letters, as many do, we will pay the fee of his representative living in or near Boston
for examining our files and reporting. Write us first, and we will convince you if given the
opportunity.
LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
186
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
READ THIS STORY OF SUCCESS BY A MAN 80 YEARS OLD. HE HAS DONE SOME
ORIGINAL AND EFFECTIVE THINKING. NO BUILDINGS FOR HIM. HE USES AN ATTIC
ROOM AND GETSTHERE.” Being old (80 years), failing s.zht drove me out of a mechanical
business and the prospect before me was to live and lean on my children. I had always been
a lover and keeper of pigeons from boyhood until a few years since when the telephone, etc.
came, and I killed all off. My daughter saw your advertisement in a magazine and sent for
your booklet. I saw at a glance the chance offered. I knew you were telling only what was
the exact truth about pigeons, and the pictures showed them to be the best kind for the purpose.
Had I been 20 years younger, I would have gone into it with all my means, so as it was I made
a very modest beginning.
In February, April and June you sent me three small lots, 40 in all, not your Extras. I put
them in an attic where I had birds before with nest boxes, some hung up, some on the floor,
any way to keep them apart. They soon began to work. Six pairs had eggs ina week. When
squabs began to come six, seven or eight at a time, a butcher took them, and since then we
have given him over three dozen in one week. He first paid at rate of $3 per dozen and has
risen twice since to now, $3.75, and has not been pushed. My daughter takes them in and
gets the cash as if they were gold or wheat. The butcher says it is not the size but a plump
breast that tells, so they go large and small many times, between seven and eight pounds to
the dozen, bled and dressed. Of course my stock has been increased by some getting out of
nest, or saving some peculiar color. I keep those with odd markings and know them personally.
The first year the 18 pairs averaged eight pairs each. I do not keep them to be a month old
as they would all be on the floor then and butcher looks for wool on head. Seeing none he
says: ‘‘ How long has this been flying?’’ So I send them at 24 or 25 days. The younger they
go, the faster the old ones breed, as well as saving of feed. So since May, 1905, when I began
with 18 pairs, I have sold 805 squabs and increased_stock from 18 pairs to 56 pairs, and no
stint of feed. I sell no manure.
You are right on feed question. Cabbage is good. I give (when I have it) lettuce, parsley
and even marshmallow weed atid sunflower seeds, but my birds avoid wheat, eating very
Bile. They know me personally, come in from outside when I go in and get down under my
eet.
My attic where I breed is a queer shape, with two places for them to get outside, and feed
boxes on floor to give them a chance to hide from the others at times. The other 20 pairs are
in an old wagon-house with the boxes over head to be away from rats, and a cat there most
of the time. I suffer some from the makeshift pens I have. I need the arrangement you
have, though I have a third place for the young unmated. When a pair in that place gets
young, say 14 days old, I move pair (box and all) at night into one of the regular units and that
fetches them.
But here comes what few and those only that know me will believe. In the course of this
April and May seven pairs have had three eggs each. Three pairs hatched all and are gone to
butcher. Two more are hatched and doing well and of the two to come, all eggs are good.
Some have had one smaller than other two, then I take the small one and give it to another
which has younger or some of same size. I am raising them atl. The books say pigeons
often have only one, but nothing about three. Are we getting a new breed? I have none
for sale alive so this is no advertisement.
For squabs I have received in money just double what I spend for feed.—D. G. L., New York.
Note. There is a great deal of sound sense and experience in the ahove story of this valued
customer, written by himself. Eighty years old, and with failing sight! Not much; he is
young and keen. First, he had confidence that he was being tuld the truth by us and would
get good birds, for he had known pigeons all his life. That is half the battle. He sold his
squabs when they were plump, even if only three weeks old, before they had a chance to walk
around and train off fat. He treated his birds so that they loved him.
His butcher had customers which evidently did not weigh the squabs. Asmall plump squab
is good but a big, plump squab is what 99 dealers out of 100 are after, because they get
much more money for them. The educated markets once supplied with the big ones do not
fancy the smaller ones. Our customer if he had started with our Extras would not have been
content to sell to the butcher, but would have looked up the butcher’s customers and received
also the 50 per cent profit made by the butcher. :
As to three squabs in a nest, this comes to pass, but we never knew so many cases in a flock
of this size at the same time. That was extraordinary. ‘ ‘
i is practice of changing the smaller squab in a nest for a squab of size equal to the one remain-
ing iscommon. With two squabs in the nest, if one grows larger than the other, this means
he is stronger and is continually stealing the share of the parents’ food belonging to the little
one. Take the little one to another nest where there is a squab of its own size, bringing back
a larger squab equal in size to the one in the first nest. _
His story of success is that of a small flock. He simply makes a small lot, housed in a
crude way, pay in profits a share of the running expenses of the home.
SS
LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
187
CABLE ADDRESS
SiILz NEW YORK :
TELEPHONE
@900 CHELS "
West: ROM AseENmHISTREET
anes
Nendo Dec. 2nd,*o7.
Mr. Elmer C. Rice,
Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 5
Boston, Masse
Dear Sir:=
In reply to your letter of Nove 27th, the present
prices on Squabs you will find on the enclosed card.
There will not be any iet-up in the demand for Squabs
if the prices remain normal. The season for all game closes
with the end of this month so there will naturally be a better
demand for Squabs after that time to take the place of game.
We use from 175 dozen to 200 dozen squabs each day.
Your Squabs are very much better than others, and
I think you have accomplished wonders for the Squab industry,
and every Squab raiser should feel grateful for your efforts
in this line, and you could very appropriately be termed
" KING " of the Squab business.
Wishing to assist you in your continued efforts to
put the Squab business ahead, we are,
Very truly yours,
A. SILZ, Inc.,
M/P... : ase seers
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
THIS IS THE BREEDER OF WHOM WE WRITE AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 56 OF OUR
MANUAL. HE FED WRONGLY AT THE START AND BLAMED US FOR NO RESULTS,
BUT HE IS A GOOD FRIEND NOW AND HAS SEEN A GREAT LIGHT. I received the new
Manual O.K. Accept my thanks. I thiak that it is up-to-date in every respect and in no way
far-fetched, nothing but sensible, hard, experienced facts. I notice that you speak of a California
breeder using nothing but wheat and a handful of hemp with no return for six months. I
resume it was me youreferto. Well, I deserved it, for “‘a guilty conscience needs no accuser.”
did not feed them enough to keep them alive. : i
Now, Mr. Rice’ money will not buy the birds. They are beauties, so plump, bright and
active; working all the time. Even now (September 11, 1907) they are in full force nest build-
ing. Ican point out lot of pairs which are now on their eighth lots of eggs.. I would like to
have any one show me that they have as good birds as have. It would be a very hard matter
to convince me that there are any birds as good as the Plymouth Rock Homers of Boston. In
short, any one who fails with those birds should not blame the birds or Mr. Rice, for it is up to
them to handle them right. Do not think, Mr. Rice, that I am “ fishing”’ for something.
Far from it. I am only speaking as my true conscience dictates, that there are no better birds
than yours.
ounces. How is that?
the goods.
We have just weighed six squabs and they tipped the scales at five pounds, 13
Some will say that Homers cannot do as well as that but I can show
The only trouble is the best I can get is $3 a dozen and a private trade at that.
Have not had a chance to save over one dozen for breeders.
As regards move birds.
\ I certainly want more of your birds and will want only Extras, as
I will use the Extras exclusively for raising my breeding stock.
for them, as I am going to build four more houses.
I will not be ready until spring
Then I promise you a picture of my house
worthy to goin your book, All I ask of you is to wait until I have completed my plans.
Mr. R
oniy kept them for fancy.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL IN CALI-
FORNIA WELL PLEASED. The four pairs
of Homers shipped to me on October 2, 1907,
arrived to-day in apparently first-class con-
dition. The birds appear to be satisfactory
in every respect. I thanlc you for the extra
pair; also for the supplies included. After
the birds get to work I shall furnish you with
a further report, and if I have occasion to
order again, shall not forget your prompt
and liberal treatment.—C. W. L., Register,
United States Land Office, Department of the
Interior, California.
BETTER AT $1.50 A PAIR THAN WHAT
HE PAID OTHERS $2.50 A PAIR. SIX
MORE ORDERS FOLLOW. I have received
your Plymouth Rock pigeons which you sent
me in perfect order. am very much
pleased with them. They are as good as the
ones I bought of and for $2.50
per pair.—P. P., New York.
Note. The above customer has sent us
in 1907 up to date (November) six orders.
ONE HUNDRED MILES IN FIVE HOURS
IN A STORM. Please send me one of your
1907 catalogues. The birds that I received
in April, 1906, are doing finely. I broke them
in at my loft. I flew one of them 100 miles,
making the distance in five hours, in rain and
storms. I will ship him 200 miles in a few
weeks with others of my birds. I think he
will do fine in his 200-mile race—J. M.,
Texas. ;
ice, I have some Maltese hen pigeons I wish to dispose of.
are mated pairs and the rest young ones ranging from two months to seven months.
could trade me your Homers for them, or find
There are about 20. Three
If you
me a customer I should thank you. I have
Now I will close, wishing you the best of luck.—J. B. W., California.
SATISFIED AND BUYS MORE. Some
time ago I ordered a half-dozen pairs of pig-
eons from you; at the same time | ordered six -
pairs from the I wish to say that I
have now received all the birds and I have
concluded that yours are the best. As soon
as I get a little more ready money I expect to
order more birds of you. It is my intention
to build up a large flock just as soon as I can,
Iam perfectly satisfied in my dealing with you.
You can publish any part of the above letter
if you want to except the name of the other
company.
(Later). Enclosed find check for $18 for
unre pairs of your Carneaux.—L. T. P., New
ork.
FIVE PAIRS OUT OF SIX IN TWO WEEKS
AFTER ARRIVAL PROVES FAST MATINGS.
Received pigeons two weeks ago. I think
the Extras are far ahead of anything T have
ever seen. I have had mine only two weeks
and five pairs have already gone to work.
Enclosed please find stamps for 37 cents
for which send me by mail two feet of alum-
inum tubing.—T. J. S., Iowa.
BREEDING WELL IN TEXAS. I am
doing fine with my pigeons and I think they
are the best kind. I started with 14 in
November and now (June, 1907), I have
about 66. They are doing fine. J have sc
many that’ I will have to order some wood-
fibre nestbowls. Find enclosed $3.84 for
which send me four dozen wood-fibre nest-
bowls.—W. P. C., Texas.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
189
TEL, 1288 FRANKLIN. References:—All Commercial Agencies.
Win. R. McLaughlin
COMMISSION MERCHANT
Poultry, Eggs, Game, Squabs, Calves Etc.
362 GREENWICH STREET
NEW YORK November 29, 1907
Elmer C. Rice, Esq.,
Treasurer Plymouth Rock Squab CO.,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir?
Yours of the 27th duly received. I am pleased to hear from you oncg
more. If beginners’ will stick to your breeders, they will have no cause
to complain as to size, quantity and quality of squabs, and net profits
they receive from same.
The demand is still good for all the fancy white large squabs we
can get, and the market’has kept at uniform price for a long time.
fe fact, since the new season started, there has been very little change
n price.
The small and mixed lots we must sell to out of town trade where
everything looking like @ squab zoes at a price; while the city trade
want the larger bird and are willing to pay for them.
Many do not buy enpugh breeders at the start so that they can ship
@ fair sized lot.
I can use daily all the squabs I can get and do not look for
prices to go any lower during the winter,---if anything, quite some
advance.
I think if any two need any praising as to results brought about,
and profits to raisers, it is you and myself, as I was the first to in= |
troduce selling by weight according to size, and was laughed at for trying,
even by those who would not now admit the change more than doubled their
output. The one who does not like the change is the speculator who got
the large birds for nothing, and the small birds at their actual value,
and made the extra profit when selling to consumers.
I would advise beginners to get a quantity of your breeders;
keep free from other kinds. They will have no cause to find fault with
results, and will always have a market and demand at good prices, for
they can raise and ship at any time of the year. Serid me the names of*
your customers yourself and I will post them as to the market, and send
shipping cards.
Yours truly,
190
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
STARTED WITH 12 PAIRS AND BRED THEM TO 100 PAIRS. ENLARGING BUILDINGS
STEADILY. HAS COMPARED PLYMOUTH ROCKS WITH MANY AND FOUND NONE
SUPERIOR. Your letter of October 24, 1907, received, and wish to thank you for the informa-
tion furnisned. Two years ago I built a pigeon house ten feet by 20 feet, nine feet high with
a 20-foot fly, dividing the house and fly with wire screen, making two compartments. I
purchased six pairs of your Homers in September and six pairs more of you in February. To
my surprise, three of these pairs started building their nests the day after their arrival, and,
in fact, the 12 pairs went into the business of raising squabs and have been in the business
ever since. I now have 100 pairs of the finest birds in the country; no question about that, as
I have made it a point to visit quite a number of places to compare birds. and I am satisfied
with my birds, if they are with theirs.
Last winter 1 built another house of the same dimensions as given above, building at the lower
end of the original fly. I took the wire screen from the end of the fly, and with it divided the
fly mto four parts, thus saving the expense of building a fly for the new house, and the birds do
just as well with a ten-foot as with a 20-foot fly, limagine. The total cost of the two houses
and birds was about $175.
It is my intention to sell squabs this winter (1907-1908) while prices are high, keeping the
squabs hatched during the summer months for breeders, and saving the squabs from my best
record birds as breeders, as I believe I wil! get even better results from them.
In my opinion the squab business is similar to other business enterprises, requiring patience
and hard work at the start, and if a man is a “ quitter ”? he will make no more money in the
squab business than in any other line.
I started in the business for the reason that I think there is good money init. My “‘ feathered
race horses ’’ look good to me, and I am placing my money so that they come under the wire
winners.
My advice to one starting in the squab business is to secure your birds and your Manual and
then they will have started right. Will try and send you a picture of my place in the near
uture.—F. B., New York.
MAKES HIS HOBBY PAY WITH TEN-
POUND SQUABS. My success with your
birds is the resuit of following the instructions
in your Manual. When IJ enter my squab-
house, I always whistle so as not to frighten
them too suddenly, and do not often take
strangers into the loft. Am not troubled with
lice. I disinfect about every two weeks.
My squabs will weigh one pound apiece, or
from 10 to 12 pounds to the dozen. Of
course, I do not ever expect tu be an extensive
breeder, as I have not the room, but I can
accommodate about 75 pairs, and make a
uttle money on the side, and enjoy taking
care of them. Pigeon keeping was always
my hobby ever since I was ten years old.
will say a good word for you and your birds at
any time.—D. E. A., Illinois.
SMALL ORDER JUSTIFIES A LARGER
ONE. The 13 pairs birds that you shipped
to me in May have done su well that I feel
justified in ordering four dozen more of your
xtra Homers and 17 1-3 dozen nestbowls for
which I enclose check. Your birds have
been here nine weeks last Saturday and I
now have twenty-five squabs, one having
died. —F. M. J., New York.
INTEREST SHOWN IN WELFARE OF
CUSTOMERS. I am very much obliged for
the information given me. Once again, I
cannot too highly praise you for your prompt-
ness and interest shown in the welfare of your
customers. I intend ordering some more
birds from you and would like to know the
best time to get them.—M. A. C., New York.
BETTER THAN ANY OTHER ST. LOUIS
FLOCKS. I take this means to show you
that I appreciate a fair, square deal such as
yougaveme. The birds are as you advertised
them and are far superior in some respects
to what you advertised. They are perfect
pets and to my surprise they began building
nests the second day after their arrival.
They are far superior to any flocks which I
have seen in St. Louis and as soon as I can find
a suitable site, will erect some modern build-
ings according to your Manual and stock it
with your birds. It will take several months
to carry out my plans.—W. E. P., Missouri.
FOURTEEN-FOLD INCREASE IN ONE
YEAR IN NEBRASKA. About a year ago
my father, who lives in Crete, Nebraska,
purchased ten pairs Extra Plymouth Rock
pigeons from you. They have increased to
over twelve dozen pairs. I wish to get the
whole flock if it is practical to ship them here,
so I am writing to you for advice on the
subiect. Can you furnish shipping crates ?—
C. B., Vermont.
HAS KEPT PIGEONS BEFORE AND
KNOWS A GOOD LOT. The pigeons you
shipped me arrived all right on Friday morn-
ing. I notice the pairs were broken up
(from the separation, I suppose) for four days,
but they are now mating again. As I have
kept pigeons before, I know a little about
them. This is a good lot of pigeons and i
thank you for you ~romptness in shipping.—
J. R.S., Maryland.
> ———————————E—————————————————
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
191
Telephone Call, 8261 Cortlandt.
CKiuneman J Co.
COMMISSION MERCHANTS.
Bruits, Produce and Poultry,
Southern Wegetables a. Specialty.
273 & 275 WASHINGTON STREET,
GEG December 4, 792 %
Mr. Himer C. Rice,
Plymouth Rock Squab Co.,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir,
We wish to advise you on prices arid general run of
6quabs which a goodly number of breeders of your fancy Homer pigeons are
shipping us. They are now selling from between $3.75 to $4.50 per dozen
and, in all probability will go higher, as the winter advances. There is
a good demand for this kind of birds and we are receiving quite a deal
of them. We can handle anywhere from one thousand to two thousand dozen
a@ week ag dur trade constantly inquires for them. We can assure you that
the breed of birds we get from our shippers are very fine and we notice
@ large majority of these same shippers mention your fame.
The market at present wants cquabs weighing between
9 and 11 lbs. to the dozen, and we would advise any beginner to use
nothing but your best breed of birds, as they are the cheapest in the
end to him.
We thank you for your kind consideration and
Yast favors. We are
Very truly vours,
creer
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
HOW TO PRESERVE, COLLECT, BAG AND SELL THE MANURE. HOW TO USE
TOBACCO DUSf£ FOR BOTH PIGEONS AND POULTRY. I have several hundred Homer
pigeons raised entirely from stock purcnased of you a little more than three years ago. 1 wish
to write you to obtain information in regard to selling the manure. I have your National
Standard Squab Book in which you say you ship to tne tannery and obtain 60 cents a bushel.
{ would like to know how you ship it. In bags or barrels? The manure has always been used
on our farm, but I have recently been deprived of my husband and need the money very mua,
and as I cannot do the farming that he has done, feel obliged to sell the manure. It ic free
from sand or sawdust. The most foreign substance will be feathers and some little nus .ing
material that they have scattered around, as of course I should not try to sell the old nests
that would be nearly all nesting material. The packing will have to be done by my daughter
and myself. I have been told that it is bought by the bushel, but it would be a hard task to
measure it all, as I am considerably over 60 years of age and very lame. I find the freight
will be 21 cents per 100 from here and if I ship by weight it will be easier to measure it all
by the bushel and they would have to take the freight agent’s figures instead of my measure.
I have quite a quantity. Have measured up one bushel and found the weight 36 pounds,
which at that rate would take only three bushels to weigh a little more than 100 pounds and
I think I have 30 bushels or more.—Mrs. M. W., Rhode Island.
Answer.
estimation of the tanners, but they like it free from gravel and from tobacco stems.
The manure varies in weight according to the amount
It should be dried and then bagged. two bushels to a bag.
Always ship in bags and get the bags back empty. They are worth at
stems will discolor the hides in the vats.
of moisture in it.
measure and use it.
Feathers and common nesting material in the manure will not hurt it any in the
The
Buy a bushel
least five cents apiece even if second hand, as burlap has gone up.
Squab raisers who use tobacco stems for nesting material cannot sell the manure to tanneries.
Tne only reason for using tobacco stems is to ward off possible lice.
The same result may
be attained when straw or pine needles are used by dusting the nests now and then with tobacco
dust.
pounds of tobacco powder for $2.
SOME AGREEABLE DISAPPOINTMENTS
I have not written you since receipt of
birds, consequently will send you a word at
this time. My first agreeable disappointment
was the promptness with which you filled my
order. I live 500 miles from Boston. I
mailed my order for the pigeons at eight
o'clock Wednesday morning and at five
o’clock Friday evening the birds were waiting
for me at the express office, just about 53
hours from the time I mailed my order until
shipment was received. I had not expected
to receive the shipment before eight days.
The birds reached me in first-class condition—
except fora few broken tail feathers you would
have thought they had never been out of their
native loft. They lost very little time in
getting climated, for three days after turning
them loose they were nesting and soon all
were hatching.
In comparison with other Homers I have
seen, everything is in favor of the Plymouth
Rock breed. They are cleaner, better pro-
portioned and less shy than any others I have
seen. The squabs from these birds are
everything an epicure couid desire, big, fleshy
and meat the whitest. I have only words of
commendation for the stock of breeders you
handle. I can only wish you increased sales
of your excellent money makers. You are at
liberty to use this letter to interest prospective
customers or my name as a reference.—P. F.,
Pennsylvania.
We sell tobacco dust for 11 cents a pound.
than many fancy lice powders selling for two or three times that price.
In smaller quantities 11 cents a pound. The use of this
powder will not injure the manure for tanneries.
It is equally good for poultry and is better
We will supply 25
TEN PAIRS OUT OF THIRTEEN SPLEN-
DID PAIRS QUICKLY AT WORK. Our
cheese maker at Aldenville, Penn., ordered
thirteen pairs of Homers from you. We have
encouraged his going into the business for the
reason that several months of the year they
are not busy at the trade and could just ag
well care for a nice flock of Homers.
The thirteen pairs received from you a few
weeks ago are splendid specimens and ten pairg
are at work at present. Not being contented,
we wanted to mix the blood and ordered thir-
teen pairs from an imitation squab company.
The birds came yesterday and we are so badly
disappointed in them that we would like yery
much to return them, and not mix with our
high-class birds received from you. We want
eventually to put in a few hundred pairs of
the party and will want from twenty to
twenty-five pairs of your selected birds in a
few weeks time. What will be the price and
can you give us a fine lot?—G. S., Penn-
sylvania.
RAPID BREEDING IN MICHIGAN. I pur-
chased of you last year three pairs Extra
Plymouth Rock Homers and at this writing I
have-had them just one year and seven days.
and instead of having three pairs I now have
24 pairs that can fly besides a dozen squabs
and as many eggs. What do you think about
that? As I am in need of nestbowls, please
send me three dozen of your wood fibre nest
bowls.—R. E. F., Michigan.
ee
LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
193
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1907
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
HIS FRIEND PURCHASED 12 PAIRS OF US THREE YEARS AGO, IS NOW SHIPPING
SQOABS FROM 300 PAIRS AND CLEARED $1000 LAST YEAR, A HIRED MAN DOING THE
ORK. You save been recommended to me by a friend who three years ago purchased 12
pairs of Homers from you and he has to-day 300 pairs and cleared $1000 last year without any
labor on his part.
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
market.
can put $200 or $300 more in squab raising.
outlined it?—G. C., Iowa.
Answer.
He simply instructed a common laborer.
I am very much interested in squab raising. I am now attending the Iowa State College of
I live in Chicago and it seems to me that would be a good
The first six months I intend to raise for breeding purposes, and then if I succeed
Do you consider this plan practical as I have
f Remarkable successes are being made by customers of ours who started with 12
pairs to 50 pairs and raised up their own birds.
It is not wise, however, to start with less than
12 pairs of birds, unless your stock of patience is large and you can stand waiting for two or
three years before getting returns for your money. The trouble with beginners who have
failed is that they have tried to do too much too fast.
RATS AND DIARRHOEA. As I am sure
you are very good authority on the pigeon
question, being first in the business and
revolutionizing it, 1 hope you will not count it
amiss or intruding for me to appeal to you (to
use court language) for help and advice. We
have lots of mice in our pigeon house; What
could one use or do to kill or frighten them
away with perfect safety? The second
troublesome thing is what I call the shivers.
The pigeons get to shaking violently and seem
to lose nearly all interest in everything.
Your birds beat anything we have from else-
where at most every ‘turn,’ I might say.
Indeed, some we have from another near by
who gave us a written guarantee “‘ for health,
good workers, he-> sy squabs, no canker and
all mated birds,’’ proved in nearly every
instance a sham, for they were not even mated
except a few pairs, out of a hundred pairs, and
died right along, and they were not mated for
over a year after they came.
Yours are tame also, they will eat out of our
hands. I think those broad-shouldered,
thick-legged blue (with black broad bars over
wings) are very good ones, We raised some
nice breeders from them. A friend of ours at
Marlton, New Jersey, spoke of getting nice
birds of you. J have made interesting visits
among the pigeon keepers in New Jersey.—
Miss M. H. B., Pennsylvania.
Answer. Rats and mice, as we have ex-
plained so many times, must be kept out by
elevating the building. If it is impossible to
do this, take one-inch mesh wire netting and
bury it completely in the dirt floor, six inches
deep. At the sides and corners bring it up
above the sills of the building and fasten it
with staples. This will give you a wire-net-
tine Carpet for your squab house (buried six
inches under the ground), and through this
barrier it is impossible for rats or mice to get.
It is a hard task to exterminate them by
poison or traps after they have once got in to
an improperly-arranged place, and if you
succeed they are bound to come again. Do it
richt by elevating your building or burying
wire netting and that willendthe bother. —
What this customer calls the shivers is
diarrhoea caused by feeding too much wheat.
SS
TWO PAIRS ONLY. I am going into the
squab industry in a very small way to raise
a few birds for our own use and find a pleasur-
able occupation as an aside. I shall later
want a few pairs of your birds. I bought
some time ago ten pairs of another company,
but so far am sure of only two pairs in the lot
and they have given me no little trouble.—
Rey. G. B. L., Vermont.
NINE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS TO THE
DOZEN AND SOLD FOR FOUR DOLLARS.
Will you kindly inform me to whom to write
about disposing of pigeon droppings. I made
the first sale of squabs last week. They .
weighed nine and one-half pounds to the
dozen, plucked, bled, empty crops. I received
oan dollars forthem. How is that?—F.H.S.,
io.
GENERAL VERDICT. Please send me
addresses of New York squab dealers. I
received the three pairs of Extra Plymouths;
all were in fine condition. My friends all say
they never saw a nicer lot of Homers. I also
thank you for the prompt shipment. I
expect to send for another lot in about a
month.—J. B. S., Pennsylvania.
SQUABS TWO WEEKS OLD WEIGHING
THREE-QUAKIEeRS CF A POUND IN
COLORADO. Birds ordered of you some
days ago reached me in pretty fair shape,
with the exception of one male dead. Thank
you for your splendid treatment to my order.
Squabs from the first lot at two weeks
weighed three-quarters of a pound. How is
that? Will return baskets in a few days.—
J. F. B., Colorado.
BEST BOOK ON BIRDS HE EVER READ,
I received your Manual and find it just
what you say. It is the best book on birds I
ever read. J] have a large plant of common
pigeons but since I read your book I have
built one of the prettiest pigeon houses and
flying pens in which to put the pigecns J am
ordering of you to-day. If your birds are
as fine as you say I will get rid of all my
common pigeons.—C. E. G., North Carolina.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
195
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
i
88 ABBE GI
iy
A GOOD-LOOKING ILLINOIS PLANT.
panes are two of the buildings of the breeder whose letter is printed on this page. Notice his handsome white
omers.
-_ LOST MONEY BY NOT KNCWING PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. NOW HE IS ON THE
RIGHT TRACK. HE IS A TRAVELING SALESMAN AND HIS DAUGHTER DOES MOST
OF THE WORK ON Tiiis BIG PLANT. SQUABS WEIGH ii PCUNDS TO THE DOZEN.
I have just completed my new squab unit according to your plans. Please find enclosed
Adams Express money order for birds to fill same. q
Other parties have been working on me for this order and I told them I would buy nothing
but Extra Plymouth Rocks. (A burnt child dreads the fire.) I lost enough by experimenting
with cheap birds when I began. Since I began buying of you I have had no trouble. The last
three shipments I received from you cannot be beat for size, beauty and breeding qualities.
About one-third of all the squabs I have sold in the past 12 months have averaged a little over
11 pounds to the dozen. We have quite a lot of squabs that weighed a full sixteen ounces each,
Now, Mr. Rice, as long as you continue to ship me in the future as fine stock as you have in
the past, I am with you and the Plymouth Rock Co., and ‘‘ the other fellow’? might just as
well save his postage stamps and breath.
I have not lost a single old bird by death or disease in 14 months. We had three or four
squabs picked badly. i found by taking the squabs away at three weeks of age and placing
them in a small feeding pen and feeding hempseed for a week that they fatten awfully fast.
What is your idea about that?
I hope you will excuse this long letter. Every time I think about my experience at the start
with all kinds of mixed up birds, I have “‘ brain storms’ and you can rest assured my talk
over the country will be for nothing but Plymouth Rock birds. As you know I am a traveling
man and ought to be a good talker. Consequently in ordet to repay you for favors in the
past I often tell my experiences and how I lost money by not knowing Elmer Rice.
My oldest daughter does all our feeding and taking care of our birds and she is getting to
be an expert pigeon keeper and delights in the pastime. We are figuring on increasing our
flocks just as fast as we can until we get 2000 pairs.—S. S. H., Illinois.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
196
1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908
POOR WHEAT SET HIM BACK. HE SELLS ALL HE RAISES, THE SQUABS BEING
ENGAGED BY CUSTOMERS EVEN WHILE THEY ARE ON 1HE NEST. I wnite to you for
information concerning my flock of birds. I got my stock from you in 1904, and have been
building up my flock. I got along finely with them until the latter part of last summer when I
had tne bad luck to lose about 20 or 25 of the old birds, which broke the mated pairs up. I
would like to increase my tlock to tae full capacity of tae house built from your unit plan, 12
by 16. I lay the loss of my birds to some poor wheat I got from the mill here that must have
contained a good deal of ergot that caused tne females to die. I wrote to Mr. Rice at the time
and he told me it was the wheat, at least I have had no more trouble since I commenced
feeding first quality grain. The squabs weigh 12 to 14 pounds a dozen.
I herewith send an order for 12 females to balance my flock.
My original purchase of you in 1904 was six pairs Extra Plymouth Rocks. The birds arrived
all safe and in good condition and attracted a good deal of attention at the time, for some of
my friends put on a broad smile and have been expecting me to bust up in the pigeon business,
but have been at it now for over two years and the order accompanying this don't look much
like it for I can sell all the squabs I can raise. They are even engaged before they are fit to
take off the nest. I get 50 cents a pair just killed, and if I dress them ready for the oven I get
75 cents a pair in the local market. My squabs will weigh 12 or 14 pounds per dozen, and
think it is on account of the way I am handling and feeding, for I find you cannot make meat
unless you feed for it.
I make my own grit of glass and it has bcen very satisfactorv. I keep a counle of bricks
of salt cat in the house, also a codfish occasionally, and trey are doing fine now, if I did have
some bad luck, but then one must expect drawbacks in any kind of business.—A. D. D.,
Pennsylvania.
Note. You will never have sickness of any kind with pigeons if you provide sound grain
and clean water. If your grain dealer needs watching, and has not vour interests at heart,
examine especially the wheat and corn, tasting both. Some grain dealers will take whole corn
which has germinated and make cracked corn of it. You can always tell sour grain by smell,
taste and sight.
It —1. H. O.. Jowa.
EVERY PAIR BREEDING SHORTLY
AFTER ARRIVAL IN FAR WEST. I received
seven pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers the
first part of April and now (May 20) have
five pairs of squabs a week old and the other
two pairs are setting. I am well pleased.
Strong, healthy birds. It is a wonder the
way the young sauabs grow.—R. R., State
of Washington.
LITTLE LOT GAVE HIM CONFIDENCE
TO BUILD AND ORDER MORE BIRDS.
The three pairs of pigeons I received from
you in January are doing finely (April, 1907),
and I would like to have you send me one of
your plans for building, and as soon as I have
the plans I will send to you for some more
Digeons.—R. S., Chicago.
EXACTLY AS REPRESENTED. The
breeders I got from you are first-class and
exactly as you said they would be, and are
well. Please send me prices on grit and other
supplies, also on 12 pairs breeders.—W. J. W.,
Pennsylvania.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
217
1907
TWO CUSTOMERS WHICH HAVE BRED
LARGE FLOCKS FROM SMALL BEGIN-
NINGS. Mr. Bartholemew of this place has
about 250 birds which he has bred from six
pairs of No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers which
he says he got of you. I notice tne difference
between the Extra and No. 1 Homers. Mrs.
Virkler has about 150 birds of Extra Plymouth
Rock Homers bred from six pairs.—C. W. B.,
New York.
EATING FROM HIS HAND.
The California man who owns these pigeons writes:
“They are beauties and breed fine squabs. I have
bred squabs from your Homers weighing a pound
apiece. Your Manual is straight and true.”
RECOMMENDED VERY HIGHLY BY A
LOUISIANA FRIEND. Enclosed you will
find a money order for which you will please
send me by express six pairs Plymouth Rock
Homers No. 1 mated. I trust you wil! make
me a good selection, as I am expecting to
raise pigeons and wish the best. You have
been recommended very highly to me by Mr.
oseph Malbrough, as he has ordered the
lymouth Rocks from you.—H. H., Louisiana.
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
SQUABS WEIGHING FROM SIXTEEN
OUNCES TO NINETEEN OUNCES EACH.
OUR STOCK AND OUR SELF-FEEDER
GET THIS RESULT IN TEXAS. I bought
six pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers
from you last November, and I now (May,
1907) have 31 in all, and 17 youngsters.
Four pairs have eggs. Out of the 17 squabs,
I lost only one, the death of that being caused
by one of the parent birds stepping on one
the day he was hatched. My squabs have
weighed one pound to a pound and three
ounces.
I have built a pen for my young squabs
as you advise to do, and 2 find that they do
very much better.
The things that I find most necessary are,
to have a clean house, water and feed, so I
clean my squab house every two weeks, and
have clean water and feed always. Juse your
self-feeder so the pigeons can feed their young
whenever they choose.
The ground of my flypens is covered with
sand, and I renew it every month. I also
use oyster grit and rock. It is placed in the
squab-house, where they can get it any time
they want it. I feed wheat and kaffir corn
and a little cracked corn now and then, but
they do not need much corn as the weather
here in Texas is warm nearly all the year
around.
I think your Homers are the best I ever
saw, and every one that sees them says the
same thing about them.
Any one starting into squab raising should
buy your Manual. I have been trying to
follow it as nearly as possible and by doing
so I think I will succeed in raising squabs.
I intend to order more pigeons of you at
once.—F, S., Texas.
SUCCESSFUL BREEDING BY THE
SISTERS OF A CHICAGO CATHOLIC
HOSPITAL. Please send us 36 pairs (Janu-
uary, 1907) the same as you did the four pairs
a short vrhile ago. Kindly send the very best
breed only.—Sister M. M., Illinois.
Note. In September, 1907, we shipped 36
pairs more Extra Plymouth Rock Homers to
the above customer, who is the sister superior
of a well-known hospital in Chicago.
NEW JERSEY FRIENDS SATISFIED.
Enclosed please find check to cover order for
24 pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and
supply of feed. We know your dealings have
been square with friends of ours in New
Jersey. We have plenty of ground here and
everything going right. Will soon have the
other houses finished up.—G,
chusetts.
INCREASED FIVE-FOLD IN SIX
MONTHS. Regarding the ten pairs of birds
I bought from you last spring, I now (Novem-
ber, 1907), have 52 pairs.—C. V., Ontario.
M., Massa-
ene ee eee ————EEEEEEEEE————____—_——___
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
218
1907
WISCONSIN HOTEL PAYING $3.50.
SQUABS WEIGHING TEN AND THREE-
FOURTHS POUNDS TO THE DOZEN. I
thought I would write you a few lines. I
want to buy some more birds from you,
seeing I am getting along so nicely with the
others you sent me. I am getting $3.50 a
dozen at the Plankaton House. They weigh
ten and three-fourths pounds to the dozen.
He said they were some of the best squabs
he had ever seen. He wants me to come
down some night to have a little talk with
me. I want to get a basket of birds from
you in about a week and about three dozen
of nest bowls and a couple of weeks later,
some more birds, if everything goes ail right.
I have some fine young birds, some of them
weighing a pound apiece. I find out that
you are a nice man to deal with and that
everything you say is all right and that the
birds cannot be praised too much. Guess I
will close, hoping everything is going good.
—S. H., Wisconsin.
STEADY GROWTH IN THREE YEARS.
ORDERS FOR SQUABS OUTRUN BIRDS,
SO MORE ARE BOUGHT. I am going to
send soon, before February (1907), probably
in a week, for 50 pairs of Plymouth Rock
Homer squab breeders, and want to engage
them at once, before the February trade
begins.
I bought of you six pairs three years ago,
since then 12 pairs, 18 pairs and 12 pairs
again. (Four orders.)
I do not yet have enough for the orders.
The birds are doing better constantly. Their
houses are better, and I know more how to
care for them, and what things are important.
Have almost finished a house—all but nests
and a little finishing of yard. It seems as
if it would be a good plan to get birds now
before the really cold weather comes.
want the Extras, best you have.—M. lI.,
Illinois.
LIVELY WORK IN MISSOURI AND THE
LARGEST SQUABS EVER SEEN. I am in
receipt of my six pairs Extra pigeons and am
very thankful to you for the care you have
taken in sending these to me. I had them
just one week when two pairs had eggs, and
was so surprised, but yesterday I was still
more surprised when I went into the pigeon
house and found four pairs setting, and two
of these had young squabs. Every one of
my neighbors is surprised to see the nice
Pigeons you sent me. E. C. Rice, I will
in every respect recommend your goods
very highly and I am sure that you will
appreciate it. These squabs are the largest
that I have ever seen. I will have one of
my f-iends take a snap shot of my pigeon
house and send you a picture-——E. B.,
Missouri.
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
ES
MORE ORDERS FOR SQUABS THAN
HE CAN FILL. HOW TO FEED SUN-
FLOWER SEEDS. I am thinking about
planting a batch of sunflower seeds. Will
you please let me know if this is a good feed
for taem, and how to feed it—either fresh
from the stalk or pick it and let it dry. I¢
would be a great saving to feed this during
the winter for me. The pigeons bought
from you are O.K., doing their duty. I have
more orders for my squabs than I can fill
and getting 35 to 40 cents apiece. I do not
do any plucking. My pigeons are doing fine
considering being locked in all the time.—
W.S., New York.
Note. Sunflower seeds are good for pigeons,
being used largely as a substitute for hemp-
seed. Cut off the heads when grown and dry
them. When you wish to feed a head. throw
it into the pen whole and the pigeons will
pick out the seeds.
READY TO KILL
These squabs are four weeks old. See how plump
and broad-breasted they are.
FLORIDA FRIENDS -ENTHUSIASTIC
OVER PLYMOUTH ROCKS. I have a friend
who is very enthusiastic over my pigeons.
He will send you an order the first of the
coming week for 48 pairs of your Extra
Plymouth Rocks such as mine Do your
best for him. Of course he expects to get
two extra pairs thrown in asa premium. My
birds are getting along very nicely—W. J. D.,
Florida.
HAS HEARD FROM HIS FRIENDS. 1
have heard from several of my friends about
your birds, stating they were very fine. I[
want to get some of your stock—S. W. H.,
Kentucky.
al
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
219
1907
WOULD NOT TRADE HIS PLYMOUTH
ROCKS FOR ANY IN HIS MONTANA
TOWN. I have had fair luck and in all the
Homers in town from different companies, I
would not trade the ones I got from you for
any of them. Friday noon, April 12, by
carelessness, some boy friends in going from
the coop let one of my fine red checkers out,
which I would not have parted with for $2.
He rose into the air and after circling once
flew away faster than I ever saw a pigeon fly
before. In discussing the matter with some
people, they think he will come back, but he
has not. Others think he has gone back to
you.—M. S., Montana.
Note. Letters like the above come to us
constantly. Guard your doors carefully.
Have springs on them so they will close with-
out attention. Homers which you raise you
can safely let fly, because they. know no
home but yours, but Homers which you buy
will fly off.
SQUABS 25 DAYS OLD.
Note that although they have been in the bowl
since hatchine, it is comparativcly free from manure.
They back up to the edge of the bowl and void into
the nest box. It is the nature of pigeons to try to
have clean nests, and they should be given a chance
by the use of nestbowls.
NO CONCEPTION OF THE BEAUTY AND
SIZE OF OUR EXTRAS. I received the
birds last evening, just 24 hours after my
order was sent in—prompt work, that.
After having read your Manual and a great
many testimonials, I was expecting som2
fine birds, but find I had no conception of the
beauty and size of your Extras. Tie compact
bodies, rich, healthy color and uniformity of
size were a thorough surprise. I am going to
follow your directions given in the Manual,
and you may count on me as a customer to
the extent of my means.—Mrs. M. F. C.,
Massachusetts. .
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN DEMAND
IN THIS GEORGIA TOWN. tnclosed find
my cueck. Send me by express six pairs
Extra blue-barred Plymouth Rock Homers,
mated. I have about got this town started
on raising pigeons. Mr. Barnes, my brother-
in-law, has just handed me your new circular.
He tells me he has ordered 12 pairs from you.
I hope you will ship him some nice birds.
His son has just bouzht some birds from the
——— and I want the birds you ship
me and his father to make him regret that he
did not order them from you. I ordered
blue-barred birds from another party some
time back and they sent me checkers. If
I did not think you would send the order as
I am sending it in, I would not send it to you.
You remember I bought a few pairs of birds
from you a little over a year ago. I have sold
a great many birds and I have about 100 to
125 pairs of working birds on hand now. I
am building me another pen that will hold
about 200 pairs.—R. H. N., Georgia.
RAISING PLYMOUTH ROCK STOCK
ONLY. BEST BIRDS EVER SEEN ANY-
WHERE. The birds came yesterday all
O. K. and were fine birds, and the hen with
a little age will also be on top. Please accept
my thanks. What I especially wanted was
solid reds and when you do get hold of such
a pair that is A No. 1. send them to me and
send me the bill. I om raising strictly
Plymouth Rock stock and have developed
some A No. 1 birds, the best I have ever seen
anywhere, and so I swear by E. C. Rice stock.
You state that not one in 100 birds are solid
reds. I know this to be a fact. When I do
go into the show I want to have the hest of
all colors and they shall he Extra Plymouth
Rock stock—R. B. W., New York.
OUR WHITE HOMERS COMPARED
WITH OUR COLORED HOMERS. I do not
know cf a man I would trust any quicker than
you. I would like to know if you have pure
white Homers that are as large, plump birds
as your colored ones are.—G. M. L., Vermont.
Answer. We charge $2.75 a pair for our
white Homers. They are fine birds, as large
as any white Homers in existence, but are not
so large as our Extra colored Homers and do
not breed so large a squab. They cost more
because they are scarcer; we sell a lot of them
for pets, for their handsome plumage, and
for undertakers.
PROLIFIC PLYMOUTH ROCKS HAVE
BRED MORE SQUABS THAN ANY PIGEONS
HE HAS. I came down to see you quite
awnile azo and bought a pair of your Plymouth
Rock Homers. Those Homers have bred
more squabs than any other pigeors I have,
and I have a good many. Will you please
send me your catalogue of prices.—T. C.,
Massachusetts.
a
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
220
1907
FIVE MONTHS’ WORK. SMALL FLOCK
QUADRUPLED. ONE OLD BIRD AND TWO
SQUABS ONLY LOST BY DEATH. BREED-
ERS OF COMMON PIGEONS MYSTIFIED.
I write you a sort of detailed statement of how
my four pairs of pigeons have done, that I
bought from you about the middle of May,
1907. One of my birds laid in ahout two
weeks after her arrival, but the eggs did not
hatch, and she laid again in about ten days
after I found her eggs were not good, and
that time she hatched all right. Two other
pairs commenced work soon after the first,
and both of them hatched all right and the
first taree pairs of squabs did well. JI have
lost one of the hens that I bought from you.
She died after raising a fine pair of squabs.
I have lost two squabs.
I now have 18 birds in all, after deducting
the three that Ilost. All of my birds are now
(October) at work, some making nests and
some sitting. :
Mine are the only Homers in this part of
the country that I know of, and every one
who sees them is charmed with them.
There are one or two parties here who are
trying to raise the common pigeons on the
same plan, that is by confining them, but are
not doing much, and cannot understand
why my birds do so much better than theirs.
They say that if I make a success of the
business they will then try Homers.
I am very fond of the business and find it
a great recreation, and very little trouble.
I attend to my birds before breakfast in the
morning and give them plenty of water, and
then at dinner time I feed them again, and
that does them until next morning They are
less trouble than anything of the kind that I
ever had anything to do with, and I believe
will be more profitable according to the amount
of capital invested.—C. A. F., Mississippi.
SECOND ORDER, BIRDS DOING WELL,
ANOTHER ORDER IN PROSPECT. I here-
with enclose you $1 in currency, for which
please send me 50 open legbands for grown
pigeons, numbered one to fifty. The last
shipment of pigeons came to hand on the
second in good shape, and are a nice lot of
birds. I am well pleased with them. My
birds are all doing well. I think that 1] shall
give you another order soon.—F. R., Missis-
sippi. (The first shipment to this customer
was made in April, 1907, the second in
October of the same year).
GREAT DEMAND FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK
SQUABS IN NEW JERSEY. I received on
May 27, 1904, one dozen pairs of your birds
and I have 200 birds at the present time.
There is a freat demand for Plymouth Rock
squabs in New Jersey. Please send me your
price on 50 pairs of your best Extra mated
birds.—N. L., New Jersey.
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
FAST START IN TWO WEEKS IN NEW
JERSEY. On April 22 I wrote you informing
you of the arrival of the birds. Now (April
29) there are two nests complete and six
others being built, which I should think was
pretty good work for birds not vet two weeks
in a strange place. The birds have been
highly praised for their fine appearance by
a number of friends and acquaintances of
mine, and of course the natural question was,
where did I get them? And as I am a pretty
good advertiser for any one that I consider
to be worthy of such advertising, I have
recommended your company as the right one
to go to if they have any idea of investing.—
J. H., New Jersey.
IN THE SNOW.
Let them out on sunny winter days.
stormy weather they are better off inside.
In cold,
FINEST BIRDS THAT HE EVER SAW
IN LOUISIANA, RESULT, MANY MORE
ORDERS. I received my birds Saturday
evening, November 2, at p.m. Found
them all in A 1 shape and are the finest birds
I ever saw. Please accept my most sincere
thanks for the extra pair and for your nice
selection. I will return your basket one day
this week, will take bill of lading for same
from express agent and forward to you date
I return same. I will send you an order for
12 pairs more about the 25th of this month.
I want to order a small shipment each month
until I get about 100 pairs of breeders.—
G. W. T., Louisiana.
PERFECTLY MATED IN WEST VIRGINIA.
I write to tell you how well my pigeons are
doing. I am very well pleased with them
as I believe they were perfectly mated and
went right to work after they were in the loft
not more than a week.—J. N. M., West
Virginia.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
22]
1907
EVERY PAIR AT WORK IN DOUBLE-
QUICK TIME. BUILDING UP A PLANT.
1 think a few lines to you is my duty. I
expected to be at your office and plant before
now. My young son got struck by a trolley
car about the time I was going to go to
Boston, and just escaped very serious results,
so I have stayed pretty close at home, but
have a vacation in july and will call on you
then.
About the birds, they are doing fine.
They went to work at once and some of them
are now on their third lot of eggs. They held
their matings, every pair. I feel very much
encouraged and appreciate your fair and
honest business principles. You will receive
orders from us in the future as we are going
to build up quite a plant.—H. I]. L., Massa-
chusetts.
SQUABS THREE WEEKS OLD.
BRANCHING OUT FROM A SMALL
BEGINNING AFTER SUCCESSFUL EXPERI-
ENCE WITH PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS
IN UTAH. I have decided to go into the
squab business on a large scale and when my
business interests are cared for will move to
Salt Lake City where I hope to work up a
good business The birds purchased from
you have been very satisfactory in every
particular and my business in the future will
be done direct with your good company. My
health is poor through confinement and I am
determined to try squab raising for the
urpose of making a success and money.—
W. B., Utah.
SQUABS AS A SIDE LINE. Please send
me two dozen wood-fibre nestbowls by
express. The birds I received from yeu
April 1 are all working satisfactorily (May
13, 1907). I do this as a side issue. I work
in the factory all day and take care of my
pigeons nights and mornings, and find it very
pleasant work.—E. D. D., Massachusetts.
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
TEN PAIRS OF SQUABS A YEAR FROM
ONE PAIR. MARKET BROADENING AND
DEMAND INCREASING. The pigeons that
I bought from you are doing nicely. Most
of them seem to be in good condition and
keep steadily at work. One pair raised ten
pairs of squabs a year and there are others
that almost equal them. I began last fall to
save those from the best breeders. I had
to kezp them in the house with the older
birds pecause I had nowhere else for them
to stay. They disturbed the pigeons through
the winter, but they are mating and getting
to work now.
I sell all the squabs I can raise to one of the
local marketmen. At first there was no sale
for them except in summer when wealthy
people from the larger cities are sojourning
here, but he bought all I had last winter. (See
note below.)
When ready for market they weigh from
two pounds to two and one-half pounds a pair.
They are white and fat and the dealer has
complimented me a number of times about
them.
I find the business very interesting and
would like to engage in it more extensively
if I could get more time to devote to the
birds, but it is impossible to do so at present.
—Miss M. D., Connecticut.
Note. The squab market has broadened
tremendously since we first began advertising
in the high class periodicals advising people
to eat squabs as well as raise them. This
habit of eating squabs has a steady hold all
the year round on thousands of families who
ten years ago did not know what a squab
was. This demand is increasing every year.
In spite of the steady growth in production
of squabs, the prices are as high, and in many
cases, higher than ten years ago.
DELAWARE MAN FINDS IN OCTOBER,
1907, THAT NEW YORK MARKETS ARE
HOLDING GOOD. PRICES ARE LIKELY
TO GO HIGHER. I received your Manual
yesterday and am very much pleased with it
and stayed up until 1.30 last night reading it.
I believe that if I follow your instructions
and make up my mind to make a success of
it, I will be able to do it. I knew a little
about pigeons before, as my brother and I
kept a flock of common pigeons when we
lived in Long Island City, but had to move
te New York City and had to do away with
them.
I have a few mongrels on hand now and
am experimenting a little, but as soon as able
will send you an order. It will not be very
large, but if your stock is as good as repre-
sented (ike your Manual) it will be all right.
I have written to New York markets for
prices and find they are still holding up good
and I believe next year they will go higher.
Hoping you the best of success.—N. H. C
Delaware.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
222
1907
OTHER HOMERS HAVE NOT THE
UALITY OF PLYMOUTH ROCK. SQUABS
EIGH FIFTEEN OUNCES, FEATHERS
OFF. On December 22, 1906, I bought three
pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from
you, and since then have had considerable
luck with them. They are the best pigeons
for breeding as well as for fancy I have yet
seen. I’ve seen other Homers similar 1
those I have but they have not the qua.2/
of the Plymouth Rock. They weigh a* “he
age of four weeks on an average 15 ount
for which send me three dozen of your wood-
fibre nestbowls by Dominion Express Co.
Also if you would send me your price list I
should be greatly obliged. I am quite well
satisfied that your pigeons are all that you
claim for them as to breeding qualities. I
have one pair of the eight you sent me last
May which have had nine hatches in ten
months, and the others were never far
behind them, and now I have quite a number
of the young ones mated up and raising
young. For a fine appearance I do not think
there is anything in pigeons could beat them.
Have followed the directions in your book
and I have not lost one bird or had one sick.
I quite expected to have sent you an order
for more breeders before now, but I have had
my. husband sick a great deal this winter
and funds would not permit of it, but I hope
to send you one before long.—Mrs. A. O.,
British Columbia.
EVERY PAIR HAS EITHER EGGS OR
SQUABS IN CALIFORNIA. I am more than
pleased with the way my birds are turning
out the squabs and intend placing an order
for more breeding stock soon. Every pair:
has either eggs or squabs and some have both.
—I. L. T., California.
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
EARNING POWER OF SMALL FLOCK
INCREASING AT NO EXPENSE. We re-
ceived our birds March 24, 1907. We had
25 pairs. They started to work in about
three weeks and we had the first squabs
about the 10th of May.
We have now (November 7, 1907) 120
young birds, and of these young birds we
have five pairs that are working. Two pairs
have already had young ones. Our entire
expense for feed to date has been $36.52.
Our expense for fitting up has been $140,
not including price of birds. We figure that
we have not made any money this year, and
still we have not lost any, and think with
more birds and a better knowledge of the
business there would be good money in it.—
F, E. B., Connecticut.
SQUABS TWELVE DAYS OLD.
POSTMASTER’S GOOD PROGRESS IN
TWELVE MONTHS. I felt like it was my
duty to write you'a few lines. Just one year
ago to day since I received my birds from
you, seven pairs Plymouth Rock Homers.
I now have 18 squabs, and 40 birds that can
fly around in the pen. That makes 58 in all.
I think that is doing remarkably weil for 12
months’ time. I am also trying to raise
poultry. i have a fine place here for that
purpose and thought that I could attend to
that between times. I am postmaster here.
After I get started and there is good money
in it, I will sell out-my store and do nothing
else but raise squabs and poultry.—F. L. H.,
Illinois.
USED GRAPE-VINE STICKS FOR NEST-
ING MATERIAL. The pigeons bought are
doing well. The flying pen is covered with
grape vines. I neglected to put in any
nesting material. All the pigeons have
squabs, so they used great grapevine sticks,
some as large as my finger.—W. E., Massa-
chusetts.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
223
1907
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
STRONG MATINGS LAST TO THE STATE
OF WASHINGTON AND SEVEN PAIRS OUT
OF FOURTEEN HAVE EGGS WITHIN TWO
WEEKS, REST DRIVING. Received your
shipment of 14 pairs of Homers about two
weeks ago. There are seven pairs of them
on eggs today and the rest are all driving.
They were all in first-class condition except
one cock, which seemed to have had his neck
hurt, as he could not hold his head up nor
eat anything, and he died. Thank you for
your promptness and the two pairs free.—
H. G. M., State of Washington.
VERY SUCCESSFUL WISHES TO BUY
MORE. Could you tell us of a place where
we could sell our pigeon manure? We have
some four or five bushels. We have been
very successful with our Homers. Starting
with 12, we now have about 60 or 70. We
want to buy some more breeders.—G. P.,
Missouri.
SQUABS A FEW DAYS OLD.
KENTUCKY WOMAN’S SUCCESS WITH
FAST-BREEDING PLYMOUTH ROCKS.
About 18 months ago we purchased from you
six pairs of your Extra mated Homers, each
pair a different color. These birds have done
extra ‘90d work for us and have been more
than satisfactory in every way. We have on
hand now about 50 mated birds and about
100 youngsters; some of which ought soon to
mate. The birds are all in good condition,
moulting, but in spite of that some are still
at work.—Mrs. C. P. M., Kentucky.
ALL MATED, QUICK IN GETTING TO
WORK IN DISTANT TEXAS. The pigeons
that I got from you last Thursday are getting
along just fine. Two pairs have nests and
as far as I can see they are all mated. The
Extra hens, it took them just about a week,
which is fine. The Wells Fargo would not
ship the crate collect on delivery, so I paid
them ten cents for shipping. I am well
pleased with the birds —G. J. W., Texas.
SQUARS TWICE AS LARGE AS THOSE
FROM HOMERS FROM ORDINARY
SOURCES. My birds purchased of you have
been doing splendidly, under rather adverse
circumstances because of the lack of care
occasioned by my constant absence from
home. Since entering into the business, I
have taken special note of different pens in
various parts of the State, of pigeons pur-
chased elsewhere, and find to my entire
satisfaction that none are as fine or finer than
my birds. I have been unable to keep an
exact tab on the rate at which they breed
but I notice that certain pairs exceed others
in this capacity and have been exceedingly
satisfactory.
As to size of squabs, I can best tell you in
the words of one of my customers upon her
first purchase: * Why, Mr. Cantey, I never
saw such large, fat things in my life. I had
to stuff and bake them, instead of broiling.
They are twice as large as any I have been
getting elsewhere. I wouldn’t mind if they
were smaller.” This is her unvarnished
statement. I will send you a photograph of
my pen in a few days.—H. C., South Carolina.
OUR MATED PAIRS GO RIGHT TO WORK
IN KANSAS. I have delayed writing in order
to see how the birds were going to turn out.
Can say that I am very much pleased with
them. They were delayed in Junction City
from Saturday until Monday, but arrived
in good shape. One male had its eyes
pecked until it couldn’t see, but I took it out
and bathed the swelling and it was all O.K.
in a few days. I have four eggs and three
more nests are being built, so you see they
are going right to work. have them so
tame that I can hardly keep from stepping
on them when I gs into the house. I will
probably want more the first of the year and
if I do I will certainly order from you.—
C. E. T., Kansas.
VIRGINIA CUSTOMER A STEADY
BUYER. I enclose check for ten pairs blue
and blue checker Bree gine pigeons. Ship per
Adams Express to me. intend to order in
lots until I have 300 pairs. My old birds
are doing well. I now have 18 pairs including
squabs.—H. T.I1., Virginia. (This customer’s
first purchase was eight pairs, shipped in
June, 1907. At this writing, November,
1907, he has sent in four more orders. His
wife gave him a birthday surprise by ordering
20 pairs which we shipped so that they
reached him on his anniversary.)
NO SUBSTITUTES WANTED, BUT SOME-
THING JUST AS GOOD. I want to make
another order by the 25th of this month
(October, 1907). The last pigeons you
shipped me were beauties and I would like
to have some more just as good.—C. O.,
Alabama.
Haeneeee eee eee en ——————— ee
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMORS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK souas COMPANY
224
1907
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
BIRDS WELL-MATED, WENT TO WORK
AT ONCE. ONE OF HER SQUABS
WEIGHED ONE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS.
HER HOUSE WAS ON THE GROUND AND
RATS GOT AT THE SQUABS. I bought my
first pigeons of you and put them in my
house on March 21, 1907. They were in fine
shape and eyery one thought them the
haadsomest birds they had ever seen. I had
25 pairs. I think my first squab hatched
April 21, and about all the birds were at
work then, I think. I had my first two
squabs on my own table and one of them
whe. all dressed ready for baking weighed
one pound and a half. Can any one beat
that? I have not kept account of the
number I have sold, but could have made
a good thing of it if the rats had not got in.
I sell them here in Scituate to the butcher
for 20 cents apiece. While I was away this
summer the one that took care of my birds
for me sold a number of pairs of squabs to
breed from for 50 cents a pair. I shall sell
no more at that price. I have followed your
Manual as nearly as I could in regard to
feeding the birds and find my birds are big
and fat and I have not had one sick one
among them all. Neither have been
troubled with lice. When I came home this
September I took account of stock and found
that I had just 16 pairs of birds left. You
see the rats did us great harm, but we had the
house raised and now I am sending for ten
pairs more of the Extra Homers and hope
to make a good thing of the squab business
after this. I shall keep an exact account of
all my birds. There are a number of people
around here that keep pigeons, but I think
mine are the best birds of them all. Those
that see mine want to have birds of the same
kind. I think you will have some orders soon
if you have not done so already from some
that have seen mine and want birds like
them. I got my birds to make money with
and I am going to do it if it is to be done.
And I am sure it is. I think your Manual is
a fine thing to have if one is going to do any-
thing in the squab business. When I want
to know anything about the business I
always look in the Manual and I can most
always find my answer. I should not want
to get along without the book.
Enclosed please find post-office money order
for the ten pairs of Extra Homers and other
goods I sent for. I wish to thank you for
the extra pair of birds you so kindly offer to
send. I hope to send for more birds before
many months if these do well. I took a
Picture of my pen with some of the birds in
it to-day, and if good will send you one.—
Mrs, J. H. H., Massachusetts.
Note. Rats burrow in the dirt and raise
their families in these holes. When the floor
of the squab-house is on the ground, the rats
breed out of sight and out of reach, then they
get into the squab-house quickly. As we
say in the Manual, the floor of the squab-
house must be elevated two feet, then there
will be no rats, for they will not start breeding
in the open air under such a house.
LOST ONLY ONE OLD BIRD AND ONE
SQUAB IN FIVE MONTHS’ BREEDING IN
MISSISSIPPI. Please let me know what
you will let me have about four pairs of first-
class pigeons for. My pigeons are doing
finely. I have 16 now (September, 1907),
just twice the number I bought of you in
April. Ihave lost one of the old ones and one
of the squabs. J have enlarged my quarters
and want to enlarge my flock somewhat.
I have one pair setting and two pairs have
just raised a pair each and are ready for
business —C. A. Mississippi.
NEST OF TOBACCO STEMS.
Some birds build a neat, compact nest like the above,
and like tobacco stems to work with.
GENEROUS AND HONORABLE DEAL-
INGS. I received to-day by mail a leg-band
outfit complete, with which I am very much
pleased, and wish to thank you very much
for same. If at any time I can do anything
for you, don't hesitate to acquaint me of it,
as J would like to show my appreciation for
your generous and honorable dealings with
me. My pigeons are al! doing finely and I
have quite a bunch of fine young birds.
Thanking you again for your kindness and
extraordinary promptness.—W. G., New
Jersey.
SICK BIRD REPLACED. I received your
postal today and was agreeably surprised to
hear that you are willing to replace our sick
bird. I hardly expected to receive such
honest treatment. It is a relief to find an
honest man these days. That bird we wish
to replace is a hen. All the other birds
are getting along finely. —F.A., Massachusetts.
——— eee
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
225
1907
RAPID BREEDING. CONTENTED MIND
AND A CLEAR RECOMMENDATION FOR
PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. This is the
first time I have had occasion to write you a
for a year, so here it is briefly. Being a
business man myself, I know the value of
time. I put 21 pairs Plymouth Rock Homers
in loft August 6, 1906. Have sold and eaten
ten and one-half dozen squabs. Have on
hand to-day, October 8, 1907, 80 pairs mated
breeders and near the end of the moulting
season. I have about a dozen not ready for
market and about a dozen pairs of eggs,
divided between two lofts, 40 pairs in each
and outside of fear of rats. I have a contented
mind and a clear recommend for Plymouth
Rock Homers.—W. T. P., Ohio.
RAISED FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRAS.
‘In sending the above picture he writes: “The
parents I got from you. I refused ten dollars a pair
for one pair this winter. I have seen several large
squab ranches in Delaware but on all of them I never
saw any birds that could throw such birds as those
sold by you.”
MONTANA MAN LIKES OUR STYLE OF
DOING BUSINESS. Received vour notice
of shipment of birds yesterday (Sunday 29)
and received the four pairs of fine Extra
Homers to-day (30th) all in good shape.
They are all fine birds and we are much
pleased with them. It was very kind and
generous of you people to send an extra pair
free of charge, and also drinker and bowls
as we did not expect either. If this our first
‘venture proves successful, you can_ rest
assured you shall hear from us again. I like
your style of doing business.—H. S. C.,
Montana.
A TREAT TO BE TREATED WELL. The
eleven pairs of birds (second order) arrived
here yesterday and all in first-class condition.
I shall place another ordet shortly, as I have
to complete the buildings, and I am highly
pleased at the manner your firm does business.
It is a treat to know that one’s order is filled
satisfactorily —J. N., Virginia.
ED
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
1908
SQUABS SOLD TO HOTEL FOR FIFTY
CENTS A PAIR IN KENTUCKY. I received
your shipment of six pairs of Extra Homers,
all in good condition; tnank you for the Extra
hen. ‘This was the finest lot of Homers I ever
saw in size and plumage, which is so uniform
that it is hard to tell one from the other. I
will send for another order some time next
month. I sold three pairs of squabs this
morning at 50 cents per pair to the hotel,
and they say that my squabsare fine. (Later.)
Find enclosed money order for which send me
six pairs of your Extra nest-mated Homers,
checkered and uniform in plumage. Every
pair I have are working and some have two
nests; one has three young squabs, which I
think is unusual.—A. H., Kentucky.
FIVE YEARS OF SUCCESS BY A NEW
YORK STATE WOMAN. In October of
1902 1 sent you a check for $102.75 for
pigeons. My pigeons have done very well.
I ship to New York each week. I have just
been reading: your new squab book of 1907
and would very much like the address of the
firm you quote in appendix on page 141 and
top first. column page 143. Kindly send it
to me thereby helping an old customer.
Also kindly send me price of the new drinking
fountain spoken of in your Manual. I need
three new ones and if satisfactory as to price
will buy of you.—Miss O. W., New York.
STOCK DOUBLED IN MOULTING SEA-
SON. We have sent you to-day an order for
grain for which we hope you will send as soon
as possible. We bought stock from you
several times, the first order sent in about
June 1. Since that time (three months) the
stock has doubled. We expect to place a
large order in the spring along about March.
We have about 75 birds in stock at present
and started with a stock of 32. We shall
have to have a few white birds in our next
order. What is the price of the white stock
at present? Hoping you will send us the
grain soon.—C. & F., Massachusetts.
FAST NESTING BY MATED PAIRS IN
TEXAS. My birds received August 10 and
turned into pen; the 17th they were building
their nests, making sever days from arrival—
all the birds in good shape. One did not fly
on perch for about two minutes, but after this
time have nothing wrong with them. They
have certainly proven all that you have recom-
mended of them and as to nesting have beaten
your figures quite a bit. Thanking you for
your extra favor, will do more business as
soon as I locate where I will make my squab
farm.—G. R., Texas.
MANUAL WORTH TEN DOLLARS. I am
very much pleased with your Manual and
think it worth $10. I shall send you an order
for breeding stock some time this month,
and grain and supplies, just as quick as I can
get my house built —T. H., Massachusetts.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
226
APPENDIX E
(Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice.)
(Above pictures copyright, 1907, by Elmer C. Rice.)
CARNEAUX. BIG, RED PIGEONS.
The Carneau (pronounced car-no; plural Carneaux, pronounced the same) breed is new to this
country. These pigeons are larger than the Homers and breed squabs weighing over a pound
apiece. Plumage almost invariably copper red (rare specimens yellow) splashed a little with
white; long body; broad breast: shape of head and body, and poise of body, different from
other varieties; quiet disposition, not so timid as other breeds; meat of squabs uncommonly
white; have no homing qualities; they may be allowed to fly, if desired, after a fortnight’s con-
finement, will stay around the place where they are fed, will not try to fly back to place where
bred; feed their young steadily and well; breed nine to ten pairs of squabs per year; are housed,
fed and handled same as Homers; strong, rugged build. The above pictures give a very good
idea of this variety. A customer in Greensburg, Penn., writes: ‘‘ This is the first time in my
life to receive a circular picturing anything which gave a true picture; your picture is true to
life in every detail. Everybody who sees my Carneaux is greatly taken with them. In every
way they are doing splendidly.”
I spent several months in Europe in 1906, partly to study in their home the
Carneaux pigeons, which then were just becoming known in America and
were recommended in sensational terms. It was my purpose to see the
evidence at first hand and find out if the claims were founded on fact. My
investigations were favorable to this breed but I have waited two years to
see how the birds would breed in our own lofts and in the lofts of customers.
At this writing we have sold about a thousand pairs of Carneaux and orders
for more are cominginfast. Previous to our importing this breed, there were
about 600 pairs of Carneaux in America. :
In our long experience with pigeons, we have never known such a demand
227
228 NATIONAL SHAINDARD SOOAS SOG ie
as there isfor Carneaux. Six dollars a pair may be obtained by anybody who
has the breeders for sale. Youngsters weaned and able to stand shipment
sell for three dollars a pair. ‘Lhe squabs sell alive for ten dollars to twelve
dollars a dozen. It costs no more to feed and raise these birds than other
pigeons. ‘lhe selling price both for squabs and breeders being so much
larger, that is why the profit is larger. On account of the tremendous demand
for these birds for breeders, nobody is selling the squabs from them killed, but
if they ever get so numerous that squabs are marketed from them, the price
will be the very top notch.
This breed has been developed by the pigeon breeders of Belgium. There
are some Carneaux in France and Germany, but they are inferior in size and
beauty to the Belgian birds, and few in number.
They are not very plentiful in Belgium. We have made arrangements for
the output of all the adult, perfect pairs of Carneaux the breeders of Belgium
can furnish, fit for breeding, but so far they have not been able to furnish us
more than 200 pairs a month, so scarce are the birds. We hope to get more
from them. We have saved out 500 pairs Carneaux and are breeding them at
our farm. We can supply Carneaux imported by us, or (in limited number)
bred by us from birds of our importation.
Why is the demand for Carneaux so much greater than the supply? Just
this: They eat no more than Homers, but breed faster, and breed bigger
squabs.
In other words, they not only produce more squabs than the Homers, but
the squabs bring at least one-third more money. The breeder making a
profit from Homers will make more than double his profits with Carneaux.
For years, the study has been to produce a pigeon larger than the Homer
which would breed faster than the Homer. ‘This has been accomplished in the
Carneaux. We know it by our own investigation and actual breeding of this
variety, and we know it by the experiences of our customers.
The big breeds, all of which we have tried, such as Runts, Maltese, Italians
(personally selected in Italy), breed big squabs, but they breed with exasperat-
ing slowness. Crossed with Homers, the rate of breeding is improved, but
the squabs are no larger than from our Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, so it is
far better to breed the straight Extra Homers.
The Carneaux breed squabs weighing a pound or more apiece and they
breed nine pairs to ten pairs of squabs a year. For these two reasons, we
believe that the Carneaux will displace the Homers in time. It will take
many years because the Homers have a strong hold now and the Carneaux are
scarce. Nevertheless, the cash returns from squabs weighing 12 pounds and
14 pounds to the dozen give a great profit to the breeder, and profits are what
all squab breeders are after.
Any one who has both Homers and Carneaux can get in a year from each
pair of Carneaux 15 or more pairs of squabs. Theoretically this is impossible
for any pigeons. However, the Carneaux have help from the Homers. Just
how this done is fully explained by us at the end of this article in the para-
graph headed, “ How to Breed Fifteen Pairs of Squabs from One Pair of Car-
neaux in One Year.” Gjentees :
One of our customers, a Southern gentleman, visited our farm in the fall of
1906. He liked the looks of the Carneaux and on returning home later sent
for three pairs, which we shipped him December 26, 1906. On February 13,
1907, he wrote us asking how many pairs we could give him. He took all we
could then supply at $6.00 a pair, giving the following endorsement of his first
i aN DIE 229
purchase: ‘‘ The three pairs I got December 2& have raised six squabs and
are setting again (February 20), and I have not had them 60 days yet. Sa
far they beat the Homers.’’ Under date of April 29, he wrote us. “‘ I have
now, in my lofts, between 800 and 900 birds. Have Maltese, Mondaines,
Carneaux and Homers, but the Carneau is the favorite bird with every-
body that sees them. Have nearly 100 of these now and they are very rapid
breeders, raising squabs that weigh from one to one and one-half pounds each.
Have not sold any yet, but have enough orders on hand for them, at $6.00 a
pair, to take all that I can raise for some time tocome. Think at the present
rate I can get eight to ten pairs a year from them.”’ Under date of December
13, 1907, he wrote us as follows: ‘‘ I have now something over 100 pairs of
Carneaux. Have sold a few pairs and could have sold many more, but
wanted my stock to accumulate and get as many breeders on hand as pos-
sible. They are the best birds for squab raising that I have ever seen, and I
believe I have seen them all. They breed faster, eat less, are hardier, better
setters and feeders, and gentler than any of the other breeds, and tor beauty
they are unsurpassed. I have all told now about 3000 birds in my lofts.
Have been very successful with my plant so far. May want some more
Carneaux from you later on.”’
A customer in Missouri bought four pairs of Carneaux and liked them well
enough to buy six more pairs three months later, saying: “‘ lam keeping an
accurate record, which promises to be something startling for the year. Two
pairs went to work (laid eggs) within 10 days. The third pair went to work in
26 days. The fourth hen was not so well along in the moult and did not lay.
until November 8. The average weight of squabs at four weeks old has been
17.6 ounces, weighed without crops filled with feed. The four pairs have
made nine nests in less than 90 days, or a total average production of better
than nine pairsa year. The actual average production is better than this, of
course, as it wouldn’t be fair to count an average until all birds are at work.
I have found them to be all that is desirable in a pigeon. They are yood
feeders and do not use more feed than the Homers.”’
In November, 1907, we shipped 21 pairs of our Carneaux to a Philadelphia
breeder, who replied: ‘‘ To say I am pleased, these words do not express it.
They are the finest lot of birds I have seen anywhere. My friend, who
imported 25 pairs of Carneaux some time ago from Belgium, is very much
disappointed with his Carneaux since he has seen the shipment you sent me.
I shall endeavor to do all I can for the interest of your house in the way of
orders. I received the 21 pairs of Carneaux Saturday, 8.30 p.m. On Mon-
day, at 10 o’clock in the morning, nine pairs of the birds sent had almost
completed nine nests in their new home (in a little over one day). Tnis seems
remarkable to me and I write you these few lines to get your opinion of the
work they have done.”’
Other breeders, not our customers, who have bred the Carneaux, praise
them as follows: i
“They will easily average three squabs a year in excess of select Homers.
A conservative estimate of squab weight under favorable conditions is 18
ounces.”
‘““ They average nearly a pair of squabs per month. For fancy and squab
producing qualities, the Carneaux easily lead all.”
‘* No questicn about Carneaux. They are it.”
“‘T have only two pairs. Results are so satisfactory that I am clearing
lofts to devote exclusively to Carneaux.”
230 INCA IMMOUN AGES) il AUN IDIAUIRID) S(O) (Ul AUIEs JE OOS,
‘‘ The Carneaux boom has struck this country for fair.”’
‘‘ The Carneaux exceed all others in point of squab producing, not only in
numbers and weight, but also in the clarity of the skin, the palatableness of
the flesh, and prolific nature.”
‘The consensus of opinion seems to be that the Carneaux will produce 10
pairs, or 20 pounds of squabs per pair to the year, while some place the
average higher. Few place it lower.”
‘* All I have read has been substantiated by my own personal experience.
Their yearly yield is from 10 to 11 pairs of squabs.”’
‘* My experience with Carneaux is limited to two years. They are great.
The Carneaux will occupy the place of honor in loft and showroom. Ten
pairs of squabs is the yield per year.”
‘“T have bred them two years. Carneaux are as superior to the Homer as
the Homer is to the common pigeon. It is the rule rather than the exception
for the Carneaux to produce nine pairs of white-meated squabs a year which
will average one pound each. My experience proves conclusively that they
will produce twice as many pounds of squabs in a year as the ordinary birds
now generally used as squab breeders, and one of the most conspicuous points
in their favor is the fact that the cost of keeping them is no more,”’
A few advertisers of pigeons who live inland, not in a seaport city,
may ‘‘run down’”’ imported pigeons, saying they are no good, culls, not
acclimated, poor breeders, and so forth, ad nauseam. The reason why these
soreheads fret so is, that it is impossible for them to import pigeons success-
fully. To do this successfully, steadily, profitably, one must live on the sea-
board, close to where the Antwerp steamers come, and must have a personal
acquaintance with the officers of the steamships, and see them at every sail-
ing, and pay them for their work in caring for the birds. The reason why
those who decry imported pigeons do not sell them is simply that they cannot
get them, or, if they think they can get them, they wish to sell something in
which there is a greater profit. We have seen not much talk of this kind, in
opposition to imported pigeons, but it will be indulged in more or less as the
traffic in Carneaux increases. The trade calling for Carneaux in America
must be supplied with imported birds or go without them, for nobody can
ship day by day, steadily, Carneaux of his own raising. You should be sure
and get Carneaux which have been in this country at least one or two months,
and have got their sea-legs off, for it is our experience that the long voyage
results in a goodly percentage of dead and injured birds, depending on the
weather and the caretakers.
That imported Carneaux go to work quickly is indicated by the letter of
the Philadelphia gentleman above quoted, nine pairs out of 21 pairs having
built nests within two days after delivery to him.
Our trade in Carneaux is increasing every month and we expect to sell
many thousand pairs in 1908 and 1909. We recommend them to our cus-
tomers. We do not wish anybody to take our word for their excellence.
Try them alongside of your Homers and form your own opinion. Anybody
who buys Carneaux of us and is not perfectly satisfied with them, and that all
we say here is true, after six months’ trial, may exchange them for our Extra
Piven Rock Homers at the rate of three pairs of Homers for one pair of
varneaux.
LANE LID INEM. Gi) 231
HOW TO BREED FIFTEEN PAIRS OF SQUABS FROM ONE
PAIR OF CARNEAUX IN ONE YEAR.
(Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice).
During the first eight months of the year, January to August, the
Carneaux may be robbed of their eggs twice a month and they wil'
lay again about 10 days later.
A pair of Carneaux build a nest, and the two eggs are laid. On
the day they are laid \or the second or third day, if the first day is not
convenient for you) you take away the two eggs from the Carneaux
nest and carry them in your hands to the pen where you have
Homers breeding. You look around in the pen until you find a nest
with Homer eggs. You throw these Homer eggs away, putting in
their place the two Carneaux eggs. The Homers keep right on sit-
ting and hatch out, not their own eggs, but the two Carneaux eggs,
and raise the two Carneaux squabs.
Meantime, the pair of Carneaux from which you took the eggs
wish more eggs, and within 10 days to 14 days the hen lays again.
Now, as you did at first, you take away these two eggs from the
Carneaux and put them under Homers.
Do not take away the third setting of eggs from the Carneaux.
Let the eggs stay in the Carneaux nest and the Carneaux will hatch
and raise them.
For example, a Camiean hen lays two eggs June 1. Take them
away and substitute them for the eggs in a Homer nest. The
Carneau hen will lay again June 10 to June 15. Take the two eggs
away and substitute them for the eggs ina Homer nest. The Car-
neau hen will lay again June 25to July 1. This will give you three
settings of eggs from one pair in 30 days. Let the Carneaux raise
the third setting and then repeat the process.
During the last four months of the year, take away the eggs only
once and let the female Carneau set on the second pair of eggs.
From 15 pairs to 18 pairs of squabs from one pair of Carneaux
may be produced in one year by the above method. With Carneaux
selling for six dollars a pair, of course it pays to use Homers to
increase the supply of Carneaux. With ordinary success, in follow-
ing this method, the capacity of a pair of Carneaux may be doubled.
COMMENT ON ABOVE.
We do not think this forcing method would have the slightest effect on the
health of the Carneaux. Hens and ducks lay a great many more egzs than
232 NATIONAL SAIN DARD SOWAB. BOOTS
pigeons. It is not much strain on the female pigeon to lay four or six eggs
a month instead of two. The strain of production comes from setting on the
eggs day after day, not in laying the eggs, we should guess.
Why not take away all the Carneaux eggs and hatch them under Homers,
some may ask. We do not believe in this, as far too unnatural. The Car-
neaux should be given an opportunity to raise the third setting, for that is
what they are striving for.
This method has been tested thoroughly with birds purchased from us and
it works all right. There is nothing far-fetched about it. You simply take
the eggs away and let Homers hatch them out. At the same time, simple as
this plan is, it has never been published before, to our knowledge, nor has it
ever been tried except by a few breeders of our acquaintance. It is not
uncommon for breeders of fancy pigeons of poor feeding and raising qualities
to put their eggs under Homers, but no motive for doubling the squab pro-
duction from certain pigeons has ever existed until today, when it is money
in the breeder’s pocket to turn out all the six-dollar pairs of Carneaux he can
in the shortest space of time.
In following the above directions the breeder should realize that the
Carneaux eggs must replace Homer eggs laid within two days of the same
time, otherwise the bird milk of the Homers will be too old and thick, and
the young Carneaux cannot assimilate it and may die.
(Later. January 1, 1909.)
Another year of breeding and shipping the Carneaux has substantiated
our opinion of them, and the orders from customers have been added pxoof.
On page 229 we mention a V/estern customer who started with four pairs
of our Carneaux, then added six pairs. He was so pleased with results that
in 1908 he ordered 30 pairs more, then again 35 pairs, and finally in November,
1908, an order for 150 pairs amounting to $900. No more comment con-
cerning his opinion of our Carneaux is needed—his money tells an eloquent
story. This customer is an experienced pigeon breeder.
From the letters of other customers to whom we sold Carneaux in 1908,
we make the following extracts. The full letters are on file at our Boston
office, where they will be produced at any time to satisfy anybody as to their
genuineness:
Enclosed find check for $30 for which please send me five pairs of your Carneaux birds. I
bought one pair of you some time ago and am much pleased with them.
Please ship me two more pairs of Carneaux as soon as possible. The other two pairs you
shipped are doing nicely.
The eight pairs of Carneaux received from you April 25 have behaved beautifully with the
exception of one pair. Nine days from date of arrival one pair had a nest and twoeggs. Today
(May 26) I have four pairs of squabs and expect three more pairs the last of this week. “hey
surely have followed President Roosevelt's prolific policy. Iam greatly pleased and am be-
coming interested in the possibilities of squab raising with the Carneaux. Regarding the
pair that have not turned out right, I will ask your advice. The female (the smallest bird
of all) laid two eggs in a bow! without any nesting material and left them to spend her time with
her male partner in the flying pen. I will thank you in advance for any advice you can give
regarding this negligent pair.
I thought it might interest you to know how the Carneaux have done that I bought of you
in 1907. In June, 1907, I bought of you two pairs, in September one pair, in December, 1907,
one pair, and I now (December 17, 1908) have 21 pairs mated and working. I have 114 birds
not yet mated, and have sold $44 worth of mated pairs and young not mated. Do you not think
I have done well? I find the Carneauxa most charming bird, very tame, and they never leave the
av ledeid INE DCTs; 233
nest when setting when you approach them. They feed their young fine, and raise squabs that
weigh from 12 to 18 and 20 ounces at one month old. I have one pair of young mated last Jan-
uary that I have been offered $10 for. I find much pleasure in mating up these birds, and I
think I have got as good foundation stock as I could get anywhere. The Carneaux judge at the
show told me that one of the hens purchased from you was as good a Carneau hen as he had ever
seen. I have one young pair that have been breeding several months and they are averaging
a pair of squabs a month, and have never lost a single squab. Their hatches are usually one or
two days inside of a month. My Carneaux are very fast breeders, and I find by mating rightly
I can increase their speed in breeding. They are everlastingly at it. I have got so much at-
tached to the Carneaux that if there was no money in raising them I still would want a good
flock of them. What could you sell me 100 pairs for, and how soon could you deliver them to me ?
The birds which you sent me on Monday arrived here Wednesday at 10 o’clock in good
condition. The Carneaux are great and I wish to thank you for the extra Homer hen. It is
a dandy. My other two pairs of mated Homers have eggs now and my first pair of Carneaux
have young ones. I am delighted as your birds and dealings are first class. You can be.
that I'll be writing for more as soon as possible.
I have now over 150 pairs of Carneaux. Your birds (Carneaux) have done well. I am now
shipping 20 dozen per week and getting $4 per dozen. If it would keep up that way all the
year here (Florida) I would ask for no better business. I shall be in Boston later on in the year
and will call on you. I much want to see your Carneaux.
The Carneaux birds arrived in noble condition. We are very much pleased with them, and
every one here that has seen them cannot get through talking about them. We certainly
appreciate your promptness and methods in doing busihess and must say that you do more
than you promise to. Will in a few days write you for more supplies that we will be in need
of. Again thanking you for the way you have treated our order, we can give you our hearty
support in any way that the buying public may demand of you, and you are at liberty to use
this letter wherever it is of any value to you.
We received the three pairs of Carneaux April 27. They were in good condition, only one
seems a little dull, but I think it will be all right. They are the largest pigecns I ever saw and
are all that you claim them to be. When we have room we want to get more from you. One of
our neighbors is going to start raising pigeons and wants me to sell him my squabs. I had to
refuse and told him I thought Mr. Rice would furnish him with all the birds he wants, so I give
you his name.
My Carneaux birds are doing fine, in fact, I am more than pleased with them. I have had
ten settings and have just weighed a squab at one week old and it weighed a pound. We could
hardly believe our eyes, but itis true. J am delighted with them. Any time I can help you in
any way in regard to using my name you are welcome in regard to your Carneaux, as we think
they are the only kind of pigeons to raise and we will get rid of all our Homers and raise only
Carneaux.
I have been so very busy with Carneaux, chickens, hens, etc., that I have found no time to
write before. I think the birds are very handsome and on May 8, every pair (16) had nests
and eggs. I expect they will begin to hatch the first young ones about May 14, tomorrow.
I would like to ask you whether you have three pairs of Carneaux mated, as I am very much
pleased with my first pair. They are all you claim them to be in size and have just finished
building their nest. ;
The Carneaux arrived all O.K. on the 12th. Yesterday four of them built nests and laid
oneeggeach. I call this fast work. Accept my thanks for quality of birds.
Some months ago I wrote you in regard to the pair of solid red Carneaux which I purchased
of you last December to show at the Rochester Pigeon Show last January. Ihe cock took first
prize and the hen second prize. My Carneaux are doing fine and I find much in them that is
very interesting. I have raised a fine lot of young Carneaux this year and they are all from
your stock. My squab Homers are doing fine and I still have every one of the original 12 pairs
I purchased of you November 9, 1904, and they are all working right along.
I have received your Carneaux in fine shape, and they are as fine birds as I have. J am very
much pleased with them.
I wish to say that the four pairs of Carneaux my brother got of you last November have raised
16 fine birds.
234 NATIONAL. STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
I am more than pleased with the pair of Carneaux which I got from you and send another
order for two more pairs. I have the finest Homers I have ever seen but they look very small
beside the Carneaux and if the Carneaux breed well I will send for more orders.
I am very much pleased with my Carneaux and will be glad to send you photoer,
as 1 get some. I had the address of a man in this Sinn who elie. to Tee soe ea
breeder of Carneaux and Homer pigeons. 1 wrote him for a price on red, and red and white
birds, just in those words, and he said, yes, he had just what I wanted at $2.50 each. three for
$6, and he would make a personal selection of the birds, which were second prize winners.
But you ought to have seen the birds he sent me, not near as good as my own. I returned
them to him, but he said they were just what I ordered and that 1 expected to get show birds
under the pretence of ordering breeding birds, also he did not ship birds on approval at this
time of year. He had the advantace as he held my money. He said show birds demanded a
big price. He refused a price of $150 for one bird in his exhibit at State Fair. Now, I saw
those Carneaux and they were no better than some of mine. One of the pairs I bought from
you last Spring throw some elegant birds. As I am an amateur I suppose I must learn that all
pigeon dealers are not white. I had no idea of showing my birds, but as this dealer seemed to
be afraid I would, I think it would be a good idea to go in and show him that '* there are others.”’
If I have as good luck next season as I have this year, I think Ican doit. Three of the females
are from this best pair I mentioned. All three pairs hatched seven pairs young, working right
through the moult,
The shipment of Carneaux arrived just a month ago and is very satisfactory. Nine of the
ten pairs are mated, and seven have squabs. The birds arrived several days before the nappies,
but they adapted themselves to circumstances. One pair nested in a grit box, another pair
in the oyster-shell box and three pairs on the floor. The nest bowls arrived just in time to
save the drinking fountain.
The pair of Carneaux received in good shape, and am well pleased with them. Think they
will soon be at work, have commenced to drive. Will want another pairin a few weeks. Every
one that has seen them says they beat everything they have ever seen.
The three pairs of Carneaux and seven pairs of Homers arrived here March 25. The Carneaux
are very large, fiae birds. There are several squab raisers here (California). One man has
8000 birds and another has 5000, mostly Homers, but when they saw my Carneaux they nearl
went wild. I am going to order more Carneaux in a few days but not until I see what they will
do. I will clear my lofts of Homers as fast as I can and stock up with Carneaux if they prove
to be even as good a breeder as the Homer.
The Carneaux are doing fine. One pair went to setting within 24 hours after arrival. The
other pair laid two eggs without building a nest so of course are not setting, but I believe they
are building now as they ‘tay indoors a great deal of the time. Am writing you this as I
thought it might be of terest to you to know how your birds are doing that you sold. I
brought the doctor with whom you have been corresponc ng in regard to the Carneaux, around
to see my birds and told him of the very good work the, have done and he seemed very much
pleased with them. What are 100 of these birds worth? I believe in time they will take the
place of the Homers.
The three pairs of Extra Homers and three pairs Carneaux arrived this morning in fine condi-
tion, and are a fine lot of birds. I am well pleased with them They seem to be in a hurry to
get to work, as one of the Carneaux laid this afternoon. I think all of them will be on eggs in
afew days. Will want more breeders later, when you will hear from me. Thank you forsend-
ing me such good birds.
As I have promised you, this lady has ordered me to get more Carneaux for her. She is very
proud of the five pairs yousold her. She has got the Carneaux fever for fair. So here you are,
kindly have ready for next Saturday afternoon, we will call for them, five pairs of your best
Carneaux. Kindly note, she will want more in about two weeks. She has given me the money
already, so it is up to you to do your best. In hernameI thank you. I will call next Saturday
about 1 p.m. for them if you can get them ready.
Please advise me if the Carneaux pigeons purchased from you November 23 are imported
birds, or are they bred by you from the imported stock. The birds are doing excellent work.
I purchased 20 pairs and at this writing have 20 nests. Every bird in the loft has eggs or squabs,
of the lot purchased, 20 pairs.
I am well pleased with the pair of Carneaux which arrived Saturday in good condition.
Please send me three more pairs of same on the same conditions, for which I enclose herewith $18.
AIP EAS IS ID IAG, Se 235
I thank you for your compliments regarding my success at recent leading shows with my
Carneaux. Three years ago in one of my consignments of pigeons from abroad, I received
a few pairs of Carneaux. I kept them and bred several fine specimens. I am not a regular
pigeon dealer. Jama fancier more. I work every day at my trade. Pigeons with me are a
side issue. I have bought of you since December last over $148 of Carneaux, all for a few
customers. . Now these exhibitions in different cities I made have created a furore and everybody
is after me for Carneaux. One party says, ‘“‘ A man like you that exhibits such fine Carneaux
must have some fine ones at your lofts. I want your Carneaux,” etc. I will send you an order
for five pairs and 1 can guarantee you more orders next week.
I received my last order of pigeons two or three days ago; which was my third order from
ou. The Homers were very fine and the Carneaux were the finest pigeons I have ever seen.
hey are simply grand and if I could not get any more like them I would not take one hundred
dollars for them. They were driving the hens and feeding in one minute after I turned them
out. They all have nests now. You have treated me very nicely and I like to do business
with you. You have always treated me right. I had a letter from a pigeon man yesterday,
about 150 miles from here. but I did not know how they would use me and so I give my order
to you. Enclosed find check for $50 for which please send me three pairs of your very best
eae and the rest, a nice assortment of best Homers. (This is the fourth order from this
customer.
The eight pairs of Carneaux which you sent me last Friday arrived Saturday morning at 9.30,
making seven and one-half hours better time than the shipment of Homers you made me on
November 1. last. They are certainly beautiful birds. I tried putting each pair in mating
coops immediately on their arrival, having previously removed the partitions, and by four
o clock that afternoon six pairs had mated. The other two pairs mated the following morning.
I was going to go to see you last Saturday but it was so cold I postponed it. Kindly fill
my order for five pairs of Carneaux. All Carneaux bought of you are entirely satisfactory.
It is a pleasure to deal with you. _ I will have the money ready when I call for them. Kindly
advise when you can fill my order. y
The Carneaux were in fine shape and I am well pleased with them. I am enclosing money
order for $12 for which ple se ship, at once as per my other order, two pairs more of mated
Carneaux. Please give the filling of this order careful attention, as it means a great deal to me.
If these birds do as well as I hope they will, I shall place an order for about 50 or 75 pairs in
the near future.
I am in receipt of the four pairs of Carneaux which were shipped on June 1. The birds are
doing nicely, all four pairs having nested and laid.
The Carneaux came to hand last Tuesday and to say I am pleased with them is putting it
entirely too mild. They are the prettiest, biggest things in the pigeon line leversaw. Every one
that sees them says that they are stunners, they are the talk of the town. Will do as you
suggest about the plan and photo of the house I built for less than $20, and it is a dandy for
this climate, too. If you wish to refer any one to me or have me show any one the Carneaux,
just say so and I will be only too glad to doit. Thank you for the prompt and careful attention
given my order.
Our two crates of birds arrived two weeks ago. We thank you for the fine lot you sent.
They are certainly as fine as any one can hope co possess. We have the room now for 700 or
800 pairs and we intend to fill this up with Plymoutr Rock Extra Homers and Carneaux. We
are ‘stuck ’’ on the Carneaux but they are nearly out of our reach. Please give us all the
information you can about selling squabs. Can we reach New York? We understand that
we can. We raise more squabs in the winter than we can easily handle in this city. We note
the markets in the Packer but they are always just as you say, below the actual market
prices. Our birds will win all the prizes at the County Fair again this year.
The Carneaux arrived Monday morning and were O.K. and to say I am pleased with them
does not express it, as I think the pair of yellows are the best I ever saw. I was surprised to
find the extra hen, as I did not expect you to make good the loss of the other one. I thank
you very much for the nice way you have treated me in our dealings, and hope to do more
business with you later.
In regard to our conversation of last week about the Carneaux, will state that I like the birds
much better than the Homers, as both squab raisers and show birds. Every one who has seen
my birds says they are the largest and finest birds they ever saw. From the one pair of
Carneaux I purchased of you in March, 1908, I have raised five and lost three. They laid in
236 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAS BOOK
CARNEAU SQUAB COMPARED WITH HOMER SQUAB.
The Plymouth Rock Carneau squab at the left of the above photograph weighs 17/2 ounces. The Homer squab
alongside at the right weighs twelve ounces.
about three weeks after arriving here, so you see they have been at work nearly all the time
and are now setting. I have entered five of them at our County Fair, New York, and expect
to capture all the prizes as I have no competition and had to enter them in a special class. I
have a pair of yellow birds which I prize highly. The Carneaux should make a great showing
in the squab industry.
I received your special offer on your Plymouth Rock Homers, but I don’t see any reference
to your Carneaux. I have made up my mind to discard all birds except the Carneaux. I
have had one pair from you and I am well satisfied. Now what are your lowest terms, say for
five or ten pairs, express paid to my address? Mr. Rice, 1 want them in time so I ean show
them at our fairin September. So far I am the only one in Colorado who has a pair of Carneaux,
and I believe I could get quite a few orders for you if I put good birds on exhipition.
The three pairs of Carneaux are doing well. The squabs are very large. One pairof squabs
especially, I feel sure, will weigh a pound and a quarter each at about a month old.
We purchased from you Homers about six months ago and Carneaux about three months ago.
Both are satisfactory and we like the work very much. We are going to build a house for them
this fall so as to make room for more stock.
The pigeons you shipped me last week arrived this morning in fairly good condition, con-
sidering the long distance they travelled. The Carneaux were extra lively. They mated in
less than an hour after being taken from the crate. Jam more than pleased with the Carneaux
and uals they are the finest birds I ever saw and shall take great pride in showing them to
my friends.
I have 50 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers which we bought of you. They are doing all right
but [ like the Carneaux better. The worst thing about the business is the killing part. If l
Ar ENIX 237
could get around that part I would enjoy it better. That is the reason I would like to get started
with the Carneaux.
The Carneaux are beyond my expectations. I have bred all kinds of pigeons, but have never
seen such breeders in my life. JI have bred youngsters from them weighing 1934 ounces at 20
days old. Can you beat that? Enclosed please find order for six dozen nest bowls.
I suppose you may be interested to hear about the breeders you sent me last spring. The
two pairs of Carmeaux are doing fine. They have hatched five pairs of squabs since.
The Carneaux I bought from you are coming along finely now. I have had luck with two
or three sittings and now have ten young pigeons from two pairs.
I bought four pairs of Carneaux of you last November and now (October) have 37 birds.
I am going to order some more Carneaux sure. As far as I have seen they are the bird. My
neighbors here say that mine look more like turkeys than pigeons.
Some time ago I ordered of you five pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux at $6 per pair and am
very much pleased with same. Iam particularly interested in the building up in point of weight
in this particular bird. Hence I beg to be advised whether you would select shipment of extra-
ordinary size at increased price and if so, extent of increased size or weight as compared with
the general run of this bird, and at what cost? (Later we received an order from this customer
for five pairs more.)
The Carneaux were purchased of you some time in December last, I think, first three pairs.
Then later my partner went over and purchased of you three pairs more, making six pairs of im-
ported birds purchased of you. The balance are the offspring of the original six pairs. I shall
have no hesitancy in recommending the Carneaux to any who may inquire. They have proved
more prolific than the Homers and much heavier birds.
The Carneaux proved well. Enclosed find $6 for another pair. We are slowly selling off our
Homers. (This customer has bred Homers for many years.)
We started with six pairs of your Carneaux shipped March 26, 1908. We have divided our
loft into two pens, one for the breeders and one for the young. At this time, October 23, we have.
forty birds altogether, which we consider a good increase. The young birds are beginning to
mate. Our flock worked right through the moulting season. We enjoy the birds and the work
among them very much. (Later—November 23.) We now have forty-five Carneaux all told
and eight pairs at work.
CARNEAUX AND HOMERS NOT IN THE SAME PEN
As a rule, each breed of pigeons should be kept in a pen separate from other
breeds. If different breeds are kept in the same pen, the breeds may mix, no
matter how carefully the pairs are mated, and of course the young are liable
to mix. There is nothing about a Homer pigeon which keeps it true to its
own species. If Fantails or any other fancy breeds of pigeons are kept in the
same pen with Homers, there is nothing about the Homer which would lead
it to be true to its own species. He or she is just as liable to seek a different
breed for a mate. As to the two kinds we sell, the Homers and the Carneaux,
if they were kept in the same pen, it is quite possible that an attachment for
a Carneau cock or hen might form with a Homer of the opposite sex. So if
you are breeding both the Carneaux and the Homers for the pure stock you
should keep them separate.
IMPORTANCE OF PLYMOUTH ROCK HEALTH GRIT
Since reducing the price of Plymouth Rock health grit to two dollars for two
hundred pounds the sales have greatly increased. Breeders have found it
economy to feed it on account of the saving in grain and the increased output of
better squabs. Remember, we do not sell less than two hundred pounds of this
grit. Price for two hundred pounds, two dollars. The old price was four dol-
lars. Read this letter from Mr. Cameron, one of the best known breeders in
the District of Columbia, showing the test he made with our grit, one pen of his
Pigeons getting it and the other pen getting none:
238 NATION AE TS RAIN IDATION SO Unb. OO 1S
HOW MY SQUABS INCREASED IN SIZE WHEN I FED PLYMOUTH
ROCK HEALTH GRIT
By S. T. Cameron, District or CoLuMBIA
Eleven months ago I purchased from you eleven pairs of No. 1 Plymouth
Rock Carneaux. I now have over one hundred birds and over thirty pairs
working. Apropos of the Plymouth Rock health grit, I have to say that I have
my birds separated into two pens, to one of which I have supplied the health
grit. In the other, by reason of my supply having run short, I have not given
the health grit for some months. I observe a very remarkable difference in
the size of the squabs in the two pens, those in the pen having the health grit
being much the larger, and as the birds have been handled exactly the same
in every respect, except the health grit, I am forced to the conclusion that this
has something to do with the improved size of the squabs. Enclosed find check
for five dollars for five hundred pounds of Plymouth Rock health grit.
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN GRITS. ARE YOU FEEDING THE RIGHT
KIND?
By Frep Armstronc, ILLINOIS
Enclosed find check for one thousand pounds of Plymouth Rock health grit.
I have been using other grits but have not found any that gave the satisfaction
yours does.
PLYMOUTH ROCK GRIT IS CHEAPER THAN GRAIN. FEED IT FOR
ECONOMY
When our grit is fed, the squabs not only are larger, and there are more of
them, but the grain bill is smaller. It is more economical to feed Plymouth
Rock health grit at one cent a pound than grain at two and three cents a pound.
Grain which you do feed goes farther and better along with our health grit. Our
grit is the product of many years of experience and it is right. In view of the
two letters from Mr. Cameron and Mr. Armstrong, it is the best economy to
feed it. If you are not feeding it, you are missing a profit. Think this over.
If you are not feeding it, tell us why. Let us talk it over.
I WAS SCARED, MY PIGEONS ATE SO MUCH OF IT — PLYMOUTH
ROCK HEALTH GRIT IS FOR USE, NOT FOR ORNAMENT
By Wiuuram Laus, Oxt10
Up to about three weeks ago I was using a grit that is advertised quite a bit,
and it certainly went a long way. Then I bought two hundred pounds of Ply-
mouth Rock health grit and became very much worried the first week for fear
my pigeons would all get sick. They would be in the grit box from morning
until night. I can also notice a saving in the feed they now consume.
Pigeons which are fed on wholesome grain and plenty of Plymouth Rock health
grit are never sick. A breeder finds by examination that very few sick birds
have anything like a proper amount of grit in their gizzards, many of them indeed
being entirely without it. The effect on a bird of going without grit is the same
that swallowing food whole has on humans. The body demands nourishment
and there is a continuous craving for food, because what is eaten ferments instead
of digesting. The bird is unable to rid himself of the fermented food rapidly
enough to prevent self-poisoning.
APPENDIX F
It is important in squab raising to know your birds. A great help in distin-
guishing them is the double-number colored leg-band. The idea of two numbers
on a leg-band in duplicate, so that no matter how the pigeon stands, the eye
of the observer will see one of the numbers, was the invention of Elmer C. Rice.
It was not patented and its free use by everybody has done much to advance
pigeons. Some men and women have the faculty of telling pigeons apart by
body signs just as horsemen tell horses. But to others pigeons look very much
alike, just as horses look alike. The double-number color band remedies this
because it is visible without catching the pigeon. We sell the double-number
band in twelve colors as follows: Black figures on white, red, cherry, pink, brick,
blue, light blue, green, light green, yellow, light yellow and gray backgrounds.
Big, bold figures. The numbers run from one to sixty.
PRICES (Postage Paid)
6 pairs, any numbers or colors.... ........0.eeeeeee: $0.25
12 pairs, any numbers or colors..... ..............--- 50
25 pairs, any numbers or colors..................---++ 1.00
50 pairs, any numbers or colors..................-+::- 1.50
100 pairs, any numbers or colors...............-.-..---- 3.00
500 pairs, any numbers or colors.....................-- 13.50
1000 pairs, any numbers or colors...................+--- 25.00
Sample for two-cent stamp. Be sure when ordering to
specify that you wish the double-number band, and tell us
what numbers and colors you wish. Note that the numbers
run to sixty only, because more than sixty pairs of breeders
are seldom kept in one pen. From twenty-five to thirty pairs
of breeders in one pen, and no more, is the best practice.
MORE ABOUT HOW TO TELL SEX
A good proportion of our letters, month after month and year after year,
inquire how to tell the sex of pigeons. People ask us this question before they
have read this Manual and after they have read the Manual. We should like
to write this down to the remotest detail so that even a child could tell the sex
of a pigeon by looking at it, but this is impossible. There is no language which
can convey the secret of telling absolutely the sex of pigeons. You can tell
only by watching them and by experience gained by this watching. You become
more expert in determining the sex as you go along. There are no marks on
either male or female by which you can distinguish them at any age. Some
large male pigeons act the same as roosters do and can be told almost at a glance.
On the other hand, some female pigeons are large and coarse, like a male bird,
and the secret of their sex is disclosed only by their actions in conjunction with
birds of the opposite sex.
The birds we ship are banded cocks on right leg and hens on left leg. You
must watch these birds and see how they act. By the location of the band
you will know the sex and by their actions you will learn to connect what you
see with the specified sex. Sometimes customers will write to us and state
that they have raised birds and are puzzled about the sex of them. In
that case you must watch their actions or you can turn such birds in with
239
240 NATIONALE. STANDARD SO WAB 25 OCS
some of our birds and watch their behavior in connection with our birds.
You will know the sex of our birds by the bands on their legs, and when you
have determined by the actions of your birds what the sex of them is, catch
them and band them, putting a band on the right leg of the cock and a band
on the left leg of the hen. It is impossible to band a squab four or five days
old with a seamless band so as to designate the sex. You cannot tell the
sex of a squab or young pigeon until it discloses by its actions at mating age,
four or five months, what it is. If you put a seamless band on a young
squab, the object is to show the age, not the sex. The best way for the
business squab breeder is to put an open band on the leg of the squab, showing
its age, by its date, and bearing a distinguishing number which you refer
to in your records. You can put this band on either the right leg or the left
leg of the squab. When the young bird grows up to mating age and you
find out its sex, then change the band to either the right or left leg to suit
the case.
It is not a difficult matter to determine the sex of a pigeon by watching,
for sooner or later you will see actions that will tell you. You must not be
guided much by a little quarrelling which you sometimes see going on. Two
hens will quarrel the same as two cocks. If two or three pigeons are ex-
tremely puzzling to you, handle them in this manner: Take them out of
the breeding pen and put each pigeon in a small coop or box in the dark and
keep them there for two or three days, each pigeon in a separate box or coop.
Feed and water them regularly, then take them out of their little coops and
put them into mating coops with other birds. They will generally disclose
their sex as they are anxious for companionship after being shut in so long.
Another way to do this is to take two birds and put them into a mating
coop, one on each side of the partition, and put a bag or other covering over
the coop so that the place will be darkened for two or three days. Feed and
water daily. Then take off the covering and take out the partition in the
middle of the mating coop and watch the two birds as they come together.
The beginner should familiarize himself with the billing, treading and
driving as he sees the birds. We have had customers write us and declare
that we had shipped them squabs because they had seen what they thought
young birds taking nourishment from the older birds. What they really
had seen was a male bird kissing or billing with a female bird, a matter
entirely different.
The male and female mates not only bill, tread and drive, but they nestle
close at times, each running his or her bill through the feathers on the neck
and head of the other.
Pigeon breeding is an ancient hobby and pastime in England. An English
writer, Dixon, years ago described their love affairs in choice words. It is
a pretty sight, said Dixon, to see pigeons at liberty when “ courting.” They
begin to go together in pairs, except while associated with the flock at feeding-
times; and when they are resting on the roofs, or basking in the sun, they
retire apart to a short distance for the purpose of courtship, and pay each
other little kind attentions, such as nestling close, and mutually tickling
the heads one of another. At last comes what is called “ billing,” which is
in fact a kiss, a hearty and intense kiss. As soon as this takes place, the
marriage is complete, and is forthwith consummated. The pair are now
united, not necessarily for life, though usually so, but rather durante bene
placito, so long as they continue to be satisfied with each other. If they are
Jl Jee fe Jeb INI DIS DG L 2 241
Tumblers, they mount aloft and try which can tumble best; if they are
Pouters, they emulate one the other’s puffings, tail-sweepings, circlets in
the air, and wing-clappings; while the Fantails and Runts, and all those
kinds which the French call pzgeons mondains, walk the ground with conscious
importance and grace. But this is their honeymoon—the time for the
frolics of giddy young people. The male is the first to become serious. He
foresees that ‘ the Campbells are coming”’ better than his bride, and therefore
takes possession of some locker or box that seems an eligible tenement. If
it is quite empty and bare, he carries to it a few straws or light sticks; but
if the apartment has been already furnished for him, he does not at-present
take much further trouble in that line. Here he settles himself, and begins
complaining. His appeal is sometimes answered by the lady affording him
her presence, sometimes not; in which case he does not pine in solitude very
long, but goes and searches out his careless helpmate, and with close pursuit
and a few sharp pecks if necessary, insists upon her attending to her business
at home. Like the good husband described in Fuller's Holy State, “ his love
to his wife weakeneth not his ruling her, and his ruling lesseneth not his
loving her.’”’ And so the hen obeys, occasionally, however, giving some
trouble; but at last she feels that she must discontinue general visiting
and long excursions, and enters the modest establishment that has been
prepared for her performance of her maternal duties. A day or two after
she has signified her acceptance of the new home, an egg may be expected
to be found there. Over this she (mostly) stands sentinel till, after an
intervening day, a second egg is laid, and incubation really commences,
not hotly and energetically at first, as with hens, turkeys, and many other.
birds, but gently and with increasing assiduity. And now the merits of
her mate grow apparent. He does not leave his lady to beara solitary burden
of matrimonial care. He takes a share, though a minor one, of the task
of incubating; and he more than performs his half-share of the labor of
rearing the young. At about noon, sometimes earlier, the hens leave their
nests for air and exercise as well as food, and the cocks take their place upon
the eggs. If you enter a pigeon-loft at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon,
you will find all the cock-birds sitting—a family arrangement that affords an
easy method of discovering which birds are paired with which. The ladies
are to be seen taking their respective turns in the same locations early in
the morning, in the evening, and all the night. The older a cock-pigeon
grows, the more fatherly does he become. So great is. his fondness for having
a rising family, that an experienced unmated cock-bird, if he can but induce
some flighty young hen to lay him a couple of eggs as a great favor, will
almost entirely take the charge of hatching and rearing them himself. We
are possessed of an old Blue Antwerp Carrier which by following this line
was, with but little assistance from any female, an excellent provider of pie
materials, till he succeeded in educating a hen Barb to be a steady wife and
mother.
There was a good deal of observation put into pigeons by Mr. Dixon
before he expressed the above sentiments and what he saw you will see
when you watch your flock.
HOW TO KEEP DOWN AN EXCESS OF COCKS.
One of our customers in Connecticut of considerable experience and
original thought has tried out our Homers with birds from other sources, and
242 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
has found them superior to all he has tried. He had no culls among the
squabs. He has bought largely of our Homers and Carneaux. He had been
trying on some white Homers our plan for getting 15 pairs from one pair
of breeders in a year and thought the plan was original with him. This is
an indication of the careful attention he has given to the details of the
business. Here is another plan he has been working. An excess of cocks
seems to be one of the troubles of some in raising young birds and for that
reason we have requests for single hens. This customer proceeds on the
theory that the second egg is said to hatch a hen, so he goes among the nests
every day and marks all single eggs 1 with a pencil. Then in a couple of
days when the second egg has come he marks it 2. Then he puts both the 2
eggs in one nest and both the 1 eggs in the other nest, making a memorandum
of the nests and what he has done. When killing day arrives for these nests
he saves the 2 squab and kills the 1 squab, thereby hoping to raise two hens.
How this will work out in actual practice he does not know, because he has
not been doing it long enough. We speak of it here so that our customers
may try it if they wish and see how they come out.
While in some lofts there may be an excess of male birds caused by con-
tinuous breeding, it is truc chat the law of the species is to hatch out equally.
Otherwise in time, and a comparatively short time too, the entire species
would be extinct. It is absolutely not true that more cocks than hens hatch
out. The law is that equal numbers hatch out, for this law is necessary to
the propagation of the species.
We have had thousands of customers start with three pairs or six pairs
or twelve pairs and increase from that small beginning to 200 or 300 pairs
or more, as our letters from customers show. This is proof that the law
oe equal sex holds fairly good even in the restricted confines of a small squab
ouse.
Squab raising for profit is a new business for the Connecticut customer
above mentioned. He is well up on pigeons as a fancy or rather amusement,
having kept in Europe at one time or another a few pairs of all breeds. He
has been getting $4.50 for his squabs all summer in Connecticut, with some
at $3.59 to his local butcher who retails them at $4.50, unassorted, running
over eight pounds to the dozen. He says the more he sees of this business
the more he is convinced that conducted right there is, big money in it; but
conducted wrong it is a poor business. This is certainly correct, and is why
we insist upon our birds being used and managed in the way we tell both
in this book, and the special instructions which we send out with every
shipment.
SQUAB HOUSES OF TWO AND THREE STORIES.
We have been asked by customers whose ground is limited or who happen
to have a certain plot, if a two-story house would not be ali right in which
to raise squabs. Some of these customers have figured out carefully and
thoroughly that the construction of the two-story house is cheaper than two
one-story houses. A two-story house certainly may be built. We print
on the opposite page a photograph of a two and one-half story pigeon house.
This breeder is a good customer who has bought about $2000 worth of
Plymouth Rock birds of us during the past four years, and he understands
what he is about. We asked him to describe his plant. He says this house,
which is part of his large plant, was not transformed from an old place, but
ele NDT Xe, 243
TWO AND ONE-HALF STORY SQUAB HOUSE.
This was built to utilize to best advantage a small plot of ground. For description see this page and the opposite
page, .
was built especially for pigeons. It was almost a case of necessity with him,
as all the plots of ground near him were owned by one man who stood out for
a stiff price. The customer accordingly built this house and says he has
never regretted it. After it was built he was able to purchase all the land
he ever should need, and he bought it right. This three-story house is 54
feet long and 20 feet wide, 14 feet to top flat, 14 feet rafter with one foot pro-
jection. The third floor is laid on a level with top flat. The third floor does
not extend across the entire width of the building, but drops back five feet
from each side, giving room for three nests from floor to roof. The four
sides of these pens are lined with nests, and the pens are 10x10 feet. Single
dormer window on north and two dormer windows on south (this is shown
in photograph). No hallway on third floor, but steps from second floor
go up near the center of the building, making it unnecessary to pass through
all pens to reach the end pens. First and second floors alike have a four-foot
hallway on the north side, and each floor has six pens 9x16 feet. The
partitions between these pens are formed by the nest boxes. Feed and water
from the hallway. The floors are of matched lumber and the first floor is
double with paper between. The frame of building was first covered with
heavy roofing of a popular brand and sided with ship-top lumber. Under
the west end of this building is a basement 20x20 feet, cement floor, used for
244 NATIONALE SLAN DARD SOUAB BOOK
picking and packing squabs. The building has 17 pens, and each pen has
its flying pen which reaches the ground. For the first floor, the flying pens
are nine feet wide and seven feet high, and extend out 20 feet from the
building. Beyond the south end of flying pen for first floor, the flying pen
extends another 20 feet. This extended pen is divided into two pens 10x9
feet on the ground. The birds from the second and third floors reach these
pens through a fly-way above the flying pen of the first floor, one-half as wide.
You will notice a tank (shown in photograph) on the roof. Water is forced
from a cistern into this tank. All pens outside are connected with water
main, making it easy to give the birds a bath.
SQUABS FED ARTIFICIALLY.
Sometimes it is desirable or necessary to feed a squab artificially, introduc-
ing the right kind of a mixture with the fingers or with a syringe. These
efforts are more or less crude. The best way is as it is done in Italy, but it
is doubtful whether our squab raisers would employ it. We first saw this
done in Bologna, Italy. The squabs are shipped into Bologna from the
outlying country when they are about the same age as our squabs, four
weeks. They are always shipped in alive in common slatted coops. It is
quite necessary that the squabs be fed before they are re-shipped alive as
they always are to Paris or Monte Carlo or Aix-les-Bains. They are fed in
the following manner: The workman mixes up a sort of thick gruel with
grain and water. All the grain which he uses is quite fine, such as the finest
size of cracked corn. Then he fills his mouth with a quantity of this mixture
and begins feeding the squabs. He takes up a squab in his two hands and
holds the bill of the squab to his mouth. The squab is hungry and naturally
open its bill, or if not the operator opens the bill of the squab for him. The
operator then with his tongue forces into the mouth of the squab a quantity
of the mixture, and the squab fills its crop. Immediately another squab is
taken and handled in the same manner. This process is done with great
skill and rapidity. We watched one operator feed a coop of 24 squabs in
five minutes. This artificial feeding of squabs is very common in Bologna
and in other European cities, where it has been going on for years. The
operators show no repugnance, but keep at the work as part of their daily
round of duties month after month.
NESTS ON THE FLOOR.
It is impossible to prevent some pairs from building on the floor of the
squab house. Squab breeders who have a large bump of system and order
are cast down because all of their pairs do not stick to the nest boxes all
the time. You cannot force certain pairs to breed in the nest boxes. They
will pick out a corner on the floor or alongside of the crate containing the
nesting material or under a tier of nest boxes. There they will build their
nest and rear their squabs and they are generally left alone. Do not take
their nests and eggs and put them in one of the nest boxes, for if you do it
is not likely the birds will follow.
Squabs from such nests should be carefully watched and should be taken
away to be killed before they are strong enough to walk around on the floor.
You will have to take away such squabs when they are full and plump at
three weeks of age. If you leave them in the nest too long it is quite usual
for them to get up and walk around on the floor and as soon as they do this
ee ret IND) OIG) Ee, 245
they are no longer squabs, but have trained off their fat and become young
pigeons. Squabs in the nest boxes do not walk around like these because
ey realize that they are somewhat weak and will not take the flight to the
oor.
It is troublesome when cleaning to avoid some nests on the floor. When
the young birds leave the nest boxes above they are quite helpless and will
rest on the floor. The old birds which have built their nests on the floor
et peck the young birds and give them no rest. The cocks especially will
o this.
A customer has found out a way which he has had in use for some time
to keep pairs off the floor and induce them to build in the nest boxes. When
he finds a new nest on the floor, he lets the hen lay both eggs there and sit
on them for one or two days. Then he makes a nest box about twelve inches
square and six inches high and places the nest, eggs and all, into this box
and allows the nest box to stand on the floor of the squab house in the same
spot where he found the original nest. He reports that nine times out of
ten the hen will sit on the nest as before. He lets her sit on the eggs for
three or four days more, then he takes the nest box, eggs and all, and screws
or nails it to the side wall as near as possible to the spot where the nest was
on the floor. Sometimes he raises the nest box from the floor a small distance
at a time, one inch one day, another inch the following day. He says that
although this is quite a trouble it seems to break the hen of the habit of
building on the floor and the next time she is more than likely to build the
nest off the floor.
A PLAN TO GET RID OF RATS AND MICE.
One of our customers gives us the following idea: Make a rough table
of matched board with joists for legs, about three and one-half or four feet
high and the same shape as the feed box, only have it three feet longer and
three feet wider. This will allow for a platform 18 inches wide around the
feed box for the birds to stand on and eat the grain; next make a rim, high
enough so that when the pigeons are getting grain they will not scatter any
on the floor. Do not be afraid of having the rim too high, eight inches will
be all right. Have this eight-inch rim all around. The last thing is to buy
some smooth, glassy tin plate and wrap a piece around each leg. It is not
necessary to cover the whole leg, 12 to 18 inches will be enough. This will
make it impossible for rats or mice to climb up over the tin and eat the
grain. The legs should be 18 inches or two feet high.
Another way to manage instead of using the tin is to put the feed box up
on a platform and support this platform with four legs made of iron pipe.
Generally there is a joint in the tin, and some mice may run up a joint or
seam of this kind, putting their feet into the crack in the seam. If you use
iron pipe to support the platform it will be impossible for the rats or mice
to climb up this iron pipe to 2 feed box. You should use four pieces of
piping, one at each corner.
ere is another way-to clean out the mice: Take a small tight box, say
six inches by six inches in size. Bore an inch or two-inch hole at one side
near the bottom, put in a handful of feathers or cotton and lay the box on
the floor in a secluded part of the squab house. In about two weeks go to
the box quietly in the daytime, put your hand over the hole, and carry the
box to a barrel or tub half full of water. The mice will jump ovt faster
246 NATIONALE STANDARD SOUAB “BOOK
than you can count. One customer got 48 at the first trial, and about ten
the next time. This took them all and he was no longer troubled by mice.
HOW TO MAKE PERCHES.
In making perches, one of our friends has a plan that may be of use to
some beginner. Take a square tobacco caddy with dove-tailed corners,
such as can be had at any tobacco counter. Remove the bottom and saw
the sides in two half way. A small block of wood nailed in the angle furnishes
an easy way to fasten the perch to the wall.
PITTSBURG MARKET.
Our customers repeatedly call our attention to the fine market for squabs in
Pittsburg. They are quoted at $4 a dozen in the newspapers there, and we
have customers in that city who are getting as high as a dollar apiece, or
$12 a dozen, for first-class squabs bred from our birds, weighing a pound
apiece. It 1s quite true that Pittsburg is an excellent squab market, in
fact, one of the best in the country, as there are so many rich people there.
We have also some good, live, wide-awake customers who are shipping
squabs to Pittsburg, and they have shown Pittsburg squab buyers the
superiority of well-bred squabs. The result is that they have worked up
an insistent demand which must be satisfied. What our customers have done
for Pittsburg anybody can do living near a city, or a town. This work of
letting your nearest market know what you have, and then showing what
you have to the market must be done by you. Nobody can do it for you.
The prices you can get for your squabs, and the demand for your squabs,
which you can create, rest entirely with you. Nobody can do this from
a distance—you are on the ground and such work must be done by you.
LOW QUOTATIONS.
Beginners may find in the newspapers or in letters from commission men
a low quotation for squabs. Some will write to commission men and dealers
asking them what they will pay for squabs, etc. In nearly every case the
commission man or dealer will write back an absurdly low price. It is to
his advantage of course to buy squabs as cheap as he can and sell as dear as
he can. The most peculiar feature of such matters to us is that the breeder
or prospective breeder of squabs apparently takes the matter for settled
and writes us that he can get only $1.50 or $2 a dozen for squabs. Such
people seem to be lacking entirely in any business ability. An eight-year-
old boy who is accustomed to selling newspapers has enough business judg-
ment to prevent him from writing such a letter. Of course the commission
men or squab dealers start with a very low price. If the breeder vill sell
to him at this very low price, that is so much more to the advantage of the
commission man or dealer. He is writing to feel out the breeder. If the
breeder writes back to him and says, ““You. rrice is too low, you will never
get my squabs for this figure,” then the con..isussion man or dealer will raise
his prices. ‘The dealer who is selling squabs for from $3 to $6 or more a
dozen (as they all are) will pay from $2.50 to $4 a dozen, no matter who he
is or where he lives, in any part of the United States or Canada.
The only way for you to determine the true market price of squabs wher-
ever you live is to go into the market or apply by letter and offer to buy
squabs and not to sell them. In all the letters you write and all the talk
APPEND Xr 247
you make, offer to buy all the time and then the dealer will disclose to you
the true prices. Then you will know what to sell your squabs for. If you
‘ find that he is selling squabs at $3 a dozen, he should pay you $2.50 a dozen.
If he is selling squabs for $4 a dozen, he should pay you $3 a dozen for them
and so on.
Once more, be on your guard against market quotations. If you see
squabs quoted in a newspaper or anywhere else at low prices it does not
follow by any means that that price is the true one. Such figures are put
in because they are the prices of the commission men or dealers, which they
want to pay.
No successful squab business can be built up if you allow a middleman to
tun your plant for you. You are simply buying grain and working for him.
He has no trouble or expense to amount to anything but he takes the profits
and you do all the work. When grain is high you must get more for your
squabs tnan you do at other times. The trouble with many squab raisers
we have found is that they have no actual knowledge of what it costs them
to raise a dozen squabs. You must arrive at your cost of product absolutely
and when you do it is folly to sell squabs for that figure or less. You must
put them out at a profit or else go out of the business. Our best customers
are those who have sense enough to sell to a private trade or to first-class
wholesalers, and this must be your goal in every case, If you wish to make
the most money, get right after your private trade until you secure it, as
this is unlimited. People who are accustomed to eating chicken, as they.
are in every part of the country, will eat squabs. If they do not, it is your
fault. You must tell them what a squab is and show them, and induce
them to buy and eat them. If they do not know what a squab is, you must
- demonstrate.
HOW TO KILL CATS.
A kitten brought up in a squab house will make no trouble. We raise
two or three kittens every year at Melrose and give them the run of the pigeon
houses, and such cats are intelligent enough not to try to reach the squabs.
Of all the cats we have raised we have had only one which we were obliged
to shoot because of squab stealing.
Cats belonging to the neighbors may cause some trouble in your squab
house if you give them a chance to get in. A customer in Ohio has found
a way to kill visiting cats. He does not like to have them around the squab
house trying to get in so he puts exposed wires on the top of the flying pen
and when the cats walk around on the top of the pen, looking for a chance
to get at the pigeons inside, he throws a switch in the basement. A strong
current of electricity shoots through the wires. The body of the cat makes
a short circuit from one wire to the other so the charge of electricity passes
through the cat. The result is that the cat tumbles off in double quick time
and starts for the tall timber, if alive. He says he has electrocuted two and
still has his hand near the switch.
BREEDING TRUE TO COLOR.
No colored Homers breed true to color. We mean by this that if you
start with the blue-barred Homers, for example, and breed them, you will
in time get from these blue-barred birds all the other colors, such as blue-
checkers, red-checkers, silvers, etc. All these colors are in the blood and
248 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK
they will come out in time if you give them time enough. Some pairs are
eccentric in their breeding. A certain pair of blue-barred birds may breed
blue bars, whereas another pair of blue bars may breed one blue-barred squab
and one blue-checkered squab, or any other color, and this variation may
be characteristic of this breeding for quite a period. It is impossible to pre-
dict absolutely.
Our white Homers breed true to color. If you buy white Homers of us
and breed them, the squabs will be white-feathered constantly and will not
be blue barred or blue checkered, or any other color, except very rarely.
SULPHUR OR IRON WATER.
Parties write us from different sections of the country stating that the
water where they live contains sulphur and others write that the water
contains iron. For example, on the East coast of Florida about half-way
down, all the water is strongly impregnated with sulphur. Breeders write
us to know if this sulphur water is all right for pigeons. To this we reply
yes, when they get accustomed to it. If when you get your pigeons you
find that this sulphur or iron water is affecting them, stop it and give the
birds rain water. Rain water is absolutely pure water containing no mineral
substances whatever, except the trifling amount of dust which may get in
as the rain water runs down a roof before it gets into a rain-barrel or cistern.
It is always safe to give this rain water to pigeons and you can introduce
them to your sulphur or iron water as slowly as you please, by adding the
sulphur or iron water to the rain water from day to day until the mixture
is finally all sulphur or iron water. This will accustom the birds to the new
water and before long you will have no need of using the rain water.
PIGEONS THAT FLY AWAY.
In every day’s mail, two or three letters and often more recount the story
that the writers have accidentally left open the doors of their squab houses
or the doors of their flying pens; or that some other accident has happened
so that some of the pigeons have flown away from the premises. Customers
writing from as far as California tell us this and sometimes telegraph us and
wish us to catch these birds as soon as they reappear at Melrose and send
them back by express. The capacity for flight of a Homer does not. seem
to be a matter of well-defined knowledge, so we will say here that flights of
over 500 miles for a homing pigeon are very rare. We have no cases on
record of flights of homing pigeons even from Ohio or Illinois to New York
or Massachusetts. It is incredible that a homing pigeon would get back
to its native place after a flight of two or three thousand miles. Birds
which have been imported would make no attempt to fly back across the
ocean or to the shipping point, so if you lose any of your pigeons out of
your coop, the best you can do is to hope that they will return, as quite
often they do. Recently we recall a case where a customer lost nine birds
which flew away but five of them returned and went inside the house.
Once again we repeat, hoping it will catch the eyes of so many who write
us, that any Homers which you buy you must keep wired in all the time,
otherwise they will fly away and leave you. By all the time we mean day
after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, continually
and perpetually, as long as the pigeons live. You cannot feed them for a
month or so and then let them out and think that they will stay with you.
AeA INTO OX Se 249
They have a yearning and a longing, the homing instinct, to try to get back
to the place where they were bred.
Any Homers which you breed yourself you can safely let fly because they
know no home but yours and will stay with you. If you have a mixed
flock of Homers including not only those which you have raised but some
you have bought, you cannot let them out with any certainty that those
you have raised will hold on your premises those which you have bought.
It is quite possible that those which were raised elsewhere will leave you.
NO COAL ASHES.
About every household here in the North burns coal and the problem of
getting rid of the ashes is considerable to many people who do not live in
the city where the city wagons call to take them away. The result is that
we have hundreds of letters asking if coal ashes can be put in the flying pen
of the squab house.
Coal ashes should not be put in the flying pens where the birds can peck
at them, because they are irritating to the mouths and other insides of the
birds. It is all right to put down a layer of coal ashes in a pen for the founda-
tion if you want to get rid of a lot of coal ashes, but on top of these ashes
a layer of gravel should be put down from four to six inches thick and the
top of this gravel should be renewed every three or four months.
TEMPORARY PEN AND BREEDING PEN.
It is very necessary to avoid having odd or unmatched birds at liberty in
the loft during the time the other birds are either mating or breeding. If -
there be but one such bird in the loft, be it male or female, it will be sure to
cause disturbance among the mated birds, either by getting mated to some
bird you have had great trouble to get mated to your wishes, or by causing
continual fighting, resulting in many broken eggs or dead young ones. All
odd birds should therefore be either kept up in pens or in a loft by themselves
during the breeding season. For the same reasons, three or four pairs of
newly-mated birds should not be turned into the loft together. If they are,
there will certainly be quarreling, as two or more pairs will want to take the
same nest box, which will often be the cause of pairs getting unmatched,
and remated in a manner which is not desirable. To avoid this, each pair
as they are mated should be turned into the loft singly, when they will select
one of the unoccupied boxes, and go on quietly. It is very rarely necessary,
if this plan be pursued, to adopt any measures for inducing a pair to take
a proper nest, supposing there be one at disposal; but if any trouble be
anticipated, any kind of a cage of lath or wire may be fixed to the front of
the breeding box, and the birds then confined for a few days in sight of the
rest of the loft, till they have got thoroughly used to their new abode. We
can hardly remember an instance, however, where such a plan was necessary,
unless the breeding places were so numerous and so much alike as to puzzle
the birds. In this case the plan we prefer is to make some distinction at
the entrances: thus, a half-brick may be placed at one hole; and passing the
next, something else at the next alternate one, by which the birds wil readily
learn their proper breeding-places. One more caution must be added in regard
tomating the birds. It frequently happens that, on account of proved sterling
qualities, it is desired to breed from an old pigeon as long as any fertile eggs
can be obtained from him; and this can only be done by matching him with
PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER MALE
250
AA IE TENE ANID DG aD 251
a very young hen. Such a pair will frequently breed well; and we have
had fine strong young ones from an old Barb over ten years of age, which
won many prizes. But it is in such cases particularly needful to avoid
having in the same loft any lively young cock with a strong voice, for if this
be the case, the young hen will frequently leave her eggs to reach and pair
with the young bird, even though he be already mated, and thus all the
owner’s plans are liable to be frustrated. For although pigeons as a rule
pair with great fidelity, exceptions are by no means rare; and cases have
been known in which a cock has mated with two hens, and even assisted
both in hatching and rearing their young; while we once possessed a cock
which, though he never aided them in family duties, regularly paired with no
less than five hens. This case being so very remarkable, we took particular
notice. of it, and can vouch for the truth of what we state. To the naturalist
such instances are particularly interesting; as showing that, under some
circumstances, pigeons might possibly become gregarious like poultry.
The above paragraph we have taken word for word from the writings
of Mr. Fulton, the best English authority, to which our attention was first
called in December, 1908. Readers of this Manual will note that his ideas
correspond with ours—indeed, such things are not a matter of opinion,
they are a matter of fact. What one observer sees, another will see. In
the light of the above, how absurd it is for a pigeon tradesman to represent
in his advertisements or printed matter that he controls the matings or love
affairs of his birds to the extent of assuring the probable purchaser that they
are absolutely and irrevocably ‘‘ married for life,” “‘ mated absolutely-never-
to-be-changed.’”’ The object of such representation is to convince the
probable purchaser that the pairs will go to work in a new home exactly
according to schedule or pre-arrangement, and that all he has to do is to
take feed and water to them, and exchange the squabs at intervals for half-
dollars. Such claims are made with the intense anxiety of consummating
a sale by assertions just a little more plausible, regardless of the habits of
the pigeons.
TWIGS FOR NESTING MATERIALS.
Some pairs will build their nests entirely or partly of twigs, if given the
opportunity. A customer in New York read of pine ‘needles in this book,
so thought of twigs. He put in half a bushel or so of dry old hemlock twigs.
All used them and one pair made their nest wholly of them.
Another of our friends states that he has solved the nesting material
proposition, as far as his own squab raising is concerned (pleasure and hobby).
Instead of providing the birds any tobacco stems, or other nesting material,
he does not give them anything, except to fill their nappies (or the little
two-inch deep by 15-inch square boxes that he has for them to build in)
with sawdust, or fine shavings from the local saw mill. The birds do well
in them, and when he takes out a pair of squabs for the nippers, he empties
out the sawdust, which nearly cleans the nappies and what does remain
is very easily removed with trowel and brush. He then refills them with
fresh sawdust or fine shavings, and they are ready for use again. He has
found this very successful. New birds have to get used to the change but it
does not take them long to take to it. Young birds of course, raised in
them, do not know anything else.
PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER FEMALE
252
AIP PEN DT Xi 253
CLAMORING FOR SQUABS IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON.
The squab market in the Northwest corner of the United States at this
writing (1909) continues to be wonderfully strong. Our attention is called
to this from time to time by correspondents in the State of Washington.
Apparently there is no limit to the demand there, as in the other great
States. We were surprised in September, 1908, to receive the following
letter from the president of a hotel company in Seattle, proprietors of one
of the best hotels west of the Mississippi river:
Kindly send me a half dozen of your pamphlets, covering the growing of squabs. JI wish
to send these to the small towns contiguous to Seattle—that is to the Chamber of Commerce
of each town, to be directed to the rizht parties who would want to enzaze in this business.
Quite a number have expressed their desire to do so. We are anxious to receive nice squabs
and will pay a good price. Thanking you in advance for the pamphlets.
We thought it surprising that a hotel man should be inquiring for squabs
in such an insistent manner and asked him for details. e replied under
date of September 26, 1908, as follows:
I am in receipt of your treatise on squabs, likewise the booklets. I have advertised in a
number of country papers where the farmers are liable to take up this matter, informing them
that they can increase their income and to write me and that I will send them a booklet. I will
send you later on a copy of the advertisement. There is no reason that a number of farmers
should not take up this work, as I should think the extra grain they would have around for
food would practically cost them very little.
Under date of October 9, he wrote us again the following letter:
Inasmuch as your circulars have all been used, we would ask you to send us about a couple
of dozen more. We are advertising in the papers as per enclosed clipping, and have received
many responses, which we think should bring you results.
The newspaper clipping showing how this hotel man was trying to stimulate
the squab production was as follows:
WHY DON’T YOU RAISE SQUABS?
You have enough waste feed to do so
without extra cost, We will tell you
how and buy a'l you have—it will add
largely to your income.
In a letter dated October 24, he explained his intentions more fully as
follows:
In response to your recent favor, I beg to state the only object that we have insecuring
persons to raise squabs is that we may get sufficient to meet our demands. At the present time
we find it difficult, just when we want squabs, to receive as many as we have a demand for.
My idea in advertising this in the paper was to not alone derive a personal benefit, but to
help the country along in general. Weshould all be up-builders, particularly in the West.
We give this correspondence here the publicity it deserves and hope that
our friends, old and new, in the State of Washington, will take hold ener-
getically and give this hotel man, and the other squab consumers in Seattle,
the Plymouth Rock squabs for which they are so eager. Evidently the State
of Seattle is so prosperous with big enterprises that squab raising has to wait
its turn and now is a sort of spare time money-maker. We feel confident,
however, that there must be a large number of people in the State of Wash-
ington who are not too busy to overlook a good thing of such promise, and
they will be encouraged to go ahead after reading the above correspondence.
254 NATLONALESS AGN DARD 7S OWA BO One
Our shipments of breeding stock in 1908 to this State were quite large, fully
as much volume as to California.
A correspondent in Acosta, Washington, wrote us in November, 1908:
I am going into the squab business in Washington (Lewis County). Squabs sell in Seattle
and Tacoma markets at $2.50 and $3.50 per dozen, and the market is not supplied ten per cent
of the demand. I have 15 acres to devote to this business.
OXLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY.
If a stranger to the poultry and squab industry were asked to name a
section of the United States where chickens and squabs probably would sell
the slowest, he might name Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. In this
judgment he would fall into considerable error, for the people there are just
as enterprising and just as fond of good things to eat as they are in the East,
although there may not be so many of them. Witness the following letter
to us dated June 27, 1908, from a prospective customer in a small city in the
Indian Territory:
Some few weeks ago I wrote you for catalogue, now I want your squab book and you will find
enclosed $1.00 in stamps to pay for same. How many pairs would you advise me to start with?
The Almeda Hotel says they can handle from four to ten dozen a day. This hotelis the
leading hotel of my city.
Four to ten dozen squabs daily is going some for one hotel in the Indian
Territory. :
Concerning Oklahoma, one of the leading poultry, butter, eggs, etc., houses
in Oklahoma City wrote the following letter to one of our friends under date
of March 14, 1908:
In regard to squabs, will say, that there are not any handled around here to speak of. There
is no reason why it should not be a paying business, if some one would start here who understands
it fully, and turned out a good article, just at proper age and of good quality, etc. No reason
why a good demand could not be worked up for them here. If at any time you should raise
more than you could put out locally. we could undoubtedly find a good market for them, as we
are shipping out of here in carload lots weekly to New York City and California. Will be glad
to give you any further information and have you write us.
In other words, the demand waits on the supply. Get busy, Oklahoma
folks. Grain is cheaper for you than for us here in the East and if you may
not succeed in getting New York prices for your squabs, you will make as
much money as squab farmers here.
TWO YEARS’ WORK IN MAINE. From
18 pairs of your Extra stock that I bought a
little over two years ago, I now have 300
mated pairs and at least 50 pairs that will
be mated very soon.—F. R., Maine.
GREAT SATISFACTION. I am pleased
to be able to advise you that the pigeons which
I purchased from you are giving me great
satisfaction, as they have really doubled in
number and the squabs have been very heavy,
healthy, delicious. I am sure that you will
be pleased to hear the above report—
F. J., New York.
MINNESOTA GROWTH. I have a nice
little plant of about 250 pairs from the stock
I bought from you some two years ago.—
M. H., Minnesota.
MOST PRACTICAL BOOK SHE EVER
READ. The Mlational Standard Squab Book
is a most satisfactory treatment of the subject
of squab raising. It seems to me to be the
most practical book I have ever read on any
subject.—Mrs. E. G. W., Washington.
HOW A RETAIL TRADE GROWS. My
Plymouth Rock Homers are doing well.
am selling some of the squabs. One customer
gets another, so I have orders for all I can
spare at present.—G. R., Michigan.
TWO YEARS’ BREEDING IN IDAHO.
We take advantage of the present (February,
1908) to thank you again for the excellent
quality of birds sent us in June, ’06.—J. W.,
aho.
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
THIS CUSTOMER IS A TIN ROOFER AND MAKES GOOD WAGES BUT HAS FOUND OUT
THAT HIS TIME IS WORTH MORE RAISING GOOD SQUABS. I will try and give you an
account of how my birds are doing in the State of West Virginia. About 18 months ago I saw
the advertisement of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company in a magazine and I decided to try a
small lot of birds. I first wrote for literature, then sent tifty cents for a Manual, which J got by
return mail, and would not take $5 for it now. As soon as I got my book I sent for six pairs
of Extra Homers, and to say they were fine would not begin to express my opinion of them.
They were the finest birds I ever saw and every one says the same. I built a small house 6 by
6 feet for them at first, but soon had te build a larger one. I havea house 10 x 12 witha 12 x 20
foot fly, but this is too small now. Iam trying to get a place in the country near town and will
go into. the squab business right. I have had my birds about 15 months, have had 180 birds
hatched and have about 30 mated pairs now. I have sold all my squabs since March 1 at $3
per dozen. .One hotel takes all I have and could handle three or four times as many. I sell about
adozena week. Feed is very high here, but there certainly is money inthem anyhow. Ihave
one pair that I bought of you that I have kept careful account of since they started to work.
They went to work the week afte1 I got them, and have laid and set every month since. They
have hatched and raised 26 squabs, having lost two eggs, and today are building for the 15th
time. If all were like them, I certainly would make the best record ever known. I have lost
a few eggs and three or four young birds that were two or three davs old, but 1 think that is
a very small loss. I hope to get a location soon for I am convinced that there is good pay in
raising squabs. I advise any one who is thinking of going into the business to buy their stock
of Mr. Rice, for I consider him a perfect gentleman and as for the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers,
I cannot say too much for them. They beat anvthing 1 ever saw. My birds are producing
about nine pairs of squabs per pair, per year. The average weight of the squabs is ten pounds
per dozen, which I consider very good. I hope to be able to send an order for more breeders
before the fall and they certainly will be Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I am a tin roofer by
trade and make very good wages, but a squab plant of a thousand pairs I know will pay me much
better.
I use the self-feeder and your drinking fountain and find them perfectly satisfactory.
I use tobacco stems and straw for nesting material—W. M. C., West Virginia.
FOUND INSTRUCTIONS CLEAR AND
CONVINCING. I thank you for your courtesy
of September 22, and it is just what I wanted
to know. I am so situated in regard to my
present occupation that I cannot do anything
before this time next year and then I hope to
place my order with you for 300 pairs of your
Extra Plymouth Rock breeders and 10 pair
of the red Carneaux. I know you must be a
busy man, but I. wish to tell you I have been
looking over every field that I know of for
aman with $1000 to $1500.
I spent $10 for poultry information which
was so contradictory that I threw them all
into the Atlantic and vowed never to have
one near me. I then got your information,
and everything has been so clear and concise
that I have no hesitancy in knowing what I
will do. The plans enclosed from you were
about what I had figured out for myself,
only I had given more room and consequently
would have made the cost more if I had not
spent 50 cents for your Manual and 10 cents
for your plans. By so doing I consider J
saved, or rather, will save, from $75 to $100
on my pens and buildings.
Pardon this long-winded letter, but I feel
that apart from your trying to sell your stock
to a probable customer I think all the more
of you and your business methods, and know
you will give me all you represent your stock
to be when the time comes. Wish you and
the Plymouth Rock Squab Company all the
success you deserve, and that squabs will
be eaten by a larger number of people.—
R. H. W., New York.
MARKET FOR SQUABS IS LOW IN HIS
PART OF TEXAS BECAUSE BREEDERS
DO NOT PUL UP PRICES. “I got my
pizeons from the Plymouth Rock Squab
Co.,’’ is the proud answer I give to any one
askinz me where I got my pigeons. When I
tell them that I started with only 12 and have
raised about 15), they say I have done
wonderfully. Some other squab _ raisers
around me have not raised half that many
in twice that time. (They have common
pizeons, that is the secret of it.) My pigeons
have fully repaid me. I think they are 25
per cent better than any Homers around me.
My birds raise from seven to nine pairs per
year and I can sell all I can raise. I have
about 100 breeders and they keep me stocked
very well. The market prices down here are
very low. They have been used to common
squabs and do not know what is good. but
I am going to raise the price all I can. It is
only $1.25 to $1.50 and I hope to raise it to
$2.50. My squabs weigh from 10 to 12
pounds to the dozen. I have a self-feeder
like the one in your Manual. I feed them a
mixture of wheat and corn. I have followed
your Manual strictly and have not departed
from it in any way, and let me say right
here that any one (even of those who do not
know a thine about squabs) can take your
Manual and read it through, follow it care-
fully and make a success. They are bound
to make a success. I think the squab busi-
ness is a great one and is increasing every day.
I have not had sickness of any kind. I can
sell at home all I raise. —W. P. C., Texas.
pe
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
255
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
FLYING PEN OF A BARN. =
This New Jersey breeder’s story is on this page.
At the top of the next page one of the ladies of his household
is shown holding a nest bowl in which are three squabs from one hatch€'two days old.
LOST ONLY ONE OLD BiRD AND THREE SQUABS IN FIVE MONTHS’ BREEDING. I
have had, I think, remarkable success wih the b:rcs so far, and thought possibly you would
be pleased to hear it.
fortune, wi-h the exception of three squabs, which I think the parent birds neglected.
in the neighborhood now (August, 1908) of about 200 birds.
The loss of one bird in the first lot shipped has been my entire mis-
Ihave
Kind regards to your Mr. Rice.
For breeding my flock, 1 have used about half my stable and have not been troubled with
either mice or rats, as I built another floor over the old one, raising the sane. about 18 inches,
and do not think that there is any way for the rats to get at the birds; besides I have three
cats that spend part of each day under the floors. :
They measure 10 by 12, with a three-foot passage in the centre.
five units.
not feeding, is done from this passage.
You will see from the pictures that I have
Watering, but
You are very welcome indeed to use my name, and you cannot write a letter too strong for
me to endorse, referring to the treatment, etc., received at your hands, also the quality of the
birds delivered me and the results obtained from them.—J. W. H., New Jersey.
HIGH-PRICED MARKET IN SARATOGA
SPRINGS, NEW YORK. I like the National
Standard Squab Book very well, as it plainly
but fully tells everything necessary to know
in the squab business and it becomes very
useful to the pigeon fancier. There are
boarding houses here in Saratoga Springs
that pay $6 a dozen for squabs from common
pigeons, for 1 have sold them.—C. N. G.,
New York.
SQUAB BUSINESS IN MONTANA IS ALL
RIGHT. Please find enclosed ten cents in
stamps, for which mail me one copy of your
plans and specifications for squab house.
I am building new and larger quarters in the
country and wish to build right. Seven of the
Homers I obtained from you escaped from
my pen in town, five returned. I have raised
some beauties from my original stock. The
squab business is all right.—R. C., Montana.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
256
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
THREE SQUABS HATCHED IN ONE NEST.
BUILT HIS OWN HOUSE IN WASHING-
TON (D. C.), FOR TWENLY DOLLARS LESS
THAN OUR ESTIMATE. I have a house
constructed of all new material 12x16 and
nine feet to peak, seven feet to eaves, divided
into two rooms 8x9, a fly 8x16x18 divided
down the center (doing all the work myself).
Everythinz, including birds from you, cost
me just $47.58 or about $20 less than your
estimate, not so bad for a starter? I hada
party call at my house, he hearing that I was
goine to raise squabs, offering me $3 per
dozen the year round. He will have to.come
again, as $3 will not get mine—C. C. B.,
District of Columbia.
CATHOLIC SISTERS RAISING SQUABS
FOR THE PATIENTS IN THEIR HOSPITAL
IN CHICAGO. We do not sell any of the
squabs we raise, we use them all for our
patients. We intend to have a photograph
of our coop taken in order to let you see it
and get your opinion about it—Sister M.,
Illinois.
SELLING OUT IN TEXAS TO MAKE
ROOM FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS.
Some time ago I purchased a Manual from
you and received a Special Offer on your
Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. As it was
the best thing I heard of, and as I know
yceur birds by their reputation, I got busy and
began selling my stock off so as to make room
for a sample shipment of your birds. I sold
one customer in an inland village $10 worth
of my birds and when he remitted it was the
whole amount in two-cent stamps. What
I wish to ask, Mr. Rice, is will you take, say
$5 worth of them off my hands?—L. S., Texas.
ENLARGING TO A TEN-UNIT HOUSE.
Last September I bought some breeders from
you and same are doing nicely. As I want
to enlarge my house, having bought a new
place, I would kindly request you to send me
as soon as possible a set of plans as per your
offer in your Manual for a ten-unit house.
Also send me some of your grit as per en-
closed memorandum.—C. R., Conn.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
257
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
COMMON PIGEONS A FAILURE. REMARKABLE DEMONSTRATION OF WHAT FOUR
PAIRS PLYMOUTH ROCKS WILL DO IN TEXAS. In February, 1907, I purchased 12 pairs
of common pigeons from a friend, expecting to clear as large a profit from them as I could trom
the Homers. However, we soon found the difference for when we sold out about six months
later, 1 am positive we did not sell more than 15 pairs altogether, that is to say, most of our
squabs died or did not hatch. About the end of October, 1907, I received four pairs of Number
One Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. About November 15 I got two pairs
started and later on the other two started. I now (May, 1908) have 50 squabs and breeders
and all our pairs are setting again. I have 15 pairs mated. I mever saw anything like it. [|
have never seen any birds to equal ours in any respect. Our squabs are large and healthy,
weighing not less than eight pounds to the dozen. I keep a careful record of the breeders and
they average eight or nine pairs to the year. We do not know the price of them, as we have
never sold any, but a friend of ours sold them at $4.80 a dozen. These were common and
Homers mixed and I am sure that if he makes money off of those poor breeders, we ought to
make more off your prolific birds.
We have fed corn, Kaffir corn, wheat and a little millet.
As we have followed your Manual as closely as possible, we have had no trouble with lice. We
had two cases of canker, but we did what you advised and had no further trouble.
I have not
kept account of expenditures, but I know that the birds have well paid for themselves. My
ideas of the birds and the business are O. K., and in the future I expect to raise more pigeons.
You may be sure they will be Plymouth Rock Homers, as they are the best.
no idea of the pigeon business had it not been for your Manual.
I will always praise the Plymouth Rock Squab
(I forgot to mention above that on account of our house being
tight and any one would be lost without it.
Company in the highest terms.
improperly built some small animal got through a hole and took eggs and squabs.
pened three times but not any more) —E. G. R
SMALL FLOCK PAYING A GOOD PROFIT.
In April, 1906, I bought six pairs of your
Plymouth Rock Homers and in just one year
I had raised 85 birds. In May, 1907, 17
mronths after my first purchase, I had 110 or
55 pairs. I then began selling squabs, and
in the eight and one-half months I have sold
228 squabs at 25 cents each, which is $57.
I kill them with your killing machine, hang
them up as your Manual teaches and bleed
them. I do not have time to dress them,
or I could get better prices. I have had none
that weighed less than eight pounds, and
many that weighed 10 pounds to the dozen.
The expense of feeding them the eight and
one-half months has been $33.15, a profit of
$21.35. I think there is big money to be
made raising squabs. I keep this small flock
in connection with 35 chickens, and only have
time outside of business hours to look after
them, which is ample.
I have seen lots of Homers, nice-looking
ones too, but they do not breed as fast as
mine. I follow your Manual, in fact, all 1
know about them is what the book says. I
have had no sickness nor lice, simply kept
them clean and fed red wheat, cracked corn,
Kaffir corn, buckwheat, hemp-seed, millet,
oyster shells and plenty of good sand. My
idea of successful squab raising is cleanliness,
pure feed and water, and attention to busi-
ness.—C. H., New York.
RAISING TOBACCO AND PLYMOUTH
ROCK SQUABS. We grow 30,000 pounds
of tobacco per year and make fresh stems
constantly, bales run about 125 pounds.
We have bought our first Homers from you
and have done well. Iam glad to hear from
you on stems.—C. H. W., Connecticut.
I would have had
I can tell you that it is all
This hap-
.. Texas. ;
PERSONAL INQUIRY AND ITS RESULTS.
I ama member of All Souls Unitarian Church
of Washington, made up of New England
people largely, and many of them Bostonians.
Also I go to Greenacre (Eliot, Maine), occa-
sionally in the summer to speak on Emerson
and his philosophy, therefore I have a large
acquaintance up your way. I mentioned
my intention in a social group of going into
squab raising and asked incidentally about
your place. They offered to get me the re-
port and did so, but I do not know the channel.
I did not care to knoweof your financial con-
dition, but I was anxious to learn of your
character and reputation. The report was
very gratifying. In it was stated that you
were “‘gilt-edged as to character and reputa-
tion.”” It made me feel good to get such a
report, for I knew I could safely go on and
enlarge under your counsel and advice.
Thank you for your offer to assist me when-
ever I may callon you. If you happen down
this way, try to see me either at the Bureau
of Immigration or at my country home in
Maryland, half-way between Washington and
Baltimore, where we shall establish our plant.
We are looking for a suitable piece of ground,
say 10 or 20 acres, where we shall plant a good
German and his wife and make it pay in other
respects.—J. A. C., District of Columbia.
SQUABS WEIGHING OVER ONE POUND
WHEN THREE WEEKS OLD. I have re-
ceived the female Homer in good shape. It
was a pretty bird. I just weighed some of my
squabs which are not quite three weeks old
and they weigh over one pound. .I expect
to order some more birds some time in
spring.—H S., Pennsylvania.
a
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
258
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
ANY OLD PLACE FIXED OVER.
Results which are really surprising may be accomplished in quarters such as these, with good birds. (See the
letter from the North Carolina man printed below.)
NO BIRDS ON EXHIBITION AT THIS NORTH CAROLINA FAIR COULD TOUCH HIS
PLYMOUTH ROCKS. Ireceived from you April 2, 1908, 13 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock
Homers. Ihave raised 60 birds, have sold 12 squabs and have lost 23, and I think that is doing
well for six months’ work. They have bred at the rate of four pairs per month. Some are slow,
others are very fast indeed, and I have lost about 18 eggs on account of not having enough nest
bowls, but have since put in more and will soon have to build. My house is of my own con-
struction, very rough indeed, but I think answers the purpose very well, but in the future
will build according to your plans except without the passageway.
The birds I received from you and those I have raised and mated are indeed hard to beat. I
have not seen any here that can touch them, in fact, none on exhibition at the fair here held
October 13 to 16, could touch mine. The squabs at killing age weigh about three-quarters of a
pound each. Have sold only one dozen squabs to people who are sick at $2.50 per dozen. [I
have fed whole corn, cracked corn, Kaffir corn, Canada peas, a little red wheat and a little
green clover, cabbage cut very fine, and some rice and hemp seed about three times a week.
Cannot say that I have followed your Manual in every detail. Please ship at once the enclosed
order for feed. My birds are doing exceedingly fine and I am in hopes of being able to keep them
so. Iam well pleased with the squab business and intend to go into it for a living.—J. A. P.,
North Carolina,
A WOMAN WHO GETS HER PRICE FOR
SQUABS ALL THE YEAR. The people who
have eaten my squabs say they are delicious,
plump, and so much better than the market
ones. I am getting $4.80 a dozen for them.
That is my price no matter what they are in
the market. They weigh over three-quarters
of a pound each.—Mrs. E.G. A., New Jersey.
LOST ONLY ONE BREEDING PIGEON IN
THREE YEARS. I have had my Plymouth
Rock pigeons three years in July and have had
splendid luck, having lost only one banded
pigeon by death, and one flew away. I have
studied the Manual and got lots of help from
it. I only wish I had more room to keep
more birds.—M. H., New Jersey.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
259
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
NINETEEN PRIZES WON ON 21 ENTRIES AT THIS LARGE WORCESTER COUNTY
EXHIBITION. I have been breeding your Plymouth Rock Homer stock for several years. I
have been a breeder of pigeons for a long time and enjoy the work very much and I want to
tell you that I have never seen better Homers anywhere, nor do I believe that better stock
exists than the strain you sell.
At the Worcester poultry show held in December, 1907, in Mechanics Hall, I entered 21 birds
nearly all your Homers, or bred from Homers sold by you. I had a few pigeons of another
fancy variety in the show along with your Homer stock, but the Homers did nearly all of the
prize winning. On the 21 birds I won 19 prizes, made up of 10 first prizes, five second prizes,
three third prizes and one fourth prize. u
The birds were very much admired by the people in attendance at the exhibition. On one
white Homer which came from you and on which | won first prize I was offered $5, but declined
the offer. For another beautiful red checker Plymouth Rock female Homer which won me a
first prize I was offered $5 by another exhibitor, but I declined the offer. The judge of the
pizeons told me I ought to send these two birds to the Boston show in January. as they were
“‘ world beaters.’? Sometime I am going to enter my birds at the Boston show when I get
around to it and can spare the time from my regular business. Iam confident that I will make
them “‘ sit up and take notice.”
Your Homer stock is distincuished not only by the large size (which I have never seen equalled
anywhere) but by their prolific breeding qualities.
A good proportion of my birds are the red checkers, and I value them highly. None of the
Worcester pizeon men has birds approaching mine. In fact, there are two Englishmen in this
city who have been breeders of birds all their lives and they told me that they never saw any that
could equal my stock. A professional man of this city is a breeder of fancy pizeons well known
over the United States. He entered some white Homers in competition at the Worcester poultry
show mentioned above but my white Homers went way over anything which he had.
These larce Plymouth Rock Homers of which you have sold so many during the past ten years
have completely driven the small native American Homer out of the market. The old breeders
of these small native Homers have hated to admit that your Belgium stock was better than
theirs, but anybody with half an eye can see that a Homer which is almost half as large again
as were the best American Homers is to be preferred, not only for squab raising but for fancy
breeding, for anvbodv who wants the best. The enormous popularity of your business in hand-
ling this magnificent strain is well accounted for.—H. M. W., Massachusetts.
FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES AT THIS WISCONSIN COUNTY FAIR. It was February 1,
1907, when I got my first lot of Homers. They were the Extras. The pigeons are the largest
and the best of their kind Ieversaw. I would advise every new beginner to study the Manual
before starting. I feed my birds two-thirds cracked corn to one-third red wheat in winter,
two-thirds red wheat to one-third cracked corn in summer; dainties such as hemp seed, rice,
peas, Kaffir corn and vetches. I have invented a little mill to crack corn. I bought some
cracked corn but it was not half cracked. I can adjust my mill to crack any size corn J want it
to. Ihave chickens in the same yard with the pizeons and they get along good. Your Manual
is the best it could be. I don’t think it could be improved much. I haven’t had any trouble
with lice or sickness. I think we will send another order as soon as we can get a place ready for
them. The squab business is O. K., as well as a paying business. My pigeons took first and
second prizes at Ocotno County Fair, September 3, 4, 5.—E. G., Wisconsin.
WON FOUR FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES AT TOPEKA, KANSAS, EXHIBITION. My
birds that I got from you are doing very nicely | At the Topeka show I was awarded four first
and second prizes out of 16 birds shown. I would have gotten another first, but I classed the
bird wrong. The judge gave her first, but they looked on the judge’s card and she was not unde1
that class. At the show, two of my Homers got out of the cage and also out of the hall. Thev
were fine-lookine birds and built for flying. They started east and that is the last I have heard
of them.— F. L. K., Kansas.
FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES WON BY PLYMOUTH ROCKS IN FLYING COMPETITION.
I bought several pairs of your Homer stock about a year ago and am raising, and also flying
those which I raised. I have also Belgiums which I fly, but the younx of your stock are equal.
I can recommend your birds to anybody, and the flying club which I am in also know what
they are. ‘The last fly I made was 300 miles, at which I took first and second prizes on your
stock. Ithank you for sending me such quality of birds. W.J.K., Michigan. ~
AGAIN A SWEEP OF PRIZES AT ANOTHER NEW YORK COUNTY FAIR BY PLYMOUTH
ROCK HOMERS. We had a county fair here and there was quite a large exhibition of fancy
pizeons and a few Homers, but nov any as nice as the ones that I had on exhibition. I took
six nairs of old ones and five pairs of voung about eight weeks old to match the old ones. I
got first and second premiums on all.—F.S.S., New York.
nn nner meena neaEaenanenEnee
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
260
re
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
NINETEEN PRIZES WON BY PLYMOUTH ROCK. HOMERS AND CARNEAUX BY ONE
CUSTOMER AT THE GREAT ROCHESTER (N. Y.) EXHIBITION IN 1908. I am Hat in bed
with pleurisy buc I want to let you know about the Rochester Show. I got fifteen out of sixteen
prizes, and also four specials; losing only one third prize to a cock from the New York Show.
All of my prizes were won from adult stock bought of you, and young raised from them last year.
As soon as I am able to be up and out I will write you more fully. Excuse looks of letteras I
am writing in bed. (Later). ‘There were three old cocks and three old hens which were re-
cently bought by a Rochester man in New York. The birds were said to have been in the New
York Show and this man made his brag, that he got the birds to turn down the Lyons man,
but my birds were cooped first and when he brought in his Carneaux and cooped them near
mine, he told the president of the show that be guessed he did not have much chance. He got
one third prize. All the rest were thrown out. I got four first, four seconds, three thirds, four
fourths and four specials. (One special on best cock in show, a pair of record Homers, one
special on best hen and two minor specials.) The last pair you sent me got, cock first, hen
second. My Carneaux are doing fine and I have quite a number of young mated and at work,—
R.1.C., New York.
PLYMOUTH ROCKS THE BEST HOMERS IN THREE STATES AT THIS BIG EXHIBITION.
A NOVEL USE FOR PIGEON FEATHERS. I wish to thank you for suggestions offered, which
enabled me to win first prize on Homer pigeons at the Tri-State Exposition and Livestock Show
held at Chester, West Virginia, just across the Ohio river from our city. This was considered the
best poultry and livestock show in this section of the country thisseason. Our local fanciers came
o1° fairly good considering the opposition we had. Three of the largest breeding farmers in this
section sent 1n a carload of poultry apiece. The second prize in Homers went to an Ohio man,
one of the above mentioned breeders. Jalso got second on White Leghorn cockerel. My birds
were shedding considerable, but I made good use of the long feathers as you will see by some
enclosed advertising for the firm by which I am employed as well as for myself. They went
like hot cakes after we got them started. Every one worea feather. I don’t know whether the
value of this ever appealed to vou or not, but I think that you could find ready sale for the
light-colored feathers for this purpose.—S. E. A., Ohio.
Note. What he did was to gather un all the good-sized feathers lost in moulting and print -
them in red ink with a rubber stamp, “‘ Welcome at Smith’s,”’ giving the name of the store where
he worked. These stamped feathers were treasured as souvenirs. This idea could be used in
other ways by squab breeders and the feathers handed out as advertisements.
VICTORIOUS AT TWO NEW YORK STATE EXHIBITIONS. When I was in Boston a few
months ago, I promised you I would let you know how I made out at our County Fair, but for
some unknown reason I did not get at it. I entered at the fair six birds. Four Carneaux took
four first prizes, two Homers two second prizes.
I entered at Hudson Valley Pizeon and Poultry Association at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., seven
birds, and won three firsts on Homers, two seconds on Carneaux. Did not enter my old Car-
neaux or would have taken first on them. I have a fine Carneau cock that I think would be
hard to beat, but the hen is not up to the mark. I think I will show the Carneaux at the New
York Show.—J. R. V., New York.
TOOK EVERYTHING IN SIGHT. WON EVERY PRIZE OFFERED FOR HOMERS WITH
HIS PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS AT NEW YORK COUNTY FAIR. The Homers that I
bought of you last September are doing fine. I would like to visit your plant a little later if
it would be convenient for you. I am going for the purpose of looking over your plans and to
purchase some more breeders. I have now about 60 pairs and want to get enough to make 125
pairs. I entered those that I got of you at the Clinton County Fair at which I got every prize
that was taken on Homers.—E. R. G., New York.
ONE PAIR OF PLYMOUTH ROCKS GOOD ENOUGH IN VIRGINIA TO BEAT PROFES-
SIONAL SHOW FOLLOWERS. The Plymouth Rock Homers you sent me have all been working.
I carried one pair to the Roanoke Fair and received first premium over some Homer dealers
from Pennsylvania.—F. E. H., Virginia.
TOOK FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD PRIZES IN WEST VIRGINIA. My birds are beauties,
and took first, second and third premiums at the Poultry Show here, and I,have been selling
squabs right along that are fat and nice.—Miss G. E. K., West Virginia.
WON THE SILVER CUP AT THIS MICHIGAN SHOW WITH HIS PLYMOUTH ROCK
HOMERS. I have had six pairs in the show and won the silver cup. People said thev were the
best they ever saw. Isold two pairs for $5.—J. F. F., Michigan.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
261
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MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
FIVE PRIZES TAKEN BY PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS AT TENNESSEE POULTRY AND
PIGEON SHOW.
pairs that you sent me.
It would probably be of interest to you_to know of my success with your
Plymouth Rock Homers in our recent Poultry and Pigeon Show.
I won two firsts, two seconds, and one third prize.
I entered six of the eleven
The fine Homers I
purchased from you won one, two, three, while two pairs of colored Homers that I raised from
some birds bought of you won one,-two.
Those grand white Homers you shipped me attracted more attention and were admired by more
people than all of the other birds in the show put together.
They are superb.
I placed the birds in my breeding pen at noon on Monday and on Friday afternoon four pairs
had built nests and one pair had laid two eggs.
The youngsters raised from some of your birds that I referred to before are only eight months
old and have been at work three months.
E. D. R., Tennessee.
I am enthusiastic over Plymouth Rock Homers.—
WON TEN PRIZES, TAKING ALL BUT ONE (A THIRD) WITH TEN PAIRS. At the North
Adams Poultry Show I entered ten pairs of “‘ exhibition Homers ”? made up largely from Ply-
mouth Rock stock and was awarded five firsts, three seconds, one third, one fourth.
“headed ”’ but once and that was for a third place.
1 I was
The entries were made up of one pair reds,
one pair red checkers, two pairs silvers, three pairs blue checkers and three pairs blue bars.—
J. T., Massachusetts.
PAIR OF PLYMOUTH ROCKS THE BEST PAIR OF HOMERS INTHE 1908 TORONTO EX-
HIBITION. Only one pair of those Plymouth Rock Homers which I purchased from you were
exhibited at the fair but they took first prize.
the perfect wings, only one little feather being wrong.
The judges in examining them commented on
I know nothing of the standard but you
will doubtless know what they meant.—T. S. C., Ontario, Canada.
PLYMOUTH ROCKS FIRST AS WELL AS SECOND AT THIS IOWA EXHIBITION. Our
blue Plymouth Rock Homers took first and our silvers second at the show here.—C. D., Iowa.
HAS BRED THOUSANDS OF SQUABS IN
INDIA FROM PIGEONS POORER THAN
OURS. About a month ago when staying
in Chicago I made an inquiry for your cata-
logue and about a week later I sent you 50
cents for your National Standard Squab Book.
I read your book with great interest and must
say it is the best written instruction to the
beginner that I ever saw. I have bred
thousands of squabs in India, where I was
born and came to America to start a squab
farm here. Of course, the kind of pigeons
We use over there is not as good as what we
use here. I have succeeded in getting a fine
farm in Missouri, a very dry, healthy climate.
Tomorrow I am going to the place and when
settled there about a month (this time I
want to make the squab houses) I will send
you an order.—V. K., Missouri.
LONG SHIPMENT OF PLYMOUTH ROCK
HOMERS ACROSS THE CONTINENT TO
BRITISH COLUMBIA AND FROM THERE
TO AUSTRALIA. J duly received your
letter of May 12, and the birds came safely
and in good order by the Dominion Express
Company to Vancouver. You will be glad
to know that they arrived safely at Mel-
bourne on June 27. The Carneaux pecked
three or four Plymouth Rock Homers, but
today they are in splendid condition, having
gone through the long, hot voyage very well.
We, of course, looked after them on the
steamer to see that the cage was kept clean
and followed your instructions as to food, grit,
etc.—Mrs. A. B., Australia.
SQUAB MARKET WAITING TO BE
DEVELOPED IN THE PROVINCE OF
ONTARIO. The National Standard Squab
Book has given me much satisfaction, pleas-
ure and also a longing to get into the business.
I am a poultry plucker, bench-hand, feeder,
etc, employed by the largest wholesale live
and dead poultry handlers here. I originally
sent for your Manual not with the idea of
starting to breed squabs, but to add to my
knowledge of feathered life. I found the
book so interesting I have read it through
several times and could answer correctly
any question asked me from it. It is the
most exhaustive treatise on the subject
imaginable and I now consider myself an
authority on pigeons. To show you how
undeveloped the squab trade is here: I may
say we do not receive proportionately one
squab to every 100 chickens.—J. E., Ontario,
Canada.
IMITATION NEST BOWLS. I must say
my Plymouth Rocks are the best Homers I
ever saw. Are the bowls as seen on page 48
of the Manual what are known as the Rice
Wood Fibre Nest Bowls? I must say that
I like them very much better than what
are sold here as “‘ Rice Wood Fibre bowls,’
as the ones here are almost flat.—M. R. K..
Tennessee.
Note. The genuine wood fibre nest bowls
can be obtained only direct of us from Boston.
We do not supply stores with them, If
bowls are offered you in stores as ours, they
are not.
Nee ee ec eee eee a sss
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
263
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
A NEW JERSEY PLANT.
This picture and the picture on the opposite page are both photographs of the same plant.
HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW IS HAVING A
PROFITABLE EXPERIENCE WITH PLY-
MOUTH ROCK HOMERS. Yours dated
November 20 was received this p.m. I
shall be very much pleased to have the pair
of birds as you suggest and will gladly pay
transportation on the same. I do not con-
sider you are under any obligation to “make
good”’ under the circumstances, as I ap-
preciate accidents will happen in transporta-
tion, but since you make this offer I will
greatly appreciate the favor.
My brother-in-law, Mr. Merritt, has been
telling me fabulous things of the squab
industry, and I propose starting with the 12
pairs, allcwing them to accumulate for two
years, and determine positively the per-
centage of increase, profit, etc.
The birds Mr. Merritt purchased of you
have certainly done wonderful work, and this,
too, after being shipped to California and then
to St. Louis. The birds you shipped me are
truly very handsome, and feel sure they will
do well. I have been breeding and shipping
fancy poultry for the past 15 years —R. W.B..,
Missouri.
KNOWN BY REPUTATION. I know you
by reputation to be the largest and most
successful and reliable breeders in America,
therefore, I am to buy stock from you and
would be glad to have your prices.—H. C. M.,
Tennessee.
MANUAL IS PREPARED EXPERIENCE.
The birds I got from you are in every way
larger and finer looking than any other
Homers I have ever seen around here. Their
squabs are larger at the hatch and incom-
parably larger at maturity, or four weeks.
They seem to be attentive birds and extra
good feeders. I love the business and I love
my birds. I have followed your Manual
as regards feeding and watering and find that
I get the best results. It seems to be just
what it is, prepared experience for the begin-
ner. Mv policy was, if you don’t know, refer
to the Manual, and I always found that I did
the right thing and very seldom if ever went
wrong.—W. T., Virginia.
PLEASANT BUSINESS RELATIONS. Our
business relations have been so pleasant and
satisfactory I will leave it entirely to your
discretion in making me a present of a pair
of Extra Homers. (Copy of your letter
attached herewith explains all.) My birds
are doing finely and I know your book by
heart and will follow it carefully all through.
I will give you an order soon for more Extra
breeders.—A. D. W., Kansas.
ONE YEAR’S INCREASE. Your book
is the best I have seen and is very satisfactory.
Just one year ago I purchased 24 pairs of your
Plymouth Rock Homers. Now I have 200
young birds. J am well pleased with them. —
A. L., Ohio.
en
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
264
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
ANOTHER VIEW OF NEW JERSEY PLANT.
This breeder tells his story in a letter printed on this page over the initials B. F. B., New Jersey.
REPEATED ORDERS FROM A NEW JERSEY CUSTOMER PLANNING TO HAVE 5000
PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. On April 6, 1908, I received from you six pairs of Extra
Plymouth Rock Homers. On April 16, I received. 13 pairs, and on May 9, 13 pairs more, the
majority of each shipment being at work inside of a week after receiving them. , Six pairs
were laying on the second day after receipt. At the date of this writing (October 26) I have
100 young birds, as fine as you can find anywhere. The birds received from you and'the young
hatched by them are not beatable around these parts. I have not as yet weighed any of the
squabs, but from handling them know that they will weigh all that you claim.
I have fed as your Manual directs and have not had any trouble from sickness or any sign
of lice, as Iam looking after my lofts at alltimes and keep perfectly clean By doing this no
lice will linger around. Iam more than satisfied with your business dealings, fair and square
in all respects. I have just received from you 104 pairs of Extras, and they are beauties, the
talk of the town.
In the spring I expect to enlarge my plant so I can put in 5000 or 6000 birds, and you will
have the order for stock, as I will know what I am getting. Thanking you for square dealing
with me.
I will send you next week the $150 for the two special offers and also give you shipping date.
All the birds received from you in the past have been O. K. in all respects, but if you have some
that you think will go ahead of them I wish you would send them, as I think it will be the
means of a large order for you.—B. F. B., New Jersey.
PLEASED TO RECOMMEND PLYMOUTH
ROCK HOMERS TO OTHERS. Replying
to yours of July 31, in regard to our showing
this gentleman around our plant, would say,
that we will be pleased to do so.
sure he will not hesitate buying from you after
he sees our birds for they are proof enough,
to our minds, of your fair dealing. Permit
us to say that it will be more convenient for
us to show him around our place on some
Sunday for then we are able to give him
better attention.—L. O. N., New Jersey.
We feel
EIGHT TO NINE PAIRS OF SQUABS A
YEAR FROM EACH PAIR OF BREEDERS.
The 10 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers
purchased from you some time aco are ail
working very satisfactorily, averaging eight
to nine pairs of squabs a year from each pair
of breeders.—D. V. G., New Jersey.
THIS IS THE RIGHT TALK. If at any
time I can get you any business, you can
count on my doing’so.—D. D. C., North
Carolina.
a
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
265
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MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
SS
THIS MINNESOTA CUSTOMER IS A PROMINENT LAWYER WITH A FINE FARM ON
WHICH HE RAISES HIS OWN PIGEON FEED. The publication of my place in the St.
Paul Press came about not upon my solicitation. All said is true enough and I doubt if I
could improve it myself. Then I had the ranch and residence halftoned and stamped on
envelopes and letter heads as per enclosed.
Of course, I have so much to look after that Iam not able to give the pigeons much attention,
but find them “ good to eat’ and nice in appearance. We have no difficulty now in disposing
of all the squabs we can produce in St. Pauland at home. We get only $3 per dozen which does
very well here as the farms produce wheat, buckwheat, and corn enough for all the birds,
horses, cows, hogs and chickens I have. This year I tried Canada peas with satisfactory
results.
Our main house is 58 feet long, 16 feet wide, with seven-foot posts. It rests upon a stone
foundation with stone piers in the center supporting the sills, and is about two feet above the
surface. Drop siding is used for weather boarding and matched fencing for inside lining.
The space between the lining and drop siding is filled with cinders. The floor is of two thickness
of inch flooring and brake-jointed. Ten feet of this house is used as a storing room and for
filling the drinking fountains. The building is supplied with heat and city water. There are
six flying pens each eight feet wide, 10 feet high and 24 feet long, with roosts as shown in the
picture and are covered with one-inch mesh wire number 18. The entire framework support-
ing the wire rests upon concrete foundations four inches wide and let into the ground about one
foot. Each loft contains 140 nests, 70 nests on each side, leaving a space in the center of six
feet. An entry way three feet wide extends along the entire north side of the building with a
door opening into each pen. The small building is eight feet by ten feet with shed roof eight
feet and five and one-half feet respectively in height. This is used as a mating pen, where an
equal number of males and females are placed and when mated are banded and placed in
larger lofts.
H. W. M., Minnesota.
ENLARGING AFTER AN EXPERIMENT
WITH THREE PAIRS. I am now making
preparations to occupy a new building in the
spring, and as soon as I can scare up the
money, I want to order more breeders and
about 20 dozen nest bowls, as I expect to have
a two-unit house besides the one now oc-
cupied. I can’t say enough about the breeders
I bought of you. My first pair of squabs
weighed two pounds, two ounces, the second
pair two pounds, and by the looks of the
third pair, I believe they will weigh more
than any of the first ones. J am going to
keep my young ones for breeders, also expect
to add more of your stock in the breeding
line. If I get my other house up, I can easily
accommodate 150 pairs of breeders, and I
want them just as fast as I can get them.
I feed a little red wheat, Kaffir corn, millet
and hemp-seed, buckwheat and barley and
Canada peas. I have all told 10 kinds of
feed, use the self-feeder for staples and my
relishes I feed on a board with raised edges,
which I remove from the pen after the birds
have finished eating. —R. E. B., Pennsylvania.
PLEASED WITH WHAT HE SAW AT
MELROSE FARM. I write to let you know
I was very much pleased with what I saw at
your farm in Melrose and the treatment
which I received from your superintendent,
and shall send you another order for some
more of your birds by spring, as they are all
tight. If you haveanynew literature, would
you kindly send me the same, as I want to
keep in touch with youin regard to anything
that I can learn for my benefit.—C. H. H.,
Massachusetts.
The floor of each flying pen is covered with sand from four to eight inches deep.—
BETTER HOMERS THAN THIS FANCIER
HAD IN HIS COOPS VALUED BY HIM AT
TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR. Since
I wrote you Saturday I had a great pigeon
taiser call upon me to ask the privilege of
looking at my birds you sent. I asked him
to express himself in a candid way as to his
opinion of the quality and also if he had any
finer birds. He replied, ‘ Well, have
several kinds. Some I consider are worth
$25 a pair, but I confess I have none that can
hold a candle to those birds. They are
extremely fine.”” He made strict inquiry
about you and seemed wonderfully enthusi-
astic and, on his leaving me, remarked he
certainly would have to send for some of
those birds. I just simply mention this to
you for your credit. This is one of the
parties I mentioned to you in my first letter
wrote you, asking you to send me some
good birds, as I did not want to be laughed
at. I think you will receive some orders
from this part of the country, at least I am
hoping so.—T. S., Illinois.
RICH PEOPLE SURPRISED BY QUALITY
OF PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS. Two
years ago I bought 12 pairs of Plymouth
Rock Homer pigeons of you with the intention
of raising squabs for market. I have never
lost but one of the old birds and now have
a flock of 225 or 250. About 100 are just
beginning to mate. I sold some of the squabs
to alady from New York who comes here for
the summer, and her colored servant, who
came to buy them, said they were the nicest
ones he ever saw. The lady lives in an
expensive part of the city —W. R., Vermont.
eee ees
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
267
sT. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
a
Greatest Banquet Ever Given in the West Will
Be That at the Coliseum Saturday
Night.
When hungry ‘Republicans, who have
been, crowded Away from the poiitical
pie counter; in Missouri for 38 years,
gather for their banquet at the Colli-
seum, Saturday night, they will face
tho greatest quantity of food ever
sérved at a single eating fest in the
West.
There’ will be seated in the great din-
dng room: 2266 Republicans. They ~will
occupy 7 tables, ‘And 225 waiters have
been ‘engaged to serve them.
‘Lyman T,. Hay of ihe Jefferson and
Planters hotels, who has undértaken io
Satisfy the appetites of the hungry Re-
publicans, has ordered food in. the fol-
lowing quantities:
225 gallons of soup:
1200 pounds of fish.
1000 pounds ‘filet
2266 squabs,
2500 large rolls of bread
200 loaves of bread.
700 bunches of radishes,
200 bunches of celery,
55 gallons-of olives.
10 boxes of léttuce,
‘10 boxes of chicory.
10 boxes of tomatoes,
30 dozen
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
10. WHITE WHEAT. i
No. 10 is good white wheat.
11 shows a poor quality of red wheat.
POOR RED WHEAT.
(It is all right to feed white wheat to pigeons if you cannot set red wheat.)
The berries vary in size, showing that the wheat is a mixture, and sprinkled
12. WHEAT SCREENINGS
No.
through them can be seen oats and elevator sweepings. No. 12 isan even poorer kind of wheat known as wheat
screenings.
This is the refuse of a wheat elevator, including sweepings, broken grain, hulls, rat manure, ete.
Such
swWeepings or screenings are not a profitable feed for pigeons. They are fed quite largely by many people who buy
the cheapest they can get of anything, but a flock fed on this will be out of condition and will raise poor squabs.
WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS
WORTH FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR. My
partner sent to the Plymouth Rock Squab
Company for a pair of your white Homers
and when he got them they were dandy ones.
They were worth the money. When he sent
for them, we just wanted to see if they were
good, and we sent for five more pairs at
$2.75 a pair. We got them safely and now
Taal sell them for a V—F. L., New
ork.
RAISED THREE YEARS FOR FAMILY
USE. Isaw your advertisement in the Ladies
Home Fournal and will be glad if you will
send me one of your free 1908 books on squab
raising. We bought pigeons of you about
three years ago. They have been very
satisfactory. We raise them for family use
only.—Mrs. J. G. P., Virginia.
WOULD PAY TEN DOLLARS FOR THIS
BOOK. I would not be without your Manual
‘no, not if it cost me $10 to get one, for it gives
me more instruction, pleasure and satisfaction
than I can express.—L. A. W., Georgia.
WANTS ONLY THE SQUABS WHICH
PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRAS BREED. I
am mailing you $20 for which I want Extra
fancy Plymouth Rock Homer breeders.
I am breeding about 100 pairs of Homers
that produce squabs that weigh about nine
and one-half pounds, but the demand is for
the largest. So send me something good.
Mr. Chase, my neighbor, bought a few pairs
of you about one year ago and has been hav-
ing very good success.—HE. E. T., Missouri.
RECOMMENDED BY A FRIEND. Will
you please send me price list and literature
about the raising of squabs?
nine pairs a year and one pair has bred ten pairs per year. The cost of feeding averages five
cents per pair per month.
I think well of the squab business and expect before long to buy more as it is a profitable
business, considering the small capital invested. I use egg crates and orange boxes as I have
found them best and cheapest. The unit system is best as it is easier to keep track of several
small flocks rather than one large one.
A person breeding pigeons must study and learn their birds to make a success of it.
I have read and re-read your squab book and think for clearness of description, plain explana-
tions, and good clear illustrations it is the best live-stock book I have ever seen. When in doubt,
consult the Manual.—J. Y. E., West Virginia.
FLOCK INCREASED FROM SIXTY TO THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY IN EIGHT MONTHS,
I got my flock of 30 pairs of Extras into their permanent quarters in February. 1 now (October
5, 1908) have about 360 head of the finest young birds you ever saw. I have just put my flock
through the moult and they have begun to work now in good shape. I have squabs now in my
house that were raised by my young birds (the ones which I raised myself) and their second pair
of squabs weighed over one pound each at four weeks of age. Is not that good work for the sec-
ond pair that young birds raise? What do you think of my increase in stock from 60 head to 360
head in eight months; is that good werk = uct?
I can get orders for all squabs ! can raise at $3 per dozen f.0.b. cars here, but I have sold
oaly, one dozen and I got $4.50 for them. 1 do not care to sell any until I get a big flock of
reeders.
Iam making some arrangements now to build squab houses and I want to get about 150 or
200 pairs of breeders from you in the spring; as I want to get into shape to fill orders. I had
an order the first of this month for ten dozen per week at $3 per dozen. This would have been
a standing order for all winter if I could have handled it. I have one pair of young birds that
laid four eggs, hatched and raised all of them. Has that ever happened in your flock? Write
me what you think of my success and advise what price you will make me on an order for 100
pairs of Extras.—G. W. T., Louisiana.
FAMILY TRADE BRINGS HIM AS HIGH AS EIGHT DOLLARS A DOZEN FOR PLYMOUTH
ROCK SQUABS. Enclosed you will find check and order for pigeons and supplies for $116.29.
Please ship sundries by freight at once and the pigeons on July 23. The birds I got of you in
February, 1908, are doing finely. Have raised three and four pairs each, squabs weighing at
25 days from 14 to 19 ounces alive. I have several pairs more, all raised from your Extras, so
I have about 155 birds altogether now. I am clearing out the chicken pens and filling them
with pigeons, as I am fully convinced they are a much better paying proposition than the
chickens.
Several other firms have written me for orders, but as you took such pains with my little
drib, and the birds have done so well, you people get the rest of the orders. I have the largest
birds in the city, and they attract much attention from the hundreds of visitors at my poultry
yards.
The Manual isa gem. It is plain enough for any one and I really think I have it memorized.
Have several other works on pigeons, but have laid them away. They are not in the same class.
The market is good here, my birds bringing from $4.50 to $8.00 a dozen, all family orders.
I have worked them right into my chicken and egg customers. Could sell 50 pairs a day if I
had them,—J. A., Pennsylvania.
anne nnn rr
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
299
EXPERIENCE OF PROMINENT WASHINGTON PUBLIC MAN
BREEDING PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS
I wish you would send me an outfit of your Extra
Plymouth Rock Homers, mated and banded. I want
to see how they will turn out. I have already
quite a large lot of pigeons but they are doing
so poorly that I do mot expect to keep tiem ae
expect better results from the ones which I Orde ue:
The letters from customers printed in this book are evidence of the wide-
sptead interest on the American continent in squab breeding not only for
revenue and for one’s table, but also as a pastime and instructive hobby.
It will not be forgotten that the master mind of Charles Darwin evolved
“The Origin of Species” from pigeon breeding. The ideas he conceived and
the laws he discovered might have been worked out with other animals, but
not within the span of his lifetime, with the thoroughness he accomplished,
because pigeons breed rapidly, and in other respects are ideal for experiment.
Prominent in political life at Washington are customers who give part of
their spare time enthusiastically to this work. One of these ordered of us
in January, 1908, as indicated by the letter printed at the top of this page.
The next letter was as follows:
I am greatly pleased with the birds sent me, and
they seem to be all that you have said in regard
tor them.
We wrote him in December, 1908, to interest him in our Carneaux, and
received the following letter:
I have your letter of some days ago in regard to
the Homers you semtme: They wene Very fide ye aad
I was well pleased with them. One disaster after
another has followed these birds until now I have
none Went. Mist ssa owll cot. dn veamonen io mcmama
pulled heads off, which was followed by some other
mMistortune. 2 shalt meyer experiment, here vaca am
With them. but when © retire trom) the pacid omens
labors and so back nome, I certainly intend ewe
keep pigeons. I thank you very much for calling
my attention to your new Plymouth Rock Carneaux.
We are not at liberty to print the writer’s name. We call attention to
this to point the moral that serious-minded men of large affairs turn to
squab raising with lively and sustained interest. (Incidentally, another
moral is, Beware of owls !)
300
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
WON THE PRIZES IN
TEXAS. My pigeons took
first, second and third
prizes and I credit it much
to your good stock that
helped me.—I. R., Texas.
IMITATION GRITS A
FAILURE. Enclosed find
money order for which
please send me 100 pounds
of your health grit and 100
pounds of oyster shells,
pigeon size. I have tried
other health grits that are
sold nearer mv city but
find my birds will not touch
them.—H E. M., New
York.
READY MARKET IN
MONTANA. I have about
90 young and have sold
about 125 squabs. I can
get $3.00 a dozen plucked
and notrouble aboutselling
them. I have paid as high
as $2 per hundredweight
for wheat but am now
getting wheat at $1.15
per hundredweight ; corn
$1.90.—L. E. Y., Montana,
ORDINARY QUARTERS.
The Pennsylvania customer whose letter is printed on this page is doing well here.
SEVEN PAIRS QUICKLY AT WORK. ORDERING EVERY MONTH.
The seven pairs of
Plymouth Rock Homers arrived on April 24 in first-class order. Five nests are finished (May 7),
one has two eggs and there are two other nests in the course of construction, which speaks
mighty well for your stock, Ithink. I expect to send you an order the latter part of this month
and intend buying every month. In that way I will not feel the investment so much.
One could not ask for better stock than you sent me. I am well pleased and shall be glad
to boost your stock among my friends. My neighbor is more than ever chagrined at the job
lot that was shipped him from the southern part of the State and will undoubtedly send you
an order before long. Thank you for the pains you must have taken in selecting my birds.
(Later. August, 1908.) I write you to give you the address of a gentleman who is going
into the squab business. You can use my name or not, just as you desire, but one thing you
can use to him ismy recommendation. When I return from my vacation, September 1, I intend
placing another order for 10 pairs more of Extra Plymouth Rocks. My birds have done fine
and as long as I get such birds from you, you can expect my order and all others I can throw
your way. There isall sorts ofrivalry here on account of the show in January.—J. B.,
Pennsylvania.
YEAR’S TRIAL SATISFACTORY, AND
GOING AHEAD. I thought you might be
interested to know that the birds we pur-
chased of you last January have turned out
finely, we having lost but two, and this on
account of flying against the wire, breaking
their necks. We decided to give the birds
a thorough trial for a year, being novices
at the business, and I am sure as soon as the
year is up, we will place another order with
you, as your birds have been greatly admired
by other raisers here, and they have done what
you said they would. We have had no trouble
in selling the squabs, which have ranged from
ten to thirteen ounces each, receiving in nearly
every case from 50 cents to 75 cents per pair.—
C. W. C., Pennsylvania.
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
301
MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS
TEXAS WOMAN DELIGHTED WITH HER
PROJECT. I am enclosing an order for
some Homers intended for a Christmas pres-
ent to my young nephew, and wish you to
ship the birds so as to arrive about the 24th.
In March last I bought of you six pairs of
Plymouth Rock Homers. My flock now
(December) numbers 25 pairs, the first birds
hatching the 16th of April, and I have seven
hens due to hatch on the 17th of this month.
I think my success has been creditable and to
me very satisfactory. I have lost less than
half a dozen young ones, and believe the loss
of these was due to a lack of rock salt in the
fly. My aim is to increase the flock to 100
before beginning to market the squabs.
Squabs sell in our market for 25 cents each
and are scarce and in demand. My pen
consists of a house 8x8 feet in which the birds
roost, lay and hatch. Connected with the
house I have a fly eight feet wide, 20 feet long
and eight feet high; with which accommoda-
tion the birds seem perfectly contented.
Many of them seem to know me and are not
afraid when I go among them. I feed twice
a day, about 8 a.m and 3 p.m., giving them
what they will eat of whole and cracked corn,
wheat, millet and Kaffir corn, when pro-
curable. Occasionally I throw in bits of
cabbage leaves which they seem to relish
very much. I have your Manual and have
followed instructions as nearly as circum-
stances would permit, and with it as a guide
and reasonable attention, do not see how
any one could fail to succeed in a pleasant
and pleasing pursuit. I believe it also
profitable, even in my small way. I bought
your fibre nest bowls and have them screwea
to pieces that slip into the egg crates that you
mentioned in your Manual. This makes
cleaning the bowls and boxes a very easy
matter. I intend in the near future to build
another pen, divide my flock and test the
question of “ pigeons for profit.” Thus far
I am delighted with the project, but love for
my birds may interfere with selling squabs °
for slaughter. My squabs weigh on an
average of three-quarters of a pound, live
weight, at about three weeks of age. I have
had neither sickness nor lice, and on the whole
am most highly pleased with my birds.—
Mrs. R. E. B., Texas.
’
USES A WATER FOUNTAIN WHICH HE
MADE FROMA BOTTLE. In February (1908)
I became interested in Homers and thinking
they would give better results than common
pigeons, I sold my flock of common birds
and sent you an order for three pairs of
Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. Three days
later I received them. Some friends of mine
had Homer pigeons which they considered
excellent birds, but they could not beat mine.
My friends have been anxious to get some
of my Homers, but I intend to keep all I
raise until I have quite a flock.
Up to date (October) one pair has raised
six pairs of squabs since I received them.
The other two pairs have done nearly as well.
The common pigeons I had generally stopped
breeding during the moulting season, but your
Homers kept right on.
I feed what is called here “‘ scratch feed,”
composed of buckwheat, peas, Kaffir corn,
sunflower seed, cracked corn, wheat and
several other grains. I also give a tonic every
Sunday with a little hemp seed. I use a
feeder which I made, as shown in your
Manual, and a water fountain which I made
I have followed your Manual
from a bottle.
HOME MADE.
For this little plant the breeder has utilized what
he had; expending hardly 2 dollar. He has done very
well in these rough and ready quarters, however, as his
letter here printed shows. (See letter of M. J. H.,
New York.)
in caring for my birds and think it is an excel-
lent book. Sometime in the future I intend
to give you another order. : :
I send by this mail a picture of my place.
and birds. The small pen is where I keep my
young stock until they mate. The one with.
the Homer in the window is where my working”
birds are kept.—M. J. H., New York. ;
LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY
302
APPENDIX G
There are about seventy different breeds and crosses of pigeons. For squab
breeding the Homers and Carneaux have demonstrated their value over a long
term of years in all kinds of hands and under all conditions, in all sections and
climates and to-day are preferred above all other pigeons. Our experience of
fifteen years selling millions of dollars’ worth of pigeons and supplies to hundreds
of thousands of customers is worth something to new customers. Customers
play with other breeds of pigeons just as we do but the bills are paid by the squabs
going to market from Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux. They are workers.
That is the main point. They produce more squabs. We have experimented
with many other breeds and have searched Europe for something better, but
have not found it. The great successes in squab raising have been made with
Homers and Carneaux. They are the universal favorites. Remember when
buying pigeons for squab breeding that plumage is a secondary consideration.
Work is what you want. Squabs are sold with the feathers off.
“T handle the squabs of a good many other people here and notice that those
that have Plymouth Rock Squab Co. stock are always sending me the best.”
The above was written by Stefan Schwarz of California when he was manager
of the Pacific Utility Pigeon Association. What is true of California is true of
every State and every City on the North American Continent. See the letters
from squab marketmen everywhere telling the same impressive fact. Do you
wonder why our sales steadily increase? ;
“After experimenting with pigeons five years I have settled finally on the
Homer as being the best all-round utility bird. At this writing I have seven pens
of pigeons. I have three pens of Homers, all foundation stock Plymouth Rock
stock. I find the market in this section is strong for squabs that weigh about
eight to ten pounds to the dozen with a limited sale for squabs that run larger.
The large consumers will consider only such squabs. They never buy anything
larger.”
The foregoing was written March 2, 1914, by George Klarmann, the secretary
of the Pacific Utility Pigeon Association. Both the above, Messrs. Schwarz
and Klarmann, write not only out of their own experience, but also after mar-
keting thousands of squabs of all kinds bred by others.
ONLY CULLS ARE CHEAP, by H. A.
Parkhurst. Many prospective customers have
involved, also depreciation on _ buildings,
stock, etc., to take into consideration. If it
a vague idea of the value of good breeding stock.
They expect to purchase Al breeding birds,
banded and working, for the price of old, worn-
out birds, or squabs. Now to get down toa
few facts. In the first place, it costs about
$1.65 per year to feed a breeding pair of birds,
when formerly it cost about $1.25. Squabs
do not begin to mate until they are from four
to six months old, according to the variety.
It costs $1.25 to raise same until.they can be
mated and sold as breeders. Then in addition
there are your overhead charges, such as in-
terest on money invested, labor and time
303
costs $1.65 to feed a pair of breeders per year
and $1.25 to raise a pair of squabs before you
can sell them for breeders, we will say the
percentage cost of feed for the old pair is one-
sixth of $1.65, or twenty-eight cents plus $1.25,
or $1.53. In addition there are cost of ad-
vertising, interest on money invested, etc. In
other words, the majority do not figure pro-
duction cost. I trust this will shed a little
radiance to the purchasing public who think
they are being done when they pay over $1.50
per pair for Homers or $3.00 per pair for Car-
neaux.
304
MULBERRY STEMS FOR NESTING, by
Gordon Lallemand. I started with two pairs
of Homers and had a small, wooden pen and
did not have very good success, but I gradually
learned the ways and habits of pigeons. After
that I built a new house unit with the pen
nine by ten by fourteen feet. I now use sand
all over the floor. I raise all the squabs I
want to eat and sell lots of dressed squabs.
I have found out that strangers are a great
setback to mated pairs, especially those which
have squabs. I have had pigeons leave their
eggs and let the squabs starve because I let
strangers go in or near the pens. In dressing
I gather the squabs, cut their large jugular vein
in the throat, tie the feet and hang up to bleed,
then I pick and put in cold water. I do not
cut open the squabs, but leave them as they
are.
For nesting, I use the small stems of the
mulberry. I prefer the white. The pigeons
seem to like these better than straw or tobacco
stems.
WEEDS FOR NESTING MATERIAL,
by J. C. Snyder. Bitter weed tops are good
for nesting material. It is a small weed that
grows wild in Mississippi and is of no value that
I can see except for the purpose I have named.
It grows about two feet high and has a little
yellow flower that is bitter, and if cows eat it
the milk will be bitter. We have trouble dur-
ing the summer on this account. The way
I happened to try them was this. Two weeks
before Christmas my nesting material gave
out. IJhad been using pine needles and couldn’t
spare the time to get more, so just went out
in the pasture a few hundred yards from my
pigeon lofts and broke off the tops of the weeds.
They broke easily because they were dead
from the cold weather. I took an armful
back and put them in the loft and when I
went in to feed that evening it was all gone.
Looking around, I saw lots of new nests and
in a few days lots of eggs, and now I must
say I have more squabs than at any other
previous time, and I can attribute it to these
bitter weed tops, as they like them better
than anything I have yet found.
ATTRACTIVE PACKAGE, by Mrs. Walter
J. Wilcox. For five years my husband has
been reading about squabs. At last he is
fairly launched into the business and is so
busy that Iam writing for him. Last summer
in his spare time he built a house eight by
twelve feet and covered it with flexible asphalt
roofing paper; red roof and gray walls. The
house is divided into two pens, one for Car-
neaux and the other for Homers. It was
ready for birds September 1, 1914, and in
spite of skeptical neighbors and laughing
friends, I bought twelve pairs of Homers,
colored and white, also four pairs of Carneaux,
one pair solid yellow, one pair of solid red and
two pairs of splashed, from Mr. Rice. Our
neighbors are beginning to sit up and take
notice now, for all our trade has come to us.
aie 1B INTO XS (G
We have disposed of all our squabs and have
orders ahead. The squabs go to family trade,
for as yet we haven’t enough at a time to send
to market. My husband dresses them ready
for cooking, then each squab is wrapped in
parchment paper, fastened with gummed tape,
then packed in boxes containing four. This is
wrapped in lavender paper with string to match.
On top of this neat package he has a printed
label with our trade name, and it is just the
thing to go through the parcel post. Perhaps
you will think a lot of time is wasted in doing
up such a package, but have you noticed
how anything in an attractive package or box
appeals to the ladies? And it’s the house-
keepers who buy our squabs, so why not try
to please?
I feed and water the pigeons every morning.
It gives me a chance to watch the interesting
little things and leaves my husband more time
for killing and cleaning the latter once a week.
He has found a scratch feed such as is given
to chickens to be very satisfactory mixed with
a liberal amount of peanuts. He is fortunate
in being supplied with tobacco stems from the
local cigar stores and uses them for nest ma-
terial. Just now he is having a new pigeon
house built thirty-six feet long. This is only
a side line or hobby with us, as my husband
has a Government position, also is tenor soloist
in one of the large churches.
HOW I RAISED THE PRICE FROM $3
TO $5 A DOZ.,by R. M. Ayres. As I enjoy
reading the experiences of others, I thought
some one would enjoy reading some of mine.
My start was on a very small scale, but after I
had alittle experience Iinvested in asmall flock
of Homers and Carneaux, buying them from
the people who I think have made the squab
business what it is today. From these I have
raised quite a flock.
One of the lessons I have learned is that it
doesn’t pay to put too many pigeons in one
pen. I think twenty-five pairs are plenty. I
believe I can get as many squabs out of twenty-
five pairs as I can out of thirty-five or forty
pairs in the same pen.
A word about feed. I read of a number who
get large, fat squabs without using any Canada
peas. I cannot see how they doit. Just as
soon as I quit using peas my squabs commence
to lose in weight. I feed a mixture of peas,
cracked corn, kaffir corn, buckwheat, millet
and wild-grass seed.
As to the market end of the business, that
has been easy. I have been able to sell all I
can raise, at prices ranging from $4 to $5 per
dozen. When I started I was selling them at
$3 per dozen, but I soon found that did not
pay, so I kept pushing the price up until I got
it up to $5 a dozen, and my customers pay
that just the same as they did the lower price.
I use the post-card method of advertising,
which I think is the best, as it reaches just the
ones you want to reach, while the advertise-
ment in the ordinary daily paper is not read
by the class of people that you are after.
APPENDIX G
I TAKE SQUABS TO
MARKET IN A BASKET, by
Thomas Hanigan. Four and
a half years ago I bought
twelve pairs of first-class
Homers. They proved so in-
teresting and convincing that
I bought six pairs more a few
months later. These were all
I ever purchased, but they
bred so well there are now
250 full-grown birds, and I
have been marketing nearly
all the squabs for the last
year.
I never had any pigeons
before, so I studied their hab-
its and requirements as I
went along, aided by the
standard literature on the
subject.
In these four years, but two
of the pigeons “ went light ”’
and there have been but six
cases of canker with the
Squabs, never any with the
old birds. There never has
beenany sickness. One night
there was a commotion in the
flock. Taking my lantern, I
went to investigate and found
a ratin the loft, which I killed.
Iconcluded that the only way
the rat could have got in was
by climbing a post of the fly-
ing pen, which was against
the barn and near the opening
tothe loft. To guard against
its occurring again I took a two-foot strip
of zinc.and nailed it around this post, and
have never seen another rat. There has been
no trouble with lice or mites, for I used to-
bacco stems when I could get them, for nest-
ing material, and I spray a little phenol dis-
infectant around the loft every time I clean
out.
My regular employment as baggage-master
on the railroad makes it necessary for me to
leave the house at 6 o’clock in the morning
and I do not get home again until 7.30 at
night. This forces me to feed and water very
early in the morning, and kill the squabs for
market in the evening. Cleaning out the
pen isa once-a-week job, left until Sundays.
This does not take very long.
My staple feed is red wheat and cracked
corn the year round, in the proportions of
two-thirds wheat to one-third cracked corn in
summer and the reverse in winter. For
change and luxury, I give a little kaffir corn,
millet, buckwheat and hempseed. Health
grit, which I buy regularly, fine ground oyster
shells, lump salt and straw are kept before
them all the time, and common gravel on the
ground of the flying pen.
The one hundred pairs of Homers which are
mated supply me with an average of two
dozen squabs a week for market. Killing
them in the evening, as I am obliged to do,
MR. HANIGAN’S SQUABS WEIGHING A POUND APIECE.
there is some food ‘left in their crops. I
neither bleed, pick nor dress them, for this is
the way I sell them at the Boston market.
They weigh a pound apiece. As my run on
the train takes me to Boston every day, I put
the squabs in a basket and carry them with
me. There I sell them to the marketman who
will give me the best price. There is never
any trouble in selling all I can raise. Last
week (the first week in April), I got $3.60 a
dozen; the week before, $4 a dozen; and the
week before that, $4.50 a dozen. Selling in
this way there is no bother of picking, pack-
ing, icing nor paying express charges. I tave
never tried to sell any squabs to the summer
people who come to my town, for they seem to
think I ought to sell them cheap because I am
in the country.
ENJOY GREEN THINGS, by Edward Rob-
erts. I have anewidea. Pigeons eat water
cress and radish tops, also green mustard
leaves, and they like all. I feed them all the
bread they can eat.
One pigeon laid an egg in a nestbox with
no bowl and without even building a nest, so
I put straw in a nestbowl and placed the egg
in it. She took to it right off and laid
another egg in two days, by its side. She is
setting now.—L. Franklin.
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I GIVE UP CHICKENS
IN FAVOR OF SQUABS,
by Thomas F. Cook. Two
years ago hac had no
experience whatever with
squabs, in fact had no inten-
tion of ever raising any,
when a gentleman living
near me, who was forced by
lack of time to sell his pens
of birds, numbering about
400 Homers, offered them
to me, and as I had read
quite a bit at that time of
how well others were doing
raising squabs, I decided to
try my luck. Of course
moving them disturbed
them but after a few weeks
they settled down to work
and were doing very fairly,
when some one told me
where I could buy some very
cheap feed, viz.: frozen
Manitoba wheat, which
turned out to be the dear-
est feed [I ever bought.
The pigeons did not like it
and would not eat it if they
could help it, but I kept
feeding it to them as I
thought it was cheap and
plenty good enough for pig-
eons. The result was they
got poor and practically quit F
laying, and the few squabs I did succeed in
Taising were so thin I could not market them.
It took me months to get them back in good
trim again, but ! finally succeeded in doing
so and they were paying me very well indeed
when one night in last August my barn was
burned down and the pigeon house with it. I
managed to save about 100 birds, but their
breeding was over for some time till I could
get another house and pair them up again,
but I had seen plainly that, rightly managed,
there was money in squabs so hearing of a lot
of about 900 that were for sale in Thornhill
(about 15 miles from here) I bought them with
the building they were in (a one-story frame
structure fifty feet long by fitteen feet wide),
shut the birds up in the house and pulled the
flying pens down, then sawed the whole build-
ing in two through the centre pen. We
moved it up here on trucks and set it down on
a good foundation and built twenty more feet
in the centre of the one we moved, making a
building seventy feet long.
It was quite a bit of trouble and expense
moving the building that way but it paid me,
as the birds went right on breeding, in fact
with the exception of a very few eggs that
rolled out of some of the nests they did not
seem to know they had been moved.
As a main feed I use corn, Canada peas and
buckwheat alternately, with a little hemp,
kaffir corn and wheat as dainties, also plenty
of grit and a lump of rock salt always in each
pen, also lots of clean water before them at all
SQUAB PLANT MOVED FIFTEEN MILES.
times, and a bath placed in each flying pen
every morning during the summer. In the
winter I give them a bath only on nice bright
days when it is warm enough so that there is
no danger of the water freezing.
I might say that all my birds are thorough-
bred Homers. I intend to buy some Car-
neaux later on and intend to cross with the
Homers, as of course the larger the squabs the
more I can get tor them. My squabs now
average about nine to ten pounds to the dozen.
I have been raising quite a lot of chickens,
but am gradually dropping them and intend
to increase the pigeons, as they pay better,
take up less room, are less trouble, and the re-
turns come in every week. ‘There is no slack
time with them as far as my experience goes.
Under proper conditions and right treatment
they breed every month in the year.
HOW TO GET GOOD FEEDERS, by
James Y. Egbert. Feeding qualities of pig-
eons in a flock vary almost as much as the
number of birds in the pen. Some feed their
young early and often and stuff them full,
making large, plump squabs. Others feed
moderately and their squabs are not so fat.
Some parent birds can raise three and oc-
casionally four squabs, but the latter is rare.
A squab breeder should observe his birds and
mate those of good feeding qualities. In this
way he would build up a flock of large, sturdy,
well-fed birds. Good feeding qualities are
handed down from one generation to another
308
HOW A FERTILE EGG LOOKS AFTER SIX DAYS.
The nucleus with the veins radiating from it may be
clearly seen at this time. The white space at the end
of the egg is the air space. Around the egg inside
may be seen the white membrane lining.
HATCH ONLY EGGS OF THE LARGEST
BIRDS, by M. C. Martin. Many buyers of
limited means who wish to start with six ora
dozen pairs of Homers, demand the very
choicest*birds to breed their flock from, i.e.
they insist that all be the very best or ‘‘top.”’
As a matter of fact birds are not all the
same size and weight. Just like buying
apples. You have to take them as they come.
They are already “‘ sorted ’”’ and the merchant
will not pick them for you. So with birds.
The writer desired to breed up a flock of
the very finest Homers and Carneaux and this
is how he did it.
In a dozen pair about half of them will be
exceptionally fine and the rest only ordinary.
Whenever one of the smaller birds lays, you
will find that at least one of the largest hens
has done the same. Throw away the eggs of
the smaller bird and substitute for them the
eggs of the larger bird. The smaller pair will
hatch out the eggs of the large pair of Homers.
In about ten days or two weeks the large
hen will lay again. Repeat the process three
or four times and then let the large hen set and
hatch out her own eggs. When she lays
again rob her nest and so on as before.
If you cannot find enough small birds to
hatch the large ones continuously, of course
do the next best thing. Always make the
smaller pairs hatch the eggs of the large ones
and never their own.
In this way you will get almost as many
birds in a year from the very largest, as in the
natural way you would have raised from large
and small both. This would hardly pay in
raising squabs for market, but it assuredly
pays when increasing your flock of birds.
The same plan may be used with the Car-
neaux or any other high-priced birds. Use
the small Homers to do the work of setting
for your Carneaux and it is amazing how
capidly, the large birds will multiply.
n changing the eggs from one nest to
APPENDIX ©
another, you must be sure that the birds have
laid about the same time (not over three days’
difference) or the one setting will either have
no bird milk in her crop or, if she has set too
long, the milk will be so thick the little squab
cannot take it.
This is the onl; precaution necessary, the
birds will do the rest. All eggs look alike
to them, but unlike the chicken very few will
set longer than nineteen or twenty days.
Some might object to this method as being
cruel and contrary to nature, but a study of
the case shows that it is not. A pigeon has a
short memory and a very strong nesting in-
stinct. Rob the nest one day and the birds
will many times go to nesting the very next
day, showing that they are not very much
“upset”? and are willing to try again right
away. Fifteen or more pairs of squabs may
be raised from one pair of birds in this way
without affecting the health of the old birds
in the least, and the young are strong and
healthy.
A complete explanation of this method of
forced breeding is found in Rice’s manual, the
National Standard Squab Book (see page 231)
and the writer can testify to its verity, as he
has tested it thoroughly and boasts of one of
the finest flocks of Homers and Carneaux in
the West, obtained by this method of forced
breeding.
After the eggs have been sat on for four of
five days, hold them up between yourself and
the sun, and if they are fertilized, you will
clearly see a nucleus with a network of veins
clustered about it. It looks just like the one-
celled animal in the lowest scale of animal life,
such as the amceba. ;
If eggs are not fertile, they will appear trans-
parent with only a small patch of red coloring
matter within. Shake the evgs and they will
be found to be spoiled. Throw them away
and the birds will lay again in a week or ten
days. If only one egg is fertile, look for more
“bad ”’ eggs, and many times you will find
several nests with one good and one bad egg.
By holding them before you in the sun or be-
fore a lamp, you can with a little practice, by
the appearance of the nucleus (if during the
first week of incubation), match up the eggs
just as well as to wait until each pair of birds
hatches and then arrange the young two ina
nest.
Two or three weeks’ time may be saved ona
pair of birds by this method. My motto is:
After five days, always have two fertile eggs in
each nest.
NINE OF TEN SQUABS FEMALES, by
Dr. H.N. Kingsford. I bought a pair of Car-
neaux in January, 1908. This has turned out
to be a peculiar pair, in regard to the sex of
the young which they have bred, as I have
vaised five pairs of young from them, nine of
which were females, the remaining one a male.
The first four pairs were eight females. I
have four hundred pairs of birds. I use a
great many pigeons in my work in teaching.
I make them pay.
.-
APPENDIX (G
HOW TO KEEP MICE OUT OF
GRAIN TROUGHS, by W. L. Plumer.
For those who, like the writer, have
been annoyed by the depredations of
mice in the self-feeders within the
squabhouse a sketch is given show-
ing arrangement which, while simple,
has proven entirely effective against
these little rodents. Squab breeders
are in many cases losing a much greater
amount of grain from this cause than
they realize, as while it is compara-
tively easy soto build the squabhouse
that it is secure against the entrance
of rats, the little mouse will in some
way get in, and in numbers unsus-
pected by the breeder unless he has
paid a night visit to the lofts. At the
time I followed the general custom of
placing the feeders upon the floor, it
Was no uncommon occurrence on the
morning rounds to disturb one or more
mice which had lingered within the
feeders from the night before.
After some slight alterations the self-
feeders were arranged in the following
manner: In the centre of the unit or loft are
placed two uprights two by four, thirty-two
to thirty-four inches high and thirty inches
apart, with strips four by ten inches on bot-
tom of each, which are nailed to the floor.
This together with two short braces gives
the necessary support. On the top of each up-
right is placed an inverted three-gallon crock, a
board five by eight inches first being nailed
to top of uprights, and on these the crocks
rest rigidly.
A NEW WAY TO COOK SQUABS, by Mrs.
M. E. Slight. I clean them and split them
in halves, then fry them in olive oil and
butter, two-thirds oil and one-third butter.
I first brown in the oil and butter, then cover
them with water and simmer until they are
cooked dry, then I slightly brown them again
and make a cream gravy to eat with them.
I ship my squabs alive to San Francisco and
average $3 a dozen for them. I have sold
some to the sanitarium also.
BURLAP WINDOWS VENTILATE, by
C. A. Herrold. I have two hundred Homers
all working, and I am selling squabs from
them that run from eight to nine pounds to
the dozen. They bring me from $2.50 to $3
in Chicago sold by commission men. JI have
no trouble in keeping my birds in healthy
condition. I think the first thing a beginner
should learn is to ventilate the pigeon house.
They must have pure air to breathe. Do not
ventilate so that the wind will strike the
birds. I think the roof should slope both
ways, with a ventilator in each gable sixteen
inches by twenty-four inches. The window
on the south side should be taken out and
left out in winter as well asin summer. Put
a roller at top of window with gunny sacking
to pull down in bad weather or in very cold
weather.
RAT-PROOF SELF-FEEDER FOR GRAIN.
MISSOURI BREEDER SHIPS TO PITTS-
BURG, by J. B. Beckman. It was a year ago
the twelfth of this month (June) that I re-
ceived the first twenty-five pairs of Homer
breeders and I have at present two hundred
and fifty pairs of working Homers, and fine
ones, too. I have quit selling squabs in my
town for they will not pay over $3 per dozen,
so I ship to Pittsburg, Penn. I get $3.75 for
nine-pound, and $4 for ten-pound squabs.
My check comes every week, and it amounts
to $12 to $15 a week.
I can raise a good deal of my feed. I have
fifteen acres of land, high up ona hill. Ihave
about five acres of Canada peas, and the vines
are loaded. Ihave kaffir corn and millet, and
big corn, all for my birds, and about two acres
of sunflowers—and all doing well.
I have a five-horsepower gasoline engine for
pumping my water for my birds.
e are going to enlarge out plant before
fall for three hundred more pairs. With what
buildings I already have I will then be breed-
ing seven hundred pairs. I think things look
good for me.
FRANTIC OVER GREEN VINES, by Louis
A. Hart. I am having fine success with my
Carneaux. All four pairs that I bought have
families, besides some of the squabs that have
mated. I am enlarging my flying pen, en-
closing a lettuce and a tomato bed. They do
so much better with more room, and they go
frantic over green Canada pea vines.
1 am raising some very fine Homer squabs
but not enough to supply the demand for this
kind of stock. In my position as meat cutter
in one of the highest class markets here, I
have a good opportunity to market all the
squabs I can raise.—Henry A. Lindenschmitt,
Colorado.
310 APPENDIX G
oaIPee,
REFERENCES:
FIDELITY TRusT Co.
COMMERCIAL AGENCIES
=siic—
=
Paps 5)" (co
TELEPHONE CALLS
5302-5303 WortTH
afc
NEAR CHAMBERS STREET 9729/09
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Treasurer, NEW YORK,
Plymouth Rock Squab Coe,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir:
We are very pleased to note the signal success of the Squab Mag-
azine, and tne small card which we inserted with our name, has brought
us numerous inquiries from all over the country from Squab Raisers, as to
market prices and conditions, and has resulted in the receipt of ship-
ments of some _yery fine birds.
There is absolutely no limit to the quantity of Squabs we can
handle, and as our trade is constantly extending, we are anxious at
all times to keep in touch with raisers of good Squabs.
It is a source of satisfaction to observe the better quality
of birds now being received on the market, due, no doubt, to the
eliminating of poor breeding stock, greater care and attention given
to the keeping and feeding of the birds, and more intelligent dressing
and shipping. t is due, we believe, to the ucational
efforts of yourself, and the testimony is present in the superior
q ty o uabs now be received, as compar Ww & Tew
years ago.
We endeavor at all times to give our shippers the best possible
prices, make prompt returns, and are pleased to furnish all the inform-
ation in our power.
We wish to thank you for the courtesies you have shom us in the
past, and with best wishes for success in your continued efforts to
improve tne squab industry, we are,
Very truly yours,
tss/LLO EL bhFow
ZW INDEX 1G
HOW THE CITY MARKETMAN WANTS
SQUABS, by A. Silz. Squab raisers should
bear in mind that squabs should not be more
than three to four weeks old when killed, and
after being killed, it is very essential that they
be allowed to bleed properly, by hanging head
downward, otherwise the blood congeals and
tends to turn the bird more or less dark. The
best-selling squab, at all times, is the one
mich is perfectly white and free from blem-
ishes.
Within a short time after being killed and
after being dry-picked perfectly clean of all
feathers, it is a good plan to immerse the
squabs in ice-cold water until such time as
they are to be packed for shipment. They
should never be held for any length of time, as
it tends to make the birds flabby, and by the
time they get to the dealer, wno places them
to the trade, they present a very stale, unde-
sirable appearance, and in the majority of
cases, must be sold at a sacrifice as a result of
this condition.
We receive, from time to time, among the
fancy squabs, some nice, large, plump birds
which would otherwise be perfect were it not
for one or more red blotches which appear on
the back of the bird and detract from its
appearance to such an extent that high-class
trade will not touch them at all. If squab
Taisers can arrive at some method by which
these red blotches will be eliminated they will
very naturally benefit, as the birds will bring
better money, at all times, where this con-
dition is not apparent.
During the summer months, the squabs,
after being properly cooled, should be care-
fully packed between layers of cracked ice,
using a laver first to cover the bottom of the
package, then a layer of squabs arranged head
downward, then another good layer of ice, a
layer of squabs and so on, and when the pack-
age is filled a good double layer of ice on top,
so that the birds are completely enveloped,
This will keep them thoroughly chilled and
prevent any chance of spoiling while en route
4 SJLZ DRAYLOAD OF SQUABS FOR ONE OF THE TRANS-
ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS.
dll
A. SILZ,
to the dealer. Care, however, must be exer-
cised, even here, that too many squabs are not
put into a package. It is better to use a
little more ice and not pack the squabs very
tightly, as this all tends to bring them to
market in the best possible condition.
WHY, WHEN, HOW TO TRANSFER
SQUABS. It is a noticeable fact to all squab
breeders that there is apt to be a difference
of size between the two squabs in a nest when
they are three days old and upwards and that
the difference in size becomes more apparent
the older they get until they are pretty well
feathered. This condition is found less with
Homers than with any of the other breeds,
but Homers are not exempt from it. The
reason for it is that one egg hatches from one
to two days before the other. As soon as
the first one hatches the parents begin to
feed it and it will double in size in a day or
two so that when the second squab hatches
it is only half the size and strength of the
firstone. Havea flat-bottomed
basket or box with a handle
that you can carry on your arm.
With this go through all your
nests twice a week and even
up the sizes of the two squabs
in each nest. First, take a
hasty glance through the nests
in a pen to get an estimate of
how many pairs of squabs need
attending to and their relative
sizes. Then take one of an
uneven pair and put in the
nest of another uneven pair
so that the two will exactly
match, remove the third one
thus formed and either put it
in the first nest or in some
other so that they will exactly
match in size and so on. If
there is a nest with but one
squab do not hesitate to put
another with it if it be of the
same size.
312
iA ,
SOUAB YARDS.
SQUAB PEN FOR POULTRY SHOW.
This is good advertising for a poultry show, much better than merely
showing the old birds, for a stranger to squabs is intensely interested in see-
ing the young and actually realizing how quickly they grow to market size.
HOW I SELL SQUABS FOR SIX DOLLARS
A DOZEN, by Lynn L. James. My intro-
duction to squabs came through buying only
three pairs of Homers a year ago, or to be
mere exact, on February 15, 1908. I was
then, and had been for some years, a breeder
of high-grade poultry, single comb white, buff
and brown leghorns. I had read a good deal
about squabs and being over-cautious, per-
haps, started with only the three pairs.
I bought them at the right placeand my
experience with them was so encouraging,
they did so well, that on July 25, 1908, I in=
vested a hundred dollars in sixty pairs more
from the same concern. These have kept on
with the good work and this month I am
buying fifty pairs more.
I certainly have had unbounded success
and now have a house of four units more under
construction. I have five units full of breed-
ers and cannot get enough squabs for my
trade. I have no competition in my Pennsyl-
vania city, and the enclosed card will show
Ou my prices. ‘
x I have discarded poultry entirely. All
pigeons for me. As the old saying goes, they
have chickens ‘‘ beaten to a frazzle’’—and I
did exceedingly well with them also.
The accompanying photograph shows my
exhibition coop at the poultry show here. I
built that exhibition pen for the poultry show
after my own ideas. The nests contained
squabs of all ages with the old birds caring for
them, all finished in red and white same as my
APPENDIX G
coops are, The news:
Papers gave it a good
notice.
I have exhibited at va-
rious places this fall and
winter in hot competition
and taken all the first and
second prizes, and it all
helps my advertising as
my cards, etc., are all.
trade-marked. I am breed-
ing from two hundred
pairs now, getting from
$3.50 to $6 per dozen. I
sold $24 worth of squabs
yesterday and turned
away telephone orders
amounting to $12.50 since
noon to-day, but won’t do
that long.
People here say they
never saw such _ large
squabs. Iam getting the
whole city stirred up over
i,
The mortality list is very
small compared with chick-
ens, and squabs are less
work, while for profit, well,
chickens may as well quit
trying. I have all three
hospitals ordering squabs,
and hotels clamoring for
even the smallest. It’s
great, Itell you. Guess I
have blown my own horn enough, but I get
enthusiastic over it and forget to stop.
The card which Mr. James refers to in his
letter above is what is known as a private post-
card. On the front is a place for the one-cent
stamp and the address of the customer. On
the back is the following printed matter, the
places for the prices being left blank and filled
in by pen when the card is sent out.
(Italic type indicates what is filled in by pen )
EAT
( Trade Mark Squabs
appears here
We are pleased te quote you prices on fresh
Satebs for the month of February, rg90e, as
ollows:
Prime, 10 lbs. to doz., per doz. $6.00
No. 1,8 to 9 lbs. to doz., per doz. $5.25-5.50
No. 2, 6 to 8 lbs. to doz., per doz. 3.75-4.50
Unpicked Squabs twenty-five cents per
dozen less the above prices. Telephone orders
given prompt and careful attention. Bell
Phone 1208-R. People’s Phone 710-R.
JAMES’ SQUAB YARDS
Mr. James sends out the above postal carc
(no letter under a two-cent stamp needed) to
past and prospective customers, once a week,
or as needed, and they order by either of the
two telephone systems or by postal or letter.
APPENDIX G
HOW TO MAKE A CHEAP
SHIPPING CRATE, by F. B. Shepard.
The crate we use for retail, or indi-
vidual, trade in dozen lots asshown in
the picture is made of strips of any
light, tough wood except pine, as the
odor from pine might taint the squabs.
The strips should be sand-papered so
that the crate will look and be clean.
The cover is fastened at the back with
wire loops, not hinges. The cover is
fastened at the front with pieces of iron
wire three inches long, which you bend
around the heads of two nails. The
strips of wood are seven-eighths of an
inch or one inch wide. The nails
are wire brads, three-quarters of an
inch long, not only driven in but
clinched where possible.
Each squab is wrapped in waxed
paper. Six squabs are put on the
bottom of the crate, breasts up, and
six more on top, breasts up, thus the crate be-
ing filled.
The express company is conquered by such
acrate. It is so light (it weighs only seven-
teen ounces), that the additional express
charges amount to little or nothing. It has
cost less than would be asked to transport it
back home, so your customer can keep it.
SELLING 2000 DOZEN SQUABS A WEEK,
by Ray S. Long. A short time ago I had
occasion to step into the New York store of
Heineman Brothers, to see how their business
was, and it is needless to say that I was greatly
impressed with their methods of handling
their big trade. They have a very large,
spacious building in Washington Street well
equipped with every modern appliance for
carrying on their extensive business, which is
located in one of the busiest sections of lower
New York. They handle all kinds of poul-
try, game, etc., but that which most attracted
my attention was the enormous trade in
squabs. This trade is attended to in a very
quick and efficient manner, consequently they
have to have plenty of squabs on hand in
order to supply the demand, which calls for
from fifteen hundred dozen to two thousand
dozen squabs weekly, most of which are used
by many of the large hotels, restaurants and
steamships They are at all times in a
position to handle good squabs and pay the
highest prices for them, as they cater to a
fancy trade which demands a good squab, one
that is white and plump weighing from seven
and one-half to twelve pounds to the dozen.
They pay the best price for birds of this weight.
In packing for shipment, great care should be
used in arranging the squabs according to
size, color and general appearance. It takes
only a little more time and attention but it
more than pays one in the end, for the squabs
command a better price.
The squab market in New York is never
overcrowded with first-grade squabs. I ad-
vise those who are raising squabs to raise only
A No. 1 birds, for then they need never fear of
313
TEN-CENT SHIPPING CRATE FOR ONE DOZEN SQUABS.
Inside dimensions, in inches, 14 long, 7 wide, 6 high. Strips are
one inch wide.
Weight 17 ounces.
not finding a good active market for them at
all times. Everywhere the trade is demand-
ing good squabs and is willing to pay for them.
It doesn’t pay to waste one’s time raising in-
ferior ones, so get busy and produce the kind
that is wanted.
The Heineman Brothers are always ready
to receive squabs, so do not be afraid of send-
ing them too many fine ones, for they can
handle any number. :
You will be pleased and encouraged to
know that many of those who ship squabs to
this concern state that their parent stock is
from Mr. Rice’s famous Plymouth Rock birds.
Letters come to them telling of the good re-
sults obtained which are simply due to their
being started right by Mr. Rice, and it pays to
start them right, for then one does not meet
with the discouragements that many do who
buy cheap birds; further, their trade is con-
tinually demanding squabs raised from the
Plymouth Rock stock, giving evidence of the
sterling qualities of these birds.
MATTING STRAWS FOR NESTING, by
Edward Rice, Texas. A good substitute for
tobacco stems is matting straws unwoven
and cut into five or six-inch lengths. They
make a thick and compact nest and the
birds like them if they are sweet and not too
old. In this way a cheap but good nesting
material may be provided. Some may think
that they are not good because they don’t
keep away mites and lice, but I think cleanli-
ness is the best thing for that purpose anyhow.
WIRE DOOR FOR VENTILATION, py
Edward Rice, Texas. In order to give my
pigeons plenty of fresh air I have removed
the wooden door in my loft and put a wire
One in its place. The air inside the house is
always fresh. As the door is in the east end
of the house it allows the sun to shine in and
warm up things on winter mornings, and
also aliows the easterly breezes to blow
through it in summer. Sometimes I close
the door on cold nights.
314 APPENDIX G
Telephone.
Eannection.
Sept. 24th,1909.
Mr. Flmer C. Rice,
Treasurer, Plymouth Rock Squab Co.,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir:
We herewith wish to state, that with all Our numerous
shipments, we take great pleasure in noticing the fact that
they use yOur breed Of birds. This class of birds has given
ug and Our customers the best Of satisfaction, we having no
cOmplaints whatever Offered us during the entire past seasOne
We have asked a large majority Of our shippers where they
at first purchased their stock to go into business, and fina
your name at the top of the list.
There is none who takes such an interest in the breeding
Of squabs as your firm doOes, and we assure you that anyone
purchasing your stock will be satisfactorily recompensed for
his venture, and will always be perfectly satisfied with the
Outcome of using your breed Of birds. We can Only say, they
are the best for them to handle, and past experience has
taught us they will make more money in shorter time, DOING
BUSINESS DIRECTLY WITH YOU, than with anyone else.
Yours very truly, Sa B,
APPENDIX G
HOW TO TRAIN HOMERS
TO CARRY NEWS, by Alfred
Lloyd. To obtain best results
in condition and endurance in
the flying game regularity in
feeding and exercise is nec-
essary. We generally fly the
birds three times a day, about
thirty minutes to a fly, fora
weekorso. After that we give
them one hour three times a ~«
day. Our first toss would be
two miles; the second toss five §
miles; the third, ten miles; the
fourth, twenty miles; the fifth,
thirty-five miles; the sixth,
fifty miles; the seventh, sev
enty-five miles, and the eighth,
one hundred miles. After that
the birds ougnt to fly one-
hundred-mile jumps right up
to five hundred miles.
Of course one might takea
bird from the loft and jump it
to five hundred miles and have
it come back, but it is simply
a chance. I jumped one my-
self from thirty-five to five hun-
dred miles, but it took five
days to get home.
The above training applies
to mature birds, but for train-
ing young birds it is different.
Young ones should not be flown
before they are three months
old, and it is betfer to wait un-
tilsix months. There are more
Homers whose training begins at six months
than at three. Young Homers should not be
given more thana hundred-mile fly for the first
three tosses. The best way is to give them
tosses of three, five, ten, fifteen and twenty-
five miles. After that, they can stand jumps
from twenty-five to one hundred miles.
The picture on this page shows an opening
guarded with wires set where the window of
the squabhouse generally is, or at the end of
the flying pen. The bird pictured has just
completed a flight and is about to push the
wires further and drop down into the middle
of the coop. As soon as the bob wires move
out from a vertical position, the electric cir-
cuit is made by the contact breaker and the
electric bell rings to inform the owner that the
bird has arrived home. Two cells of dry
battery are shown in the picture, also the
electric bell, The battery and bell may be
set anywhere on the premises, even two
hundred feet away in the residence of the
owner, if desired. As soon as the bird has
dropped into the pen, the wires fall back toa
vertical position and the bell stops ringing.
A battery of two cells would cost fifty cents.
An electric bell costs about fifty cents. The
wiring would cost half a dollar more. The
bob wires and frame cost about twenty-five
cents a wire. You can buy them with two,
four or six wires, etc. The whole outfit is in-
expensive, and is the source of much pleasure
315
=e
ZZ
i
BOB WIRES WITH ELECTRICAL ATTACHMENT.
and enjoyment. The bent wire and cord
shown in the picture are for the purpose o
raising all the bob wires by a pull from the
back of the squabhouse, so that the birds can
go out for their exercise. The cord is released
so that the bobs will drop and be in position
for tripping when the first bird comes home.
HOUSE TO HOUSE CANVASS, by William
H. Woodruff. As wehave no very large
quantity of squabs, our method has been to
make a house-to-house canvass for custom-
ers. This prevents creating demand without
supply, as advertising would do. We have
sold squabs for over two years and have al-
ways received at least seventy cents a pair
to private trade. We shipped a dozen to
New York and got $2.55. From this express
charges were deducted. The best plan, es-
pecially with a small flock, is to build up and
hold a good private trade.
SALT BAKED IN CANS, by A. L. Thomp-
son. I take a common empty tin fruit can
and punch holes in the bottom for drainage.
then fill with salt, and dampen, after which
I put in the oven and bake hard. You can
put these cans in any place in the squab-
house and if you lay them on the side, the
pigeons cannot soil the salt. One end of the
can is open, the other end closed.
316
MISS DUNHAM’S PROFIT-PAYING SQUAB PLANT.
HOW TO CURE SQUABS IN NEST OF
CANKER, by M. C. Martin. It is a well-
known fact that Venetian Red paint is one of
the best regulators for poultry in general.
I have tried this on squabs repeatedly and
it invariably cures the canker in three or
four days. Have some Venetian Red paint
in the squabhouse, and whenever you see a
pair of squabs looking sickly, examine the
mouth. If you find a cheesy deposit, take
a pinch of the paint between thumb and
forefinger and drop into the open mouth. Do
this morning and evening for three or four
days and the canker is gone. ;
This plan may be used with old birds, but
they very seldom have canker and are more
difficult to catch twice a day, but with
squabs it is a matter of only a few minutes to
straighten up several dozen of them.
Venetian Red is a fine regulator and may
be used in the drinking water to ward off
canker but to cure the ailment it must be
administered in larger quantities as explained
above. The droppings become red, showing
that the paint has passed completely through
the alimentary canal and cleansed the di-
gestive system of impurities collected which
have caused the canlker. : uA
Venetian Red is a powder which retails in
a paint store for five to ten cents a pound,
but in a drug store you may be charged
fifty cents a pound for it, and some poultry
remedies have it in fancy package style at
the rate of a dollar or more a pound.
FLAXSEED INSTEAD OF HEMP, by Paul
Gosser. I feed some flaxseed to my pigeons
besides hemp. Flax is cheaper and the pig-
eons like it nearly as well as hemp. My
pigeons like lettuce leaves very much. In the
morning I throw some into the pens and at
noon they are alleaten. I sell all my squabs
in Pittsburg. I get from $3 to $4.50 a dozen
for them.
APPENDIX G
HOW I MAKE MY
SMALL FLOCK PAY
WELL, by Mary Dunham.
I bought six pairs of the
best Homers in October,
1904. After studying
them and breeding them
for a year I bought twenty-
four pairs more in Octo-
ber, 1905. In June, 1908,
I bought twelve pairs more
and in October, 1908, an-
other twelve pairs.
All of my birds were
bought from the same
source. They have all
kept steadily at work.
One pair has raised ten
pairs of squabs a year and
there are others which al-
most eqral them. In the
fall of 1907, I began tosave
the squabs from the best
breeders. JI had to keep
them in the house with my
older birds because I had no other pen for
them. They disturbed the breeding pairs
somewhat but the following spring they
mated and got down to work.
I sell all the squabs I can raise to the local
marketman. At first there was no sale for
them in my Connecticut city, except in the
summer when the wealthy people from the
larger cities were sojourning here, but the
marketmen bought all I had last winter.
When ready for market my squabs weigh
from two pounds totwo and one-half pounds
a pair. They are white and fat and the
dealer has complimented me about them many
times. J] find the business very interesting
and would like to engage in it more extensively
if I could get more time to devote to the birds
but it is impossible to do so at present.
I am often praised for the fine appearance
my birds make when out in the flying pen.
Last week a gentleman told me my little house
is the neatest and the birds the finest looking
he had ever seen.
NO NEED TO GRIND PIGEON MANURE,
by Harry Howe. Having read in the maga-
zine the different methods of handling pigeon
manure for the making of commercial fer-
tilizer, I will tell you the result of my own
experience. I take the cleanings and then
pack them in barrels. When I have several
barrels of them, I form a pile outdoors con-
sisting of a layer of manure, then a layer of
loam, sprinkling each layer with air-slaked
lime until it shows white. Keep on until
you haye used all the manure on hand, then
cover the top well with loam, and wet the
whole pile. After a few days, when it com-
mences to steam, it should be well turned
over, repeating the turning over three or four
times. You will finally have a fertilizer
as fine as sugar which can be thoroughly
dried and bagged, or used at once. This for
a variety of crops cannot be beaten.
Ane EIN I XG NG.
WHY I PREFER
SQUABS TO CHICKENS,
by Mrs. Lizzie A. Trout. I
wish to keep on increasing
my flock of pigeons as I
like the work better than
raising chickens. I have
learned that if one would
succeed in squab raising he
must like it and by so do-
ing acquaint himself with
the little things that are of
great value to the success-
ful squab raiser. The
following are important
points: care of the birds,
what to feed, how to feed
and when to feed.
My squabhouse is built
on the slope of a hill facing
the south and as this is a
warm and pleasant loca-
tion I do not have frozen
squabs in the winter. I
give them tobaccostems to
build their nests and by
frequent cleaning give no
chance for the lice to live in
my squabhouse. I find that
to give a variety of feed is
the best. A good mixture
is six quarts of sifted
cracked corn (not too fine,
because if it is fine it takes
out much of the meal
from the corn, which
otherwise would help to
fatten the squabs), six
quarts whole wheat, two
quarts buckwheat, two
quarts Canada peas and two quarts kaffir
corn. Every other morning I give them a
few handfuls of millet seed and twice a week
hempseed. I think this is a good mixture for
them. I also keep within their reach char-
coal, salt, fine oyster shells and a grit of which
the old birds are fond. Before I used this
coarse grit, I noticed that a few of my hens
would prefer being out in my outside pen or
yard, and were in a constant hunt for some-
thing, and trying to pick up bits of gravel and
stone. It appeared to me that perhaps a
coarse grit might be a help to these birds and I
find it did the work well.
I always try not to have !eft over any feed,
or very little, until the next feeding time. so I
know that their grain will be sweet and clean.
They will be more eager for their feed. I do
not like the idea of throwing feed on the floor
and they will get the feed more or less dirty
even if you do clean the floor once a week.
feed in a box six feet long, two feet wide and
three inches high. The birds cannot scatter
the feed in this way very much. This box is
large enough for a loft of fifty pairs as they
never all feed at the same time. Feeding
should if possible always be at the same hours,
seven o’clock in the morning and four o’clock
in theevening. This will give the birds plenty
317
BLUE-BARRED RACING HOMER.
A beautiful flyer bred by Paul F. Miller which has covered five hundred
miles in one day.
of time to feed their young before night. I
wash my fountain and give my birds fresh
water twice a day in winter and three times a
day insummer. They are as glad for the nice
fresh spring water in the hot summer day at
noon as you would be for a plate of ice-cream.
As to my choice in chicken or squab raising,
I prefer by far squab raising. There is not
half the work, with much quicker results and
feed for the purse. No unruly hens to contend
with. No squabs to run after when a rain is
coming. They are already cared for. No
lamp to fill and trim, no thermometer to
watch, no eggs to turn, no trays to change.
The old birds do all this work themselves. No
wind to blow out the brooder lamp and chill
the squabs at night. All this vou must con-
tend with if you want to raise chickens.
Feed your pigeons the right kind of feed,
give them plenty of fresh water. Then they
will care for the squabs themselves and in
four weeks’ time the squabs will be ready for
market. There is a field for prosperity in
squab raising.
When President Taft started on his 1909
trip, he was given a banquet by the Boston
Chamber of Commerce. One line in the menu
was roast squabs, two thousand in number.
FIRST-CLASS HOMERS, SILVER AND SPLASH.
Plymouth Rock Homer stock produces squabs which sell for $3.50 to $6 a
dozen in Utah, unplucked.
SQUAB PIE, by James Y. Egbert. Dress,
draw and singe four squabs. Stuff them with
the chopped livers, hearts and gizzards and
fine bread crumbs, mixed with chopped pars-
ley, a large lump of butter, pepper and salt.
Run a small skewer through the body of each,
fastening the wings to the sides. Cover the
bottom of your bake-dish with thin strips of
ham. Season with chopped parsley, pepper
and salt. Over these lay the squabs. Be-
tween every two squabs put the yolk of a
hard-boiled egg, and three or four in the
center. Cover the squabs with a_ thick
brown gravy. Cover this pie with puff-paste
ene pare in a moderate oven for an hour and
a half.
BRAISED SQUAB. Clean, wash carefully.
Put a large olive in the body of each. Bin
legs and wings neatly to the sides of the
birds. Fry six or eight slices of fat salt pork
in the frying-pan until crisp. Strain the
fat back, lay in the squabs and roll them over
and over in the boiling grease until seared
on all sides. Take them up and keep hot.
Add a tablespoonful of butter to the hot fat,
and fry an onion, sliced, in it. Lay_the
squabs on the grating of the roaster. Pour
the boiling fat and onion over them. Add
a cupful of stock. Cover and cook steadily
for three-quarters of an hour. When the
squabs are done wash with butter, dredge and
brown. Remove to a hot dish and make the
gravy. Serve with currant jelly.
APPENDIX G
STARTED SMALL,
GREW UP BIG IN UTAH,
by Walter Bramwell. Two
years ago I purchased
twenty pairs of the best
Homers. Being cashier of
a small bank in a country
town, much of my time in
the morning and afternoon
was unoccupied. I sent for
the birds out of curiosity
and for recreation and
study. They immediately
impressed meas being very
interesting. My little flock
commenced operations
shortly after arrival and as
they rapidly increased in
number my interest in-
ereased in proportion.
It required little time for
me to discover that my
Homers, properly handled,
were money makers, and to
that end I have built up a
fairly large business, hav-
ing now more than twenty-
five hundred breeders,
At first my plant was in
a small town but in the
meantime I have moved to
the largest and best city in
the State.
The market conditions
at that time were verymuch
undeveloped and when I would mention squabs
there would bea round of laughter from my
friends. However, to-day, through persistent
effort and the production of first-class squabs.
the demand is greater than I can supply.
During the present winter I will enlarge my
plant to four or five thousand breeders, and
later on will be prepared to furnish all squabs
desired by my patrons. My customers con-
sist of cafe, club, hotel and railroad officials,
who buy the best, and whose patronage is very
satisfactory to me, because I am not compelled
to sell to commission men and can thus de-
mand a larger price for my product.
The price in this State is from $3.50 to $6 per
dozen, undressed.
The future for the business here appeals to
me as being a very bright one and I feel con-
fident that my business stunt of squabs will
reward me handsomely.
The business is attractive and profitable be-
yond expectation, provided the proper atten-
tion and skill are exercised that would be de-
manded in other lines where success is at-
tained. I am delighted with my birds and
business and trust all who are or may be in-
terested in the same line will have their efforts
crowned with success.
PECULIAR COLOR RESULT, by C. C.
O’Neal. About the young birds from the cross
of two Carneaux males with two white Homer
females, generally they are of solid black plu-
mage, sometimes dark-shaded checkers.
APPENDIX G
HOW A BIG OHIO
PLANT SHIPS SQUABS,
by F. J. Bunce. On Monday
morning while the attend-
ant is watering, and before
the birds are fed, the rounds
of the pens are made and
all of the squabs that have
dropped to the floor over
Sunday are placed inacrate,
and these with enough more
to make six dozen, are re-
moved to the killing room
for the early morning start.
These are enough squabs to
run the pickers several hours
and give the breeders plenty
of time to feed the young
before more squabs are re-
quired for the killing room.
There is no set age at
which a squab should be
marketed. Some will be
ready at three and a half
weeks, some at four and
some not until five weeks of
age. If the squab on the
nest is solid and plump and
is full feathered under the
Wing, it is ready for the
market. Do not hurry them off the nest un-
less it be absolutely necessary to fill an order,
as a few days longer on the nest may make
ten-pound squabs of birds that would not
weigh more than eight pounds if dressed too
soon.
We do not suspend the squabs from a string
to pick them, as the most of the large plants
do, but pick them in the hand. Our picker
has always contended that he could pick a
squab while the other picker was hanging his
up and taking it down.
Place the left hand around the base of the
wings after drawing them together and draw
the head back between the thumb and first
finger. Insert the killing-knife well back in
the mouth and drawit sharply upand forward,
twisting the knife as you remove it from the
mouth. Care should be taken not to insert
the knife too deeply into the brain, as the birc
will bleed too freely and cause the skin to set
before the feathers have been removed.
As soon as the incision has been made, re-
move the wing and tail-feathers first, follow-
ing this with the neck, and then the baiance
of the body.
The squabs are then placed in the buckets
to remove the animal heat. When the buck-
ets become full, the bodies of the squabs are
washed off, the blood is removed from the
mouth and the filth from the feet, and they are
placed in another and larger tub, where they
remain until it is time to pack them.
We wish to say here that we never leave
the squabs in the tanks over night, if we can
avoid it, as they are apt to get soft. If un-
avoidable, ice the water heavily, but always
do your best to get them out on the first train
for their destination.
om Fel Pa 2s 9 ee See se
he re ool res 2
EXTERIOR
sa
aa
OF ONE OF THIS OHIO PLANT'S HOUSES.
Never use a box for packing your squabs as
some will recommend, for the simple reason
that the express messengers will up-end the
package, also pile other boxes on your ship-
ment, and when it reaches your market, your
commission man reports it arrived in bad
order and you are given a nice little cut in your
remittance.
We use a small keg for small orders and a
cracker barrel for larger shipments. First
fill your barrel or keg with water and let it
stand until it drains out to swell it, then line
it with a good grade of white parchment paper
to make it air-tight. This also helps the ap-
pearance of your package. Before placing
any ice in the package bore a small hole in the
bottom of the barrel to drain off the water
which would gather from the melting of the
ice. Place a iarge scoopful of finely cracked
ice in the bottom of the barrel, then place in
the barrel in very nice order a layer of squabs,
a thin layer of ice and another layer of squabs,
repeating until barrel is three-fourths full.
Then fill to edge with ice cracked to about the
size of a man’s fist. Fold the balance of your
parchment paper over the top, remove the
hoop, place a piece of burlap over the barrel,
teplace the hoop and drive down in place,
holding it in place with small lath nails.
Fasten your express tag to a strong cord or
Wire and run through the burlap, fastening
same securely.
Question: I have bought a set of steel
figures to number leg bands but the figure 9
is missing. Answer: To make figure 9 hold
the figure 6 die upside down. None of these
pes Des both a9 anda6. One die serves for
oth. j
320
FLYING PEN WITH BOB WIRES.
The small holes guarded by the bobs can be seen at the top of the flying pen.
e pigeons cannot get out unless the bobs are raised, ‘They can enter when-
ever they please by pushing back the bobs.
TWIGS ARE GOOD FOR NESTING
MATERIAL, by James Y. Egbert. I have
tried hay, straw, pine needles, leaves and
twigs for nesting material. The birds will use
twigs in preference to any other material,
building a neat, compact nest lined with a few
wisps of hay or straw. I cut the twigs into
five or six-inch lengths and place them in a
berry crate, then after the squabs are taken
from the nest I clean the twigs and replace
them in the crate. In this way, the pigeons
use the twigs over and over again and the
breeder does not have to supply so much new
nesting material.
I suppose that on the seashore, where
Homer pigeous originated, they used twigs
lined with dry grass in their nest building.
I find it is a good idea, in preparing my
garden, to plant a few rows of sunflowers, and
in the odd corners or along the border
scattered seeds may be sown. In this way
@ squab raiser can have all the sunflower
seeds he needs for his pigeons at a trifling cost.
Pigeons are very fond of these seeds and if
a breeder raises his own the feed bill is cut
down just so much. Sunflowers require
little cultivation and will grow and thrive in
almost any location.
Question: Are squabs ever scalded before
plucking? Answer: Yes, but it is not neces-
sary, nor do the dealers want them scalded.
They should be dry-picked.
APPENDIX G
SEVEN YEARS’ PRORF-
ITABLE XPERIENCE,
by P. A. Heiermann. i
have been raising squabs
for nearly seven years and
have found it a good pay-
ing business. Istarted with
one pair of common pig-
eons. After having them
a few months and learning
their habits, I bought ten
pairs of good Homers,
Their squabs were much
larger than the common
pigeon squabs. I then be-
gan to save all of the largest
squabs and banded them
so as not to inbreed, and
numbered the bands and
kept arecordofthem. At
present I am getting from
$3 to $5 a dozen for my
Homer squabs_ dressed,
according to size, but at
wholesale I get $3.50 a
dozen straight through.
I sell most of my squabs
at retail, and then cannot
supply all my orders.
The city in which I live
has a population of about
sixty thousand and I have
a home market for all the
squabs I wish to put out.
My squab plant is on the
car line and can be reached
from all parts of the city.
I never have donated any squabs to get
customers, but at first when I had no market
for them I telephoned parties whom I thought
would want them and I soon found places to
sell. When I got a new customer I always
gave him afew of my cards, and by so doing I
soon built up a large trade, as a satisfied cus-
tomer is the best advertisement.
I feed wheat, cracked corn, peas, kaffir
corn, millet, hempseed and other different
kinds of grain, but I always keep changing so
as not to feed one kind too long. I feed three
times a day in long troughs, and do not use
any self-feeders, but in the moulting season I
do not feed so much. I always keep plenty
of fresh water before them at all times, also
grit, oyster shells, charcoal and rock salt. K
It costs me about $1.25 a year to feed a pair
of breeding Homers.
Question: Can you tell me how it comes
that one of the pairs of blue checkers has
an almost white-feathered squab? Answers
Colored Homers do not breed true to color.
Blue checkers may breed blue bars, or blue
checkers, or any other color. A white young-
ster from colored-plumaged birds is rare, like
a white calf from a black bull and biack cow,
and is generally called a throw-back, or re-
version to one of several constituent types.
ae white Homers breed true to color as a
rule.
AP PEN DLS 1G
WHAT ONE PAIR OF
CARNEAUX PRODUCED,
by Mrs. . M. White,
The first of May, 1908, I
bought a pair of Carneaux.
In fourteen months I bred
forty from that one pair.
I send you two films show-
ing me feeding my pigeons.
In my story you will notice
that I say I fed some of the
squabs after taking them
away from the parent
birds. I did this by chew-
ing up soda crackers and
then moistening them in
my own mouth with
malted milk. Then I held
the squab to my mouth
and fed the bird in the
natural way. Any squabs
may be readily nourished
in this manner. As they
grew older, I gave them
grain by hand.
In the upper picture
Mrs. White is feeding two
squabs in the natural way.
In the lower picture she is
feeding two squabs out of
herhand. Her experience
with one pair of Carneaux
is quite a jolt to those who
are afraid of inbreeding.
Starting with only one
pair of Carneaux, she has
done more in fourteen
months than another
might with six pairs in the
same period, having turned
out a good-sized flock of —
two-score birds. Of course
she could have accom-
plished nothing without
inbreeding. It was all
inbreeding, except the
young bred by the orig-
inal pair. Her flock are
fine, large and rugged
birds. This is the record
of one pair of good Car-
neaux in competent hands.
DELAWARE HOTELS
PAYING $4.50 A DOZEN,
by N. H. Case. I can sell
my four-weeks-old squabs
faster than can raise
them. There are three large hotels in my
nearest town in this State (Delaware) whose
proprietors all say they will give me $4.50 a
dozen, for as many as I canraise. They want
them killed and bled. They offer me this
price for both winter and summer. Each
hotel keeper says he can handle from two to
two and one-half dozens a day, so it looks as
though there ought to be money in them—
no expressage and payment on delivery.
SPAll
MRS. WHITE AND CARNEAUX.
I am sure there is a fine opening here for
squabs as San Antonio (Texas) is a city of
100,000 population and nothing of the kind
here. I never have seen anything but
common squabs here and very few of them.
A friend, Mr. Hobbs, is working in a near-
by country town, and he says they are al-
ways ringing up from San Antonio asking
i they can find any squabs.—J. W. Mann,
‘exas.
322
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FRESH AIR FOR THESE NORTH CAROLINA PIGEONS.
CANADA COTE BUILT OF COTTON
CLOTH, by F. V. Dickson. It may be of in-
terest to your readers to hear something about
a Canadian squab plant.
Last fall I tried the experiment of building a
squabhouse with cotton walls, two stories in
height. Ordinary cotton, at ten cents per
yard, was used. This was tacked to the up-
tight scantlings, which were set at a proper
distance to suit the width of the cotton. Poul-
try netting was put on outside of the cotton.
On the east side, from which direction come
our prevailing high winds, another thickness
of cotton was put on. This house was cheap
to build, and is light, dry, and airy. It is
cold, but I have as vet seen no harm resulting
from that cause. A number of my birds have
been occupying it during the past winter, and
they have done as well, and raised as many
squabs, as any of my other birds. At present
the flock consists of about three hundred and
sixty pairs of birds. For the squabs I get $4
a dozen, the buyer paying the express charges.
Question: What, if any, is the difference
between the squab- breeding Homer and what
is generally called the Carrier pigeon? If the
Homer is not the same as the pigeon generally
used for long-distance flights, can it be trained
for such flights? Awmswer: There is no dif-
ference between the squab-breeding Homer
and the message-carrying pigeon. A carrier
Pigeon is a Homer which has been trained.
There is a variety of pigeons known as English
Carriers, but these are not used for message
carrying. Everybody breeding squabs from
Homers can fly the young which he is raising.
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APPENDIX: G
NORTH CAROLINA
SQUABS IN OPEN AIR, by
Julius A. Caldwell, M.D.
We have been experiment-
ing with twenty-five pairs
of the best Homers. We
put them in a wire pen 24
feet x 12 feet x 12 feet built
against an old house whose
roof projected out about
five feet. This afforded
some protection from the
weather. J send you a
sketch to show you the
idea more in detail. Find-
ing the work a pleasure as
well as profitable, even in
such an elementary manner
as this, I decided to build a
unit squabhouse and it is
now. built. I-am buying
some Carneaux to try also.
HORSE RADISH AND
SPLIT PEAS, by Edward
Gerhard. A good tonic for
pigeons is horse radish.
Plant it close up to the fly-
ing pen so the birds can
get at the leaves to eat
them. They are very fond
of them. I feed my pig-
eons split peas, which they enjoy. These
peas do not cost me very much. [I get them
for seventy-five cents a bushel. It is the
cheapest feed that I buy. With wheat at
$1.20 a bushel, it does not pay to feed very
much wheat. I am raising squabs weighing
from twelve ounces to sixteen ounces apiece,
with the help of mysplit peas. These squabs
make the finest eating any one can have
placed before him
ONE YEAR’S WORK, by Ward Edwards.
One year ago this month I purchased four
pairs of the best Homers. I now have one
hundred and thirty-five pigeons in all. Of
course they are not all old enough to raise
yet, but if they continue to raise as fast, by
another year I will have over a thousand. I
should have bought more breeders and not
had to wait this long for them to multiply.
I have followed the directions in Rice’s
Manual very closely and had no trouble with
my flock. I have kept close track of my
matings and have had little or no trouble
of inbreeding. I sell many squabs to private
residences and although raising to multiply
have made a nice little sum along with it.
\ Uh
Question: Is rye a good food for pigeons?
Answer: If cheap and pure, it is useful in
connection with the other grains, but most
rye contains ergot, or false rye, which acts as
a mild poison, harmful to both pigeons and
poultry. The ergot grains are larger than the
rye grains. When you buy rye, look at the
grains and if they are not uniform in size and
color, don’t buy.
APPENDIX G
FLOCK OF GOOD
HOMERS, by Leroy
Wiles. The two squabs
in the picture are Homer
squabs. The father is a
large red checker and the
mother is a black Homer.
These squabs weighed one
pound apiece, when four
weeks old. They are
black checkers. Both of
them turned out to be
males. One is now mated
and has a nest with two
eggs. I banded the one that
is mated with one of the
bands of the usual size
and it would just go
around his leg, so you can
see what a leg he has.
The little boy holding the
nestbowl is my brother
He is nine years old. I
amnineteen. I think that
he is going to be just like
me in regard to pigeons, as
he likes to go out with me
and watch them eat and
feed their young ones. I
have some more _ squabs
growing up and I think
they will be fully as large
as the two in the picture.
I SELL SQUABS FOR
FIVE CENTS AN OUNCE,
by W. E. Blakslee. Ihave
a way for keeping young
squabs in the nests made
around on the ground. I
nail four pieces of board a
foot long into box shape and set it over the
nest. This keeps the squabs quiet and the
old birds have free access to them all the
time. The young birds cannot get over the
top of it, and the old ones can easily get into
it for feeding them any time,
I find it a simple matter to work up more
trade than one wants if you go at it in the
tight way. I adopt the plan of selling my
birds by weight—five cents per ounce. When
asked what my price is, and I tell them this
they exclaim that they can buy all the squabs
they want for forty-five cents apiece. There
are many flocks of common pigeons in this
surrounding country. J don’t run down the
birds that they are buying, nor do I stand
and argue the question with them. I ask
them to weigh the birds they buy and see
what my price would make them cost. They
find they are getting more six and seven-
Ounce birds than anything else and at my
price they would cost only thirty and thirty-
five cents instead of forty-five cents. They
come back to me and want to see my squabs
and are astonished at the size of them. They
find I have squabs instead of jack-knives to
sell. Most of my squabs are eleven and
twelve ounces. I have some eight and nine
323
MY BROTHER AND MY BIG HOMER SQUABS.
and I have a good many twelve to fourteen.
I have no trouble in making customers under-
stand that they are getting meat for their
money—tor they have proved the fact to
their own satisfaction. When you have the
tight squabs, your biggest trouble is ioo
many wanting them.
Question: Do you know of any way to
dispose of pigeon wings? It seems to me
that there must be some concern which buys
them. Answer: The wings of the colored
Homers are not used to any extent on women’s
hats, but the wings of white Homers or white
pigeons of any kind are in active demand by
milliners. Wholesale milliners try to buy
these for ten cents apiece. They sell them
to the retailers for thirty cents to fifty cents
apiece, and when the milliner makes up the
hat for her customer she gets from $1 to $2
for the white wing. I would advise you to
sell your white wings for at least twenty-five
cents each.
uestion: One young Homer that hatched
had a great deal of white init, although the
old ones were blue. Is this liable to hap-
en any time? Answer: Yes. The colored
omers do not breed true to color.
324
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WIRE NAILS INSTEAD OF CLEATS.
Question: I would like to inquire if stale
bread crumbled into small pieces about the
size of corn would be good to feed to squabs.
I dc not mean exclusively but at times. I
have a large bakery and have considerable
stale bread which I thought I might be able
to use to good advantage in connection with
the squab business. Answer: Yes.
Question: Do pigeons breed as well on the
seashore as inland? Answer: I think so.
The species originated in the cliffs on the
seashore, according to the ancient writers. I
have seen a fine flock of squab breeders at
Buzzards Bay, whe:e they fly out over the
salt marshes and get a good deal of their
living from small snails, eaten shell and all.
Can peat moss be used for
nesting material? Amswer: Yes, and it will
drive away lice. It is good for nests for
setting hens (fowls) for the same reason.
An attempt was made in Indiana to use this
peat moss for upholstering furniture but this
did not work very well. It is used for
bedding horses.
Question:
APPENDIX G
ONE DOLLAR FOR EVERY LOUSE
FOUND ON MY BIRDS, by F. Beltran.
As I believe in exchanging ideas, I am
going to tell you about my last arrange-
ment of nestboxes such as | draw them
here. The whole thing is plain. The
bottoms rest on only four nails, two on.
each side, that is all. My aim has al-
ways been to have not the smallest hiding
place for mites, etc., and when J could not
avoid having them, then to have them
movable so as to be sure to reach the pests,
easily, whenever I wanted. Everything
inside of my house is absolutely smooth
ana affords no hiding place tor those pests
that live in the cracks here in our Mexi-
can climate. The lice which live on the
bodies of the birds would be also a thing
of the past in every house of mine, if only
the man in charge would keep as close a
watch on the squab-raising pens as I keep
on the breeding stock and raising pens,
where I would give a dollar for every
louse found on the bodies of the birds.
SET YOUR STANDARD HIGH. It is
not merely the birds, it is the intelli-
gence and skill behind them. In buying
breeding stock, whether pigeons or poul-
try, of a man you are not buying simply
his birds but you buy his knowledge, skill
and experience. He has attained a cer-
tain standard which may be high or low,
as you can judge for yourself by reading
what he says, and knowing his record in
the business. All Homers and all Carneaux
are not by any means alike. The best
ones are furnished by the men of most
skill and intelligence, because they have
set their standard high and do business
accordingly. The man of nostanding may
offer to sell you birds at half the price of
the man whose standing is high, and it almost
invariably happens that such birds indeed are
found to be worth about half price, because
the offering of them at a low price is a confes-
sion of the advertiser that he has not a high
standard and is not making his birds indis-
pensable, but is satisfied to take the trade of
people who want the cheapest they can buy,
and such people are satisfied with poor stock.
I have seen something in the magazine
about high altitudes and dry climates. Up
in this part of Canada it is very dry and we
have to make our pigeons breed on the ground
so as to get the dampness, for the eggs will
dry out if they are up on the wall in nest-
boxes. So we do not put more than twenty
pairs of pigeons in a house twelve by twelve,
and we let them build nests on the ground.—
J. H. Smith, Saskatchewan.
Question: Are pigeon wings salable? An-
swer: The wings of colored Homers are not
used to any extent on women’s hats, but the
white wings are readily salable to wholesale
milliners.
APPENDIX G
HOW TO TAKE PIG-
EON PICTURES. Almost
everybody has a camera
these days and with a small
one, costing two dollars, it
is possible to take excel-
lent pigeon pictures. The
film can be enlarged to any
size.
Choose a day when the
sun is out and take them
in the flying pen when
they are walking around
on the ground. Do not
take them while they are
on the perches because
then they are drawn out
of shape. They strike a
natural and handsome
pose when they are on the
ground. Youshouldsit on
a board on the ground.
Hold your camera not
Over six inches from the
ground and point it at the
birds. Have a pocketful
of hempseed and throw it
out to the birds in front of
the camera from four to
eight feet from where you
are sitting. Do not snap
the birds while they are
pushing and_ scrambling
for the hempseed but wait
until they have eaten and
raised their heads expect-
antly as if looking for
more. This is the time to
press the button. Try to
get a group of the birds in
this manner, showing six
or eight birds. The best
view of a pigeon is obtained
broad side, but sometimes
an excellent picture is ob-
tained from the front or even from the back,
such a view showing the width of the shoul-
ders. Photographs showing squabs four
weeks old alive or dressed or novelty pic-
tures like the one on this page are always
interesting.
COMMON SQUABS TOO SMALL, by Charles
F. Manahan. I watch and study the ways
and habits of my Homers whenever I have
time. I live near a summer resort in Mary-
land in the Blue Ridge Mountains and have
a small truck farm and haul my vegetables
to these cottages and hotels. I think I can
sell the squabs from several hundred pairs
after I get them introduced, as there is nothing
in this neighborhood but common pigeons.
Where I sell them, the people say they are
the finest they have ever bought. On one
occasion I did not have enough and told the
person that I could get a pair of a neighbor
to make out the number. After I had the
head and feathers off, I saw much difference,
so I put the pair I got from the neighbor on
months old, squabs just three weeks old.—Gottlieb Pfister, New
GRANDPA, BABY AND SQUABS.
I send a photograph of myself and grandchild, Miss Janet Pfister, eighteen
York.
the scales and the two weighed just a pound.
I then put one of the Homers on and it
weighed fifteen ounces, so the Homer squab
weighed only one ounce less than the pair
of common ones. ;
Question: I have been contemplating for
two or three months trying the squab business.
I wrote to a commission house in Chicago to
give me prices on squabs and they quoted me
$5.50 per dozen for eight-pounds-or-over
squabs. I also wrote to another commission
house about the sale of squabs and they sent
me a price list in which it priced squabs at
$2.50 and $3 a dozen for choice squabs, and
as low as $1.50 a dozen. Answer: If you
were to go into a hat store and offer a man
$1 for a hat which you happened to see and
liked, and he should laugh and tell you you
could not have it for $1, that the regular price
was $3, would you be disappointed because
he would not take your $1 and give you the
hat? You are not obliged tosell for $1 a dozen
just because you are offered that amount.
NEW YORK CITY SQUAB MARKET
BOOMING, by William R. McLaughlin. The
New York City squab market, with which I
have been intimately connected for many
years, buying and selling to a trade which I
iknow thorough y, is steadily increasing in
demand, especially in January and the fol-
lowing eight months, when no game can be
had. There is no possibility of overdoing the
production, as the squab business is here to
stay. There is a good demand all the year
round for birds running from seven pounds to
twelve pounds to the dozen, at good paying
prices, and breeders should place themselves
right at the start by buying birds enough to
ship from five to ten dozen squabs at a time.
In this way they will save considerable on
express, as the charge on this quantity is a
trifle more than on one, two or three dozen
shipments. The very small shipments are
unsatisfactory to handle as they do not con-
tain enough birds of any particular size to
keep a good average scale.
There is no line of goods I handle which has
grown so much in the last few years as squabs,
especially since the squabs have been sold ac-
cording to grade and size, and I believe they
will continually crowd to the front. I want
squabs all the time.
I know there is nothing around a farm pay-
ing any better and holding to a more steady
price ail year round, than good squabs from
seven to nine pounds.
As regards increase, I will say that in one
little town in New Jersey where I started a
few shippers and got them to raise according
to the scale of selling by weight per dozen,
when 1 first started, the business in that
section was something like $5000 a year and
has since grown to $25,000 a year, and you
could not get them to go back to the old way
for love or money. They have all made
money and grown from small shippers to large
ones.
I DO MY KILLING IN THE EARLY
MORNING, by B. F. Babcock. I have two
days in each week for the killing of my
squabs—Wednesdays for the city markets,
and Saturdavs for my home orders. At this
time of year (July) I start in killing at five
a.m., and have all squabs killed, plucked and
delivered by ten a.m. I have two covered
baskets which I take with me to the lofts
and the squabs which are to be killed are put
in them. Then they are taken to where I
kill and pick them. :
I have a boy who does all the killing and
helps pick. My wife and myself do the most
of the picking. As soon as the squabs are
picked they are thrown into a pail of cold
water. For my home trade, I leave them
in the water only until all are picked. Their
feet and mouths are all cleaned of foul matter,
then they are delivered to the customers. |
do all delivering myself. For the_ city
market they are left in the water from five to
six hours, according to what train they are
to be shipped.
full.
APPENDIX G
I have at home a large hotel trade, having
a standing order of four to six dozen a week.
Prices range from twenty-five to seventy-five
cents each according to size and weight, the
average being about fifty cents each. In
shipping squahs to the city markets I pack all.
squabs in ice, first putting in a laver of ice,
then a layer of squabs. I have not shipped
very many to the city markets as my home
trade takes nearly all that I can raise, but
have always when shipping received the
highest market prices.
The inexperienced wiil at first find in using
the squab killing knife, that they do not stick
the squabs right and that some will live for
quite a long time, and have to be stuck the
second time. This has been my experience
so I tried this plan so as not to let the squabs
suffer any.
I made a killing machine, the same as
described in the National Standard Squab
Book, pages 114-115, which b:eaks their
necks and kills them at once. I then use the
squab knife and bleed them. As soon as the
squabs are plucked they are at once placed
either in a pail or tub of cold water, into
which some salt has been put. If you use a
twelve-quart pail put in three to four pinches
of salt, that is, what you can hold with your
thumb and fingers. If a tub is used put in
according to size. This will give the squabs
the fine white skin desired by the New York
market, taking out all the dark or red spots.
It also gives them plumpness.
I leave them in water from four to five
hours, which takes out all the animal heat. I
then clean the feet of all foul matter and wash
all the blood from their beaks and mouths and
wrap their heads in white tissue paper. The
paper costs very little and the trouble will
more than repay any one. It gives a fine,
clean appearance when your dealer opens the
box and your squabs will bring the top
prices.
I pack all shipments in ice, putting in a
laver of ice first, then a layer of squabs,
keeping this rotation up until the box is filled,
but being very careful not to get the box too
No breeder will ever be sorry for any
extra pains he takes with his shipments, as
it will pay in the long run.
SOFTENS PEAS IN WATER, by Elmer
Streckwald. I know a woman breeding
squabs who softens peas by moistening them
in water. Her idea is that they will not be
so hard to digest, especially for the young
pigeons. I have not tried this myself.: Of
course they should be softened fresh at each
feeding time, or allowed to soak three or four
hours before feeding time, for if they were
allowed to stay damp over night they would
ferment. This woman also feeds her squabs
on bread crumbs and she has told me tha*
she finds the use of a moist mixture an im
provement over the dry feeding. This
spring I sold my squabs to middlemen in
Boston for $4 and $4.25 a dozen. My plant
is paying a profit.
APPENDIX G
$9 TO $12 A DAY FROM SQUABS AND
EGGS, by J. E. Ross. In May, 1910 I pur-
chased thirteen pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock
Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab
Company, and as it is more than a year now
since I received them, I thought you would
like to know what they have been doing and
what I have been doing.
The birds arrived on a Saturday afternoon,
and by Friday of the following week twelve
pairs were sitting on eggs, and they are still
at it. From the original thirteen pairs I have
raised one hundred pairs of the finest birds
that you would want to look at. I have not
lost any old birds, nor have I had any sickness
in the flock, nor been troubled with lice.
Out of the thirteen pairs, nine pairs have
raised nine pairs of squabs from May, 1910 to
May, 1911, one pair eight pairs of squabs, and
three pairs eleven pairs of squabs in the same
time. My squabs weigh from twelve ounces
to seventeen ounces at four weeks old, the
majority of them weighing from fourteen to
fourteen and one-half ounces each. I sell my
squabs by the ounce, five cents an ounce, to
private trade.
I feed a mixture of Canada peas, red wheat,
buckwheat, kaffir corn, whole round corn,
lentils, millet and hempseed. I use the self
feeder described in. Rice’s Manual. It costs
me six cents a month per bird to keep my
flock.
I have many visitors who come to see my
Homers. They all say that they are the finest
they ever saw.
I will tell you how I came to start in the
squab business. About three years ago I met
with an accident on the railroad where I was
employed, and it left me in such a condition
that I was unable to do any work without
sitting down to rest very often. I found it
very hard to get work where I could do that,
and as my small bank account. was getting
smaller, I had to do something very soon.
A friend of mine told me of the squab business.
Iread Rice’s Manual until I had it off by heart,
then I sent for the birds. I have never re-
gretted the day that I spent the thirty dollars
for the Plymouth Rock Homers. I have sold
several pairs of breeders for four dollars a
pair, and have refused a number of sales at
that price, for they are worth that: much to
me. :
As I went around in my Long Island town
selling my squabs, the people would ask me
for fresh eggs, so I decided to buy eggs and
sell them with my squabs. When I first
started with squabs I was not making a cent.
I am picking up from nine dollars to twelve
dollars a day now with my squabs and eggs.
At present I have more orders for squabs
than I can supply, and my place will not
accommodate another pen of birds. I am
looking for a larger place now, and if I can
get it I am going to put in two more pens of
Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and I am going
to get them from the Plymouth Rock Squab
Co., so you can expect to hear from me
again.
327
LOOK OUT FOR SUBSTITUTION. Many
newspapers from Maine to California have
poultry and pigeon columns of advertisers
selling breeding stock. We have noticed, and
no doubt our customers have, the freedom,
not to say license, with which ‘‘ Plymouth
Rock’? Homers and Carneaux are offered in
such columns. In nearly every city there are
some irresponsible hand-to-mouth dealers sell-
ing all breeds of pigeons, and every Homer and
Carneau they can get hold of is promptly
labelled or advertised as ‘‘ Plymouth Rock”
and sold on the strength of the reputation our
birds have made. This substitution some-
times can be worked on a buyer who may be
afraid to send money by letter. We have
stopped a good deal of it with the help of
customers who have called our attention to
cases in their States. The use of our trade
mark, unless specifically authorized by license
from us, is illegal and we will be indebted to
friends who will point out to us cases of violation
as they see them. Imitation is the sincerest
flattery, it is true, and the fact that our pigeons
are the standard for comparison or for making
sales, in the different markets and advertising
mediums, is gratifying, but competition. of
that kindis unfair. We give only to customers
the right to sell their killed squabs as Plymouth
Rock squabs, no matter where they live, and
we want no better testimony than is printed
from month to month to prove that this trade
mark is worth money on the price of the squabs.
It is the right kind of an introduction to the
big squab buyers. Every week letters come
from somebody who has bought of our ‘‘ agent ’’
and has some disappointment to record. We
have no agents anywhere. All trading with
us is done direct with our Melrose farm, or
Boston ‘office, or it is not Plymouth Rock
business.
WHAT TO DO WITH STRAY EGG, by
W. E. Blakslee. Young birds are liable to lay
their first eggs anywhere, in a nest, on the
floor, and sometimes even you will find their
eggs out in the flying pen. They lay their
eggs, but many times a pair pays no more
attention to them. Many seem to think such
eggs are not fertile, but I find the chance is
that they are. Save them and put one in
each new nest of your other birds the day their
second egg is laid. This is your chance for
a few extra squabs. What if you do have
three in a nest? When you match up your
squabs you may need these extra ones that
you may get this way. Every squab saved
counts to the good.
BIG HOMER INCREASE, by N. A. Huston.
My stock of six pairs of Plymouth Rock
Extra Homers was bought in 1907, March 22.
I have about three hundred birds today, Jan-
uary 31, 1910. My intention now is to raise
as many squabs as I can for market. I made
an outlay of about $250 on my squabhouse
last spring, raising on three-foot posts, new
floors, etc. Expect to enlarge in another year
if nothing happens.
APPENDIX G
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ONE YEAR’S GROWTH. I would like to
write to let you know how I have succeeded
with my Carneaux and Homers which I per-_
chased from Mr. Rice of the Plymouth Rock
Squab Company about one year ago last
March. Starting with twenty-six pairs of
Carneaux, nine pairs of colored Extra Homers
and four pairs of Whites, I now have over
three hundred Carneaux, one hundred Extras
and fifty Whites. In fact, so many that
I have no more room, and will have to sell
some.—William McK. Ewart, Pennsylvania.
I have been very successful in the squab
business. Haye one hundred pairs of the
finest Homers that you ever saw, all raised
fron thirteen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extras.
All my squabs are sold to private trade for
five cents an ounce. My lowest weight has
been ten and one-half ounces, highest seventeen
and one-quarter ounces each; average weight
thirteen and three-quarter ounces each. Have
sold several pairs of breeders for four dollars
apair. Trusting that you are doing a success-
ful business, { still remain a friend of the
Puoute Rock Squab Co.—J. E. Ross, New
ork.
Replying to your favor of recent date, as
to how my ten pairs of Plymouth Rock Car-
neaux were doing, I beg to advise that I now
have about ‘three hundred very fine birds,
sixty working pairs, and all in the very best
of health, never yet had a sick bird. I expect
to bein the market again soon, either for more
Carneaux, or some of your famous Plymouth
Rock Homers, as I like your way of doing
business very much. I thank you for your
kindly inquiry, and wish you continued
prosperity.—W. A. Sharp, Minnesoia.
348
MY FEEDBOX IS SIMPLE BUT GOOD.
This illustrates the idea.
wide. The
board is removable.
from this type of box.
Fred Ambrose.
It prevents soiling.
ONE WOMAN’S SUCCESS, by Mrs. Ida
Knosman, Indiana. My success is due to the
Extra Homers and service given by the Ply-
mouth Rock Squab Company. In July, 1910,
I bought twenty-four pairs of Plymouth Rock
Extras. Now (October, 1911) I have sixty
mated pairs and 150 youngsters. I intend
to start buying adult birds January 1 and
increase my flock to six hundred. I will buy
of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, so I'll
get Al birds. My experience has taught me
that it is cheaper to buy adult pigeons than
to wait and raise the young and feed six months.
In June, 1910, I purchased thirteen pairs
of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, and
now (November 2, 1911) have about eighty
pairs of breeders and 140 youngsters. Have
just started to sell my squabs and find a ready
market. Can get $4.25 per dozen for eight
to nine-pound squabs. I am on a rented
place, but expect to move in the spring and
build more lofts and increase my breeders.
If you know of any one in this locality who
has Plymouth Rock breeders and cannot dis-
pose of their squabs at a fair price, would be
pleased to have their address, as at present
I can dispose of ten to fifteen dozen more
squabs a week than I can supply. There are
a great many breeders here who have what
are called American Homers which breed a
squab a little larger than the common pigeon.
Enclosed find ten cents to join the National
Sadab Breeders Association—H. W. Moore,
hio.
I received some of your goods last spring
and I am very glad to say that they have
given me very much satisfaction, especially
the birds, which have raised squabs weighing
oer a pound apiece.—J. W. Bolgiano, Mary-
and.
The board on the sides should be about
three inches wide and the opening above it two and one-half inches
box may be any length to suit any size flock. The top
I feed grit and shells also
The birds cannot squeeze into this box.—
APPENDIX G
I FEED ONLY ONCE DAILY
FROM THIS BOX, by Fred
Ambrose. I consider the feed
question of the most importance
in raising squabs. I lost more
birds my first summer through
canker by feeding too much
cracked corn than I would lose
in ten years from other ail-
ments. Last summer I used
Venetian red in the drinking
water as a preventive, and had
only two cases of it. I cured
both of these with two doses
each of Venetian red put in their
mouths dry. For going light I
use the red and pull out all the
tail feathers, and very seldom I
lose a bird.
I find that the birds must
have grit before them all the
time. I once neglected this for
one week, and got a large num-
ber of undersized squabs. I
opened some of them and found
that their gizzards were about
half of their normal size, consequently they
could not digest enough food to fatten up on.
It costs me about ten cents a month per pair
to feed the birds, and I receive fifty cents for a
pair of squabs, twelve ounces or over, each.
They invariably weigh that at three weeks,
some of them weighing a pound at that age.
I have raised my stock from the Plymouth Rock
Homers that- I got from Mr. Rice. All my
squabs are sold alive to marketmen in this
vicinity. I haven’t tried to work up a retail
trade, not having time to attend to it.
I have read a great deal about mice scaring
pigeons so that they don’t breed, but from my
experience I must say that I can’t see it. I
had lots of them in my loft and got just as
many squabs as I ever got. I caught five in
one trap one night so you can see they were
pretty plentiful. One built a nest in a nest-
box, right alongside of a pigeon nest with eggs
in it, but the pigeons sat on their eggs just. the
same. Of course rats are another thing.
I send a sketch of the box I use for feeding
grain, grit and shells. It can be made any
length to suit the number of birds and will
keep the grainclean. It has an advantage over
some feeders because a larger number of pigeons
can get around it at once. This enables the
parents to feed their young at daylight instead
of squealing for a couple of hours while the old
birds are scrapping around a self-feeder to get
a chance to fill up.
I received the birds and Manual, and cer-
tainly cannot recommend either too highly.
I am an old breeder of pigeons and thought I
knew about all that was to be known, but
on perusing the Manual, I found out I could
still be taught. It is the best book of its
kind that I ever read, and would not part with
it at any price if I could not get another.—
Charles Jansen, Illinois.
APPENDIX G
FLORIDA’S BIG DEMAND,
by W. M. Brown. We wish to
get every person in Florida in-
terested in squabs. We could
at the present time sign one
contract with one concern for
four hundred dozen squabs at
$1800 for a four months’ sup-
ply at one hundred dozen a
month ($4.50 a dozen) and
could more than double it.
We did not desire to cater so
much to the tourist season, but
went after the leading restau-
rants in our nearest city and
got them,for the year. Inone
afternoon we had contracts to
take every squab that the
squabhouse we had built could
supply,and at top-notch prices
Not only these, but one hotel
made a request that we submit
to them a proposition so that
they could be guaranteed fifty-
five dozen squabs a week.
These are not half the demands
that have already been made
upon us to supply squabs.
There is only one thing in
this matter which is lacking,
and that is competition. We
want it and we would like it
from the North. Thereis now
the best opportunity for squab
Taisers to come here and do
well. :
The bugbear which has held
back so many squab raisers as
well as poultrymen from com-
ing to Florida is mites and
lice. This fear is shown by
people who are prone to lazi-
ness for there are no more mites
and lice here than inthe North.
Another condition which is becoming more
and more dominant every year in this State,
which any squab raiser by a little push can use
to his advantage, is this: The people of inland
Florida are making the coast towns their sum-
mer resorts. The influx of Northern tourists
during the winter compels a great majority of
the Floridans to stay home and attend to
business and their recreation must wait over
until summer, and as it is much cooler here
than in the North, naturally they come to the
coast. They are epicures to a large degree,
and you will notice that they are always after
a nice fish or an excellent turned chicken, but
this summer they are to a good extent to be
treated on this section of the coast to the
luscious squab.
I am a subscriber of the Squab Magazine and
think it a very up-to-date squab periodical.
I have one thousand birds and anything new
I like to try in the line of good cheap feed. I
have been very successful in the business by
following your Manual, which I would not be
without.— Walter A. Hagedorn, Ohio.
Only one thickness of boarding,
fly-pen in lower picture.)
349
HOW THEY BUILD SQUABHOUSES IN FLORIDA.
(Mr. Brown is seen standing by
In 1909 I sent to Boston for Plymouth Rock
Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co.
I have sold squabs for breeders when about
three months old for $1.00 per pair. I have
always fed the best grain and given them plenty
of fresh water and have had but one or two
sick ones. The hotels will take all that I
can raise at from $2.75 to $3.00 per dozen.
In the fall I am going to build for one hundred
and fifty pairs. I have raised my flock of
sixteen birds in less than two years to over
one hundred and fifty—F. S. Sadler, Okla-
oma.
T have about three hundred Extra Plymouth
Rock Homers, and they are fine ones. The
weight of a fifteen-day squab which I examined
yesterday was three-quarters of a pound.—
L. O. George, Maryland.
I purchased six pairs of Homers from you
in 1903 and was pleased with them. I want
some good Carneaux for foundation stock,
good heavy birds for squabs. Am not par-
ticular as to feathers.—E. W. Lewis, Colorado.
350
MR. HOWE’S SQUABHOUSE AND HIS CARNEAUX.
I am writing to ask you about picking and
dressing squabs for market. I just picked
and shipped six dozen to Heineman Brothers,
New York, and I find it simply impossible
to get the feathers off the head and upper
part of the neck without tearing them. Does
the market object to the feathers being left
on the head and upper part of the neck? Any
information you can give me along the killing
and picking line will be highly appreciated.
The Select Homers I purchased from you
about twelve months ago are doing splendid
work. Out of the twenty-five pairs two pairs
lost their mates, which left me twenty-three
working pairs. From them I have sold a good
many squabs, and some mated pairs that I
mated from them, and have mated up _alto-
gether about one hundred and fifty pairs of
fine Homers. Answer. You do not pick the
feathers off the head and upper part of the
neck. Leave them on. Do not cut off the
head. Clean pick the body and wings. Be
sure you ship the killed squabs as a “‘ gen-
eral special ’’ with twenty-five per cent off for
ice.
Maile Je 1D IND IOG Ce
FAT SQUABS FOR ME ON
THREE GRAINS, by H. A.
Howe. Starting a year ago I
stopped using hemp entirely,
substituting a mixture of one
part oil meal, one part table
salt and three parts sharp
sand. This I keep before them
in hoppers aJl the time, and be-
coming accustomed to it they
eat it freely. The only grains
I feed are peas, coarse cracked
corn and red wheat. I givea
mixture of these grains twice
daily, at 7 a.m. and 4p.m., in
an open feed trough with a re-
volving stick running along the
top (see page 108 of this boolk).
I give them just what they
will eat up clean between feed-
ing times, feeding more corn in
winter than in summer, increas-
ing the amount of wheat in
summer. This method may be
in defiance of many of your
feeding schedules, but. I am
turning out Plymouth Rock
Carneaux squabs that average
a pound apiece, and Plymouth
Rock Homer squabs that go
better than ten pounds to the
dozen.
The markets here (Massa-
chusetts) from October 1 until
July 1 are very good, the prices
tunning from $3.50 up to $5.50
a dozen for good squabs.
The squab plant is locatedon
a side hill that slopes to the
south and consists of a build-
ing of the shed-roof type that
houses five hundred breeders,
both Homers and Carneaux.
During the past winter I re-
moved the top sashes from the windows in
the pens, substituting cotton cloth, which has
been very satisfactory, giving a drier house
and healthier stock.
I have for the past two years given all young
stock raised for breeders their ‘iberty during
the entire summer, thereby reducing my feed
bill and developing hardier breeders.
A few more words and I shali make these in
the form of good advice: Start with good stock,
enlarge slowly, give the business a chance
under sound business principles and failure
will be an unknown quantity.
If nothing happens I am going to put up two
extra buildings this fall and winter, and next
spring I will want from you at least five hundred
pairs of selected Homers. I am planning to
come up that way about that time, and will
call on you and make arrangements for them.
Hoping to be able to do much business with
you in the near future, and thanking you in
advance for your information, I remain,
H. A. Henkel, Virginia.
LUPE N DI XG
SQUABS, FRUIT, POULTRY, VEGETABLES RAISED HERE BY MR. VAIL.
I SELL MY SQUABS BY TELEPHONE
FOR $6.60, by Harry M. Vail. My wife and
Icame to New Jersey last May from New York
City with the intention of starting in the poultry
business. While we were waiting for our
incubators to hatch our first chicks, we became
interested in the pigeons that were already on
the place. Our admiration for them later
changed to genuine love. There were nearly
seven hundred pigeons in the lot. Since the
accompanying photograph was taken we have
increased them to 1280. The breeding house
is 172 feet long, divided into fourteen pens
with movable double nestboxes. The floor
is of concrete and the inside walls are of
asbestos plaster. The house throughout is
equipped with a self-regulating hot-water sys-
tem, the same as are my brooder houses.
I am running a combination poultry, squab,
fruit and vegetable farm. We do no advertis-
ing, as our squabs and other products do it
for us. Squabs at this writing (February 13)
are bringing $6.60 a dozen retail and $5 whole-
sale. Naturally I do no shipping.
One of my hotel customers supplies me with
two barrels of bread a week. It costs us noth-
ing and as I serve him anyway it costs nothing
for hauling. I feed the bread slightly mois-
tened, with a small quantity of commercial
beef scraps added It makes a splendid filler
for squabs.
I never try at first to see a prospective cus-
tomer personally, as you might as well try
to see the King of England as the people of
Montclair. I secure their telephone numbers
and callthem up. I invariably secure my first
introduction that way, state who I am, and
what I have to sell. I mention several cus-
tomers that I am already serving, and in a
town like Montclair they all know of one
another. I make an appointment and am
seldom disappointed by the customer. If you
are fortunate enough to secure them as cus-
tomers and if you have the goods, you seldom
have trouble holding them.
I guess I owe you a report about the Extra
Homers that you sent me in July of last year.
They have excelled my expectations. I have
more than one thousand birds at present in
spite of having sold some squabs since and
having lost a good many during last winter
while I was in the East, in consequence of
carelessness by my former partner, and in
spite of having moved them twice. They are
admired much, especially my ‘‘old Guard,”
as I call my original stock bought of you.—
Stefan Schwarz, California.
A little over a year ago we purchased some
Homers from you and for breeding they beat
any that I ever saw. I do not think there are
any that can beat your birds for breeding
qualities—William E. Merritt, New York.
There are very few of my squabs that come
less than ten pounds to the dozen. I have a
good Plymouth Rock stock of Homers to breed
from bought from Mr. Rice.—F. G. Fillmore,
Missouri.
PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER OF BELGIAN ORIGIN.
Other breeds come ard go, but our larse, first-class Homers have
_ The original photo-
graph from which the enlargement was made is seen in the lower
no equal as money-makers in the squab business.
left-hand corner.
I have been steadily building up my flock
of Plymouth Rock Homers, selling only enough
squabs to pay for their feed, and have found
my birds all you represented, often having
squabs weighing eighteen ounces. Both of
us have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of
handling them. We sell their output to the
steamers sailing from Galveston, having felt
out the market and knowing it to be good.—
W. S. Faires, Texas.
APPENDIX G
INDIANA WOMAN GETS
$3.65-$4.60 A DOZEN, by Mrs.
M. Bunyard. My Extra Ply-
mouth Rock Homers are doing
splendidly. I do not see how
they could do much better.
They are fine healthy birds
and splendid workers.
I have sold since April 27,
1910, sixty-one dozen squabs,
besides giving some away.
have got a good price for allI
havesold thissummer. I have
been getting from $3.65 to$4.60
a dozen for the last month.
Our banker says there must be
a lot of money in pigeons from
} the amount of checks we bring
|in. I hardly ever lose a squab.
] I haven’t given a dose of medi-
|] cine this winter. I kill, pick
and pack all my squabs my-
self. I have five squabhouses,
one built in the Icft of the barn
and three in the barn with the
flying pens outside built up to
| the barn. I have one squab-
| house in the coal shed. I
| find my birds like clover hay
(that has been threshed out for
the seed) to build nests. They
never know when to quit
building with it.
Some time ago I wrote to you
in regard to purchasing twenty-
five pairs of Plymouth Rock
Homers. I was finally per-
suaded by the proprietor of a
local plant to invest the money
in alarger breed, Runt-Duchess-
Homers. He represented them
to be faster breeders than the
Homer and said that they bred
larger squabs. The former is
anything but true, and he barely
gets by on the latter statement.
fam sorry that I did not then
know of the breeding qualities
of the straight Carneaux.
have recently taken in a partner
and we have decided to rid our-
selves of this mixed breed if
possible, and fill this unit with
straight Carneaux from your
company.—1T. R. Frank, Rhode
Island.
Our stock was originally purchased from
the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., both Carneaux
and Homers and we can assure you our stock
is good. We have several letters from Messrs.
Silz of New York, to whom we ship most of
our birds. We also supply the Hotel Royal
Poinciana, Palm Beach, Florida, during their
season, and we can assure you that nothing
but the best holds their trade.—Seminole
Squab Farm, Florida.
Eee NED (G
HOMERS MORE PROFIT
THAN LARGER BIRDS, by
Martin L. J. Steele. Two
years ago I became interested
in squabs but as I knew noth-
ing of the care of pigeons I
began raising them in mind |
only. I spent nearly a year |
studying the question from all
sides, and last February put in
my first Ict of breeders, fifty
pairs straight Homers. March
first I bought fifty pairs more.
This lot consists of Homers,
Dragoons, Mondaines and two
pairs Maltese.
After a careful comparison
of loft No. 1, Homers, and
loft No. 2, crosses, I find the
Homers are the more profit-
able.
One item in favor of the
Homers is feed. For example,
my fifty pairs Homers are
doing well on five quarts of
grain daily, while the fifty
pairs of crosses take from
eight to nine quarts.
The price of squabs in the
Washington, D. C., market did
not appeal to me. Three dol-
lars a dozen for nine to ten-
pound squabs in December did
not sound right. So I began
advertising by using a card
headed with a picture of a pair
of squabs in the nest, and
reading as follows, the date and prices being
written in ink: :
We are pleased to quote you the following
prices on SQUABS for the month of July, ie
BU
|
|
‘ oe:
ton in 1904.
Fresh dressed, per pair............... $0
Heathers! on. peripain. cies ce eion -65
GIVE MDET DATs eanceauckelen Cites Cero -60
I mail these cards about the first of each
month to a regular list, and to all who have
not ordered by the middle of the month I send
another card. [I find it much better to vary
the cut at the head of the card.
The three pairs which I bought of you in
March, 1909, have done splendidly. I now
have forty-five pairs working and a few young-
sters. Have sold a good many, and we have
eaten a great many. I have worked up a
fine trade and now sell to the swell clubs in
Portland at thirty-five cents each. They will
take all I have. Enclosed find an order for
thirteen pairs more of your Extra Homers.
If these only do as well as the ones I got
before, we will be satisfied. We simply can-
not get along without the magazine. It is
fine.—Mrs. W. R. Lycan, Oregon.
If grand opera were fifty cents a ticket
the 400 would not attend. The higher squabs
are priced, the more the rich want them,
always provided the quality is there.
PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN MONTANA.
es
My pigeons are straight Homers raised from some I bought in Bos-.
I have a pair which raise squabs from eighteen to
twenty-one ounces at four weeks. They are both 1909 birds.
a rooster six months old from this pair that weighs 244 ounces, crop
empty.—James T, Fisher, Montana.
I have
In January, 1910, I bought a few breeders
of you, six pairs of Carneaux. have a nice
flock of one hundred mated pairs now (October,
1911), besides having sold all their produce
since last May. I have been getting from
$4.50 to $6.00 per dozen for them during the
summer, the town I live near being quite a
summer resort, and I had not breeding stock
enough to supply the demand. Now the
market is over for this season, and I must
look further afield for an outlet. I notice in
one of your books that you have requests
from commission men asking you to send
them the names of your customers so they
can keep them posted on the price of squabs.
Would esteem it a favor if you would advise
some reliable commission houses to furnish
me with quotations for the different grades
of squabs. Iam nearer Rochester and Toronto
than other large cities, but I suppose distance
is not much of an obstacle if reach the best
market. My squabs will average about nine
pounds to the dozen.—R. L. Ralls, Ontario.
I would like to buy ten Carneaux hens, as
I have a surplus of cocks on hand and I would
like to mate them up and have them working.
The birds I have came from your place and I
find they are very good. I do not want to
buy the hens from any other, for I do not
think there are any to be gotten as good as
yours.—H. D. Marsden, Pennsylvania.
304
APPENDIX G
ALL RAISED FROM ONE PAIR.
it is just a year ago since I purchased six pairs oh the Plymouth
results.
present (December 7) fifty mated pairs and have sold just 387 squabs,
I find that my expenses were $74.50, which
I find that the birds like the wood-fibre
I also find that squabs
Enclosed you. will
find picture of birds, seventeen of them, all reared from one pair of
Rock Extra Homers and I had very successful
which brought me $218.50.
leaves a profit of $144.
nappies better than any other sort of a nest.
are reared fifty per cent easier than chickens.
blue checkers.—George Briggs, Jr., Connecticut.
Last May I tought one hundred pairs of
pigeons crossed between a Maltese and Runt,
+ bought them at first sight on account of their
size, but have found out since that they can-
not deliver the goods like a Homer, and ain
very much dissatisfied with them. Thought
you might be in a position to let me know
where I might get rid of them, and if not,
let me know the best advertising medium.
They cost me five dollars a pair. As soon as
IT can unload them I will be in the market for
two hundred pairs of your Plymouth Rock
Homers.—F. J. Baker, Indiana.
I am glad to say that the twelve pairs of
Homers you shipped me in March are doing
fine and have increaseed to about seventy-five
pairs (August 20, 1911).—William M. Wilson,
North Carolina.
HOMERS ARE MOST RE-
LIABLE FOR SQUABS, by
Fred Fisher. I have close onto
two hundred mated pairs of
Homers. I am selling between
i $35 and $40 worth of squabs
to San Francisco markets per
month. Some people here are
in favor of the Maltese and
Runt pigeons crossed. To be
sure they raise a large, fine
squab, but in the moulting sea-
son they act like a poor chicken,
taking from two to three months
to moult, and at the same time
they eat their heads off. This
year in moulting season I did
* not notice it at all with my
' Homers, and shipped just as
many squabs then each week as
»; I am shipping now. The Ho-
"| mer is the squab breeder.
a I feed in open troughs twice
| daily, about 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.,
giving each pen enough so they
will have feed before them all
' the time. I feed my birds dry
blood once a week with good
results. I give each pen the
: top of a fruit jar filled with the
dried blood, and the birds are
very fond of it. It keeps them
in good health and sharpens
their appetites. I feed red
wheat, kaffir corn, red oats,
cracked corn, whole barley and
cracked horse beans.
Enclosed find fifty dollars for
which send me your Special
Offer No. 5 at the earliest pos-
sible date, as I have a good
summer trade here that I can-
not supply. I want to get the
birds started as soon as pos-
sible. You will no doubt par-
don my delay in acknowledging
the receipt of your Manual. I[
am positive that any one follow-
ing your instructions is sure of
success. If I could not get another book like
it, you could not buy it for twenty times what
I paid for it. Every one I have talked with
has praised your Homers. The marketman told
me that if I had Homers I could get a better
price for my squabs. I am now receiving the
highest market price for mine, which is three
dollars a dozen, alive-—F. L. Thomas, California.
I have at
We would like to exchange some Carneaux
raised from the two pairs gotten from you last
June, with a friend who has some thorough-
breds but he will want a guarantee that ours
are the same. Will you send us proof of some
kind to show him? From the four birds
gotten just one year ago, we now have thirty-
four in all, twenty-two of which are mated
pairs. Don’t you think that is doing well?—
Mrs. J. H. Moynodier, Maryland.
t}
IE IEID INO ED GN 300
I SELL SQUABS AT RE-
TAIL IN MY TOWN, by
Charles H. Marston. In No-
vember, 1907, I bought twenty-
five pairs of Homer pigeons
and like many others I thought
that I had a bargain because
I got them cheap, but there is
where I learned something.
They:had not been well kept
and did not do a thing all that
winter but eat, and how they
did that! It took some time
to get them filled up, but
about February 1, 1908, they
began work and did finely all
the year, so that at the end of
that year I found they had paid
their way and alittle more.
Having weeded out some of
the drones, I began the year
1910 with sixty pairs of mated
birds and at the present time
of writing (February 26) I
have fifty-three pairs either
with young or setting on eggs,
making me think that the out-
look for 1910 is pretty good.
From the very first I have
been a believer that in every
community there are some that
will buy dressed squabs, and
I have built up quite a trade
in my town and the adjoining
towns in this part of Massa-
chusetts. I am very enthusi-
astic on squab raising, and am
satisfied that there is money
in it.
The Homers I received from
you are doing splendidly. I
have no trouble in getting
squabs a month old to weigh a
pound. I have a pair sixteen
days old weighing fifteen
ounces. I had a man offer me
about ninety Homers for $25,
but I would hardly take them
as a gift. The best his squabs
weigh when four weeks old is between nine
and ten ounces. Thank you for the good birds
you sent me.—H. J. Read, Ontario.
Thought you might be interested to know
how I made out with my Carneaux entries at
the Suffolk County Fair for 191]: Solid red,
first premium; red and white, first, second and
third premiums; yellow and white, first, second
and third premiums. All birds raised from
Plymouth Rock stock. I won as many prizes
as were allowed on my entries, so I have no
kick coming.—Cadet H. Hand, New York.
The eleven pairs of Carneaux I received
from you last October are doing well. I have
one hundred and eighty or more birds now
(September 15, 1911).—Dr. J. W. Cutler,
California.
MR. MARSTON AND TRAINED HOMER.
We stocked up with twenty-five pairs of
your Extras in 1909. We stocked up with
Carneaux in 1910. In Carneaux and Homers
we showed thirteen birds, six pairs and one
odd bird. We won thirteen ribbons, $12.50 in
cash at the Virginia State Fair, 1910—Frank
W. Danner, Virginia.
I have been in the squab business raising
your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and
Carneaux, but sold out and now I want to
startin again. I have handled a great many of
your birds and I have found that they prove
satisfactory in every respect.—Arthur New-
comer, Pennsylvania.
Single men who do not make squabs pay
should get married and let their wives show
them how.
356
i
\\
\\
Ay
\
ANA
YOU CAN SEE THE WATER IN THIS FOUNTAIN.
KALE FOR MY BIRDS; FERN BRAKE
FOR NESTS, by Mrs. W.R. Lycan. I bought
three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers
one year ago and have raised over seventy,
lost very few. One pair has raised nine pairs
and is sitting again. This, notwithstanding
the fact that we have moved during this time
and had them in a coop for several days and
have never had a flying pen, just have them
in an open-front chicken house about ten by
fourteen feet. How’s that? I have not
arranged my plant as I want it yet. We
bought us a small place (in Oregon) entirely
unimproved, and it takes time and money to
get things going right.
I feed kaffir corn, cracked corn, wheat, peas,
stale bread and occasionally sunflower seed.
also find they are very fond of nice tender kale.
Now and then I give them rice. I give my
birds what is called ‘“‘brake’’ out here (it is
a kind of fern and very soft) for nesting material.
They seem to like it better than straw.
I have just finished reading your $1.00
Manual and find it absolutely the best work
on the care and rearing of squabs that was
ever written. Mr. Rice deserves much credit
for the writing of this book. I have a few
pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers
and find them far superior in size, weight and
vigor to any Homers I have ever seen.—R. L.
Chipman, Washington.
A good man has good pigeons, and con-
versely, a tumble-down man with a rickety
home has pigeons to match.
APPENDIX G
HOME-MADE FOUNTAIN,
by Heyward R. Barret. I am
sending you a drawing and
the description of a swinging
drinking fountain for pigeons
which I have found to be very
satisfactory. It can be made
of a ‘ Buffalo’”’ lithia water
bottle as well as a whiskey
jug. As the top of the jug is
larger than the pan the drop-
pings can not fallinto the water
from a bird perched on top.
The one illustrated is made of
a glass whiskey jug which can
be obtained most anywhere and
holds from a gallon up. Cut
two pieces of wire the same
length and twist tightly around
the jug, leaving the ends ex-
actly opposite one another for
axles. The pan should be
about one and one-half inches
deep, and the jug should be
suspended one inch above the
bottomof thepan. By making
it out of a glass jug you can
easily see when it is empty.
Simply turn the jug up and
fillit andlet it drop in position,
and it will supply water only as
it is diminished from the drink-
ing pan. Cost about ten cents.
Three friends of mine visited me Sunday,
especially to see your Plymouth Rock Homers,
and they were surprised to find such large,
handsome and well marked Homers. My
Philadelphia Homers are not in the same class
With yours in any shape, manner or form and
you can duplicate my order. I like to deal
with honest, reliable people whom I am con-
fidently sure are treating their customers
tight. I am going to build another unit to
my plant this week and so I will be ready to
put nothing but Plymouth Rock Homers in
same. It will cost me $10 for the unit. My
Philadelphia birds are certainly picking up
after feeding and watering according to your
Manual, as I have not lost another squab in
the shell. One pair brought out three squabs
and are feeding them in fine shape. This
same pair of birds lost five pairs of squabs
in the shell until after I had worked according
to your Manual. I thank you kindly for the
fine birds sent me.—Frank J. Lyons, Ohio.
I have bought health grit of other houses
nearer home but find my pigeons do not take
to it like yours. I bought from you twelve
pairs of Homers and now have nearly one
hundred and fifty—William MM. Wilson,
North Carolina.
I have some of your Plymouth Rock Extra
Homers, and will say that there is no other
stock known to me that can even compare
with them.—John Overbrook, Illinois.
APPENDIX G
SQUABS FOR ME IN-
STEAD OF FANCY POUL-
TRY, by W.H. Brown. I have
had a stock of Extra Plymouth
Rock Homers since January 1,
and have been saving most of
my squabsfor breeders. I have
sold some squabs and received
thirty-five cents each for them.
People say my squabs are the
nicest they have ever seen.
have had calls for ten times as
many squabs as I have raised;
some one is wanting from two
to a dozen every day. There
are squabsto be had here (North
Carolina), but none like mine.
They sell for twenty-five cents
each and weigh about six to
eight ounces, while my squabs
weigh twelve to sixteen ounces,
so you can plainly see why the
people are after mine. I have
also had many calls for breed-
ers, and hope some day to be
able to fill them.
I have been raising fancy
poultry for five years, and I find the pigeons
have got tne chickens skinned a country block.
They are a great deal less care and more
rofit. The pigeons for me every time. I
ave plenty of room and can raise most of my
feed, and intend making squabs my business.
I live two miles out of the city, and have been
for the last four years with the largest retail
grocery firm here, and in thisway have learned
all the best people, and how to deal with them.
I am going to build a new squabhouse soon.
WHY I PREFER PINE NEEDLES FOR
NESTS, by H. A. Rice. Nest material is
indispensable to the squab breeders as well as
to the chicken, turkey, duck and geese men.
This we learn as one of our first lessons in the
handling of all domestic fowls. When it has
to be bought, we try to get the least expensive
material, and usually that is the last real
thought, so we hike after a bale of straw, cut
it open and spread it out on the floor or in
crates or nests, so the fowls can get at it. Now,
everything goes well for a while, but by and
by the day surely comes that we find the
chicken and squabhouse is alive, yes, just
crawling away, and so we have a job on hand.
Here is the job: Take a pencil and paper and
count the number of straws you put into the
house for your birds (sure all fowls have lice
more or less), count the number of lice eggs and
lice in each (incubator) straw. Do not use
straw. It is an incubator, and your birds the
brooders. I have this winter experimented
with pine needles, the fohage from pine and
fir trees. The birds like it equal to the tobacco
stems. I use alfalfa. The chaff or foliage is
just the thing for your hens if cleaned and mixed
with bran. Your pigeons will eat it if mixed
with salt after it cools. (Do not give the
salted to the hens, as it is sure death.) On
page 349, December number of the Squab
oo0
CARNEAUX SQUABS SEVENTEEN OUNCES EACH.
Magazine Brother Newcomer says he feeds
cabbage and lettuce as green feed. The
lettuce is all right, but no cabbage for me. I
have known of the finest fowls and birds and
canaries to be killed by feeding cabbage. It
bloats them just asit does cattle. (I once lost
in that way, a cow for which I had paid $60
in gold.) Often people ask me about feeding
green food, and I always advise against the
practice. If your birds have their liberty,
then that is different.
I notice that oats and barley are not recom-
mended for pigeons with squabs because the
sharp points are supposed to cut the thin
crops of the young. Do you suppose there
would be any harm in feeding vetches mixed
with oats? The farmers around here raise
vetches and oats together, the oats to hold
the vetches up, and when they are threshed
together the two grains are mixed. I can
get this mixture about harvest time quite
cheap, about $1 to $1.25 a hundred. So if
I could feed it, I should like to do it. The
mixture is about two or three times vetches
to one of oats. I should naturally suppose
that if I gave the birds plenty of wheat and
other grain they would have sense (or instinct)
enough not to feed their squabs anything that
would hurt them. I have been in the pigeon
business about three years. Have now about
140 pairs, mostly Homers, with a sprinkling
of Runts and Carneaux, all doing nicely.—
H. Denlinger, Oregon. Vetches are a first-
class food for pigeons. Feed that mixture by
all means, if you can get it at that price.
The breeder who is selling squabs at low
prices is either ignorant or is himself low-
priced and can be bought cheap on any proposi-
tion.
308
= : ee
OSTRICHES AND WHITE HOMERS.
NO ADVANTAGE IN BREEDING
CROSSES, by J. Wallace Williams. Ido not
raise any crosses. I believe in improving the
thoroughbred Plymouth Rock Homers and
Carneaux. I’ve never seen the advantage in
crosses, if there’s any. When you breed a
first-class Carneau to a first-class Homer,
where’s the advantage? You get a freak
pigeon. Let us improve the thoroughbreds.
Plymouth Rock Homers for squab breeders
are hard to beat. I put thirty pairs in each
pen. Every month in the year you will find
from sixty to one hundred eggs and squabs
in each pen. Before writing this article, I
counted in one pen of thirty pairs, fifty-six
squabs, twenty-eight eggs and six new nests.
What’s the name of the freak pigeon that will
come up to that record?
Squabs well sold are easily raised.
\
IMENE 18) INDIE (Ge
ARIZONA SQUABS AND
OSTRICHES, by Francis Shaw.
We have twelve hundred Ho-
mer pigeons here in Arizona.
We have good birdsin Arizona
and plenty of good fanciers, but
not many good squab breeders.
The Salt River Valley can’t be
beat for poultry and pigeon
climate. Squabsare a side line
with us as we are in the ostrich
business, and have over four
hundred of them on this farm,
and are now hatching more.
HOMER SQUABS SELL
WELL IN MONTANA, by
James T. Fisher. I have been
raising pigeons on a city lot,
and can’t enlarge very much.
I have a good market here.
(Montana.) I get from thirty-
five to fifty cents each for all I
can raise. I have only eighty-
one pairs of breeders, from
which I sold thirty-nine squabs
in December and forty-two in
January. JIalso have one hun-
dred and twenty young, which
are mating up now. The
smallest squab I raised in the
last three months weighed
eleven ounces. There were
only two under twelve ounces.
They will average thirteen and
fourteen ounces dressed. I
have one (a Homer) that
weighed twenty-two ounces
alive at four weeks. This is
the largest I have ever raised.
I have raised several that
weighed eighteen and nineteen
ounces. I bought my stock of
Homers in 1904 from _ the
Plymouth Rock Squab Com-
pany. I feed mostly wheat,
whole corn, millet and hemp-
seed. I mix salt, grit, charcoal
and a little alum together and
keep before them all the time. I burn and
grind bones for them in place of oyster
shell. I clean my houses every week and
spray with carbolic every other week. I have
lost but one squab in three months with canker.
The eight pigeons I bought of you nearly
three years ago have increased greatly. I
have 214 mated pairs and I am making a nice
profit on them.—Ward Edwards, Texas.
Percy Perkins likes to write letters asking
for information about his pigeons. It takes
more time than studying the birds, but he gets
a splendid collection of opinions.
Pigeons for breeding or squabs for eating
cannot be sold by advertising where nobody
exists. Get into the marketplace, not the
cemetery.
APPENDIX G
HOW TO BLEED SQUABS
NEATLY, QUICKLY, by W. E.
Blakslee. Whenkilling squabs,
this device will be found useful.
It is arack of funnels made of
tin, open at top and bottom.
Hold the squab in the.eft hand,
stickit with the killing knife
and put it inone of thefunnels,
head hanging down through the
lower hole. The object is to
drain out theblood. This does
away with the necessity of hang-
ing the feet from a string, and
prevents spattering of blood.
The live squab may be put in
the funnel head down and out
and then stuck, if preferred.
This is the method used in
Europe by the quail market-
men. These quail are caught
in Egypt in nets and trans-
ported alive to London, where
they are fattened for a few days
and then killed. All of the
marketmen have the same |}
methed of using this rack of }
funnels, their racks being from |
eight to ten feet long. London |
consumes these quail by the |
hundreds of thousands. The |
traffic is an old one and this }
funnel method of bleeding is |
thoroughly practical, needed by
fast workmen.
HOW CLEVELAND SQUAB
PRICES WENT UP, by Mrs.
Carl Moeller. From December
31, 1909, to December 31, 1910,
our thirty pairs of breeders aver-
aged eight pairs of squabs. No <
pair went below fourteen squabs
and one or two pairs had the
first pair of eggs December 31,
1909, and the tenth pair of eggs
December 31, 1910. As these
were Homers, it seems very
good to us. This average is of
squabs sold or raised to maturity. Others do
not count. One year ago this month, nine-
pound squabs, alive or dressed, were bring-
ing at the most two dollars a dozen. Whole-
salers in Cleveland were actually insulted if
you asked them to buy by weight. They sim-
ply refused to talk business if you mentioned
price and weight together. Five-and-six-pound-
per-dozen squabs brought just as good a price
as the larger ones. In March, 1910, prices be-
gan togo up. We found a dealer who knew a
good squab from a cull and would pay by
weight. We sell all our squabs to this one
dealer and receive a steady price the year
around. At wholesale nine and ten-pound
squabs are now bringing $3.00 and $3.50 a
dozen dressed. They may go to $4.50. Cleve-
land is fast creating an appetite for squabs and
all we need to make things boom is a union of
all squab breeders in and around Cleveland,
eeecec ee oe
ere e30,6
wee eceenre
How to cut the tin, make seam and bend.
each funnel to board.
SS
SHI
10 2, >
FUNNELS TO BLEED SQUABS.
One wire nail fastens
and then some good live advertising that
greater Cleveland may know what squavs
are, where to get them and how to eat
them.
About two years ago I purchased three pairs
of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and
two pairs alone have increased to about fifty-
five by now (the other pair having flown away
when I released them about three months after
I received them). I am very enthusiastic
about the raising of squabs and in order to
have even pairs and also to introduce new
blood, I wish to purchase about ten females.
My males have increased more than the
females so that I need about this many to even
up. I desire the Extras. At present I am
enlarging my unit house and in the near future
expect to increase my flock to at least five
hundred pairs.—W. M. James, Ohio.
360
HOW I LEARNED TRUE CALIFORNIA
PRICES, by Stefan Schwarz. In the leading
San Francisco daily papers, squabs are quoted
at $2 and $3 a dozen at present (May 29,
1911). Everybody knows that squabs are
numerous at this time of year, and that com-
petition is active. Circumstances did not
encourage me. Anyway I did not expect a
very ready demand, or good prices either.
Iam breeding a flock of several hundred pairs
of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers.
I asked my grain man for the address of a
commission house, and he sent me to a big
one of first-class reputation. Who can describe
my great surprise as one of the members of
the firm told me: ‘‘T will take all the squabs
that you will ship to me and I am ready to make
a contract with you for one thousand dozen
squabs a year, for which I will pay you $3.50
for Homer squabs weighing ten to twelve
pounds, and $4.50 for Carneaux squabs weigh-
ing fourteen to sixteen pounds.”’
It is a puzzle to me how my fellow squab
taisers in California can afford to go so much
below these quotations just mentioned, unless
they ship squabs which weigh considerably
less, or are fooled by the newspaper quotations,
as I nearly was.
Squab buyers must buy squabs. Squab
breeders alone can furnish squabs. It is the
business of the seller and not the buyer to
make the price.
MALE AND FEMALE PIGEON BILLING, OR KISSING.
APPENDIX G
HOW I LEARNED TO GET
GOOD PRICES, by A. J.
McCauley. I sold all of the
Plymouth Rock Extra Homer
squabs I raised in eleven months
to a marketman in St. Louis,
Mo., for prices ranging from
$3.25 to $4.80 a dozen. I
started in to ship to the market
people in December, 1909, and
until January 21,1910, received
$3.60 a dozen; from then until
February 25 I succeeded in get-
ting $4.20 a dozen. I again
wrote them to advance the
price as I had been offered
more elsewhere. The price was
then advanced to $4.80 a dozen.
This price lasted until April 10.
when they tumbled to $4.50 a
dozen, then in the same month
they cut them to $4. In May
they cut them to $3.60. In
June they cut them to $3.50.
From July until November,
when I quit shipping to them,
I was getting only $3.25. At
this time I wrote them to know
if-it wasn’t about time for
squabs to start to advance in
price. The answer I got was
quite an eye opener for me, for
they said that they had been
putting squabs in cold storage
all summer and that they had
quite a lotof birdson hand that
they had bought reasonable and consequently
could not pay any more for them just at that
time. I at once got busy with other buyers
in Chicago where I received $4 for eight-pound
squabs and $4.25 for nine-pound birds. At
present I am shipping my birds alive for $4
a dozen to a place near Chicago. I am putting
forth every effort to be able to gather a lot of
squabs through the months of February and
March, when I hope to get $4.80 or $5 a dozen;
then I expect to be able to ship squabs by the
barrel next summer and will either ship East
or store them until the prices advance.
Some people are dead set against whole corn
because it is so big, and claim it chokes the
squabs, but I notice when I feed cracked corn
and whole corn together, they always pick out
the whole corn. The females seem to like it
when they are on eggs especially. One reason
I feed whole corn is because the cracked corn
gets sour in the least dampness, and soon I see
sick birds. A breeder about two miles from
my place buys squabs and he told me the other
day that he got $4.50 per dozen himself. I
went down a few weeks after and he offered
to buy fairly good squabs at thirty cents each,
or $3.60 per dozen, netting him a profit of
ninety cents on every dozen. I take the maga-
zine and it certainly is a beauty.—P. E. Foster,
Massachusetts.
All squabs are good, but some are better.
APPENDIX G
HUNGRY CALL FOR
SQUABS IN MONTANA, by
W. M. Safley. We started in jf
the squab business in May, ]§
1908, with two hundred of Ply-
mouth Rock Extra Homers.
We have sold squabs most of
the time since, but have saved
four hundred, of which about
two hundred and fifty are at
work. We have sold about
forty-five dozen squabs since
June 1, 1909. There is no
trouble about the market here
in Montana. We havequarters
for one thousand birds and ex-
pect soon to fill the houses. I
amin the business tostay. We
are at present getting $3.50 per
dozen for squabs_ unsorted,
plucked, F. O. B. We ship to
Helena, only thirty-three miles, |)
so have never used ice to pack |
in. Weuse peach crates mostly,
packing two dozen in a crate,
but will use the corrugated
boxes as soon as we can. The
young shoots of grease wood
are our nest material.
HOW THE MARKET RUNS AFTER
SQUABS, by John E. Gilbert. About six
years ago I began to look into the squab busi-
ness from a straight business viewpoint. All
I knew about the business was what I read
and after reading I got to thinking. [I first
wondered whether I could sell all the squabs
1 raised. I often had read about the large
hotels using thousands of squabs a week, so
I ventured to go to several hotels in Philadel-
phia, the Bellevae-Stratford, Bingham and
Walton, and each chef in charge told me he
could use all the squabs I could bring him,
but they had to be prime, large ones. There
was an old breeder who served the Bingham
Hotel regularly every week, but with hotels
you must have quantity as well as quality.
As an ordinary person cannot comprehend
the demand for squabs I will say that when
hotels and other large institutions cannot be
supplied by the breeder himself, they turn to
the commission men, who “eve hundreds of
shipments daily from all parts ot the country
within a radius of five hundred miles. Com-
mission men take =ny quantity, small or large,
and can be bette. relied upon by the hotels
because of the larg= army of squab breeding
shippers pouring squabs into one fum. If a
breeder cared, he could increase his flock
large enough to supply the trade direct, and
make a good deal more on his squabs.
Every person witrout doubt has wondered
whether he really could sell the squabs he
could raise, and whether there really is a big
demand for squabs. It is positively a truthful
fact that the demand for squabs is equal in
some sections to the demand for eggs, although
this may not seem so to many, when you think
how many people eat eggs. You never have
Four pens
melted before
noon.
EFFECT OF MONTANA APRIL SNOW.
after a snow on April 13, 1909.
The snow was all
Photograph from W. M. Safley.
heard of squabs being seized from dealers
by the United States food experts and destroyed
as you have very often heard about eggs.
The factis, there is at times an over-production
of eggs. The demand for squabs everywhere
cannot at present be supplied, and wili not
be supplied for some years to come.
In many localities it is not necessary to
ship squabs now, as commission men have
buyers in all parts of the country to take the
squabs right at your place, and pay you cash.
There is more competition in buying squabs
than one would imagine, as each dealer has
his trade to supply and must have the squabs.
When commission men will send out their
men to visit the squab plants to get the goods
direct, and have your assurance that you will
let them have your squabs, this should be
confidence enough to cause any one to enter
the squab business.
HOW TO KNIFE A SQUAB WITHOUT
PAIN, by F. J. Bunce. In killing squabs, by
inserting the knife well back in the throat,
the picker will come in contact with a little,
hard lump, which is the brain cell. The knife
should be drawn sharply through the brain
and up toward the point of the bill.
It is always possible to tell if the sticking
has been done properly. If it has, a con-
vulsive shudder will pass over the bird, the
wings draw back and the eyes become set,
but if the bird continues to kick and gasp for
breath, the sticking has not been done cor-
rectly. If the sticking is right, the bird should
be perfectly dead in two minutes. If the
bird does not die as fast as the picker thinks
it should, another owick incision should be
made. This asa