NATIONAL STANOAi SqUABBQDK Class ^L^6-:f Book vl?-^S :_ Gopi^htN" r^j COPYRIGHT DEPOSn. The National Standard Squab Book Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 withjunding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/nationalstandard04rice ELMER C. RICE. The National Standard Squab Book By Elmer C. Rice 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 1907 LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Copies Received FEB I 190r yflUSS, A '^c,, No. J copy's. < \^ n Copyright' 1901, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1902, by Elmer C,. Rice Copyright, 1903, by E.mer Q.- Rice Copyright, 198<^, bv Elifter C Rice Copyright, 1905V"by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1906, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1907, by Elmer C. Rice All rights reserved. A WELL-BUILT NEST. Press of Murray and Emery Company Boston, Mass. CONTENTS. Page Preface , . 11 Chapter I. Squabs Pay .... . 15 Chapter II. An Easy Start . 21 Chapter III. The Unit House . 37 Chapter IV. Nest Bowls and Nests . 45 Chapter V. Water and Feed . ' . .51 Chapter VI. Laying and Hatching . 63 Chapter VII. Increase of Flock - 75 Chapter VIII. Killing and Cooling . 79 Chapter IX. The Markets .... . 83 Chapter X. Pigeons' Ailments . . 89 Chapter XL Getting Ahead .93 Chapter XII. Questions and Answers . . 101 Supplement . 113 Appendix A . 139 Appendix B . 153 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Portrait of the Author {Frontispiece) ..... A Weil-Built Nest . . .8 Thoroughbreds . . . . . . . ... 14 How a Back Yard may be Fixed for Pigeons . . . .18 Cheap but Practical Nest Boxes . . . . . ■ . 22 How City Dwellers without Land may Breed Squabs . . 24 Unit Squab House (with Passageway) and Flying Pen . . 26 Nest Boxes Built of Lumber . . . . . . .28 Best Nest Box Construction ....... 30 Interior of Squab House Showing Perches . . . .32 A Pretty Squab House and Flying Pen . . . . ,36 Multiple Unit House .38 Interior of Multiple Unit House . . . . . .40 Multiple Unit House, Ten Units, Built according to Our Plans . 42 Nest Bowl, Bath Pan, Drinking Fountain, etc. . . . .46 Berry Crate to Hold Nesting Material . . . . .50 Scenes on the $200,000 Farm of One of Our Customers . . 58 Eggs in the Nest, Squabs Just Hatched . . . . .64 Squabs One Week Old, Squabs Two Weeks Old . . ,66 Squabs Three weeks Old, Squabs Four weeks Old . . .68 The Mating Coop 70 Pigeons in St. Mark's Square, Venice . . . . .74 Killing Squabs with the Hands ...... 80 Killed Squabs Hung to Cool . . . . . . .82 Three Dressed Squabs ........ 86 Squab House Built of Logs ....... 88 Pair of Homers Billing ........ 90 How We Ship Pigeons ........ 98 Self Feeder for Grain . . . . . . . .108 Machine for Killing Squabs . . . . . . .114 Sprayer 116 Nest Boxes . . . , . . . . . .117 Mating Coops in Mating House ...... 134 Pigeons in Corner of Flying Pen . . . . . .138 Interior of Mating House ....... 142 Part of South Side of One of Our Houses .... 146 Dowel System of Feeding and Watering . . . . .150 Pigeons Bathing ......... 152 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 subject 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, they are able to think out their operations for themselves. Accordingly we have covered 11 12 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 people to learn that Homer pigeons are such a staple and workable article. They hav^ 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 w411 find a quick call for all the live breeders you can supply. The procedure which we advise in this National Standard Squab Book is safe and sound, demonstrated to be successful by hundreds of our 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. Boston, August, 1902. POSTSCRIPT. This work has met with so much favor during the past year, and has sold so largely in excess of expectations, that we wish to thank our friends everywhere for their cordial support. The Appendix A which appears at the back of this edition was added last February, and it is our intention to keep the work up to date by revisions and additions at least twice yearly, The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the 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. Boston, August, 1903. E. C. R. 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. Boston, January, 1907, THOROUGHBREDS. 14 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 Pennsylvania — Large Incomes Made from Pigeons — Squab Plants Known to be Making Money — The Hard-Working Farmer and the Easy-Working Squab Raiser — 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 ready 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 comers 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 16 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 people who wished to buy stock of him, and he was unable to supply all of them, but he did not intend to have money offered him very long without being able to pass out the birds. In other words, they were going into squabs for all they were worth. They had 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: " Iowa 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 methods. We discarded common pigeons some time ago. If our Iowa friends will use Homer pigeons instead of common ones, they will produce a much better squab and make more money. We had a curious confirmation of the above in August, 1902, when Mr. 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, Iowa, 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 m.aking money. The same is true of California. 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 is 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 IS 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 tv/elve 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 a little 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 hquid 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. CHAPTER IL AN EASY START. No Special Form of Building Necessary — Points to Remember — Shelter Adapted to the Climate — How to Use a Building which you Now Have — Squab House and Flying Pen — Lining the Squab House with Nests — ■ Use of Egg Crates — How to Put up the Perches — Difference between the Nest Box, Nest Pan and Nest — How to Tell How Many Pigeons can Occupy a Certain Building — A Large Flock of Pigeons is Easily 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 CHEAP BUT PRACTICAL NEST BOXES. These are empty egg crates piled one atop another from floor to roof of squab house. Each egg crate is two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep. The partition in the middle makes two nest boxes, each one foot square. Into each of these nest boxes a wood nest bowl is placed. The birds build their nests in these wood nest bowls. 22 AN EASY START 23 the cold winters, but in the South the buildings are more open. Be guided by what you see around you in the place where you live. If the houses used by your friends and neighbors for hens and chickens are tight and warm, make your squab house tight and warm. It would be foolish for you, for example, if you live in Texas, to build a strong, tight, close squab house, for in that latitude, in a henhouse built tight and close, vermin would swarm and harass the chicks, and they would harass the squabs just as fast. Some of our customers write from places like Oregon and Idaho, where there is a wet and a dry season, and are puzzled to know what to do. In such cases we say, arrange your buildings as you see poultry houses arranged. The pigeons will do as well under the same conditions as hens and chickens. Suppose you have a vacant building or shack of any kind in which you wish to raise squabs. We will take for granted that it has either a flat roof or a ridgepole with sloping roof, and that it is built in rectangular form. Never mind what the dimensions are; our advice will apply to either the large or the small structure. First raise it off the ground, or build a new floor off the ground, so that rats cannot breed out of your sight in the darkness and get up into the squab house. If there is an old floor, patch up all the holes in it. Now you need one door, to get yourself in and out of the squab house, and you need at least one window through which the pigeons can fly from the squab house into the flying pen and back from the flying pen into the house. You will shut this window on cold nights, or on cold winter days. You must cover the whole window with wire netting so that the birds cannot break the panes of glass by flying against them. If you have no wire netting over the window, some of the birds, when it is closed, will not figure out for themselves that the glass stops their progress, but will bang against the panes at full speed, sometimes hurting their heads and dazing them and at other times breaking the glass. The flying pen which you will build on the window side of the squab house may be as small or as large as you have room. The idea of it is not to give the birds an opportunity for long flight, but simply to get them out into the open air and sun- light. They enjoy the sun very much, it does them good 24 AN EASY START 25 and they court its direct rays all the time. Build the flying pen, if you choose, up over the roof, so the birds may sun themselves there. If that side of the roof which faces the flying pen is too steep for the pigeons to get a foothold, nail footholds along the roof, same as carpenters use when they are shingling a roof, and the pigeons will rest on these to sun themselves. For the flying pen you want the ordinary poultry netting, either of one-inch or two-inch mesh. Th^ two-inch mesh is almost invariably used by squab raisers, because it is very much cheaper than the one-inch mesh. The one-inch mesh is used only by squab raisers who are afraid that small birds (the English sparrows here in New England) will steal through the large meshes of the two-inch netting and eat the grain which you have bought for the pigeons. You can buy this wire netting in rolls of any width from one foot up to six feet. If your flying pen is twelve feet high, you should use rolls of the six-foot wire. If it is ten feet high, rolls which are five feet wide are what you want. If your flying pen is to be eight feet high, buy rolls which are four feet wide. In joining one width of wire netting to its neighbor, in constructing your flying pen, do not cut small pieces of tie wire and tie them together, for that takes too much time and is a bungling job, but buy a coil of No. 18 or 20 iron wire and weave this from one selvage to another of your wire netting in and out of the meshes, and you have the best joint. You can line the three walls of the interior of your squab house with nest boxes if you choose. The fourth wall is the one in which the window or windows are. On this fourth wall you should not have nest boxes, but perches. These perches, or roosts, should be tacked up about fifteen inches apart, so as to give the birds room without interfering with one another. The advantage of the V-shaped roost which we advise is that a bird perched on it cannot soil the bird under- neath. Do not buy the patent pigeon roosts which you see advertised, for a pigeon roosting on one will soil the pigeon roosting on the one immediately below. Please note particularly at this point the following terms which we use, and do not become confused. The nest box is something in which rests the nest bowl in which the nest is built. Do not speak or think of nests when you mean nest boxes. 26 ^A^ EASY START 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. NEST BOXES BUILT OF LUMBER. 28 AN EASY START 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. A pair of pigeons attend to a pair of squabs in one nest box, nevertheless for each pair of pigeons you need two nest boxes, for when the squabs are about two weeks old in one nest, the old birds will go to the adjoining nest box, or to a nest box in a distant part of the squab house, and begin housekeeping again, laying eggs and dividing their attention between the two families. Count your nest boxes and you will know how many pigeons your house will accommodate. If your count shows ninety-six nest boxes (in other words, forty-eight pairs of nest boxes), you can accommodate (in theory) forty-eight pairs of pigeons. It is important to remember this: Never- fill a house with pigeons to the uttermost limit of its capacity, as shown by count of nest boxes. If you have, for example, forty -eight pairs of nest boxes, do not put into that house more than thirty to forty pairs of pigeons. That will leave plenty of nest boxes for the birds to choose from. We have found by experience that thirty or thirty-five pairs in a ninety-six nest-box house will accomplish more than more pairs in the same space. Do not write us and tell us that you have a house of a certain size and ask us to tell you how many pairs of pigeons it will accommodate. Put in your nest boxes as we have described and then count them, and you will know. Or you may figure it out for yourself on paper, allowing two nest boxes, each one cubic foot in size, for each pair of birds. To put it in another way, you should allow one cubic foot of nest box space for each breeding pigeon. Surely we have made this so plain now that you cannot go astray. Perhaps your start will be made with so small a number of birds that you will not have to cover more than one wall of your squab house with nest boxes. Cover one wall, or two walls, or three walls, whichever the occasion demands. Have a lot of spare boxes, and let the breeding pairs choose where BEST NEST BOX CONSTRUCTION. • u ^J[^-^Vs*^?, '^^^l ^^^"^^^ ^^® ^^^^^ °f lumber (one-half an inch or five-eighths of an inch thick) the above construction should be employed. The bottoms are not nailed, but slide in on cleats, as shown. The result is a sliding shelf. This shelf may be pulled out at cleaning time and a better and quicker job of cleaning done T* .1, . • ^1^^ bowls may be screwed directly to the bottoms of the above nest boxes. If that IS done, it \yill not be necessary to screw the nest bowls to blocks of wood to give them stabihty. The nest boxes should be from ten inches to twelve inches square. 30 AN EASY START 31 they will. An extra number of nest boxes may be useful to you to accomniodate 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 put a skylight 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. Tack up a few perches where you have room on that wall or those walls of the squab house which have no nest boxes. You do not need a perch for every pigeon, because while some are on perches, others are in the nests, or out in the flying pen, or on the roof, or on the floor of the squab house. If you have forty-eight pigeons, twenty perches will be enough, and you can get along with a dozen. Make each perch of two pieces of board, one six inches square, the other six inches by five, and toe-nail the perch to the wall of the squab house 32 AN EASY START 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, flnally, it is a convenient resting-place for the straw, hay, grass or 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 floor about once in three weeks, or oftener, depending on the size of your flock. Pigeon manure is in active demand all the time by tanneries. We send the manure from our pigeons 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 'Talue 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 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 down with a daily round of exacting duties soon lose heart, their patience gives out and they become disgusted. We have known breeders of rabbits to fail simply because they raised them in hutches. 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 thoughtless about these details, it is a clear case of the chances being sixty to one against you. AN EASY START 35 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 bam, 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 24) 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 comers, 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 STANDARD SQUAB BOOK a bam 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 bam. There are windows and no doors on this side of the bam, the horses using doors on the other side, so this leaves the upper story of the bam, and its whole back-yard, free for the pigeons. A PRETTY SQUAB HOUSE AND FLYING PEN. CHAPTER III. 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 Management of a Card Index to Correspond — Cost of the Unit Construction is from Three Dollars to Five Doilars 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. It is a fit habitation for a money-making investment. This best method of construction results in what we call the unit house. You can multiply this unit as many times as you please and get as large a house as you wish, or you may add a unit from time to time, just as you add unit 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 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. 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 h o ^ o p CO S-2 38 THE UNIT HOUSE , 39 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. 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 througli the wire netting under tlie tirst^row of nest boxes. Ihe nest boxes are empty egg crates. The feed troughs are inside of each pen. In otlier houses, we set the feed troughs alongside the drinkers in the aheyway and cut away the netting so the birds can feed from tliem. We hke 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. 40 THE UNIT HOUSE 41 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 cents 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 < o t? K o I— I c» 42 THE UNIT HOUSE 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 begmners with plenty of means and anxious for the best construction write us to ask if a cement floor is not better than a wood floor. A cement floor is positively wrong, for this reason: when it is freshly laid, it is good, but the first winter causes the dirt foundation to shrink and swell, then come cracks in the cement. Rats and mice burrow m 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. Fmally 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. Let your dog or cat every day under such a house, between the flooring and the ground, and they will keep down the vermin as fast as they show themselves, and your squabs never will be troubled. 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 " jog " construction is more expensive than is needed, and now we have a better way. We have an ordinary pitch roof, sloping equally from the ridgepole to both north and south. We run the flying pen out on the south side, not from the ridgepole, but from the eaves, and then out in the flying pen we erect perches as shown in the picture. The fact that the birds rest easily on these perches (as the photograph in 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. Such a 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 ""ong 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. CHAPTER IV. NEST BOWLS AND NESTS. Do Not Use the Old- Fashioned Nest Rans— Obvious Faults of the Earthenware Nappy — The Wood- Fibre Nest Bowl — How the Pigeons Choose Nest Boxes — What to Use for 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._.pigep.n, nests. They are a relic of the past. In our early experience we used for a pigeon nest bowl che 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 'ta^k and is often -neglected". "Thwmt'el*'weafh~er7"'Eire "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 WOOD-FIRRE NEST BOWL. Tliis is made in one size (nine inches diameter of bowl). To give stabiUty, 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 San for squab raising and is having an enormous sale. The bowl may be screwed irectly 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 i NEST BOWLS AND NESTS 47 these bowls out of wood fibre. Their success was quickly demonstrated and now we sell nothing else. These wood- fibre nest bowls have all the advantages of the wood bowls and at the same time are practically indestructible, cannot warp or split. The wood fibre of which they are made is thick and exceedingly tough, being solidified under many tons' pressure. After making they are treated with an odorless, anti-moisture compound and then baked to flint- like hardness. We sell these wood fibre nest bowls in one size only, nine inches in diameter. Price, eight cents each, ninety-six cents per dozen, eleven dollars and fifty-two cents per gross. We make prompt shipment from Boston same day order is received, m any quantity. No order is filled for less than one dozen. We have the exclusive manufacture and sale of these goods and they cannot be obtained elsewhere. 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 packing 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 fibre 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 supphes) 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-fibre 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 awa}^ 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 NEST BOWLS AND NESTS 49 amount of manure which then sticks to it is removed with a trowel. The use of this wood-fibre 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 coA^er. 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. 50 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 material (straw cut into six-inch lengths, and hay, mixed about equahy) and place it in centre of squab house. The cover prevents the birds from fouling the nesting material. They stick their biUs through the slats, select the wisps they want, and fly to nests. CHAPTER V. 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. Galvanized iion or steel is better than crockery, because if water freezes in such a dish the dish will not be cracked. It wih be seen by examination of the self-drinker that it is impossible for the pigeons to foul 51 52 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB 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. It is a 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 over 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 scalding 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 Hkely 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 dav, 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. 54 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 w411 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 w^ill 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 w^ay 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 w^aste 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 quantit}^ of red wheat and cracked com 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 squalD-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, kafhr 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 ranch 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. Good 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 are nearest you. This country has its corn belt, its wheat belt, its section where millet is raised. Buckwheat is plentiful in another section. For your leading grain, your staple, feed corn. The point to remember is to feed a variety of grains. Keep this word variety in your mind all 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 of a strange grain, he will be liable to shy and say he never heard of it. The trouble with him is that he sells horse feed and is accustomed to handling only the grains which horses need. He can get the grains you wish by writing to his nearest port or railroad junction. There is nothing odd or out of the way about the grains. They are going from one point to another all the time. Sometimes they are scarce at certain periods of the year. For instance, 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 com 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 the}^ like it. Maybe your grain man sells a mixture for pigeons. If you will look in this mixture you will find probably kaffir com, 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 com 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 diarrhoea. (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^^_ ___ _ _ 57 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 Qgg. 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 c ^ o «'§ fa £=* S i c ^.^ ^5 Cits O WATER AND FEED 59 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 com 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 com at a time, for cracked com 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 SQUAB BOOK 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 salt 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 may 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 ^gg, and, consequently, squab production. They are very fond of cabbage now and then, which should be chopped 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 SQUAB BOOK 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 (x, were supphed fresh every two or three days. 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 Hen — 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 if you Start wi'h 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 da}^ 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 b}^ 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 LAYING AND HATCHING 65 the second eggs. No doubt, after she has laid the first egg, she hurries tlie 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 sometim.es four, to lay an egg, but as a rule those first eggs from a young hen are not fertile because she has not yet mated with the cock bird. After a hen pigeon has reached six months of age, and is paired with a male, it is safe to assume as an almost invariable rule that the eggs she lays will be fertile. When the male bird gets to be six to ten years old, he may lose his vitality, and the eggs laid by his mate will not be fertile. Then it is necessary to provide the female with a new mate. The breeders we sell are of prime breeding age, from eight months to eighteen months old, and the eggs laid by hens of that age will be fertile and of full size, and the squabs bred from them will not be scraw^ny and lacking in vitality. From the day of its hatching to market time the squab is fed by its parents. The first food is a liquid secreted in the crop of both cock and hen, and called pigeons' milk. The parent pigeons open their bills and the squabs thrust their bills within to get sustenance. This supply of pigeons' 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 davs 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. LAYING AND HATCHING 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 pair in 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 ma}^ 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 LAYING AND HATCHING 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 difhcult. 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 timxcs, 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 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 white- skinned squab. The feed affects the color of the meat a kittle. 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 ■UillWk . n THE MATING COOP. One way of matins squab breeders is to tura cocks and hens in equal numbers into the same Den. The m tting coon is used whea the breeder vdshes to pair a certain male AAith a certain female. The above matin? coop is divided by a partition. The cock is placed on one side of the partition, the hen on the other, as pictured. They are left thus for a day or two to tease each other. Then roise the partition, or take it out. and allow them to approach each other when they usuplly will be found to have formed an attachment. This bein? the case, they may be pi't into the larere pen with the other birds, wliere they will find a nest box and ?o to house- keepine:. If they fieht when the partition is removed, try attain, or try other mates. The coop pictured above is two feet Ions, one foot \\ide and one foot deep. 70 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 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 exlception. Manv 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 off or gets a weaker mate, whose young are shorter-lived, so the 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 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 little faults and peculiarities to an amazing degree. Every intelligent, careful pigeon breeder is striving by his forced matings to push along the path of progress the 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 stud3dng 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 scon 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, a^ou know how to avoid mating up brother and sister. When the young birds are just over four v.^eeks 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 are 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 verv best thins: to do is LAYING AND HATCHING 73 to put the young birds by themselves into a rearing pen, where they cannot bother anybody. Of course there is hkely to be a httle inbreeding when you leave the birds to choose for themselves, but not much. If the breeder has not the time to make forced matings, then he may not care to make them. Remember in mating that like 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 (3) a mother to a son, or (4) a grandson to his grandmother, etc. that is inbreeding. We know it is forbidden by law for human beings to mate in that manner, because (a) God in the Scriptures has forbidden it, and (h) 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- 74 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 \Yith 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 pigeons in Venice are fed bj' 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 tliis city of canals, these pigeons get no gilt, in fact nothinsr but the corn, and they would die if obliged to pick up a li^ing for themselves. They are healthy, proving the incorrectness of the assertion that a feed of notliing 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. CHAPTER VII . INCREASE OF FLOCK. It is Possible to Breed One Pair of Squabs Each Month, but in Actual Practice this is Seldom Attained — The Squab Raiser with Pure Thoroughbred Homers should Count on 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 squabs. Now the first lot of squabs which your birds hatched will be ready to mate and lay eggs, so at the end of the sixth month you should have 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 76 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 tv/o 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 happy-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 and its muscles soft and flabby. Its head is smaller than that of a Homer, the deficiency being marked in the curve of the skull which covers the brain. The Homer has 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 INCREASE OF FLOCK 77 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 oft'ered 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 ag the all- wool garments. It is the wear which the customer is after. 78 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK Beware of shoddy pigeons. Buy the best Homers you can get, they wih 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. Thc}^ 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 fiock of birds on the bargain counter, make him give a good reason to you for selling. If he has been unable to make the fiock 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. CHAPTER VIIL KILLING AND COOLING. Kill the Squabs in the Morning when their Crops are Empty — Not Necessary to Use a Knife, their Necks may he Tweaked — Drive the Animal Heat out of their Bodies by. Hanging them from Nails — The Ideal Squab when Shipped has an Empty Crop, its Feet have been Washed Clean, and No Blood Shows — Sorting Squabs so as to Get the Highest Price from the Dealer. The time to kill the squabs is in the morning, when the crops are empty. In killing them it is not necessary to use a knife. Hold each squab in the manner shown in the illustration and break the neck with a sudden pull and push. Do not pull too hard or you will sever the neck from the body. Some of our customers have hard work to get this knack of 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 bottom picture and break the spine of the bird by pulling firmly and then pushing back. Do not put so much strength into the operation that you pull the head from the body. This method of killing is faster and neater than using a knife. 80 KILLING AND 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 m 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 wU 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 v/hich brings the highest price in the market is not only large and plump, but has a clean crop, so that no food will be left in it to sour. No blood shows anywhere on the body and its feet are clean. Ship in small quantities, especia.lly 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 co or and takes on a darker shade. You do not want either of these two conditions. If you tie up your killed squabs by the feet when shipping to market, do not tie a lean with a fat squab, for if you do the dealer probably will give you the price of the lean one. Put the fat squabs in one bunch and the 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 tliis picture shows to cool. The wooden scantUng or studding is several feet long and is suspended from the ceiling at its ends by wire, so that cats and rats cannot chmb to the squabs. A pair of nails are driven in four inches apart and the squabs' legs set in between them 82 CHAPTER IX. THE MARKETS. Squabs with the Feathers on Taken by the Boston and Some Other City Markets — The New York Market Wants Them Plucked and. Pays the Highest Price of Any Northern City - — Interpretation of Quotations of Squabs as Seen in the News- papers — White- 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 ma.rket 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 da3^s 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. 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 three 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 haA^e cC»me 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, $1.75 and $2." The quotation, " Pigeons, 20 cents," means twenty cents a pair for common old killed pigeons. These tough old birds are occasionally foi^nd 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 AYest in barrels and are sold to Boston commission men for fiA^e 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 A^our teeth with mouthfuls. After CA^ery trap-shooting contest some skulker goes oA^er the THE MARKETS 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 crael 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 knov/ 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, i. 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-flve 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 sell them. Then you will learn the true prices. C O rr, C Mc3 r^ ci>-.2 < -C cS^ v; c - >, r^ ^r3 ;£, ==^n a^ ?? 3; „, ■ - £ •I^S -= ^ dj THE MARKETS 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 dohars 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 as they can. . It is your motive to get as much as you can, and don't be fooled by second-hand information. Go direct to headquarters yourself in person and 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 SQUAB 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. SQUA.B HOUSE BUILT OF LOGS CHAPTER X. PIGEONS' AILMENTS. Canker a Filth Disease which Makes its Appearance in Nasty, Cramped and Crowded Quarters — // is a Captivity Disease and a Sure Cure for it is to Turn the Bird Loose to Get a . Change of Food and Plenty of Exercise — A Flock Supplied with Pure Food and Clean Water Never will be Sick — Canker is Not Epidemic — It does Not Pay to Dose a Sick Pigeon, Better Turn it Out to Get Well. The principal ailment met with by the squab breeder is canker. This ailment is a puzzle to some breeders and they are alarmed when it makes an appearance in their flock, as it does if the feed is poor 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.m.outh, 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, amd 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 89 PAIR OF HOMERS BILLING. This illustration is made from a photoerraph 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 bilhng. 90 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 wild pigeons in the streets and we never saw a case of canker among them. You may say to yourself that it is quite a risk to throw out into the open air a pigeon which has cost you from 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 them. We wish to assure all who 92 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK contemplate starting in the squab breeding business that the pigeon naturaUy 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, showing that some element in the feed is lacking. CHAPTER XL GETTING AHEAD. Make your Birds Pay jar themselves as they Go Along, unless you Wish to Wait Patiently until a Small Flock Increases to a Large One — Better to Take the Money Made 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 if 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 wdth squabs who wishes to feel his way and " make haste slowly " as the saying is, 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 haA^e 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) w^e 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 b}'^ 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 six years are strewn with the wrecks of imitation squab advertisers and their guarantees. Every spring, when demand for breeders 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 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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. " We 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 buildmgs 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 customers who start in the winter have been exceptionally successful because then prices for squabs are at the top notch, and it takes only a few sales to make a new breeder 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 read}^ 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 and a 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 remote 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 satisfying customers. It is not a pleasant experience to send money away for pigeons and 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 grnin 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. L OF a 100 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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, and that is why we have given it here in detail. Killed squabs go to market at the rate charged for ordinary merchandise, no matter what the distance. Breeders having special customers who wish the squabs plucked should pack them in a clean white wood box (with ice in the summer) and nail the box up tight. Such shipments go through in splendid condition and if the breeder has a choice article, with his trade mark stamped on the box, he gets the fancy price. Squabs which reach the Boston market from jobbers in Philadelphia and New York are plucked and packed with ice in barrels. Breeders around 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. 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. CHAPTER XII. 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 in Size of Nest Boxes — How Squabs are Artificially Fattened — Shipping to England — Training Flyers — .4 Remarkable Service for Messages between Islands. Question. I 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 to a 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. I 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 bam 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 STANDARD SQUAB BOOK as man}^ nest boxes as you wish. Then count 3^ our 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 female. Customers who had what they thought was a doubtful pair sometimes have written us saying that each would tread the other, and that of course both were males. After a while the same customer would write and say that the pair fooled him and that he had two eggs from them. The actions are in nine cases out of ten, of course, a positive guide, but there are exceptions 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 diarrhoea. What shall I do? (3) Most of my pigeons have a warty -like substance on their bills, varying in size with the pigeon; how shall I get rid of it? Answer. (1) The red color which you see is perfectl}^ 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 water}^ and the tail feathers are soiled. Your pigeons are all right and have no diarrhoea. (3) The growth of which you speak is perfectly natural. It varies 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 balance due, if any. Answer. We do not seh pigeon eggs. Q UESTIONS A ND A NSWERS 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 use ice? Is there any danger that the meat will be discolored when they arrive at market? Answer. Ice is not necessary in the faU, 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? Answer. It is 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 wired in. They are free by nature and it strikes me that they should have a chance to get exercise by long flights. Ansiver. 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 the^^ will not fly away from you. You can send them away, Avhen they are old enough, and time their flight back to your house, their home. When 3'ou 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 a corner. 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. I believe I will put a strip of wire or piece of wood across the front of each nest box so as to keep each pair more secluded, and to keep the nests from dropping out. Answer. Don't do it. Don't worry about the nests falling out. Build the pigeon-holes perfectly plain. Question. How many squabs shall I pack in one box when sending to market? Answer. Having picked out the size of the box you wish, fill it up close with squabs, so they will not " shuck." As to the size of the box, make it as big or little as you please, but do not make it any bigger than one expressman can handle easily. A good size is two feet square and one foot deep. Question. Send me two males and ten females. Answer. You must buy your birds in pairs. They pair off in this way, namely, one male to one female. One male does not have two or three females. We have heard pigeon breeders talk of having one cock which would attend two hens, but never had a case in our experience. Question. After plucking the squab, and before sending it to market, do you remove the entrails? Answer. No. Question. In order to avoid the trouble of using the mating coop, may I put an equal number of cocks and hens in the same pen? Answer. Yes. Question. Can I discover the male and female organs by examination of the birds with a magnifying glass? Answer. No. You can discover them by dissecting the dead bird. Question. Suppose I build the nest boxes larger, so as to give a shelf on which the birds can alight? Answer. Don't do it. The bird will fly directly into the nest, or onto the nest 106 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK box in front of the nest. You do not need an alighting place. Question. Seems to me that if I start with forty-eight pairs of birds, I 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 difi:erence. 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 hand 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. A backward squab may be forced in this manner. Question. Can you sell me twelve pairs of young Homers, about eight weeks old? Answer. No. It is impossible to tell the sex of pigeons of that age. Any breeder who under- takes to furnish squabs several weeks old in equal males and females cannot do so and is imposing on you. Question. Please give recipes for cooking squabs. An- swer: See the cook books. Squabs are generally served broiled. They should be drawn, singed and washed. Cut off the heads, split into two parts, season, put on a lump of butter and broil over a hot fire. Place close to the fire at first so as to brown the outside and retain the juices, then hold further away from the fire to complete the cooking. If roasted, leave them in a hot oven for thirty minutes. For roasting, squabs may be stuffed with cranberries or currants. Baste every ten minutes with spoonfuls of hot water and butter. Question. How shall I train the young birds raised from your Homers to fly? Answer. There is a large business in flying Homers and if you have a pen or two of trained birds you can sell them at fancy prices. There are homing clubs all over the country which have contests and it is worth while for a breeder to work for a reputation of breeding and selling fast flyers. 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 correct course. You should have left grain for them as a reward for their safe arrival home, and an induce- ment 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 seventy- five or one hundred miles. If you have a friend in another city, you may send your birds in a basket to him with instruc- tions 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 birds carry a message, write it on a piece of cigarette paper (or an}^ strong tissue), wrap the paper around the leg of the bird and SELF-FEEDER FOR GRAIN. This trough gives excellent satisfaction with us. We do not seU it, but will tell you how to have it made. It is four feet long. At the bottom of this page you will see a sectional view of it. The grain is put into the hopper, H. It drops in the direction indicated by the arrows into the spaces, AA, where it is eaten by the birds. As fast as they eat, more drops down. The strip through which they stick their heads is three inches wide and the slots are cut one and one-half inches wide. The V at the bottom of the trough is made from a sohd piece of four by four. It is solid so that rats cannot get inside of it and hide and pilfer the grain, ihe inch-square pieces at the front of the bottom prevent the birds from pecking the grain out upon the floor. One-inch lumber is used in the construction for every part except the slot-boards, BB, which are three-eighths inch thick. The top and bottom are of twelve-inch boards, the sides of ten-inch boards. The top is held m place by a hook and eye at each end as pictured. The trough will hold from three days' to two weeks' supply of grain, depending on the size of the flock. Put the trough not in the flying pen, but inside the squab house. Or, you may build a half-trough (slot-board down one side only) and set it in the passageway, and it wiU fill the space between the lower tier of nest boxes and the floor. Here it may be fiUed from the passageway, and you wiU not have to enter the unit pen. We have tried aU kinds of self-feeders and recommend this pattern as the oest ot all. If you adopt it in connection with the dowel system (iUustrated on previous page) your dowels wiU be used only behind the drinker, this trough taking up four feet ot the rest of the space. Make it either longer or shorter than four feet, to suit the size of your flock, if you wish. 12 Q UES TI NS A ND A NSWERS 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 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. 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 Auckland to Great Barrier. 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 no NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB 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 it is 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. Provide a 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 m}^ 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. Ansiver. 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 111 Question. What are the bands for pigeons' legs and how are they appHed? 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? Answer. Yes; the Homer pigeon is descended from a variety of pigeon which first bred among the cliffs bordering the sea-shore. Question. Do the squabs fly out of the nest before they are four weeks old? Answer. No; they look old enough to fly at four weeks, and their wings seem all ready for use, but they stay in the nest and are fed by 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 STANDARD SQUAB BOOK birds follow their eggs and accept change of nest from floor to 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 precision. Question. How would a cement floor for the squab house do? Answer. Do not use cement. See page 43 again. 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? Answer. 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 3^ou and which are not covered in these questions and answers.) SUPPLEME NT. NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK. By Elmer C. Rice. Every year shows a healthy growth in tha squab industry and in our business, which lias become the largest in the world in the pigeon or poultry line, and is expanding steadily, requiring every little while new buildings, larger business of- fices, more help — and the growth is going steadily on, with every prospect of a like increase the coming year. On April 1, 1904, to get more room for the Boston office, we were obliged to move from No. 9 Friend street, and are now located at 287 Atlantic avenue, Bos- ton, where in a new modern building and with our quarters fitted with every modern convenience for the rapid and ac- curate handling of business, we have the largest space in New England devoted to the pigeon or poultry, or kindred trade. 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. We do not speak of these matters in a boastful spirit to magnify what we have done, but because they are an assurance to new customers that we are entitled to their confidence and patronage. We are most humbly grateful to the men and women who have favored us so boun- tifully with their trade and intend to merit further confidence. Our business is too much a matter of pride with us, too large, and too success- ful, to permit of a single patron being dissatisfied. We have spent over $100,000 tO' put our trade on a firm and successful footing and we cannot afford to run the risk of displeasing a customer. If re- sources, skill and experience count for anything, and we think they do. we intend to keep on furnishing the best Homer pigeons nossible, and patront* can rest as- sured that they are getting for their money the greatest possible value. More- over, we have one price to all ; the cus- tomer in California c-an buy of us as cheaply as our next door neighbors. Our farm is always open to inspection and customers may make their own selection of breeding stock, if thev 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 everyone who sees our advertising and writes for particulars and starts breed- ing, there are a score of men and women who enquire of their butchers or market- men 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 sup- ply cannot begin to keep pace. We take some pride in the squab indus- try. 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 "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 incom- petent person who fails at many tasks into a success. But the history of this in- dustry 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 state- ments, and giving a true money's worth. When we began to tell the country about squabs, peonle would come to our office and say, "Well, it reads pretty good, biit is it true?" We did not have much evi- dence ready then, but wa 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 remark- able and convincing progres 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 tmsolicited, 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 about 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 113 114 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK writers of these letters because many of them are regular buyers of our birds, arid moreover, we cannot advertise other breeders free of charge. These letters and the testimony they give are valueless if thej^ are not genuine. Each and everyone is genuine, and moreover, wt guarantee their genuineness, and will produce the originals at any time to satisfy anj-body. In these daj's when manj^ "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 counter- feited, taut we are ready at any time for anj' doutater. What others have done and are doing with our birds, you can do. KILLING MACHINE.— To kifl squabs with extreme rapidity we have made a ma- chine with which the operator can work with much ease and satisfaction. The method of tweaking the necks whicli we describe and illustrate in the Manual is slow when compared with the work of this machine, and is repugnant to many, es- pecially women. The illustration shows the construction clearly. The neck of the squab is placed 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 together against the neck of the squab should not be sharp so as to cut the flesh, but should be round- ing, and slightly flat at the points of contact. The base-board is made of three-quar- ters, or one-inch lumber, twenty inches long and seven inches wide. The upper arm (or lever) is of half-inch stock, one and three-quarters inches wide and fif- teen inches long. The lower arm is of half-inch stock one and three-quarters inches wide and eight and one-half inches long. 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 up- right 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-quar- ter inches long. The upper arm (or lever) is beveled or cut off at an angle on lower corner (be- hind the uprights, and consequently in- visible in the picture) so that the lever can be raised to an angle of forty-five degrees, thus permitting the neck of the squab to be inserted between the arms at a point just back of the farther uprights, "^'hen 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 witli 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. Customei-s with large plants have told us that this tool is a handy article, and we 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. After killing in this manner, the squab may be bled, if desired, by inserting a long, sharp knife in throat and cutting it inside, out of sight. It is easier to do this after the squab is dead than when it is alive. WEANIN<^ THE TOrNG BIRDS.— If you ai-e 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 to seven weeks old. It is true that many of them hop or flj- or are pushed out of the nests when they are from four to five weeks old, but they continue 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 young- sters at this time are feeding themselves, but to keep them strong and rugged they SUPPLEMENT 115 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 conse- quently digest quicker and better. When the youngsters are weaned, take them out of the breeding pen and put them in the rearing 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 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 handsome. It may 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 to market 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 ap- preciation of the value of grit. Pigeons have no teeth and must have grit to take the place of teeth, otherwise they cannot prepare their food for their stomachs prop- erly, 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 com- plained 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 the oyster shell is needed to supply the constituents out of which the female pigeon forms the egg. The yard of the flying pen must be gravelled, not grassed, and out of this gravel the birds get considerable grit. If you watch them, you will see them peck- ing at this gravel in the flying pen con- stantly. Beach sand, or sand of any kind, may be used in the flying pen instead of gravel. The flying pen yard should be re- newed 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 protected 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 TV'hich v/e sell. We have used all kinds of ^rits, 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 Ihat it is good for them). It contains salt, and no salt need be provided in lump fcrm if this grit is supplied. The grits commonly manufac- tured 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. 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 plumpsr, and both they and the old birds will be in rugged health, and will keep so. We keep this grit before our own pigeons con- stantly, 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., ^"e recommend it in the highest terms, knowing in our own experience that it pays for itself many times over. We charge two dollars per 100 pounds for this grit. We do not sell less than fifty pounds. Price of fifty pounds, one dollar. We ship it in bags and it goes at a low freight rate. A 100-lb. 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 enoush. It is qu'te difficult in some sections of the west and south to get oyster shell, which has to be transported from the seaboard The ovstor shell which we supply our trade is put up in one-hundr?d pound baa^^'. P^'ice 75 cents per 100 pounds. No orrl«r 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 birds from a protected box in the squab- house. INSECT SPRAYER.— Pigeons have a long feather louse which is not harmful. 116 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 see- ing any of these mites in our breeding houses. If 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 ksrosene (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. The best time for such treatment is at night, when the birds may be readily caught and handled. It is also a good idea to throw a pinch of lice powder in the nest, on and around the squabs, about once a month during the summer. Lnice are the terror of chicken raisers, but we never knew a squab raiser, if in- telligent, to be troubled very much or very long with lice. Once free of lice, the birds almost invariably keep them- selves clean. It is only the loft where cleaning is badly neglected which is troubled with lice. There is a light-colored grub which sometimes 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.— It is im- possible for us to tell what is the differ- ence 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 in- quirers who have never heard of red wheat, yet it is a 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-tenths 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 bow- els 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 sud- denly 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 floor," he wrote, "and cannot fly." He had got them so weak by feeding the wheat that they could not fly to their nesl- 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- grown pigeon) out of the closed band, you simply make a saw-cut lengthwise the band, then open the band with your fingers, put it around the leg of the pigeon, then close the band again. If anyone 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 ap- plied to the legs of full grown pigeons) made of aluminum, V-shaped joint, each band numbered, a first-class band in every way, for two cents each, or two dol- lars for one hundred, postage paid. MANAGEMENT OF BATH PANS.— The sixteen-inch bath pan which we rec- ommend 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 ever.v 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 num- ber 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 say once a week, taking the bath pans into the SUPPLEMENT 117 squab-house and letting the pans stand be- fore them for about an hour. If you let the water stand in the bath pans in the squab-house in the winter time all day, they will splash too much out onto the floor, and the house will get damp. We fill and empty the bath pans three times a day in the summer time. If your plant is a small one, it is not necessary to do that. The best way for you to man- age is this: At evening (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 bottomside up and leaving them that way all day. The price of these sixteen-inch bath pans is forty cents, crated ready for ship- ment. KILLING WITH A KNIFE.— Some deal- ers 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 in- side of the throat you do not make a wound which is visible to the eye of the consumer. Use a knife with a long, nar- row, sharp blade. 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 con- struction 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 pic- ture 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. It is not necessary, and not advisable, to nail a strip of wood acrosS' the fronts of the nest-boxes, to prevent the squabs from falling out. The plain nest-box con- struction is better in every way. Begin- ners who tack strips of wood across the fronts or who make a closed, dark nest- box, invariably abandon such construction after a few months' use of it. The squabs staj^ 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 buildings, 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 Ameri- can: 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. If all the birds in all the pies were sud- denly to lift their voices in song like those in the nursery rhyme, the chorus would be loud and long, for raising cf squabs for food is a constantly growing and lucrative industry, and withal very fascinating. A number of farms each sheltering sev- eral 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 for 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 com- partments to which each bird comes with unerring Instinct to nest enters largely in 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 vocations during the day, and bid fair to attract the attention of those seeking quick returns from a small outlay. Attention to recognized habits of the birds, sanitary conditions and good breeds 118 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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 in- tended 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 thir- teen times. I saved one pair of the first hatches, that was 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 big 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. I have 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 All 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 you gave me. In two weeks you may ex- pect to get an order for two hundred pairs, so you can begin to get them paired off. Any suggestion 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. Anyone 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 satis- fied with results thus far obtained. I am about to build two houses, each house to accommodate two hundred and fitfy 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 m.arvelous, averaging nine and one-half (9 1/2) pairs per year for the two years I have had them. I now have quite a flock, bred ex- clusively 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 inbreed- ing 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 $7,08 paj'ment for the fol- lov/ing order: three dozen wood nappies, three bath pans, four galvanized iron drinkers. Ship by freight or express as is cheaper. Something over a year ago I bought twelve pairs of pigeons of you. Imperative duties have prevented my giv- ing them as much attention as I would wish, but they have increased and pros- pered with but trifling loss. There are now more than forty pairs nesting, and altogether 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. I hope soon to get into the lofts and put things in first-class shape and weed out all the culls. I 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 following quotations from the Boston Daily Globe cover a period of nearly four years, and, as will be seen, prices are firmly maintained. New York prices are better than these: Mar. 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 June 27, 1903 3.-50 and 4.00 a dozen July 11, 1903 3.50 a dozen 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 Nov, 14, 1903 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Dec. 5, 1903 4,50 and 5,00 a dozen SUPPLEMENT 119 Jan. 30, 1904 5.00 and 6.00 a dozen Feb. 20, 1904 4.50 a dozeu 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 3.00 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.O0 a dozen lyee. 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 Aug. 12, 1905 4.50 a 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 May 26, 1906 3. .50 a dozen June 16, 1906 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen July 28, 1906 3.50 a dozen Aug. 22, 1906 3.50 a dozen Oct. 20, 1906 3.50 a dozen Jan. 5, 1907 5.00 a dozen 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 (Jan. 15, 1907) are as high 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 man- agement 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 pay you for them. It is the steady practice of the dealers in Chicago, for in- stance, 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 mar- kets 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 got squabs to sell. Think of the rich 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 news- paper in your territory which will pro- duce 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 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 bet- ter than the plants of other customers whose product is marketed with poor judgment. Don't be too fast to sell 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 every- thing 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 big 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 satis- fied 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 if is just as easy to sell squabs to the consumer as to anybody else, in fact, after you have got 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 Country Gentleman, also a widely-quoted writer for the government's bureau of animal industry, and a lecturer for the New York State Board of Agri- culture. He is one of the best known judges of poultry and pigeons in the United States. The visit to our our farm of 120 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK which he speaks was made in November, 1903; since then our stock of Homers has been increased. "It was our pleasure within the last two weeks to visit the home plant of the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., at Melrose Mass. We were beautifully 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 con- structed 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 mat- ter 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 distribution for growing squabs. In all our experience we have never seen a bet- ter lot than these. They are large, vig- orous, full-breasted, broad-shouldered specimens such as one would selsct for producing squabs of the best character. 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 roomj' baskets, the baskets returnable at the shipper's expense. So far as we can calculate, we are under the impression that Mr. Rice is doing a very large busi- ness. 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 terms of the shipments made to them by Mr. Rice." RUNTS NOT DESIRABLE.— From the Farm Journal.— "Our remarks in the Octo- ber 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 ;ind 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 Hom- ers for breeding squabs. They are hardy and prolific and rear large, meaty squabs. There is also room for selection in Hom- ers, 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 from phvsicians hav- ing a country practice. They leave tvv^o 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 birds are extremely useful. We earnestly advise country phy- sicians with a wide territory to cover to look into this matter and communicate with us. It will be money in then- 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 California, which is one of the best squab markets in the coun- trj'. What he says is conservative and sensible and bears out what we have al- ways maintained, 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 rais- ing, and also having said I would, I commence by stating a few facts which I have gained from both practical experi- ence and inquiries from Eastern breeders. In the first place, I want to say that lit- tle 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. "I 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 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 fhey 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 tui-n went to his meat market and asked him what he thought of it. and he said I was either lazy or crazy. Now this man knew absolutely nothing of 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 j'ou they had never eaten a squab in their lives; still I have people — come right to my door— who come a good dis- tance out of their way and want to buy SUPPLEMENT 121 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 get 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 right here in this city are con- stantly in receipt of letters from hotels and clubs in Denver wanting to buy squabs. 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 de- mand. 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 de- rived 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 wnere they have their freedom. "The squab business if conducted prop- erly will bring in a large percentage of profit considering the first capital in- vested. Only a few hundred dollars are required to start where such a sum would be nothing to commence in such a busi- ness as stock keeping, etc., and yet with a few hundred pairs of pigeons anyone with a little judgment can make a living for himself and family. Many farmers' sons could make nice yearly incomes by stocking a pai^t of their barn (not used for anything else) with pigeons. The risks are not so great as with chickens, but the birds must be atended to and not neglected. "With chickens one must not only feed the old, but must also give the little ones their meals, but not so with pigeon breed- ing. 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 squabs' mouths. It takes 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 ia 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 market prices, so it pays to com- mence 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 min- utes to feed and half an hour to give fresh water. Of course it takes a day or two a week for killing young ones, and a day or two each month for clean- ing buildings, then the work is about done. One person can attend 1,000 pairs nicely and have ample time to do other work around a place. The writer finds it a snap to other ocupations and one is his 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 breed- ing houses need not be heated artificially in winter as the birds can withstand any temperature and in cold weather sit upon their young until they are feathered suf- ficiently to stand the cold." ENLARGED HIS PLANT WITH PROFITS.— Experience of a Breeder Who Made it Pay From the Beginning.— In Country Life, a monthly magazine, one of the handsomest and highest-toned publications, the experience of a gentle- man in squab raising gives the following facts: "Six years ago I did not have a bird, but I invested fifty dollars in pur- chasing twenty-five pairs of extra-choice Homer pigeons, remodelling a poultry house for their accommodation. I had 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 excepting the dollars the birds have earned, and my present establishment of five houses and fifteen hundred pigeons, which has cost me two thousand dollars, is all paid for. In addition, for the last three years, I have paid out from five to seven dol- lars each week for the wages of a helper, to dress the squabs and clean the houses, for my regular business would not permit me to attend to these duties myself. "The concensus of opinion of all ex- perienced squab breeders stamps the Homer as the best pigeon for this pur- pose. This variety is strong and vigor- ous; a hearty feeder and good worker; bright-eyed, alert and active; stocky, sym- metrical and full-breasted, which counts so much in squabs. They are also pro- lific, and their squabs are full-feathered and fit for market in four weeks. "I was very fortunate in getting my 122 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK first twenty-five pairs of birds. These were Homers, full-blooded, and had es- tablished 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 r have selected from their young. - "As my profits accrued I purchased straight Homer stock, picking from the best near-by breeders, as Avell as those of established reputation at a distance. "I always 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 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 transfer 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 In- stant. At the same time I 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 m.y fiock of fifteen hundred pigeons during the month of December, 1903, was eigh- teen dollars and thirty cents for the fol- lowing: 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 birds' 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 busi- ness will surely still more increase dur- ing the first decade of this century. The price of squabs has been strongly main- tained during the five years just passed, notwithstanding the marvelous increase in 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 se- vere bodily exertion and which if intelli- gently 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, en- titled "A Combination Plant, Fruit, Bees, Fowls and Squabs": "For growing squabs some have sepa- rate houses, some use the lofts of old barns, and many are so constructing their poultry buildings as to have quar- ters 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 poultry 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. "Of course cleanliness, care and sani- tary conditions about the plant are im- perative. 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 anything 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 away in bags and sold at 50 to 60 cents per bushel. Thej^ are used by tanners in making tne very best grades of leather. These drop- pings 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 the sanitary conditions will be of the very best. "Those who do not care to dispose of the droppings in this way in some in- stances spread from six to eight inches of soil from their land over the floor of the squab house. This is allowed tO' re- main from three to six months. Usually at the end of the moulting season all the nest boxes and. the whole house is thor- oughly 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 clean- ings 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 win- ter, the cleanings of the house are stored away in a dry place and re+ainpd until spring. Many persons would call this a filthy, unhealthful way to keep a squab house, but some of the most suc- cessful breeders follow this plan. The SUPPLEMENT 123 presence of the five or six inches of dry soil on the floor keeps it in good condi- tion 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 tha 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 encouragement to each by giving him a share of the profits. Scat- tered all over the country are thousands of families in country places continually worrying and wondering why they cannot keep their children at home. The real reason so many of the young people 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 proportion 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 specimens 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 hun- dreds 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 grow- ing 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. "It is well for those who go into the squab business to remember that the price is graded by size and quality. Dur- ing winter squabs that would average 8 or 9 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 1-2 to 20 cents. It takes quite as much time and as much care and food to produce the small speci- mens that bring the lower nrices as it does to produce the higher grades which bring the better prices. People are be- ginning to find this out, and taking ad- vantage of the knowledge, are looking about for the best quality of pigeons to produce the best market squabs." SQUAB PIN-MONEY.— The following paragraph appeared in the January, 1901, issue of the Designer, a monthly maga- zine for women published by the But- terick 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 sell- ing the squabs of six pairs of Homer pigeons. They require 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 confi- dently 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, saj'-s: "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 in- dicated 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 M. Brunet. There he had a wax seal at- tached to each bird's leg and the birds liberated. "They flew back to Meraud'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 Jer sey State ' Board of Agriculture.— Years ago when poultry and egg pro- duction was being first advocated exten- sively, there were many fears expressed that the business would be overdone, that chickens and eggs would come to be com- mon and low priced, and the fear that there would be no money in the business no doubt kept many out of it. Neverthe- less, more and more have gone into poultry and eggs year after year, and millions of dollars' worth of both are marketed yearlJ^ 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 con- trary, prices for squabs have been in- creasing every year here in the East, and they are going to increase in the West in the years to come. Consumers who have 124 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK read our advertising all over the coimtry 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 busi- ness 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. New Jersey is doing well with squabs. Other states, notably California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Masachusetts 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 mar- kets of our large cities is an industry that is reaching considerable proportions in this state. And, although it is growing yearly, yet the prices seem to be advanc- ing; 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 sea- sons of the year. Therefore 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 poultry raising, and is one that may be conducted upon village lots by women and young per- sons, 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 attention 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 suc- cessful. "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 3.000 inhabitants, the purchase of one dealer the past year was 56,582 squabs, for which he paid $16,400; while another dealer bought perhaps a little over half as many more, bringing the aggregate to 86,000 squabs, for which the people of that town re- ceived nearly $25,000; while another single grower in the same country shipped from his own lofts between 13,000 and 14,000 birds. "The cost of feed and care for a work- ing loft of pigeons is about $1 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 not much lower than $1. A good pair of birds will produce from seven to ten pair of squabs per year; generally an average of not over eight pair. The prices have ranged the past year from 25 cents for the poorest, to as high as 75, 80 and 90 cents for the best, putting the number raised at the lowest (seven pairs) and the average price at 40 cents, we have $2.80 for the $1 invested yearly after the first cost of investment for build- ings, etc., which need not be expensive, according to tlie taste and means of the builders and the amount of capital he wishes to put into it. The houses should always be placed where the drainage is good, preferably upon a dry knoll, facing the south or southeast. Some paying lofts have been made by fitting up unused wagon house or wood house lofts, or over hen houses. Other houses have been con- structed for poultry on the ground floor and the story above for pigeons. In this case great care must be exercised to have the floor well laid with planed and grooved flooring, to keep vermin from passing up from the poultry. "Very large flocks should not be kept in one room. From 50 to 100 pair is enough to keep together for the best re- sults, preferably the former. A room 10x12 is ample for 50 pair of working birds. A house may be built of any desired length, 12 feet wide and divided into apartments of the above size by wire partitions with doors hung on spring hinges, to facilitate passing through in feeding. "These houses should have windows on the south, of sufficient size to afford ample light in all parts of the house and no more, as too much glass makes the house too cold on the winter nights. "As each pair require two nests, as they are generally sitting in one while raising young in the other, there should be twice as many nests as pair of birds, with eigh- teen to twenty to spare, that they may take their choice. The period of incubation is eighteen days, the hen bird sitting on the eggs, excepting about four hours each day, when the male takes her place, while she is feeding and resting. "During incubation a substance forms in the crop of both birds, known as pigeon milk or curd, on which the young are fed for the first five or six days, until they are old enough to digest the grain, SUPPLEMENT 125 which is carried to them in the crop of the old birds, and ejected from their mouths to the mouth of the young bird by the same process as the pigeon milk is fed in the first place. Hence it is im- portant that the proper feed be given, which should consist of a variety of grain and seeds, the larger the variety, the better. These should consist of cracked corn, rather coarse (preferably about three or four pieces, from a single kernel), with the fine sifted out. This should be kept before them in troughs or hoppers, so constructed that they cannot throw it out and waste it, which they will fre- quently do in search of other grains of whicli they are more fond. The other seeds should' consist of whole corn, Can- ada peas, Kaffir corn, hulled oats, millet and hempseed. These should be fed on the floor twice daily, just what they will clean up quickly, feeding the hempseed but twice or three times per week, except in the moulting season, when a small quantity may be fed each day, as hemp- seed is very fattening, and when fed in excess bad results may fol- low. Do not feed wheat too liberally, and always mixed with other seeds, using the hard, red wheat and never new wheat, as it has a tendency to loosen the bowels of the young birds with sometimes fatal results. In connection with the feeds, the birds should be furnished with ground oyster shell for grit, also a liberal sup- ply of salt and small bits of charcoal and gravel. The salt is necessary to keep them in good health. These substances may be kept in small boxes around the house where the birds can have free access to them. "A generous supply of pure wat^r should be kept before them at all times near the feeding trough, and should be supplied each morning before feeding, that the old birds may have access to it immediately after feeding, before taking the feed to their young. "In stocking the houses, always avoid using common breeders, as the results will be disappointing. They are not pro- lific and are more liable to produce dark squabs, which always bring the lowest price in market, and do not feed the young as well as the full bloods. The best all-round bird for squab raising is the straight Homer, as they are the most active, good workers, quiet disposition, and the best of feeders. "The Runt is the largest of pigeons, but a very slow worker, seldom producing more than four pairs of squabs per year. They make a good cross with Homer and Dragoon, but even then will not produce as many birds as either of the others alone. "The squabs are dressed for market once a week, on regular shipping days. They are dressed just before they are large enough to leave the nests, and when they are full-feathered, and should weigh at this time eight pounds per dozen, this size commanding the highest price, the prices falling off very fast, as the size drops from this weight. The squabs should be dressed with empty crops. They may be cauglit in the early morning be- fore feeding, and dressed, or caught the evening beiore, after the old biras have fed them for the night, and kept in ham- pers until morning, when their crops will be just in the right condition. "After the young birds are two or three weeks old, the old birds build another nest and begin to sit again, the male bird taking most of the care of the young un- til they are ready to dress; hence the im- portance of supplying two nests for each pair. Thus a good pair of working birds have a pair of young and a pair of eggs a large portion of the time. "During the summer months the birds should be furnished with a shallow tub of water in which to take a bath, two or three times par week, which will help them to keep free of vermin. These tubs should be emptied after they have bathed, as they should not be allowed to drink the water in which they have bathed. "With good care, properly constructed houses, wholesome food, never sour or tainted, very little disease should be en- countered. Prevention is better and more easily administered than cure. Some of these are dry houses, pure water, regu- larity in feeding and cleanliness. The water buckets should bs washed out fre- quently with creoline water, made by adding a teaspoonful of creoline to one quart of water. This will kill any dis- ease germs that may be present, and is a good disinfectant. "Give good care, not neglecting the small things, as it is the multitude of these wherein the profit lies. "The demand for squabs is constantly increasing and any one entering into this business and willing to give it the atten- tion it requires will always find a profit on the right side of the ledger. But re- member this profit will be according to the care and intelligence put into the business." NEW YORK MARKET.— The following is taken from the New York World, an article on squabs, published in August, 1904 : Squab-Raising as a Fine Art.— Game Laws Make Propagation of this Small Bird a Remunerative Business,— Palates Demand Substitute for Quail and Other Morsels that Statutes Forbid.— Few persons, even among the devotees of late suppers in New York's high-priced restaurants, in look- ing over their elaborate menus and select- ing, say, a squab on toast, realize what a tremendous industry the Broadway taste for a large cold bottle and a small hot bird has developed in the United States in recent years. The industry may, indeed, be considered in itself in a squab state, but such has be- come the after-theatre demand for the 126 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK tasty little birds that many business men have turned from less lucrative pursuits to devote their energies to their raising. It would be impossible to state pre- cisely hovi' many squabs are annually bred in the United States, but it is esti- mated that hundreds of thousands reach the tables and tickle the palates of lux- ury-loving and extravagant people. The best of judgment in regard to qual- ity and quantity of feed is essential, cracked corn and red wheat being the staple food. Kaffir corn, Canada peas, buckwheat and millet comprises about 20 per cent, of the food in winter, and in the summer less corn but more wheat. Grit and salt are before the birds always. At the age of four weeks the squabs are ready for market and are deliciously ten- der, as they have never learned to fly, and their muscles have not had the hard- ening influence of exercise. The killers now get busy. With a slip noose around the feet, and wings locked on the back, the squabs are suspended from a rack. A killing knife is inserted well into the mouth and a quick, deep slash made at the back of the throat, allowing the bird to bleed freely. An expert can kill and rough pick about four birds before they get cold. The squabs are next dropped into a galvan- ized iron tub, through which a constant stream of water flows, which cools the birds. Then a small hose nozzle is in- serted in the mouth and water allowed to flll the crop, after which it is withdrawn and a quick pressure forces everything out. A second use of the hose thoroughly clean&es the crop. Two more immersions in iced water make the birds ready for local shipment. In the Lenten season commission houses buy and ice thousands of dozens of- squabs for winter trade. That is also the tim.e squab raisers select and save the best stock for breeders. Many of the live birds, especially the Homers and red Carneaux, cost from $2.50 to $6 per pair. ^ Prices for squab in New York City run ■from $4 per dozen in the early seasom to $5.50 and $6 in the winter. TWO TEARS' EXPERIENCE WITH OUR BIRDS. — "Will you kindly, send us price-list and such other printed matter as you have issued within the past year? You will remember we bought six pairs of you one year ago last July. We have about 124 now and are disposing of all the squabs we can raise at three dollars per dozen. All of our birds are not laying yet but will soon mature. We have lost sev- eral when they were young birds, then we had some stolen (one of which came back). One bird had a peculiar substance form around the outside under the bill. Will you tell us if this was canker? We dis- posed of the bird at once. We did not try to treat it at all. The people here know very little about fine squab, but I believe the market is growing better right along. Feed is much higher here than in the East. We have to pay $1.75 per 100 for cracked corn, $2.15 for red wheat, $1.75 for Kaffir corn and about $5 for hempseed, so that $3 per dozen does not bring in a very large profit. Would you advise our raising the price? We hope to send you another order shortly. We have not tried to use the manure at all. We have had no trouble with our birds as to vermin. They seem to keep entirely free from it."— Mrs. H. D., State of Washington. TO MONTANA IN GOOD ORDER.— "I received the crate of pigeons yesterday. They were all alive and in good health." — J. F., Montana. FINDS OUR BIRDS FAST BREEDERS. — "On Sept. 16, 1902, I ordered six pairs Extra from you and now (Aug. 30, 1904) have about two hundred old pigeons and squabs together, and will want to begin shipping a few before long. Wish you would please give me the names of a lot of desirable squab buyers in New York and other nearby cities. Do you think prices will be better later on in the fall, and which is the best way to ship them, dead or alive? Can I get shipping crates al- ready made? If so, where, and at what price? Thanking you in advance for this information."— W. E. H., North Carolina. HAD NO TROUBLE RAISING THEM.— "Last spring, in April, I think, we bought twelve pairs Extra for thirty dollars of you. '.At present we have eight-five in all, or about sixty young birds that we have raised ourselves. We would not think of selling them as we have had very go- 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. N., 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 sqviabs. Could I have done any better than that ? Have been having some trouble by a 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 shriink 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. A 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 sma.ll lots of squabs. I have been following your manual's instructions as close as possible. I have about sixty pairs. They are in flne 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 ge't 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 I 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. Avoid advertisers whom you find out by investiga- tion are worthless. Have their ratings looked up for you. 157 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. Answer. Pigeons do not care much for oats. Pigeons in the street eat them, as thej^ 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. I have pigeon breeders in unit numbers one and three. Squabs in luiit 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 13 pairs from you last year, and I have 100 pairs 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 pigeons 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 - of the 9th June, was duly received. Thank for the information. I had fully intended tj visit your plant, but, just as I am ready to start, my wife, who was to accompany me on a two weeks visit to 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, tie best specimens of Homers I have yet had Ihe pleasure of seeing. If 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 bowls, 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, but I have no way of marking them. You will please send me an outfit for marking them by mail. Send about what you 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 yotu- 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. — W. 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 yotir letter of recent date. Am perfectly satisfied with the results ob- tained from your birds. If you have any inquiries for birds in this localit^^ 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 qtiestions 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 ever saw._ I think when anybody is look- ing for good birds thej' don't need to look any further than yovir 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 to^\'n. 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 We were the first. Our birds and methods revolutionized the squab industry and are widely imitated. But imitators who copy or find fault with oixr printed matter cannot give you our birds. We have no agents. loS 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. 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 JUDGE. One of my hens made her nest and I 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 hke 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. Thei-e 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 Plym.outh Rocks are doing even better than the 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 the grits and hemp seed in a hurry. 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 after a 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 business. I will 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 m.y birds after they have left the nest for squabs. Will you send me your price list for grains, that is, Kaffir com and red wheat. I would like the address of Boston dealers. — C. E. W., Rhode Island. LETTING BIRDS FLY. I would Kke 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 run 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 le ; ;3r) 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. More squabs were bred in 1906 than ever before. Prices were better and they are going to be as good or better in 1907. The habit of squab eating is growing in every section. 159 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. to you in the first place, but he 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 dicing 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 the;;^ 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 weU 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 ever\' 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 t nought you would be interested in knowing the weights. On account of not having room for any more birds, I 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., Missotui. DOING WELL IN CANADA. Saw your advertisement in R. P. Journal, "Squab book free." Anything new in it? I have yovtr 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 well 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 yo\i shipped 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 m.any 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 poultr\' fakirs and receiving their treatment, I fully appreciate your kind treatment which is so tmlike that of these fakirs, but yoxir 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 for them. 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. The penalty is a heavy fine for every quail found in the hands of any marketman or restaurant keeper. Quail are no longer found on bills of fare in these two states except around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Squabs 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. 160 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 I am pleased with them. I have 14 fine birds from the first ones I bought of you and I think the last four pairs Avill go to work soon. I recommend your birds to everybody. — J. M. M., Philadelphia. HE KNOWS OUR TEACHINGS ARE RIGHT. I have read your Manual carefully, ' studied every point as I went, because I wanted to impress it on my mind. I have f«und 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 Extra Homers. 1 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, I am thoroughly convinced that there is iTLoney 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 I 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 3'ou. 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 lav and hatch. He sold four or five -oairs 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. — 8. H. W., Penn- sylvania. LOST HIS TEXT BOOK. Please find en- closed 50 cents, 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. They are getting satisfactory results day after day. 161 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. placed m3^ other one and can't find it._ My birds are doing well, i have had 15 pairs of yotmg birds since I 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 ver>' 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. I am 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. S., 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 3'ou can send me mixed colors. Ship via Adams express. Wishing you success. — L. D., Pennsylvania. ONE YEAR'S GOOD TRIAL. Quote me prices on your No. 1 Homers. Those I 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 consignment 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. I 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, btit 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 1st. 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. I have a market in St. Louis for all I can ship at $4.00 per dozen. If not ask- ing too much would yovi kindly give me the address of a couple of Chicago and New York commission men that handle squabs. — W. E. T., Missoiu-i. 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 miiltiple unit house. My pigeons are doing fine. — D. B., Illinois. STARTED IN TO MAKE REFORMS. Please find enclosed check for nine dollars 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. In these pages you will find that eight pounds is low for Plymouth Rock Homer squabs. 162 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. lor which kindly send us one dozen drinking fou-ntains. 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. I 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. ONE YEAR'S SATISFACTION. Send one bushel of Kaffir com and one bushel of Canada peas to me. 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 your 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 GOOD. 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 alumintun tubing for bands. Also send one of your price lists, as mine has been mislaid. Twenty-foiu- 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 likelj', 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 ago 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, healthv 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 straw and feathers get in but they do not want gravel and tobacco 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 of che 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. This supremacy we intend to maintain. 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. 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 vs^eek 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 tr\' 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 bii-ds. 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. An 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 yoving are hatching. Have enough now to ship a dozen a month now. — W. M., Mar^dand. JUST THE BIRDS. I thought I would let you know how my birds are getting along. They arrived on Tuesday, May 1st, as I wrote you. Thursday of the same week one pair had commenced to huild. 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 himdred pair, and says they are just the birds that he wants. He is coming up to see yoior 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. I shall 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 haci fairly good care. I now have 110 birds and am getting them fast no^w 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 shipm.ent arrived. ]\Iy wife informed me that they were all in good shape and the finest specimens she ever saw. Also thought the3^ 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 at home. We have ever\'thing good to feed them, peas, kaffir com, 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 suppUes 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, imder 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 Avonder 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 rnake 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. 164 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 Homer 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 Munsey'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 order in a month or two when I see how I go on with the birds I have got. Thank you very 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 dutv on nest bowls. If 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 vou last fall are doing well. I sold squabs that weighed from 13 ounces to almost one pound apiece. I have over ICO 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 into 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 pairs Extra bred Homers (fourth order.) — L C, 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 Avhat we expected them to be. They are now " at home " and present a 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 friend 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 tr^dng^ 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 have a 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 ^iiiits of 100 birds each with one fly 12x48x200 as they would in 20 vmitswith 20 flies 10x12x48. On Our whole time and energies are given to squabs. We handle trade as it ought to be handled — promptly, courteously and thoroughly, with every detail attended to. Letters are answered at once. It is a business with us, pushed steadily every day in the year except Sun- days and holidays, and not a side issue or an amusement. 165 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. 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 yo-ur breeders would net us ^'■early when we raise 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 m.e in due time and in excellent condition. They certainly are the finest birds I ever saw. I 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. If I have an opportunity of securing you any customers I shall be onlv 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 arn well pleased with the bunch. I have a house 12 X 32 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 all the time. Have sold ofi^ 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. LATEST NEWS FROM THE NEW YORK MARKET; HIGH PRICES WHICH ARE GOING HIGHER BECAUSE OF THE NEW LAW FORBIDDING ENTIRELY THE SALE OF QUALL EXCEPT IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. I take the liberty of asking you for a Uttle more advice for the birds I bought from you last Novem.ber. 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 imder it. The prices for squabs on the New York market have been very high all winter — have reached as high as $6.50 a dozen for squabs of over 10 pound a dozen, and $4.50 for birds of near eight pound or so. Of course private trade is better and I have been able to sell squabs for 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 HftMERS 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 same 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 sirmmer. I have now 13 pairs of mature pigeons. Twelve pairs work constantly and I am- ver\* 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 abotit raising squabs I shall be so much obhged 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 yotir 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 These are strong letters. Read them over. You want some assurance, when you buy pigeons, that you will be treated right, as these customers were. 166 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. — R. W. H., Iowa. BLOOD AND HIGH BREEDING COUNT. Enclosed find di-aft 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 teUs, when you put them together. I 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, fovir 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 diarrhoea, 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 pair Extra Homers to be delivered in June or July. Cannot tell yet just when I will be ready for 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 I received another one. I have sold both of 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 I purchased 124 pairs of your Extras and am now in the market for about 375 pairs more. I am also in need of some extra hens of the same quality. Can you supply same? Also let me know if you can f-umish 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 con- 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. I am sorry that I did not figure on handling more birds than I did. Have built house to accommodate 100 birds. Enclosed 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. 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 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 build a 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 ones I have raised. I have watched and studied their ways and know something about them. I know how fast they breed, etc. Now am I right in my estimation as to the time it would take 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. Mv birds are all doing finely.— B. O., Rhode Island. THIS IS THE KIND OF PLAIN TALK ONE LIKES TO HEAR. I am finding out for my- self if there was money in squabs and I have foimd 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. Mv friend was saying what nice birds they had at the show, and I thought I 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 found out that I have some of the biggest birds 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. If 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 a nest. 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 Hoiners 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 yotu Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and am fixing a house for them and will be in shape 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 you $127.50 for the first 75 pairs. I want your best birds. — E. F., Ohio. Is there anybody in your town who has failed at squab raising? Some play at pigeons as they would with a new toy, then give them up. If they bought of us the trouble is with them and not with the pigeons. 168 1 1907