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J. G. ROBINSON, M. D.

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ROBINSON METHOD

BREEDING SQUABS

A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE NEW METHODS AND SECRETS OF THE MOST
SUCCESSFUL HANDLER OF PIGEONS IN AMERICA,

DIRECTIONS FOR HOUSING, NESTING, MATING, FEEDING, KILLING, COOLING,
MARKETING, SHIPPING, BUYING, ETC.

BY LVR RVR CE:

ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES FROM NEW PHOTOGRAPHS SPECIALLY
TAKEN FOR THIS WORK.

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BOSTON, MASS.
PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB CO,
1901.

THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS,
Two Corigs Recetveo

JAN. 13 1902 |

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PREFACE.

This Manual is written to give in brief and plain terms
the rules by which Dr. J. G. Robinson, of Pembroke, Mass.,
has won his famous success in breeding squabs for market.
I think everyone interested in profitable breeding stock will
appreciate an account of the ways and means by which this
gentleman and his wife have made such marked progress in
the handling of pigeons. Although somewhat skeptical at
first, I was shortly forced to believe that in this isolated ham-
let of Plymouth county (where certainly there are no dis-
tractions to annoy the patient student), they had quietly
worked out problems which had been perplexing squab
breeders for vears, and were producing with mathematical
certainty and regularity a table product so excellent as to
make their squabs noted all over Boston where good diners
gathered. By talking with the Boston marketmen who
handled his product, I had a confirmation of the astonishing
profit-showing of his books and I prevailed upon the Doctor
to let the public know of this comparatively new industry,
and its wonderful possibilities when intelligently pursued,
and he has co-operated with me in this publication of the
facts. To make the work careful and thorough, I investi-

gated his plant for four months, in my leisure time, watching
every detail. taking notes, and going over in conversation
with the Doctor and his wife the experiments which had led
up to his deductions and settled plans. I made a rough draft
irom my data, cut out superfluous words and boiled every-
thing down, and the following pages are the result. I take
no credit for ideas of my own, but merely have made obser-
vations of another’s work, checked them for accuracy, and
written down the result. My intention has been to make
a simple guide which faithfully followed by even a child with
some gumption will result in a duplication of Dr. Robinson’s
success anywhere. He has revised the proofs and aided in
the preparation of the illustrations. We hope this little hand-
book will stimulate those into whose hands it goes to make
a profitable living for thernselves and aid in the development
of this remarkable home industry. We welcome new facts
and new experiences from any source and will take pleasure
in incorporating them in future issues of this Manual.

ELMER: RICE.
Boston, December, Ig01.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
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CUERBTACE 3 RUB DEER Si eACEY Bia Hy Xek Ky NS NV Bier ems oe see eel vee ce oie eieveeet cee 66

ILLUSTRATIONS.

TITLE. PAGE-
RORTRALD LOK SD ReeROBINSON = screenees FRONTISPIECE.
HOW; ZPIGHONS Mi UII ierrss yee ea eee eee beet leh oa Be ky Se ee ae 12
SOUAB HOUSE ANID SG YaIENG= Pin ING se oe eee ne eee eo eee 14
PIGANS OF FROBENSON BUINI Die ch creo athe eae neni miter eran weed eee 16
SQUAB HOUSE AND FLYING-PEN IN A BACKYARD.............. 18
PNEERIORZORsSOWAB GROUSE tn ee tees eee ee eet eee 20
NEST-BOXES WALA. NAP PINS streets eee Leet een eee 22
BACK VIEW “OR UNEST=B ORGS arciic rice eon eee eit eee 24
FLYING-PEN VIEWED FROM THE SOUTH SIDE.................... 26
oS ACTED SPAIN Sacer, oe tec Ricerca srs oe aie at ao NaI TPE a ee eee 27
BYE LING THE SHER-EEREDER WITH] GRATING .o dn. sececeseel ee] eee 28
OED LOULERY HOUSE EEX DPKOR PIGHONS -ce-co tesco eee 30
HOW? LO; KEEP PIGHONSSINTAVGAR RE Mess eee cece ee aeeorineeees 32
ANODHER OVE WOR TES HGR IE Reanim scenes ee 34
AS PRE DY SOWAB BREEDING SDRUCL URE. sae jaccsse aeons 36
INSIDE! ORVSOU:AB SOUS erecta on oe aban ae eee 38
PIGHONS EN) URES SUING aiacr cae aca ee aes ee Oaatcccete ee 40
If PAT OB SEGGS paises eae er ie Set ee ane ere ee eee 42
SOUABS JUST: FLAT CHM Die pi sacceer soa ces eae ee eaten cla ene ee 42
SOU-ABS ONE WHE K/Ols Ditae cose croatian et ce dros one aoe ne ea 42
SQUABS LW.O] WEEES OLD sie ed-oe ar tees obs eac 8 aan ee ee 42
SQUABS THRE EAWHDE RS OUD one ee cia tse ee ners cera ce teen ener 43
SOUABS HOUR WEE RScOUD ici. seco tsciacs see clete See h e eaee eer ee 43
PIGEONS ON LEHCROOE OFF SQUAB HOUSEte-.a82- eee eee 46
HOW * TO BPANDEE GA PIG WON: cosecie camisetas s cae sibeie ace Geos ee ae eis 48
HOW: NO Tel Oe RL Liars S @UVAIB ese one ise ee rence ee eins ert 2
THRED DRESSEDESOWABS ON ZAS PIA HRe. conn eenioseiee cements 53
HOW LO. COOLSLE EE RiVEEDESOQUABS iscccscck onielete 1enieee ease 56
HAVING BISSEIGTUIR BE IVAIKGRING:. coccvrcivieoeiesrs bis eet eee a enn eee 60
VIEW OF RANCH AND HI WING=PIBINS dices clerics iscisteetsiste sie'sctecineeiee 64

NO DRUDGERY.

In raising live stock of any kind, arrange matters so the
animals will look after themselves as much as possible. We
all know that automatic machinery has cheapened many arti-
cles formerly dear, and the perfect breeding outfit is auto-
matic, needing only a supply of feed and water. Aim to cut
down the factor of personal drudgery, so as to leave your
time clear to observe and plan, and execute intelligently.
Beginners who load themselves down with a daily round of
exacting duties soon lose heart, their patience gives out and
they become disgusted. We have known breeders of rabbits
to fail stmply 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 15 or 20 motions to do this for
each hutch. Multiply this by 20 to 30 (the number of the
hutches), and the burden grew unbearable. It was not sur-
prising 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
number of animals.. When you think and reason for your-
self, 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 thoughtless about these details, it is a clear
case of the chances being sixty to one against you.

At the start, the problem of breeding squabs for market
is in vour 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 cnts 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 povltryman knows that he cannot en-
trust the regulation of temperatures of incubators and brood-
ers to an ignorant hired man, but even a boy or girl, or un-
der-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
skillful work of killing and shipping the squabs.

We found no written or printed advice about squab-breed-

ing that was of real use. On the contrary, it was a hind-
rance. The booklets, for instance, gave a warning against
rats and dampness, but no clear, practical remedy. They
advised a form of nest-box which experience proved imprac-
tical on account of the time necessary to keep it clean. They
advised a nest which turned cut to be wrong. They recom-
mended feeding at stated intervals, which resulted in squabs
squeaking continually for nourishment. They said nothing
about cooling the killed squabs. Unless the cooling is done
properly, the squabs cannot be marketed. And so in almost
every particular the advice proved to be either misleading,
or deficient. It was discouraging, but an incentive to
thought and experiment. Unless the beginner with squabs
wishes to pass through the evolution of devices and methods
which we passed through, he will avoid every suggestion
which has not been demonstrated to be practical.

The primary object is to breed squabs for market as
cheaply, as easily and as fast as possible, without the expen-
diture of a dollar for fanciful or impractical appurtenances.
The amount of one’s capital will settle the question of the
number of pairs with which to start, whether ten, fifty, one
hundred or five hundred pairs. When you have fixed upon
the amount of money you wish to expend for breeders, lay
out your plans for the plant.

The pigeons need shelter for themselves and their young—
for this purpose a weatherproof wooden structure is de-
manded. This shelter, which we will call the squab house,
needs to be supplemented by a flving-pen in which the birds

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HOW PIGEONS MULTIPLY.

If one’s means are limited, itis not necessary to buy a large flock. You may start witha
dozen pairs. and by rearing your squabs to maturity, at the end of a year you will have a large
number of pairs. The sale of a comparatively few squabs during the year will pay for the feed
for alland make the flock self-supporting.

will get the air and exercise which their nature demands.

SQUAB HOUSE AND FITTINGS.

The essential points in the construction of the squab
house are these, that it should face the south, or east,
or whence the least wind and most sun comes, that it be
raised off the ground by short posts or stone pillars so rats
cannot breed under it, that it have a double floor to keep
out dampness, and that it be provided with windows for ven-
tilation. Its shape may be varied to suit the fancy of the
owner, but the simplest will be found to be the best. The
simple pattern may be extended at any time, growing as the
business grows.

First, then, if you are starting to make a new building,
select a location on fairly high, dry ground. It is not neces-
sary to go to the side or top of a hill, in fact there would
be too much wind in such a location. Pick out a place that
is not a meadow but whose soil is loose, giving indication of
good drainage. Set the foundation posts so that if you are
called upon to extend the building at any time, it will run
east and west on fairly jevel land for a distance of two hun-
dred feet or more.

Use cedar or locust for the posts, or you may build up
stone at the four corners. Elevate the foundation timbers
from one to two feet above the ground. Shingle all around
the building, aiso the roof, but do not shingle the end which
faces the direction in which you later may extend the squab
house. Then you will not have to rip off the shingles when

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Perspective view of the I
Notice the pole for pigeons’ roost im the center of the flying-pen.

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you come to make the extension. The floor should be of
two thicknesses of boards, with tarred paper between, to
keep out dampness.

One window in the north side is enough. There should
be two in the south side. Through these two the birds fly
from house to pen. They may slide up or down, or be hung
on hinges, the idea being to provide means for closing them
winter nights after the pigeons have taken refuge from the
pen in the house. The arrangement easiest operated is to
set them in grooves, and attach a rope for closing them from
the back of the house.

Sunlight is as good for pigeons as for all live stock. The
windows of the squab house should be large and set as high
as possible, especially on the south side, where the sun shines
inall day. The glass should be kept clean so that the direct
rays will fall in the interior of the squab house, dispelling
moisture and aiding the process of disinfection which the
oxygen in the air performs continually.

The window or windows in the north side of the squab
house should be kept closed most of the year, so as to run
no chances on draughts, which are a prolific cause of trouble.
In the hot days of summer there is no harm in opening the
north windows. The breeder should use common sense in
managing the windows so as to keep the air fresh without
draughts.

The nest-boxes are built 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.

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A, passageway;

WWW, windows;

DDD, doors; NNN, nests; WB, wind-

break; FP, flying pen; BP, bath-pan;

he squab

SF, self-feeder ; PP, posts.
house is i2ft.x13ft.

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 1o in. x 11 in. pieces the proper
distance apart. The finished nest will be eleven inches from
front to back, ten inches from top to bottom, and about ten
inches from one partition to the other (or whatever distance
the proper distribution of your nests in pairs permits).

‘We have found five-eighths inch boxing to be the best
suited. Build the nest-boxes up from floor to roof perfectly
plain, just as the pigeon holes of a desk run. When you
have got them up take two-inch strips of the boxing and
separate each pair of nests by tacking the stripping onto the
edges where they project out into the house. The object
of this stripping is to make it harder for a pair of birds in
one nest-box to disturb the pair in the adjoining box. Be-
tween the nest-boxes of the same pair there should be no
stripping.

The backs of the nest-boxes should be on hinges so that
from the passageway you may examine ev ery nest. Give
each pair of nests a number and it is possible to keep an
extremely accurate record of each pair of breeding birds.
This record may be kept in a book. numbering the pages
to correspond to the number on a pair of nests. A better

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SQUAB HOUSE AND FLYING-PEN IN A BACK YARD.

This arrangement is simple and inexpensive. The door does not open toa passageway (as
in the Robinson unit), but directly to the interior, which is lined with nests. The flying-pen has
a raised board floor to prevent the gathering of pools of rain water,

way is to use a card index, giving one card to each pair of
nests. A card three by five inches in size should be used, for
the record is liable to extend over a term of years. Ifa
pigeon dies, or a pair is otherwise broken up for any reason,
the card may be removed at once. If you are using a book,
you will have a lot of abandoned records in a year or two.
The card index, weeded out as the birds change, remains
alive always, and is a perfect indication of the business you
are doing, in every detail of expenditure and profit, as well
as condition of birds, and the relation of feed to selling price
of squabs may be figured out to a nicety.

Roosts for the breeding pigeons should be tacked to the
south and end walls of the squab house. These roosts should
be made of inch lumber 5 in. x 6 in. square. Set two pieces
v shape and tack the roost (apex up) to the side of the house.
One roost for each pair of birds will suffice. When one
pigeon is not on the roost the other is on the roof or on the
nest. The construction of the roost makes it impossible for
one bird to soil another bird on the roost immediately under-
neath. Do not provide one pole for a roost (as in a poultry
house). The roosting habits of pigeons are not like those
of hens. You must have separate perches. If you have only
one perch, one bully cock pigeon is likely to swagger down
the line sweeping off all the others and disputing ownership
with them.

‘There should be a wire door leading from the passageway
to the interior of the squab house. You will go in and out
of this door to clean the nests, pick up squabs from nests

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INTERIOR OF SQUAB HOUSE.

Thisillustrates how the perches are made and fastened to the walls. Nail up as many as
there is room and whitewash therm,

built on the tloor, ete.

In the middle of the house, on the floor, place an ege-
crate or other light structure, tacking it lightly to the floor.
This serves two purposes. On it place hay, grass, straw, etc.,
to be used by the birds in building their nests. It also serves
as a wind-break. It modifies the force of the air blown by
the wings of the pigeons as they fly from their nests out
through the windows into the pen. Were it not there, the
floor would be swept clean by the force of the wind from
the wings.

There should be a layer of sawdust one to two inches
thick on the floor of the house. This prevents the nappies
from being broken if by birds’ quarreling they are pushed
out of the nests. On a board floor they would break when
they drop, but the sawdust lets them down easy. The saw-
dust also makes an easy resting place for those birds that
prefer to build their nests on the floor. There always will be
two or three of these pairs of pigeons in every house.

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

Two sizes of nappies should be used. The small one is
the size known as No. 6, seven inches in diameter across the

NEST BOXES WITH NAPPIES.

The nest boxes are built of five eighths pine boxing sawed 10in.x1lin. in size. They are per-
fee ly plain without cleats or projections, so that no dirt will collect. The pigeons build the
nests in the nappies, using pieces of hay and grass.

to
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top and two inches deep. The large nappy is known as No.
7, and is nine inches in diameter and two and a half inches
deep. The large one is given to the pigeons first to receive
the eggs. When the squabs are two weeks old, the large
nappy is removed and the nest with its occupants transferred
to the small one. The reason for the change is this: The
nest which the breeding pigeons build in to receive the eggs
should be large so that the cock and hen will have plenty
of room to cover the youngsters and protect them from the
cold. In winter time especially they are very careful not to
leave their tender young uncovered long enough to be
chilled. The squabs deposit their dung in a circle inside the
nest. At the end of two weeks when you change nappies,
you get rid of the dirty nest and at the same time provide
a nappy in which there is plenty of room for the squabs, and
also you have a self-cleaning nest, for the youngsters deposit
their dung over the edge of the nappy into the nest-box, and
not into the nappy, as they would do if you allowed the large
nappy to remain. In the large nappy, also, some squabs, if
left to develop, will become deformed, owing to the fact that
their feet will push the nesting material off the slippery bot-
tom, on which their legs will sprawl disjointed.

FLYING2PEN AND FITTINGS.

The flying pen is simply a wire yard. It is as wide as the
squab house, and as high, and extends toward the south
about twenty feet. Set posts at the southern extremity and
stretch the wire to them, sides and top. The top of the

BACK VIEW OF NEST BOXES.

The camera was located in the passageway (see plan of Robinson unit.) The hinged back
of the pair of nests No. 21 has been let down, to show how the nests and squabs are reached
from the passageway. An inquisitive three-weeks-old squabis seen perched on the edge of the
opening.

posts should be on a level with the top of the squab house,
so that a neat appearance will result. Wire of two-inch
mesh will suffice. The object is to keep strange and smaller
birds out as well as keep the pigeons in. There should be
a door in the south end of the flying-pen. In some localities,
on account of the prevalence of the thieving English spar-
row, it will be necessary to use wire of one-inch mesh in
order to protect the grain in the self-feeder from spoliation.

In stretching the wire for the flying-pen, you will have to
lay several strips of the netting parallel in order to get the
full width of the yard. In piecing these widths together,
do not tie them with short pieces of wire, but use one long
piece of No. 18 or 20 iron wire and weave it in and out of the
netting, first in one width, then in the other. In this man-
ner you can unite two widths of netting in one-tenth the
time needed to apply short pieces of tie-wire.

The feeding trough should rest on a single post at the
back of the flying-pen, but not close up to the wire, so that
the birds can perch all around it. A simple form of self-
feeder protected at the top from rain, is the best. It is built
entirely of pine wood. It is best to invert a tin pan on the
top of the post on which the feeder rests so that if mice climb
up the post (if rough) they cannot reach the grain in the
feeder.

The bath-pan is placed on the ground at the back of the
flving-pen. The best pattern is of galvanized iron, twenty
inches in diameter and five inches deep. It should be filled
with fresh water once or twice a day. The pigeons go to

FLYING-PEN VIEWED FROM THE SOUTH SIDE.
This photograph of a part of one of our breeding outfits at Pembroke shows the construction

of the flying pen, the location of the self-feeder, ete. The pipe supplies water for the bath-pans
and saves steps to carry water in pails.

it early every morning and bathe in it, keeping their feathers
free from vermin by this habit. They drink from the pan
before bathing. When thin ice forms in winter, they break
it and splash their wings about as in summer. If you place
the bath-pan close to the netting at the back of the flying-
pen, you may fill it with water from a pail outside the pen by
pouring the water through the netting. After a flock of
birds have bathed in the pan, a thick, greasy scum may be
observed on the surface of the water.

THE BATH-PAN.

This is made of galvanized iron, is twenty inches in diameter and five Imcenes deep. It
should be filled with water once or twice a day. The pigeons drink from it and bathe in it-
They are clean and dainty and if necessary they will break the thin ice in the winter in order
to getinto their daily bath.

The space from the rear of the squab house to the ground
should be trellised with narrow stripping so that the pigeons
cannot fly under the squab house from the pen. Trenis:
work instead of solid boards is used in order that there may
be a free circulation of light and air under the house, thus,
preventing rats from obtaining a lodging and also making’
ventilation good.

=
27

FILLING THE SELF-FEEDER WITH GRAIN.

This shows the construction of the feeder, which is built wholly of pine. As the pigeons
eat, the grain drops down on the inside. One filling of the feeder will last two or three days,
sometimes a week (depending on the size of the flock.) Inacorner of the above picture, on the
ground of the flying pen, may be seen the straw, grass, etc.,used by the pigeons in buinling their
nests.

In the squab house, at the bottom of the nest-boxes, reach-
ing from them to the floor, is trellis work through which in
winter the birds will stretch their necks to feed from a trough
which shouid be placed at the bottom of the passageway.

In the winter, or ina long stretch of rainy weather, a lamp
or small oil-stove may be set in the passageway to help drive
off the moisture. The object should not be to raise the tem-
perature of the squab house, but merely to evaporate the
moisture in the air. We have hot water pipes running the
entire length of the passageways of our squab licuses but
they are not kept hot enough to heat the air to any extent.
We have set faucets at reguiar intervals and can draw water
without going to the front of the house. For the same
reason we have set pipes below the frost line in the ground
at the end of the flying-pens so that we can get a water sup-
ply easily for the bath-pans. We have faucets at the top of
the ground, also valves sunk below the surface so that we
can shut off the water in winter and prevent freezing in the
pipes where they are exposed to the air.

We have experimented with all kinds of nappies and pans
in the nest-boxes and believe that most of the success at-
tained is due to the use of the nappies described. Do not
use the earthenware nests or wooden boxes which you may
find advertised.

HOW TO REMODEL A POULTRY HOUSE.

Probably most breeders will start in the pigeon industry
by remodeling an old poultry house. The foregoing instruc-

OLD POULTRY HOUSE FIXED FOR PIGEONS.

Thisis the place where we housed our first squab-breeders. It wasa cheap and ungainly
affair, but it answered fora while. Any old poultry house may be remodeled for pigeons at a
trifling expense,

tions have given the particulars of as substantial and con-
venient a plant as it is necessary to build. An old poultry
house may be remodeled in a day with little expense save
the labor involved and the remodeled building will answer
the purpose well.

Virst elevate the poultry house. Set it on four or more
posts a foot or a foot and a half from the ground so as to get
a protection from rats and dampness. Arrange the flying-
yen on the south side as previously described. A passage-
way for the quick manipulation of the nest-boxes is not
needed. Simply build the boxing in the form of nests against
the north and end walls of the building and you have a prac-
tical arrangement. Set the roosts and wind-break as de-
scribed and arrange the windows so that they may be closed
at night in the winter.

To remove the squabs and clean the nests, in such a house,
you enter the door of the house and approach the nests from
the front. It is not so convenient as the passageway method
because you will drive some of the birds out of the house,
but the interruption is not serious and when you have left
the house they will fly back to their nests.

HOW TO USE A GARRET OR BARN LOFT.

We have known city people without a square foot of
ground to make a success in squab raising by housing the
pigeons in a garret. In such cases the flying-pen is built
out from the window or skylight as shown in the illustration,
so as to give the birds an opportunity to get light and air.

The garret is lined with the nests. The danger to watch out
for in such a location is mice. ‘Tin or fine mesh wire should
be used plentifully in the corners and on the floors of the
garret, or rats will get in and kill the squabs. With careful
tinning, trouble will be avoided.

It is also possible to utilize the upper part of a barn. The

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HOW TO KEEP PIGEONS IN A GARRET.

Build a flying pen out from the windows (or skylight) and line the garret with nests. City
people who may have no land ean breed squabs successfully and with little effort, in this way.
Itis not necessary to heat the garret—the pigeons thrive no matter how cold is the weather. A
barn which has a loft may be arranged in practically the same manner.

flying-pen should project out from the roof just as in the
case of the garret already described. The loft may be
reached either by stairs or a ladder. It should be completely
boarded in and the floor protected all around by fine mesh
wire, or tin, so that rats cannot get at the interior.

Many beginners wish to raise squabs until they get a flock

which will make removal to a farm profitable. They can
work intelligently and securely (if they are cramped for
room), with either the back-yard, the garret or the barn ar-
rangement. give the business a thorough test and then move
to a farm if their ambition leads them to make the profit
which thousauds of pairs of breeders earn.

HOW: TO FEED.

The feed consists of red wheat, cracked corn, kafhr corn,
Canada peas, hempseed, oyster shells and salt, all cheap and
easily obtained. No other food is given. No sloppy food 1s
given and there is no mechanical preparation of the food.
The diet does not vary from one end of the year to the other,
with this exception, that in winter you allow two parts of
in sumimer one part of corn to two

corn to one of wheat
of wheat. A summary of the food follows:

1, Red Wheat. ) Uhis’ may be proctired anywhere ata
cost of from $1.30 to $1.50 per 100 pounds. (Do not feed
white wheat, it will cause diarrhoea.)

2. Cracked Corn. This costs from 95 cents to $1.10 per
100 pounds. (Do not feed the whole corn. It is hard to
digest and is especially unsuited to young stock, making
hard labor for their crops.)

3. Kaffir Corn, or Egyptian Wheat. This is procurable
anywhere. It is grown principally in the South and West,
the largest supply coming from Kansas. It costs from $1.15
to $1.50 for 100 pounds. It will grow in localities where
there is little or no rain. Pigeons come to the hand fast for

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SELF-FEEDER.
The top (which is on hinges) should be covered with tarred paper so that the grain will keep
dryin storm weather.

it, thus demonstrating that it is a well-liked food. This corn
makes white flour and is an ideal food for pigeons. The
color of the food supply affects to a degree the color of the
squab meat, and as white squab meat commands the highest
price, plenty of kathr corn should be ted.

4 and 5. Canada Peas and Hempseed. These are fed,
not regularly, on account of their expense, but as dainties,
in periods of moulting, extra strain, etc. Canada peas cost
about $1.25 a bushel (about sixty pounds); hempseed costs
from $3.50 te $4 per 100 pounds.

6. Oyster Shells. These cost from 45 to 65 cents per 100
pounds, ground. They should be kept before the pigeons
all the time in a special trough.

7. Salt. Coarse ground salt should be purchased and
kept before the pigeons all the time ina special trough. They
will eat it as they feel the need of it. On the south end oi
some of our squab houses, on the pen side, we have pieces
of rock salt hung up, enclosed in wire netting. The birds
peck at these pieces occasionally. They are not necessary,
however, provided coarse salt is kept before tliem.

8. Grit. The yard of the flying-pen should be gravelled,
not grassed. We buy the same kind of grit as is used for
poultry, only slightly finer.

9. Nesting Material. On the wind-break in the centre
of the squab house, also in a corner of the yard, keep a small
pile of hay. straw and green field grass for the use of the
pigeons in building their nests. They will fly to the pile and
take what they need. We have seen tobacco stems recom-

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mended for this purpose, as a preventive of lice, but we have
found them too coarse for nesting material and now never
use them. There will be no trouble from lice if ordinary
cleanliness is observed.

Hempseed and peas are useful dainties in getting ac-
quainted with your birds. They will flock to your hand and
eat them greedily.

Our practice is to go light on the corn, in feeding. Corn
is carbonaceous and fat-producing and the pigeons become
weakened under such a diet. It heats the blood and lays
the system open to an attack of canker.

The self-feeder and the feeding-troughs in the squab house
should be kept supplied with a mixture of the grains before
noted. We have seen recommendations to feed the birds
once or twice a day only what they would clean up at one
feeding but have found sich advice to be wholly wrong when
breeding on a large scale. When the food supply is of the
“clean-up” kind, and consequently not generous, the young
squabs will be heard squeaking loudly for food. Where a
continuous supply is at hand, one seldom hears the hungry
cry of a squab, and all grow quickly and strongly to market
size. It is poor economy to furnish a meagre and uncertain
supply of food. Do not fear that the pigeons will waste the
grain provided by a bountiful self-feeding trough. They will
eat what they need for themselves and the squabs and never
will gorge nor lose their trim, racy shape. We have discov-
ered no diseases caused hy overfeeding.

Salt fish and preparations of mortar and grit are imprac-

SQUAB HOUSE.

iINSETDE
(See Page 36 for Outside View

tical and not at all necessary in the diet of pigeons.

The proper mixture, as we have noted before, is two parts
of corn to one of wheat, in winter, and two parts of wheat to
one of corn in summer. Fill the self-feeder and the eating-
trough in the squab house with the mixture. The other
food materials, the dainties, should be fed by hand, throwing
handfuls on the floor of the squab house or flying-pen when-
ever you think the pigeons need stimulating. Vary the diet.
Alternate with the dainties. If vou feed a plain mixture too
long, the pigeons will eat with poor appetites and the size
of the squabs will deteriorate. Force your feed and you will
force the size of the squabs. The principle is the same in
feeding all live stock. Force coal under a boiler and you
will force the steam pressure. Increase the fuel in the crops
of the pigeons and you will increase the size of the squabs.

The bath-pan should be filled twice a day if the breeder is
solicitous as to the cleanliness of his birds. All the birds
bathe, but some not every day. They never take cold in this
way. The cause of a cold is always a damp, draughty house.
Vheir feet are not sensitive and in winter they have no hesi-
tation in breaking thin ice and stepping into the pan. They
drink from the bath-pan, not continually inserting the bill
and raising the head, but obtaining their fill usually at one
insertion of the bill. .They do not rustle in the dirt and
cleanse themselves in this way, as a hen does.

In cold weather, fill the pigeons’ bath and drinking dishes
with warm water. They appreciate it, as do all live stock.

BREEDING HABITS.

The hen pigeon builds the nest, which is not an elaborate
affair, simply a good-sized handful of nesting material laid
straight in the nappy. They do not build a circular nest in
the careful manner of some birds. If they wish to hatch on
the floor of the squab house, their nest is there usually of a
rudimentary pattern.

When the nest is built, the cock begins to

‘

‘drive’ the hen
around the house and pen. Ina flock of pigeons on the roof

PIGEONS IN THE SUN.

This roof has no wind-break, but it is of the ordinary construction, which 1s cheaper than the
wind-break style. Although the pairs are mixed together, each pair of mates remains constant
for years, one male attending the same female all the time.

of the squab house, 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 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 re--
maining squab. The old birds will not notice the change
but will continue feeding the foster squab.

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’
nulk 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 the hard grain from the crops of the mature cock and
hen, which fill up at the trough, then take a drink of water
and fly to the nest to minister to the little ones. You see how
important it is to have food available at all times.

In 14, 15 or 16 days after the first pair of squabs have
been hatched, the cock begins “driving” the hen again. This
shows the necessity of a second nest for the pair. In this
second nest the hen lays two more eggs, and the care of the
first pair of squabs, now between two and three weeks old,

JUST HATCHED.

ONE WEEK OLD.

So rapidly do squabs grow that you will quickly
notice their increase in size from day to day. TWO WEEKS OLD

devolves upon the cock. When this pair is four 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 and the parents
in their eagerness to sit on the new eggs will push the squabs

THREE WEEKS OLD.

In this picture the squabs are seen in the oy
smaller nappy, to which they were transferred F
when two weeks old and which remains their
home until they are killed for market.

FOUR WEEKS OLD.

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 morn-
ing, when the cock relieves her, remaining on until the latter
part of the afternoon.

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

HOW TO MATE.

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

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

The mating coop should have a partition of lattice work
or wire. Place the cock in one side, the hen in the other,
and leave them thus for two or three days to flirt and tease
each other, then remove the central lattice work or wire and
they usually will mate. If they show no disposition to mate
but on the contrary fight, replace the partition and try them
for two or three days longer. If they refuse to mate after
two or three thorough trials, do not experiment any more
with them, but select other mates. Be sure your birds are
mated before putting them together in the squab house,
otherwise a stray cock will visit the nests in search of a mate,
breaking up hatchings and causing fights.

The determination of the sex of pigeons is difficult. The
bones at the vent of a female are 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.
he 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 an-
other inside and outside the squab house, the driven one js
the female and the driver her mate.

The Runt pigeons are the largest and have the biggest
squabs, but they are poor breeders, and it takes the squabs
from one to two weeks longer to reach market size. The

PIGEONS ON THE ROOF OF THE SQUAB HOUSE.

Protected from northerly wind and storms by the jogin the roof, they walk about here for
hours, their mates being on the nests inside. At night all go inside the squab house. Winter or
summer, some of the pigeons always may be seen on the roof.

straight Homer is the best for the practical squab raiser.
Runts are expensive, costing from $6 to $10 a pair, because
they are hard to raise. Some squab breeders have a few
pairs of Runts in order to cross occasionally with Homers,
but we do not advise it. You will obtain better results by
judiciously out-breeding from selected Homers, forcing
along the path of advanceinent the strains that are produc-
ing the most and the biggest squabs.

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 wish specially to emphasize the fact that the
color of the feathers has no influence on the color of the skin
of the squab. A white-feathered bird does not mean a whiter-
skinned squab. The feed affects the color of the meat a
little. A corn-fed pigeon will be 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 either by killing the parents or by re-
mating. Usually the trouble comes from one parent bird,
which you can 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 continually in our correspondence.
The erroneous belief that white-feathered birds produce the
whitest-skinned squabs seems to be widespread and we are

HOW TO HANDLE A PIGEON.

The fingers of one hand grasp both the feet and the wings, and the bird can neither struggle
nor flutter ; it immediately becomes calm, realizing that it is mastered.

asked sometimes for a flock of breeders “all white.” Our
experience with all white Homers is that they have less
stamina than the colored ones. (This is also the experience
of poultrymen with all white fowls; they are not hardy.)
‘The marketmen will take two or three pairs of dark-skinned
squabs in a bunch without comment, but an excess of dark
ones will provoke a cut in price. Breeders who are 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 to the plump dark-skinned
ones. As a rule, squabs from Homer pigeons are white-
skinned—the dark-colored squab is an exception.

FEW AILMENTS.

Pigeons have few diseases. If housed properly, ailments
are seldom encountered. Prevention is much easier and far
more satisfactory than cure. When we discover an ailing
pigeon, we at once isolate it and if it does not improve, kill
it. According to Nature’s plans for the survival of the fit-
test, it is best to get weak and sick pigeons out of the way,
then you are sure that your flock is growing hardier and
stronger all the time. If there is a diseased pigeon, this is a
sign of constitutional weakness, and you do not wish such
qualities perpetuated. it does not pay to cure the pigeon.
You ought to kill it.

Canker is the most common ailment. It is something like
diphtheria, a collection or false membrane forming in the
throat. Inject a solution of alum into the throat and this.
membrane usually comes away.

“Going light” is a disease manifested by a wasting away.
Ii you see a pigeon drooping in a corner, with no ambition
to fly, catch it and you will find usually a prominent breast
bone and its feathers soiled by diarrhoea. It takes too much
time and trouble to cure a pigeon thus affected. We take it
as a sign that a pigeon thus affected has not stamina enough
to transmit desirable qualities, and kill the bird.

We have learned that canker and kindred diseases are
caused by an excess of corn. A corn diet 1s carbonaceous
and fat-producing and the pigeons grow weak when they
get too much of it, and fall a prey to disease.

Pigeons kept in a house or loft artificially heated will raise
few squabs and will become tender. The coldest weather
will have no effect on a flock. The old birds protect the
squabs intelligently in freezing weather and do not leave
the nests for long periods.

On cold and stormy days when the sun is hid, shut down
the windows of the squab house and do not let the pigeons
into the flying-pen until the sun comes out again.

When pigeons are from four to eight weeks old, they are
in their most precarious period. This is the time of the first
moult, and moults are a trying condition for all breeding
stock, being a tax on the vitality. When a pigeon has safely
passed this first period, the breeder does not worry much

about its future existence.

In the case of young birds, the first mating does not
amount to much, the eggs being undersized and the squabs.
lacking in vitality.

HOW TO KILL AND COOL THE SQUABS.

To kill a squab, do not use a knife, as the writers advise.
Hold the squab in the left hand. Take the head in the right
with the thumb at the base of the bill, give it a slight
pull, then a push back. This dislocates the neck and in the
break of the spinal column a small cavity forms, and this fills
with the blood, draining the body. Pull hard and you wrench
the head from the body and spoil the looks of the squab. The
knack is easily acquired. The first time a woman tries it, she
may feel a bit squeamish, but not aiter she has mastered the
operation with the second or third squab. It is painless to
the squab and requires but little strength on the part of the
operator—merely a little skill which is quickly acquired.

Sauabs to be killed should be gathered in the morning,
because then their crops are empty.

The cooling of the killed squab is very important. It cost
us a good deal to learn the right way. They should not be
laid on a beard or table, for the tender flesh will turn green
at the spot where it touches anything. They should not be
hung where rats, cats or dogs can get at them. We have
lengths of two by four inch studding and these lengths are
hung from the wall by pieces of wire. If the studding is
propped up with boards at each end, cats and mice will crawl

HOW NOT TO KILL A SQUAB.

The position of the right hand is correct, but the left hand should grasp the neck of the
squab close to the fingers of the right. Pull firmly, then push back, and the spine will be broken,
the squab expiring instantly. With the hands as shown in the picture, the effect of a pull will
be to separate the head from the body. Having illustrated the mistaken way to killa squab, we
have impressed on the operator what to avoid. The correct method is quickly acquired if you
studiously avoid the wrong position of the left hand.

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up, then along the studding and devour the squabs, but
neither cats nor mice can travel along the wires from which
our studding hangs. Every four inches along the studding
two nine-penny wire finish nails (a finish nail because no head
is wanted) are driven in for half an inch or so. The feet of
the squab are put between the two nails and the toes prevent
the bird from dropping to the floor. We number the nails

THREE DRESSED SQUABS ON A PLATTER.

Squabs bred from our Homers grow at four weeks to weigh from ten ounces to a pound. The
average squab in the Boston market weighs from seven to ten ounces. No onewho has not
eaten a squab can imagine how delicious the meatis. The bones are small and there is more
meat ona squab than on the average duck.

in sequence and in hanging up the squabs to cool we know
when we have finished hanging just how many squabs we
will send to market the next day.

The squabs should be allowed to remain over night. In
the morning the animal heat will be entirely gone, and the
birds should be sent at once to market.

The ideal squab is not only large and plump but also has

a clean crop (no food in it to sour), has been neatly killed
(no blood showing) and has clean feet.

Ship in small quantities, particularly in the summer. Do
not pack up an enormous box, or the bottom layers will
suffer.

Inability to cool the killed squabs properly has discour-
aged more squab breeders than all other causes combined.
Follow the foregoing rules carefully and you will wonder
how anybody could have had any difficulty.

lf you are delivering plucked squabs to your market, pick
the feathers out when the bird is warm, immediately after
killing. Work fast but gently, or you will tear the delicate
fiesh. 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.

During the last few days of its growth, the squab puts on
more feathers than flesh. If you discover squabs whose
feathers are not prettily out but which are fat and plump
enough for market, you may save a week (if you are deliver-
ing dressed squabs) by killing and plucking them.

A. skillful plucker will strip the feathers from squabs at
the rate of ten to twenty squabs an hour. <A fast workman
should pluck 200 a day.

HOW TO SHIP.

Pigeons may be shipped anywhere safely. Of all live
stock, they are the easiest transported. Breeders of flying
Homers in America frequently ship as far as Australia, the

birds arriving in perfect condition. We have shipped squab
breeders to the far west, the south, and distant points in
Canada, and have never lost one by death or accident. How
is this done? There is a little knack to it. 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 crates feathers will be
tumpled and pulled out, and the birds by crowding, will
suffocate one or two. A large, heavy crate also adds enor-
mously to the express charges. It is not pleasant to buy
pigeons and receive them in a cumbrous box weighing from
25 to 75 pounds, on which the express charges are more
than double what they would be were the birds crated prop-
erly. The best wood to use in crating is that of which egg
crates are made. It is thin (about one-eighth of an inch),
very light and tough and splits evenly. The ends and back
of the crate should be made of half-inch or five-eighths pine
boxing. If you procure this sawed six inches wide, in vary-
ing lengths, you may make up crates to suit your order. The
oor or bottom of the crate should be solid, also the sides
and back. Vor the front and top, split the thin stuff about
two inches wide and tack to the boxing with three-penny
nails. The pigeons should be packed closely (but not too
close), giving each room to turn and move about. In the
six-inch space they have just about enough room to stand,
and the contact of their heads with the top slats will remind
them that they must not attempt to fly, and they do not. If

HOW TO COOL THE KILLED SQUABS.

The large size of squabs at four weeks of age may be judged from the fact that the wooden
studding in the above photograph is twoinches thick. The nails are ninepenny wire finish, and

the distance between the pairs of nails is four inches. The studding is hung at the ends by wire

fastened to the ceiling so that rats and cats cannot get at the squabs when they are cooling over
night,

they are going to a point only a day ora day anda night dis-
tant, they need no feed nor water. If the destination is more
remote, two tin cups, one for grain, the other for water,
should be tacked to the inside of the crate. A sponge should
be placed in the water dish and wired in loosely so the birds
cannot peck it out. This prevents the water from being
spilled in transit. A given quantity of water lasts longer and
keeps cleaner. For a very long journey, a bag of grain
should be nailed 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. It is well to tack a
tag to the crate giving general directions to the express
messengers, in a case of long distance shipment.

Do you know that live stock is transported long distances
by the express companies at the rate charged for ordinary
merchandise? For carrying live stock short distances, the
animal rate (which is double the merchandise rate) is
charged. This is a peculiar rule, and it works so that the
buyer at a remote point gets his shipment cheaper than the
buyer nearer us. For instance, we can ship a crate of pigeons
to Chicago from Boston cheaper than we can to Buffalo.
All the express companies doing business in the United
States and Canada have the same rule, which is, that between
points where the single or merchandise rate is $2 or more
per 100 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 $2 per 100 pounds, live animals are charged the animal

rate (which is double the merchandise rate). In order to
obtain the lowest rate of transportation, the value of each
pigeon must be stated by the shipper at $5 or less. At one
time we bought a lot of fine Homers at $10 a pair and when
they arrived we were asked to pay a big transportation
charge. We discovered on investigation that the shipper,
when asked the valuation by his agent, proudly replied (wish-
ing to convince us perhaps that he was selling the birds to
us at half price): “Ten dollars apiece.” The agent made no
argument with the shipper (they seldom do) and accordingly
billed the charges to us at a rate just double what he would
have billed had the shipper declared the valuation $5 apiece,
and we had to pay accordingly for the exhibition of pride
made by the shipper. When the agent asks you the valua-
tion of the pigeons, get it within the $5 limit, or your man
at the other end will have an extra charge and a sharp letter
to send back to you.

We have seen breeders who have been shipping live stock
for years and they never heard of the above rule of the ex-
press companies, and also we have seen scores of express
agents who did not know of their own rule, but always
charged the animal rate on animal shipments. But the rule
is found in every graduated charge book of every express
company, and the experienced express men and experienced
shippers know all about it. If the agent in your town is
ignorant of the rule, ask him for his graduated charge book
and you will find it under the classification “Animals.”
Every customer of ours entitled to the single or merchandise

rate on his shipment gets a card from us in our letter to him
with the rule printed on it. Many express agents at local
points seldom handle a live animal shipment and do not
know how to charge for it.

A live animal contract release, to be signed both by ship-
per and express agent, is needed in all cases where the value
of the shipment is over $5. If pigeons which we ship are
killed in a smash-up, we can recover from the company. We
have no hesitation, therefore, in guaranteeing the safe de-
livery of our pigeons to customers. Our responsibility does
not end when we have given them to the expressman. Our
guarantee follows them as long as they are in the hands of
ithe 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. They simply do not know how to ship and how
to talk to the express agents.

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

Killed squabs go to market at the rate charged for ordi-

HAVING HIS PICTURE TAKEN.

This pigeon, one of the best of our squab-breeders, is a petand will fly to the hand. He re-
maained still for over a ininute while the photographer focussed the camera.

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

BOOKKEEPING.

If you wish to have a very accurate record of your breed-
ers, or if you are breeding pedigreed stock, you should mark
the squabs when they are four or five days old. The only
practical method is to place around one leg of the squab a
seamless metal band, usually made of aluminum and having
stamped on it your initials and a designating number, to
correspond to the number of the card in your card index.
When the squab is young, the toes may be squeezed easily
through the band. As the squab grows, the growth of the
claws makes the removal of the band impossible. The squab
should be inspected occasionally for a day or two after you
have put on the band, to make sure that it has not worked
off (which sometimes happens). Having marked your breed-
ers, you know each by its number, and you may make dif-

ferent matings and keep a record which cannot get mixed.

On the left of your record page or card write the date of
laying, then figure 17 days ahead and write the day of hatch-
ing. When you get the hatches, and as the squabs grow to
market size, write whatever memoranda concerning their
size, color, etc., you wish. As the same pair of birds uccupy
the same pair of nests year after year, your record will be
an accurate one.

If you allow five cents a month for the board of one pair
of breeding pigeons, you can figure the amount of grain
needed to a nicety. Jn a large flock, fifty cents a year will
cover the cost. A pair of pigeons not breeding will cost
only thirty-six cents a year.

TRAINED FLYERS.

A very profitable business may be built up in flying Hom-
ers. If you have the time and the inclination, do not fail
to have a pen of flyers and pens of fancy varieties of pigeons.
Champion flyers and fancy birds sell from $10 to $100 and
more, everything depending on the skill of the breeder.

Young birds raised in your own squab house may be al-
lowed to fly wide in the neighborhood, if you choose. They
will not leave you. If you buy young birds of us, with the
intention of raising flying Homers, you may dispense with
the flying-pen. (But all market squab-breeders use flying-
pens and confine their birds, so as to control their feeding,
etc.) If you buy old birds of us, and have no flying-pen,
they will leave you and fly back to us to the squab house
where they were raised. If you live far from us, it may take

the pigeons some time to work back, but barring accident,
they will turn up at our place some time, for that is the
working of the instinct of Homer pigeons.

The young Homers when five months old are strong
enough to be trained to fly. Take them in a basket (having
omitted to feed them) a mile or two away, and liberate them
one by one. They will circle in the air, then choose the cor-
rect course. You should have left grain for them as a re-
ward for their safe arrival home, and an inducement for their
next experience in flying. Two or three days later take or
send them away five miles and repeat. Next try ten miles,
and so work on by easy stages up to 75 or 100 miles. If you
have a friend in another city, you may send your birds in
a basket to him with instructions to liberate certain ones at
certain hours, or you may send the basket by train to any
express agent, along with a letter telling him to liberate the
birds at a certain hour and send the basket back to you.

If you wish to have the bird carry a message, write it on
a piece of cigarette paper (or any strong tissue), wrap the
paper around the leg of the bird and tie with thread; or, you
may tie the tissue around one of the tail feathers. A thin
aluminum 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

THE SQUAB BREEDING RANCH

aed

ONE OF THE

LONG SQUAB HOUSES.

inside of the house, next the wires) the bird will push the
wire door and go in. It takes only a day or two for the
pigeon to become accustomed to the trap. 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. Instead of mat-
ing birds of equal age, try an old cock with a young hen, and
vice versa. For vitality and stamina, it is best to mate birds
of different colors.

A pair of breeding pigeons will occupy the same pair of
nests year after year, and they never will change mates, but
you may break up an undesirable mating if you choose and
re-mate the birds according to your determination, using the
mating coop as described.

CHEAP BREEDERS ARE EXPENSIVE.

There is a great difference between common and Homer
pigeons, although they look alike to a beginner without ad-
vice. Indeed, there are many common pigeons which are
larger and fatter than Homers, but the squabs they raise are |
as skinny as sparrows. It is an effect not of flesh but of
feathers, which in a common pigeon are fluffy. The feathers
of a Homer are laid tight as a board, the skin fits as close
as a glove, and the flesh is hard and firm. The flesh of a
common pigeon is flabby and soft, and the skin loose. The

Bates is

Homer has a long bill, its head in front of the eye is large-
The bill of a common pigeon is short, its bill is more hooked
and is sharper pointed, its head is shorter and more rounding
on top. This is the kind of pigeon seen in the streets. They
are bred only for use by undertakers at funerals, or by trap-
shooters. They will live anywhere but a Homer has only
one home. They cannot find their way back to their usual
roosts if they wander away, but a Homer always flies straight
home. The common pigeons will alight on any buildings.
A Homer will alight only on its own squab house, and if
prevented from so doing will remain circling in the air over-
head for hours. Common pigeons will move from one neigh-
borhood to another and will foul different springs and wells,
becoming a nuisance in a country community. A Homer
drinks at its own home. A common pigeon has little intelli-
gence. A Homer has the largest brain and the most intelli-
gence of any variety of pigeons. Common pigeons are worth
about fifty cents a pair and are sold to the unsuspecting as
Homers. ‘See how large they are,” the dealer will say. But
as we have said before, the size is one of feathers and not of
flesh, and the squabs are worth only ten to twenty cents a
pair, and cannot be sold in an intelligent market. It is use-
less to think of starting with common pigeons and improv-
ing them as you go along by mating them with Homers.
At every mating you take from the Homer side the desirable
qualities and add only undesirable qualities. It is like
trying to make champagne out of dishwater. You
can do something practical only when you _ have

eliminated the common pigeons entirely and are mating
thoroughbred Homers. Do not be deceived by a hasty in-
spection of pigeons—a common pigeon is unlike a Homer
as a crow is unlike a grouse. It is hard to make some be-
ginners comprehend this difference. All pigeons (especially
if they are of similar-colored feathers) look alike to them and
they buy the cheapest they can get, with the inevitable result
that they quit the business in disgust or are forced to dispose
of their foolish purchase to trap-shooters and begin again
with an outfit of Homers. It stands to reason that a pair
of birds capable of earning a fifty-cent pair of squabs once
a month is easily worth from $2 to $4, and that a pair of
birds capable of earning only a ten-cent pair of squabs once
in two or three months ts worth only fifty cents.

We had one or two unsatisfactory experiences with per-
sons who had breeding Homers for sale “cheap,” “large
Hock very low,” ete. These pigeons proved an expensive
investment. They were either birds that had been worked
for ten or twelve years, beyond their period of usefulness, or
were too young, or were unmated, or there was an excess
of cocks, and much time and effort were lost before we dis-
covered the fact. One lot of Homers which we bought “at
a bargain” produced very few No. 1 squabs, but mostly culls,
and it was plain that the dealer of whom we purchased had
got rid of something which was unprofitable for him. The
reputation of the breeder goes a long way in a pigeon sale.
The beginner will find himself safe when he pays a fair price
to a reliable breeder. Genuine cases of good Homer pigeons

being sold at “sacrifice prices’ are rare. There is always
something the matter with cheap pigeons. As in every line
of trade, and in farming and all stock-breeding, articles that

earn more are worth more.

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Full text of "The Robinson method of breeding squabs; a full account of the new methods and secrets of the most successful handler of pigeons in America .."

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