quab C^ultur^ 
 
 WOOD 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1916 
 
 by 
 
 D. RUSS WOOD 
 
Squab Culture 
 
 BY D. RUSS ^A/OOD 
 
 ^I.OO PER COPY 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 The Indiana Squab Company 
 
 Terre Haute, Indiana, U. S. A. 
 (Copyright Applied For) 
 
Prefesis 
 
 sr4 67 
 
 .Vl/6 
 
 The information contained in this manual has to 
 do entirely with squab breeding pigeons. It is writ- 
 ten with the idea in mind of helping those already 
 interested in this rapidly growing industry, or those 
 about to embark in it. It is written and compiled 
 by one who has experienced all the difficulties en- 
 countered by the beginner, and has learned from 
 those experiences how to properly and profitably 
 care for and raise pigeons and squabs. 
 
 At the present time there are two breeds of 
 pigeons extensively being used for squab breed- 
 ing purposes. The Homer pigeon and the Carneau. 
 (Plural spelled Carneaux, and both pronounced 
 alike: "Car-No.") Runts and Crosses are not used 
 as squab breeders to any very great extent. 
 
 HOMER PIGEON 
 
 The Homer and Carneau are both of Belgian 
 origin, and you will frequently hear the Homer 
 referred to as Antwerp.. The Carneau pigeon as a 
 rule is somewhat larger than the Homer, and as a 
 natural result produces a slightly larger squab. 
 This was the situation a few years ago, when the 
 first Carneau were imported /Jntotjiis country, but 
 the difference in size of tl^s^ ftwji^Jiind of birds 
 
 JUfJ-9 1916 ©cfl4;51414 
 
seems unfortunately to be gradually disappearing. 
 Unscrupulous pigeon dealers have played havoc 
 with the true Carneau, and you will find all kinds 
 of funny looking pigeons being masqueraded about 
 the country as real Carneaux. There are, fortun- 
 ately, still a few reputable dealers from whom it 
 is safe to purchase this stock. 
 
 Unlike the Homing pigeon, the Carneau may be 
 permitted to fly at large after having been con- 
 fined in a new home a couple of weeks. Turn an 
 adult Homer loose and it is, as a rule, not many 
 minutes until it has started in the direction of the 
 place of its birth. 
 
 Which— Homers or Carneaux? This question has 
 been asked the writer many, many times. Both 
 breeds are fine producers of squabs, if given proper 
 care and food. Both breeds of birds will produce 
 practically the same number of squabs in twelve 
 months. The Carneau would probably have a little 
 the best of it in the amount of actual weight pro- 
 duced. The writer believes the Homer will, in the 
 long run, prove the most profitable squab raiser- 
 he is certainly by far the handsomer bird of the 
 
 CARNEAU PIGEON 
 
two. Numerous experienced squab raisers have ex- 
 perimented with both breeds, and hold to about the 
 same view. The Homer is decidedly a more in- 
 telligent bird and can be taught to race, which of 
 course is impossible in the case of the Carneaux as 
 they possess but little, if any. Homing instinct. 
 
 Complete failure has unfortunately been the only 
 reward of the person who has attempted to profit- 
 ably breed squabs from the common barn loft var- 
 iety of pigeon, such as you see flying about your 
 town and nesting in the eaves of buildings. They 
 are quite small when compared with the Homer 
 or Carneau and produce a small, generally dark 
 meated, squab. Neither are they prolific. Good 
 Homers and Carneau produce on an average about 
 8 pairs of squabs to every mated pair of birds per 
 year. Common pigeons seldom if ever produce 
 quite half that number. Common pigeons can be 
 purchased for as little as 10 cents each. Good 
 Homers and Carneaux are in big demand at from 
 $2.00 to $4.00 per pair. 
 
 The writer remembers very distinctly starting 
 into the pigeon and squab business with but one 
 pair of good Homers in an old barn loft. Yes, and 
 he made a success of that barn-loft venture, too, 
 or he wouldn't now be the president and manager 
 of one of the largest pigeon and squab plants in 
 the country. This is said in passing to set aside 
 the theory that an especially built pigeon house is 
 essential to success. It's all right to have such a 
 building, if one's means will permit, but notlijng is 
 further from the truth than to say that such a 
 building is a positive necessity. Any kind of an 
 old building or barn loft will suffice, if it can be 
 so arranged as to keep out dampness, cold winds 
 and rats. Barn lofts as a rule make fine squab 
 houses because of the fact that they are high and, 
 as a rule, dry. Some unused out-building of course 
 makes a much more convenient place. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE UNIT HOUSE. 
 
 How It Is Built — Its Size — General Specifications 
 Covering Construction and Equipment. 
 
 The unit house can be one unit or twenty units 
 in length just as one's funds and ground will per- 
 mit. The modern unit house is built upon posts 
 which protrude from the ground about two feet. 
 Six inch cedar posts being most generally used. 
 Upon these posts is built the floor. A double floor 
 with ordinary building paper between the thick- 
 nesses is preferable. Use 2x4 stock for joists, or- 
 dinary sheeting for the first floor and shiplap for 
 the second floor. No. 2 stock is amply good. The 
 frame work and rafters are also 2x4 stock. The 
 roof is of ordinary sheeting, covered with a good 
 grade of prepared roofing. The entire house inside 
 is lined with tar paper in order to keep out drafts 
 and dampness. The roof can be of the ordinary 
 shed variety, with just sufficient pitch to carry off 
 the water, or it can be of the hip shaped variety if 
 preferred. The size of a single unit should not be 
 less than 10 feet wide, 12 feet from front to rear 
 and the roof not lower than 7 feet at its lowest 
 point. Make provision for one window, in size 
 about 24x32, in the front of each unit. If you are 
 building but a single unit the door can be put in the 
 side or rear of the building as desired. The win- 
 dow is of course to enable the birds to pass in and 
 out from the squab house into the flying pen on the 
 outside. The window should be arranged so that it 
 may be opened or closed as desired. A sliding sash 
 is the simplest, and permits the window being only 
 partially open in cold weather. 
 
 If more than one unit is to be built then a change 
 in the dimensions of the building is necessary. It 
 should be built 15 feet in dimensions from front to 
 rear and an additional 10 feet added to the length 
 for each additional unit it is proposed to erect. 
 
Three feet is added to the depth of the building to 
 permit of a passage way at the rear of the various 
 units. Two inch chicken wire is used for dividing 
 the building into 10 by 12 foot units. A wire door 
 is placed at the rear of each unit along the passage 
 way, and each unit has a window in front opening 
 into the flying pen, as previously stated. Build 
 your house so that the windows are facing the 
 south. Your flying pen will then extend in that 
 direction and at all times the pigeons will get the 
 sun. 
 
 AN INEXPENSIVE SINGLE UNIT SQUAB HOUSE. 
 
 In the case of a house of more than two units it 
 is desirable to place one small window in the rear 
 of the building along the passage way. One win- 
 dow for every 5 units is plenty. In extremely hot 
 weather, or in warm climates, both the front and 
 rear windows can be left open continually and per- 
 mit a thorough circulation of fresh air through the 
 
squab house. The pictures printed in this book 
 will give you a very good general idea of both the 
 interior and exterior arrangement of both the single 
 unit and the multiple unit squab house. 
 
 Where or whenever possible it is desirable to 
 use empty orange, egg or grape fruit boxes for the 
 pigeons to build their nests in. You will find them 
 much cheaper than to use lumber for the purpose, 
 and in addition to that they are easily taken down 
 and cleaned. They should be laid on their sides 
 one upon the top of the other from the floor up, 
 around the walls of your squab house. The open- 
 ings should be turned toward the center of the 
 squab house as illustrated. 
 
 A MULTIPLE UNIT HOUSE. 
 
 
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 These crates consist of two parts which are about 
 12 inches square. Just the proper size for pigeon 
 nests. If these crates are not obtainable in your 
 town in sufficient quantities you can of course build 
 your nest boxes out of inch or one-half inch lumber. 
 They can be built any place along the sides of your 
 squab house, and will largely resemble pigeon holes 
 in a desk when completed. Do not run your nest 
 boxes up higher than six or seven feet. If you do 
 you will experience considerable difficulty when 
 cleaning time comes. It is not necessary to nail 
 a slat across the front of the opening at the bot- 
 tom of the nest box, with the idea in mind of keep- 
 ing the eggs or squabs from tumbling out. This 
 
was done in years past, but has proved a waste of 
 time and material, and makes cleaning the nests 
 difficult. Squabs are not given to falling from their 
 nests. If they did there would not be so many com- 
 mon pigeons flying about, for their nests as a rule 
 are up under the eaves of houses and barns, and it 
 is not often you find a dead squab lying upon the 
 street. Pigeons build their nests very much in the 
 shape of a saucer, and the litle ones nestle down 
 pretty closely in the nest for the first few weeks 
 of their existence. .Sometimes they are knocked out 
 of the nest because of fighting among the older 
 birds, and there is really little one can do to pre- 
 vent an occasional domestic misunderstanding 
 among his flock. 
 
 In addition to the nest box many breeders 
 equip the nest box with a nest bowl. This is a small 
 saucer shaped object, about 9 or 10 inches in 
 diameter. Some of ^liem !are made from wood, 
 some from wood pulp while some breeders use a 
 nest bowl made from earthenware. The wood and 
 wood pulp bowls are as a rule fastened upon a small 
 piece of wood about 8 inches square with a screw 
 or with nails. This keeps the bowl from being 
 upset. The writer uses nest bowls, and strongly 
 recommends them to others. Tliey can be pur- 
 chased from most squab and pigeon companies. 
 
 If you use the crates as suggested above for nest 
 boxes, you should be sure not to have less than 
 one double section crate for every pair of pigeons 
 in your squab house. If you build your nest boxes 
 from lumber be sure and have two nests for every 
 pair of pigeons. This is made necessary by the 
 fact that after the first set of youngsters are be- 
 tween three and four weeks of age the old birds 
 will build a second nest, and if there are not ample 
 nest boxes for them to build in the hen pigeon will 
 lay her eggs in the same nest with the young squabs, 
 where they are very apt to be crushed by the 
 youngsters. This sometimes occurs no matter how 
 many extra boxes there may be. In other words 
 have two nesting places for every pair of birds in 
 your squab house. Ten or a dozen extra nesting 
 places is far better than too few. This will answer 
 the often asked question, "how many pairs of 
 pigeons can I put in a house that measures so many 
 feet one way by so many feet another?" Theoreti- 
 cally, you can place in your squab house one pair of 
 working pigeons for every two nests you can crowd 
 in. Practical experience has proved this to be un- 
 wise. Pigeons work far more advantageously 
 
when there are not too many pairs of them to- 
 gether. Fifty pairs, one hundred pigeons, is the 
 usual number placed in a pen together by most 
 squab breeders. The single units described here- 
 tofore in this manual will comfortably take care of 
 50 pairs, and also allow the use of 60 orange or egg 
 crates, which would give that many pigeons ample 
 nesting room. 
 
 NEST BOXES AND NEST BOWLS. 
 
 This photograph shows you the arrangement of the nest 
 bowls in the nest boxes. The nest boxes in the picture are 
 empty orange crates. The nest bowls are of the wood pulp 
 variety. Each bowl is securely fastened with a screw to a 
 small block of one inch lumber 8 or 9 inches square. The 
 bowl can be easily removed at any time it becomes necessary 
 to clean out the nest box. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 FLYING PEJf— NESTING MATERIAL. 
 
 Any Size Flying Pen Will Do— Tobacco Stems Good 
 Nesting Material. 
 
 To succeed with squab breeding pigeons they 
 should not be permited to fly at large. They must 
 be pretty closely confined so their thoughts are 
 continually on their household duties and little else. 
 They must, however, have plenty of warm sun light 
 and fresh air. For this purpose you should attach 
 to your loft or squab house a wire flying pen, which 
 may be extended out as far as practicable. The 
 framework of this flying pen can and generally is 
 made from some light material. This frame is cov- 
 ered with 2 inch chicken wire w'hich is not expen- 
 sive and can be purchased at any hardware or 
 general store. A small wire gate should be placed 
 at some convenient place about the flying pen to 
 permit you to get in or out as desired. In the case 
 of the model squab house, heretofore referred to, 
 the flying pen would of necessity be but 10 feet wide. 
 In the case of a barn or an out-building it can be 
 as wide as the building. Fifteen to 20 feet is a good 
 length, and it can be as high as your needs may re- 
 quire. In connection with the model squab house 
 it is as a rule about 9 feet high, and the gates are 
 in the end of the flying pen. The flying pens in 
 connection with the multiple unit house are, of 
 course, divided every 10 feet with the 2 inch chicken 
 wire. 
 
 Seven or eight perches should be placed in 
 each flying pen in order to provide a place for the 
 birds, not busy on the inside of the house, to roost 
 and sun themselves, which they dearly love to do. 
 These are easily and quickly made by leaning a 
 couple of small 'pieces of board about 2 inches 
 square by 12 feet long against the front of the 
 building and allowing them to extend out into the 
 
 10 
 
flying pen at an angle of about 45 degrees. Tack 
 upon these two pieces six or seven slats from six 
 to seven feet long, and about 18 inches apart, and 
 you have a fine set of perches. (See illustration.) 
 The bottom of the flying pen should be covered 
 with gravel or sand to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. Not 
 only do the birds greatly enjoy picking out and 
 eating the small bits of gravel, but your flying pen 
 is kept free from pools of water and mud. The 
 real necessity of the gravel is dealt with more at 
 length later on. By all means face your flying pen 
 to the south if possible. The object of the flying 
 pen is to enable the birds to get outside into the 
 sun. It is not erected with the idea in mind of giv- 
 ing them a place to fly about in. The author does 
 not agree with those who advocate confining the 
 birds entirely within the squab house, and never 
 allowing them to get outside. They need and must 
 have plenty of fresh air and sun, or eggs will be 
 few and sick pigeons plentiful. 
 
 BOX FOR NESTING MATERIAL. 
 
 This box is two feet square and two feet high. All four 
 sides and the bottom are made of lath. The top is con- 
 structed of half inch lumber, with a small rim around the 
 edges as illustrated. The top lifts off. It is not hinged. One 
 of these boxes filled with nesting material should be placed 
 in the center of your squab house, and in the case of a mul- 
 tiple unit house, one should be placed in the center of each 
 unit. They are easily and quickly made, and cost but lit- 
 tle. Not only is your nesting material kept clean and fresh, 
 but it is also very easy for the birds to get such nesting 
 material as they desire. 
 
 11 
 
Pigeons build their own nests from bits of straw, 
 hay, tobacco stems, pine needles, etc. As a rule the 
 hen pigeon sits in the nest and the cock bird flies 
 to the place where the nesting material has been 
 placed, picks up with his bill the piece that suits 
 him best and carries it back to the nest box where 
 the hen arranges it to suit her. This process is 
 frequently reversed and the hen pigeon does the 
 carrying while the cock sits on the nest. 
 
 There are many varieties of nesting material. 
 Tobacco stems seem to be more generally in use 
 than all others because they have a great tendency 
 to keep away lice. Pigeons seem very fond of them 
 and are able to build splendid nests by their use. 
 They absorb dampness very easily, however, and in 
 damp climates or the winter time it is best to mix 
 them with some other nesting material. Equal 
 parts of straw and tobacco stems make a fine all 
 year round nesting material. Your nesting material 
 should not be carelessly thrown upon the floor of 
 your squab house for the pigeons to make filthy 
 with their droppings and the manure on their feet. 
 An ordinary berry crate which has slatted sides and 
 ends make a splendid place in which to place nest- 
 ing material. The birds will stick their heads 
 through the slatted openings and pick out the bit 
 of nesting material they wish. 
 
 12 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DRIYING— LAYING. 
 
 When the First Egg Is Laid and When It Will Hatch. 
 
 After the nest lias been completed to the entire 
 satisfaction of the pigeons the cock bi-rd will begin 
 to drive the hen about the squab house and flying 
 pen. He will keep everlastingly at her, picking her 
 upon the head and back with the object in view of 
 compelling her to return to the nest and lay the 
 first egg. He never appears entirely satisfied until 
 this has been accomplished. A hen pigeon in or- 
 der to lay a fertile egg, must of necessity had the 
 attention of the cock bird. You will see a pair of 
 birds billing, and treading follows as a rule. The 
 hen pigeon as a general rule lays her eggs late in 
 the afternoon, along about 4 o'clock. There are ex- 
 ceptions to this rule, of course, but it is generally 
 the case. It is presumed that she will lay but two 
 eggs, the second one putting in an appearance after 
 an interval of one day. There are many cases 
 where a hen pigeon has laid three eggs but you 
 might pass through years of the pigeon business 
 and not encounter a single case. The rule is but 
 two eggs. 
 
 The real process of incubation does not begin 
 until the second egg has been deposited in the nest. 
 The hen pigeon does little but hover over the first 
 egg just keeping it warm enough not to become 
 chilled. After the second egg has been laid the hen 
 and cock go methodically about the process of turn- 
 ing it into a squab. The hours that each shall sit 
 upon the eggs are proportioned about as follows: 
 The hen pigeon from about 4 in the afternoon until 
 about 10 o'clock the next morning, and the cock 
 bird during the day time between these hours. The 
 cock bird apparently gets a little the best of the 
 arrangement. He does for the time being only. 
 
 13 
 
After the young are hatched and are from three to 
 four weeks old, he has double duties to perform, as 
 you shall see later on. On the seventeenth day 
 from the day the second egg was laid the young 
 pigeons should begin to make their appearance in 
 this world. They break their way through the shell 
 in much the same manner as chickens, picking away 
 at the shell from the inside until they are enabled 
 to squirm out. There is nothing particularly 
 beautiful about a newly born squab. Just a little, 
 yellow looking object with tight shut eyes, which 
 do not open for a week or ten days after birth. 
 
 Do not make the mistake of handling your pigeons' 
 eggs too much, especially at about the time they 
 are due to hatch. Above all do not assume you can 
 assist nature any by picking away parts of the shell 
 with your finger tips in an effort to hurry the new- 
 comers advent into this world. If a squab is des- 
 tined to live it will get out of the shell all right 
 without any assistance from you. In the early 
 stages of the author's experience with pigeons he 
 attempted this several times before he learned bet- 
 ter. With proper care and food, each pair of your 
 breeders should produce between 7 and 9 pairs of 
 squabs each year. 
 
 You have absolutely nothing to do with the feed- 
 ing of the young more than to supply the old birds 
 with the proper kind of food. A carefully prepared 
 chapter on that particular portion of pigeon cul- 
 ture is contained in this manual. It is possibly the 
 most important of all the information given in this 
 volume, and should be read carefully. Dur- 
 ing the first week or ten days of a squab's existence 
 its diet consists entirely of what is termed "pigeon 
 milk." Possibly you have heard of such a thing, 
 but in all probability you never believed such an 
 article existed. It is a milky appearing fluid, 
 rather thick, which the old birds have sequestered 
 in their crops during the last ten days of the in- 
 cubation period. The old birds take the bill of the 
 young ones inside their bill and force this liquid 
 down the throat of the young pigeon. To all ap- 
 pearances they pump it in, as they do with all 
 other substances which they feed their young. 
 After ten days have elapsed the old birds begin to 
 "pump" whole bits of grain into the squabs. 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 FEEDING AXD WATERING. 
 
 Clean, Dry, Hard Grain a Necessity — The Various 
 
 Grains Used — Tlie Protected Drinking 
 
 Fountain. 
 
 A flock of pigeons can be more quickly ruined 
 by being fed improperly and improper foods than 
 in any other manner the author can call to mind. 
 This statement, of course, applies entirely to squab 
 breeding pigeons which are confined, and are not 
 permitted to fly at large. Pigeons out in the open 
 apparently have ample opportunity to pick up the 
 various articles so necessary to their healthy exist- 
 ence. Those confined inside a squab house and a 
 flying pen must of necessity be furnished with all 
 that will keep them well, busy and contented. 
 
 Clean, dry, hard grain is an absolute necessity. 
 No progress whatever will be made with a flock of 
 pigeons that are carelessly fed, or are given things 
 which long experience has proved are detrimental 
 to their health. 
 
 The writer has found corn to be the great staple 
 food for pigeons, and recommends nothing but 
 the whole grains of corn. Not cracked corn. 
 Cracked corn absorbs dampness, and in many 
 cases the cracked corn you purchase has been made 
 up from moldy whole corn, which if used will give 
 the birds a sour crop, and tends toward canker 
 Be extremely careful about buying any of the in- 
 numerable poultry feeds so extensively advertised. 
 What will do for chickens will not do for pigeons, 
 and the greater percentage of the advertised feeds 
 are prepared by those who devote almost their en- 
 tire time and energy to chicken feed, and know but 
 little of the needs of the confined squab breeding 
 pigeon. 
 
 15 
 
Your flock of pigeons should not continually, month 
 in and month out be fed the same mixture of feed. 
 Like yourself they greatly enjoy a change of diet. 
 By far the safest procedure in feeding is to purchase 
 the various grains you propose to feed your birds 
 and mix them yourself. In extremely hot weather it 
 is a good plan to cut down on the amount of corn 
 fed. If you purchase mixed feed from some dealer 
 this cannot be done. If you are so situated that it 
 is impossible for you to purchase the various kinds 
 of grain so necessary, then of course, you must re- 
 sort to the ready mixed variety of feed. In this 
 case, however, buy from some pigeon or squab 
 company. There are plenty of them about the 
 country, and their pigeon feed, even though mixed, 
 is pretty apt to be just what you want. Most of 
 them have mixed pigeon feed for sale, although 
 there are some, of course, who do not. The aver- 
 age man in charge of the average feed store in the 
 average town knows absolutely nothing about what 
 should or should not be fed to pigeons. It is very 
 dangerous to act upon any suggestions he may care 
 to offer, unless of course he has personally had 
 considerable experience in handling pigeons him- 
 self, which is not frequently the case. 
 
 Kaffir corn is another grain very greatly relish- 
 ed by pigeons, and can be fed to them in large 
 quantities without the slightest fear of difficulty. 
 It is a very small grain, hardly the size of first class 
 hemp seed. Being comparatively soft it is easily 
 digested by the birds. It costs but little more than 
 whole corn and in mixing feed about equal parts 
 of both are used. 
 
 Wheat is a very dangerous grain for the beginner 
 in the pigeon business to experiment with. Too 
 much wheat has a very weakening effect upon 
 pigeons, and if fed to them in too large quantities 
 will weaken them to such an extent they will be 
 unable to fly from the floor of the squab house. 
 Pigeons are very fond of it, and will eat it to the 
 exclusion of whole corn and kaffir corn if given the 
 opportunity. A very small proportion of it mixed 
 with other grains is recommended. Do not use 
 new wheat, damp wheat or the so called white 
 wheat. Old, hard, dry red wheat is what should be 
 used exclusively. If you were going to mix up, 
 we will say, an ordinary bucket of feed, out of the 
 three grains so far mentioned, a good proportion 
 would be two-fifths of whole corn, two-fifths of 
 kaffir corn and one-fifth of wheat. 
 
 16 . 
 
Canada peas, and a mixture of them with the 
 ordinary cow or field pea, is being very extensively 
 fed to squab breeding pigeons. They contain a big 
 percentage of protein which is so essential in pro- 
 ducing big squabs. At the present writing the price 
 of Canadian peas has so advanced they have almost 
 become prohibitive, and the ordinary field pea is 
 being used in many cases as a substitute. They 
 can be fed to pigeons in various ways. Mixing a 
 small proportion of them with the other grains, is 
 
 FEEDERS. 
 
 The top illustration is of a dowel-hopper feeder. This 
 style of feeder is extensively used where feeding is done from 
 a passage way at the rear of the units. The front of the 
 feeder protrudes just inside the units through an opening left 
 for that purpose at the bottom of the wire partition which 
 separates the units from the passage way. The front board 
 of the V-shaped trough does not reach the bottom by about 
 % of an inch. This permits the grain to drop down into the 
 spa'ce immediately back of the row of dowel pins, where the 
 birds can easily reach and consume it. The feeder illustrated 
 above is 36 inches long. The bottom board is 1-in. by 8-in. 
 The trough is made from 1-in. by 6-in. boards. One-quarter 
 inch dowels are used, and they fit into 1-in. by lV>-in. pieces 
 at the top and bottom. There is no cover over the trough 
 portion of the feeder, which extends out into the passage 
 way. One of the galvanized drinking fountains illustrated 
 elsewhere can be set along side of this feeder, and in this 
 manner both feeding and watering can be done from the pas- 
 sage w^ay without the necessity of entering the units. 
 
 The lower illusti-ation is of a trough feeder for use inside 
 the units. The bar running across the Lop of the feeder is 
 fastened with but one nail at each end. A hole is bored in 
 the end pieces through which these nails are driven into the 
 bar. The bar is made from one inch square stock, and will 
 revolve at the slightest touch. Birds are thus kept from 
 alighting upon it and making the feed filthy with their drop- 
 pings. The trough is three feet long, four inches wide, and 
 the side pieces are four inches high. This same style trough, 
 in shorter lengths, is frequently used for grit and oyster 
 shell. The construction is extremely simple, and one can be 
 made in a few minutes time. 
 
 17 
 
the course most usually pursued, although many 
 breeders feed them as a delicacy, and scatter a 
 few hands full of them on the floor' of the squab 
 house at feeding times where they are quickly gob- 
 bled up by the birds. 
 
 It should be kept in mind at all times that the 
 grains and mipfijures recommended here are for 
 pigeons that are producing squabs. It is, of course, 
 not necessary to feed as expensive a mixture to a 
 lot of young birds you are ritising to breeding age. 
 Feed such birds extremely fatty foods, and too much 
 of the same, and they will become indolent and lazy 
 and not begin to mate up and lay eggs as promptly 
 as they should. It has been truthfully said that 
 pigeons as a rule do not over eat, as is the case with 
 chickens. This is no doubt true, but too much rich 
 food placed in front of a lot of young birds, who 
 have nothing else in life to do but sit about and 
 fuss with one another, will make them mighty fat 
 and lazy in a very short time. Your old birds, with 
 squabs in the nest, are kept busy supplying the 
 wants of their incessantly hungry off-spring, and 
 few of them will suffer from over feeding. 
 
 Peanuts have come into their own in the pigeon 
 world. By peanuts is meant the peanut kernel, 
 not the salted kind, nor the roasted peanut. Just 
 the ordinary raw peanut with the shell or husk re- 
 moved. And it is not necessary that they be ground 
 up or that they be the little small Spanish variety. 
 The author has fed to his private flock of birds, the 
 birds that have been the subject of all of his ex- 
 periments, raw peanut kernels larger than the or- 
 dinary piece of shelled field corn and the rapidity 
 with which they made them disappear was aston- 
 ishing. Instances of pigeons choking themselves 
 to death on whole shelled corn or large peanut 
 kernels must be of rare occurrence, because the 
 writer has yet to hear of a single case, much less 
 have one come under his personal observation. An- 
 other thing: Grain which goes down the throat 
 of the older birds will also pass down the throat of 
 the squabs without causing any discomfort. 
 
 Peanuts contain a greater percentage of protein 
 than peas. For this reason, and also because of the 
 fact that peas have so rapidly advanced in price, 
 they are universally being used now as a splendid 
 substitute. They cannot be purchased in every 
 community, that is true. The author lives in a 
 community of nearly one hundred thousand souls 
 and has to send away for what he needs. Dealers 
 who handle pigeon feeds, liowever, can and will 
 18 
 
quickly supply your needs, and those who are for- 
 tunate enough to be in the pigeon business and at 
 the same time dwell in or near a peanut raising 
 district will of course experience no difficulty in 
 getting all they need at a very reasonable price. 
 
 If you have ever been the owner of a canary bird 
 you will of course quickly call to mind how vigor- 
 ously these little bits of humanity scatter their feed 
 about. This is not done with the idea in mind of 
 littering up their cage and the floor of the room 
 in which their cage hangs. There is a motive in 
 this apparent extravagant waste of good seed. They 
 are after the hemp seed which is usually found in 
 all prepared bird seeds. Hemp is the one delicacy 
 that pigeons love above all others. Mix a little of 
 it with your feed and you will quickly witness the 
 canary bird habit in a very magnified form. The 
 balance of your grain will be scattered about the 
 floor of your squab house, not to be touched until 
 all vestige of hemp has disappeared. Unless you 
 are fond of a disorderly looking squab house floor, 
 do not mix hemp seed with other grains. Treat it as 
 a luxury and a delicacy, for it most assuredly is, 
 as it costs from 5 to 6 cents a pound. A good big 
 double handful of hemp seed scattered upon the 
 floor of your squab house once each day is ample 
 for a flock of fifty pairs, and will keep them happy, 
 lively and contented. Do not feed your birds an 
 excess of hemp seed. It is bad for them. 
 
 The five staple pigeon grains have been men- 
 tioned. That is the five which the author feels are 
 the staples. Others may disagree with him, and 
 probably do. His experimental flock is a marvel 
 for beauty, strength and productive qualities, as 
 all have had to admit who have seen it. They raise 
 squabs which weigh anywhere from 9 pounds to 12 
 pounds to the dozen at four weeks of age. They 
 are all Homers. Their staple diet has been whole 
 corn, Kaffir corn, peas or peanuts, a small amount 
 of red w^heat and their daily ration of hemp scat- 
 tered upon the floor of their house, and their aver- 
 age production has been between 7 and 9 pairs of 
 squabs per year for every pair of mated, working 
 birds. Many breeders feed from time to time small 
 proportions of millet, buckwheat, milo-maize and 
 sunflower seed, while certain mixtures of wild seeds 
 are used. All have their good qualities, and as they 
 offer an excellent opportunity for a change in diet 
 they can be used in small quantities if desired. 
 Scraps and refuse from the table should never be 
 
 19 
 
fed to pigeons. A hand full of green stuff such as 
 lettuce or grass can occasionally be placed before 
 the birds and will be greatly relished by them. 
 
 Pigeons are not possessed of any teeth. A sub- 
 stitute is necessary, and grit is that substitute. 
 Pigeons demand and must have a certain propor- 
 tion of grit if they are to be kept in a healthy and 
 vigorous condition. The bottom of your flying pen 
 should at all times be thickly covered with gravel 
 or sand. A depth of 3 to 4 inches is sufficient. Oc- 
 casionally take a rake and thoroughly turn this 
 gravel over. After a few months' use the old gravel 
 should be entirely removed and replaced with fresh 
 gravel. Your birds will at all times have plenty of 
 grit if this is done, except in parts of the country 
 where snow covers the ground for any great length 
 of time during the winter months. If you live in a 
 part of the country where snow is pretty general 
 throughout the winter months, you can supply your 
 birds with ample grit by placing a small box of 
 gravel or sand on the floor of the squab house. Do 
 not worry about your birds eating too much grit. 
 They will only consume what is good for them. 
 
 Salt is very greatly relished by pigeons and they 
 will gorge themselves upon it if given the oppor- 
 tunity. A little of it is splendid for the birds. It 
 is extremely dangerous to feed them too much. 
 Granulated or pulverized salt should not be fed to 
 them. Rock salt, the kind a horse loves to lick with 
 his tongue, is the proper kind of salt to place before 
 pigeons. Place a large lump of it out in your fly- 
 ing pen. Whenever you empty your bath pan turn 
 the contents on top of this piece of salt. Every 
 ran storm will naturally diminish its size. The 
 gravel under and around it, however, becomes satu- 
 rated with the salt water, and if you will take oc- 
 casion to notice you will find the gravel in this por- 
 tion of your flying pen disappears far more rapidly 
 than elsewhere. In the winter time, when your 
 flying pen is covered with snow, place a small piece 
 of rock salt in the box of gravel in the squab house, 
 and occasionally pour a little water over it. The 
 same effect will then be gained as if the birds had 
 access to the bottom of the flying pen. 
 
 There are many forms of prepared pigeon grit. 
 Nearly every dealer in pigeons and pigeon supplies 
 has his own mixture of pigeon grit which, very 
 naturally, he extensively advertises as the only 
 really for sure pigeon grit, the kind that makes 
 big, fat squabs. As a matter of fact most of these 
 prepared grits are good, and will prove beneficial 
 20 
 
to your birds. Oyster shell is quite an important 
 factor in the successful development of pigeons. 
 The older birds must have access to a certain 
 amount of it or the shells of the eggs which they 
 lay will be tough and hard, and the young squabs 
 will be unable to force their way through into this 
 world. A small box of oyster shell placed in the 
 squab house is all that is required, and one hun- 
 dred pounds of it will last a good sized flock of birds 
 a very long period. Purchase what is generally 
 termed the finely ground oyster shell. Pigeon size. 
 Not the big coarse pieces. It can be purchased from 
 all wide awake pigeon and squab breeders at about 
 75 cents to $1.00 per one hundred pounds. You may 
 get squabs without the use of oyster shell, but many 
 a one just ready to hatch will die in the shell be- 
 cause of its inability to break through its tough out- 
 er covering. 
 
 You have been told of the various kinds of feed 
 good or bad for pigeons. The manner in which they 
 are fed is quite as important as the food they get. 
 The finest mixture of pigeon grain in the world can 
 not only be entirely ruined but made very danger- 
 ous to feed to pigeons if handled in a careless and 
 slovenly manner. There are two places grain 
 should not be placed for the birds to eat. One is 
 the floor of the squab house, and the other is out- 
 side on the ground in the flying pen. Any great 
 quantity of grain carelessly thrown upon the floor 
 of the squab house will soon be made absolutely un- 
 fit to eat by the continued droppings from the birds 
 and from the manure that gathers upon their feet. 
 If it be thrown upon the ground in the flying pen 
 it will quickly absorb the dampness from the ground, 
 becoming sour and again a dangerous food for the 
 pigeons to eat. The grain your birds consume must 
 at all times be absolutely dry and clean. Ail feed- 
 ing should be done inside the squab house, where 
 there is not the slightest possibility of any of it 
 becoming damp, and as a result turning sour. 
 
 Of course nothing of a disastrous nature would 
 occur if a few hands full of feed were scattered 
 upon the floor of your house, and it was quickly 
 picked up by the pigeons. Hemp seed should al- 
 ways be fed this way. What the author desires to 
 impress upon the mind of the beginner is that no 
 large quantity of feed should be allowed to stand 
 where the birds can walk about upon it making it 
 filthy ,and unfit for consumption. 
 
 There are two excellent ways of feeding pigeons. 
 Many breeders use a small trough which is placed 
 
 21 
 
in the center of the squab house floor and just 
 enough grain placed in it to satisfy the birds for 
 that one feeding. A little experimenting on your 
 part will soon demonstrate how much feed your 
 flock will clean up at any specified time of the day. 
 A couple of 4 inch boards fastened together with 
 wood cleats on the bottom, and with a small strip 
 tacked around the edges affords another excellent 
 place in which to feed. The strip about the edges 
 of your little platform keeps the birds from scatter- 
 ing the grain to any very great extent. Pigeons 
 will throw their feed about in a most discouraging 
 sort of manner, in an effort to get the portions of 
 it which best suits their taste. Feeding in a 
 trough or upon a board is the manner in which most 
 of those interested in squab culture handle their flock 
 when they are in a position to give their birds at- 
 tention oftener than once each day. Birds fed in 
 this manner generally get grain twice daily. First 
 thing in the morning and during the early afternoon. 
 Just sufficient grain so there is none left to be 
 trampled upon after every bird has gotten his or her 
 share. 
 
 The hopper system of feeding is very generally 
 used by those operating large squab plants. It saves 
 time and those who use it wi?^ of course argue that 
 it is the only proper way to feed squab breeding 
 pigeons. Their claim always is that pigeons with 
 squabs in the nest should have grain before them at 
 all times, if big, fat squabs are desired. As has 
 been previously stated pigeons as a rule do not over 
 eat, so of course there is no danger in adopting 
 the hopper system of feeding. There are innumer- 
 able appliances in use for feeding in this manner. 
 Many of them are very ingenious and of home made 
 variety. There are several patented feeders that 
 possess splendid features. The idea of the hopper 
 system of feeding is to enable one to place a large 
 quantity of grain in the squab house, but at the 
 same time arrange it so the birds must eat up what 
 is in front of them before more puts in an appear- 
 ance. A little thought and a few minutes work will 
 result in a pretty sensible automatic feeder. 
 
 More sick pigeons come as a direct result of be- 
 ing improperly watered than in any other way. 
 They positively must at all times, have before them 
 plenty of cool, fresh drinking water. The water 
 they drink can only be kept clean of course by be- 
 ing protected. Pigeons dearly love to get into a 
 pan of water and take a bath, and if their drinking 
 
 22 
 
water is placed before them in an open pan or dish 
 it will be made absolutely filthy wit^.iin a few 
 minutes by the manure from their feet and from 
 their droppings. There are a great many protected 
 driiiking fountains made, and there is little choice 
 between any of them. They are arranged so that 
 fresh water takes the place of that consumed by the 
 pigeons. The two accompanying illustrations show 
 a galvanized drinking fountain which is for sale by 
 nearly all pigeon and squab companies, or can be 
 made by any tinner, and also a fountain of home 
 made design where a large bottle is used. One 
 serves the purpose quite as well as the other. The 
 metal fountain with the handle is of course more 
 convenient to carry about, and to fill. In extremely 
 cold weather, provided you do not provide artificial 
 heat in your squab house, your drinking fountains 
 should be removed in the late afternoon and placed 
 in your house, or some other warm place. If al- 
 lowed to remain in the squab house the water in- 
 side of them will of course freeze, and may result 
 in breaking your fountain. They can be put back 
 into the squab house again in the morning at feed- 
 
 DRINKING FOUNTAINS. 
 
 The photographs show two splendid drinking fountains. 
 The one with the large bottle is of the home-made variety. 
 The second one is made of galvanized iron. The galvanized 
 fountain can be purchased from any squab company or poul- 
 try house. The cost, as a rule, is about 75 cents each for a 
 two gallon fountain. The home made one will serve the pur- 
 pose as well, although it is more trouble to fill it. 
 
 23 
 
ing time. There are several makes of patented 
 water fountains that have a small lamp attachment 
 which keeps the water from freezing in the coldest 
 of weather. These can be used if desired, and can 
 be purchased from most poultry supply houses. 
 
 Many large squab plants do both their feeding 
 and watering from the passage way at the rear of 
 the units. In this case both the front of the hop- 
 per feeder and the front of the drinking fountain 
 protrude into the unit at the bottom of the wire 
 partition wiiich separates the unit from the passage 
 way. In this manner both feeding and watering is 
 done without entering the unit, and the old birds 
 are only disturbed when it becomes necessary to 
 clean, or take out the squabs for killing. 
 
 It might be well to add at this point that in many 
 plants that have the multiple unit house, with the 
 passage way at the rear, the wire partition separat- 
 ing this passage way from the various units is 
 covered with burlap or other material. This is done 
 so that one may pass up and down the passage way 
 without unnecessarily disturbing and- frightening 
 the birds. 
 
CHAPTER V, 
 
 CLEANLINESS ESSENTLiL. 
 
 Keep Floor and Nest Boxes Free of Manure — Scald 
 Your Drinking" Fountains. 
 
 Your pigeons and the place in which they are kept 
 must at all times be kept clean and sanitary. If 
 this is not done success is impossible, and failure 
 an absolute certainty. Pigeons are not subject to 
 lice, mites or any of the numerous parasites which 
 are so prevalent among chickens, and given any 
 degree of care you need never have fears along this 
 line. Pigeons will always be as clean as you will 
 permit them to be or as dirty as you force them to 
 be. It's always up to you. They are naturally 
 very clean and will keep themselves in that condi- 
 tion if given the oppqjrtunity. You will seldom 
 find pigeon droppings in a newly made nest, nor 
 will you find much of it there until the youngsters 
 are born, and are a week or ten days old. The 
 older birds are very neat about themselves during 
 the incubation period, and retain their droppings 
 until their turn to leave the nest arrives. They are 
 not, however, so particular when it comes to other 
 parts of the squab house or the next door neigh- 
 bor's nest box. 
 
 Your squab house floor, the nest bowls, the nest 
 boxes in fact every place where manure accumu- 
 lates, should be thoroughly scraped at least twice 
 each month. Once each week is not too often 
 if the weather will permit. On extremely cold days 
 it is not advisable to disturb your flock by entering 
 the squab house for the purpose of cleaning. Wait 
 until a warm day if possible. Cleaning in the winter 
 time can not, of course, be done with the same de- 
 gree of regularity as in the warmer periods of the 
 year. 
 
 25 
 
When you enter your squab house the majority 
 of your birds that are sitting on eggs or small 
 squabs will, in all probability leave their nests and 
 seek a perching place out in the flying pen. Don't 
 worry, they will come back as soon as you leave 
 the house and continue their household duties. Do 
 all your cleaning as promptly as possible, spending 
 as little time as possible in the squab house. If the 
 weather be extremely cold and you keep those that 
 are setting off of their eggs any great length of 
 time, the eggs will become chilled and will not 
 hatch as a result. 
 
 Scrapers of various designs and sizes are used for 
 cleaning both the floor, nest boxes and nest bowls. 
 It is much easier to remove pigeon manure which is 
 still slightly moist, than it is to remove it after it 
 becomes dry and hard. This you will discover to 
 your entire satisfaction after having tried both 
 ways. The scrapers most generally used for clean- 
 ing purposes are illustrated in this book, and can 
 be purchased of any squab company, hardware or 
 general store, or if you are of a mechanical turn 
 of mind one can be fashioned out of ordinary bits 
 of sheet iron. 
 
 The author has always used nest bowls in con- 
 nection with his own private experimental flock of 
 pigeons, for the very simple reason that it un- 
 questionably makes the cleaning portion of the 
 pigeon industry much more agreeable and not so 
 tiresome. If you use nest bowls in connection with 
 your nest boxes it is advisable to proceed as follows: 
 
 Some pairs of your pigeons will build a very large 
 nest, one that scarcely leaves them room to get in 
 and out of the nest box. Others appear to get along 
 with but a few bits of nesting material, in fact the 
 author has one exceptionally productive pair whose 
 nest, when completed to their entire satisfaction, 
 generally consists of about two short tobacco stems. 
 After the first egg is laid a little additional nesting 
 material is placed in the nest bowl of this parti- 
 cular pair of birds by hand. This pair never ap- 
 pears to object to having others than their imme- 
 diate family take part in the nest building, and pro- 
 ceed with the laying of the second egg, and the 
 hatching of both eggs in due time. 
 
 After the squabs are two weeks of age they 
 should be lifted from the nest for a few minutes 
 while you empty out all the nesting material in the 
 bowl and give it and the nest box a thorough scrap- 
 ing and cleaning. Place the cleaned nest bowl ba-^k 
 in the nest box and put back into the nest boAl 
 
 26 
 
the squabs you removed while doing the cleaning. 
 At two weeks of age the squabs are sufficiently- 
 developed and quite sturdy enough to not longer 
 demand any nesting material upon which to sit. 
 This is particularly true during the summer months^ 
 although putting into the nest bowl a small amount 
 of new fresh nesting material after you have 
 thoroughly cleaned the nest bowl, during extremely 
 cold weather, is not objectionable and assists in 
 keeping the youngsters warm and comfortable. If 
 you use the earthenware nest bowls you should not 
 attempt to act on this suggestion. It can only be 
 done with the wood and wood pulp bowls. The earth- 
 enware bowls are entirely too cold and damp. 
 
 After you have cleaned your nest bowls as in- 
 dicated above, and have placed the squabs back in 
 them, you will discover from that time on little if 
 any of the youngsters manure in the nest bowl. If 
 you observe closely you will notice that before 
 venting they will back up to the edge of the bowl 
 and deposit their droppings into the nest box around 
 the edges of the bowl. A circular pile of manure 
 will gradually accumulate and it is a simple and 
 easy matter to temporarily remove bowl and 
 squabs whenever desired and scrape out this ma- 
 nure, which is of course free from all foreign sub- 
 stances, and as you will see later on, is quite valu- 
 able and well worth saving. 
 
 Your water fountains should be scalded out oc- 
 casionally so that they are at all times sweet and 
 clean. .The board upon which you feed, or the 
 trough in which you feed, or the hopper in which 
 you feed must of course always be kept perfectly 
 clean. Occassionally stand them out in the sun. In 
 fact do all that is necessary tb keep your squab 
 house and the things that are in it as clean and 
 free from filth as it is possible to do, and in addi- 
 tion to this give your birds a bath every day the 
 weather permits. This is as a rule done outside in 
 the flying pen. You will find many specially ad- 
 vertised pigeon bath pans, all of which are good. 
 An old dish pan will serve the same purpose if you 
 do not wish to invest in the specially prepared ar- 
 ticle. Set the pan in the middle of your flying pen, 
 fill it with about 4 inches of water, retire from the 
 flying pen and in a mighty short period of time all 
 the birds in that particular house, who are not in- 
 side attending to domestic duties, will be exerting 
 every effort possible to either get into the pan of 
 water, or stand near the pan's edge and allow those 
 in the pan to shower them with the water as it is 
 
 27 
 
scattered about. Pigeons certainly enjoy taking a 
 bath, and as it greatly assists in keeping them free 
 from parasites of all kind, they should not be denied 
 a bath once each day the weather will permit. In 
 extremely cold weather they should not be given a 
 bath. Sometimes it is necessary to deny, them this 
 pleasure for a number of weeks owing to w^eather 
 conditions. They will only make a quicker rush for 
 the bath pans when given the opportunity after a 
 temporary let up. Bathing your birds is but little 
 trouble if the work is done in a systematic manner. 
 Fill the pans with water the last thing in the even- 
 ing, after the birds have gone inside the squab 
 house for the night. It will be there for them 
 early in the morning, and by the time you are up 
 and about they will have completed the bathing and 
 you can enter the flying pen, throw out the dirty 
 water still remaining in the bath pans, stand the 
 bath pan on edge some place inside the flying pen 
 where it will be handy for use again that evening. 
 
 TOOLS FOR CLEANING. 
 
 No. l^Hand scrapei' for cleaning out the nest boxes and 
 nest bowls. No. 2 — Floor chisel for sex-aping the floor of a 
 squab house. No. 3 — Insect sprayer used for spraying all 
 parts of the squab house, nest boxes, nest bowls, etc. No. 4 — 
 Galvanized bath pan. Sixteen inches wide. Not more than 4 
 Inches high. One pan for evei-y 15 pair of pigeons is recom- 
 mended. Nos. 5 and 6 — Nestbowls in nest boxes. 
 
 28 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KILLING. 
 
 Various Ways to Do It — Bletdiiig: and Dry Picking 
 the Best. 
 
 Squabs are killed when about four weeks old. 
 There are several ways of killing squabs prepara- 
 tory to sending them to market. In some localities 
 their necks are simply broken, their legs tied to- 
 gether, and they are shipped in bunches with the 
 feathers on. Some buyers of squabs will accept 
 them after their necks have been broken and they 
 have been scalded by being dipped in hot water and 
 the feathers removed. If you sell your squabs to 
 persons in your home town it will also no doubt be 
 necessary for you to remove their entrails. It is 
 essential therefore that you fully advise yourself 
 exactly how your customer wants his squabs killed 
 and dressed. 
 
 Bleeding and dry picking is the universal man- 
 ner in this section of the country in wliich squabs 
 are prepared for market. This is done by suspend- 
 ing the squab to be killed by his legs, locking back 
 the wings, and inserting a sharp knife into the 
 mouth of the squab and with an upward cutting 
 motion penetrate the brain of the squab. This cuts 
 the jugular vein and permits a free and uninter- 
 rupted flow of blood. It also loosens the feathers, 
 which should be plucked while the squab is still 
 hanging and the body yet warm. It is absolutely 
 essential that all animal heat be removed from 
 the body of the squab no matter in what manner it 
 may be killed. If squabs are packed or thrown to- 
 gether while yet warm with animal heat, they will 
 be ruined. After having bled and plucked a squab, 
 if the weather is not excessively hot, it may be al- 
 lowed to hang until entirely free of all animal heat, 
 or can be thrown into a tub of ice or cool spring 
 water. Squabs that you may ship to the larger 
 
 29 
 
centers have their heads and feet left on, and the 
 entrails are not drawn. 
 
 There are several ways of breaking a squab's 
 neck. Wringing its neck is frequently done, but care 
 must be exercised in doing this or the head will be 
 wrung from the body. If you take the neck of the 
 squab between the thumbs and first fingers of both 
 hands you can easily break a squab's neck by a 
 slight pressing and pulling motion, which causes in- 
 stant death. Some, use a machine for killing. A 
 very simple arrangement which can be put to- 
 gether in a few minutes. 
 
 KILLING MACHINE 
 
 It consists of two small pieces of board about one 
 inch thick, two inches wide, one being eighteen 
 inches long, the other about 14 inches long. Round 
 off one of the edges of each piece. These two 
 pieces are fastened together at the end by a small 
 strap hinge as indicated in the accompanying pic- 
 ture. Nail the lower strip to the side of a box. 
 The upper strip acts as a lever. Two small strips 
 at the unhinged end act as guides for the lever. 
 Place the neck of the squab on the lower piece of 
 wood and press down the upper piece, not too 
 severely. The neck of the squab will be broken 
 instantly. The two pieces of wood are rounded off 
 on the contact sides in order to prevent cutting 
 the flesh on the squab's neck. 
 
 30 
 
After you have killed a squab in this manner it is 
 best to pluck it at once, if it is to be plucked, and 
 then get the animal heat out of the body by either 
 allowing it to hang suspended over night or by 
 tossing it into cold water to remain until thoroughly 
 cooled. Care should be used not to allow squabs that 
 are being cooled to remain any place where they 
 may be reached by cats or rats. 
 
 The killing and preparing of squabs for market 
 is not a difficult or repulsive operation, and with a 
 little practice and the adoption of some well regu- 
 lated system, becomes but a small part of the squab 
 industry. In large plants where many squabs are 
 killed women or boys are employed to assist with 
 the plucking. 
 
 31 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BANDING. 
 
 How It Is Done and What It Is Done IVitli. 
 
 In order to know at all times the exact number of 
 squabs each pair of your breeders is producing it is 
 essential that you keep a record of the activities of 
 each pair. This information can not be carried in 
 one's head. It is well to know at all times just 
 what every pair of birds you have is doing. A pair 
 of birds that are producing but few squabs will eat 
 as much as a pair that is keeping well up 
 to the average. They will take up the room 
 which could be given to a productive pair. You 
 wish to know these facts, and there is but one way 
 to arrive at them. Every pair of birds in your squab 
 house should be banded on the leg with a number 
 band. If you have fifty pairs of breeders in one 
 house then the numbers should start with one and 
 end with fifty. The cock bird should be banded on 
 the right leg and the hen on the left leg. There are 
 a great many kinds and makes of pigeon leg bands. 
 There are several which are called the double num- 
 ber band. These are an aluminum band whicli comes 
 to you in a flat condition, but which you shape by 
 folding around a pencil or small piece of wood 
 about the size of a pencil. They are easily placed 
 upon the legs of the pigeon, and as each band has 
 the same number on it in two different places, and 
 the numbers are of a good size, it is an easy mat- 
 ter to read them at quite a distance. Pigeons that 
 you purchase from reputable squab and pigeon 
 companies will come to you already banded. The 
 bands are not as a rule, however, of the double or 
 single variety. They are simply a small aluminum 
 band which is placed on the birds to enable you to 
 tell the cocks from the hens when you receive them. 
 They are amply good for that purpose, but for the 
 purpose of keeping records of your birds are of lit- 
 tle value, as it is necessary to catch the actual 
 
 32 
 
bird and examine the small number on the band. 
 This takes a vast amount of time, and in addition 
 to that keeps your flock in a very wild state. It is 
 poor policy to be continually catching your pigeons. 
 
 The double or single number bands are not ex- 
 pensive, and a sufficient number to band 50 pairs 
 can be purchased from almost any squab or pigeon 
 company for about $1.25. Having your birds all 
 properly banded it is then necessary that you have 
 fifty small cards, one for each pair. Keep these 
 cards at some convenient place in the squab house. 
 Put the pair number at the top of the card. When 
 the second egg has been laid give that particular 
 pair credit for two eggs on the card. Mark down 
 the date laid. Seventeen days from that date the 
 squabs should be putting in an appearance. Make 
 a note of whether one or both eggs hatched on the 
 card. If you care to make a note of what disposi- 
 tion you made of the squabs later on, put that on 
 the card also. In fact write on the card anything 
 pertaining to that particular pair of birds which 
 may come to your notice. If you do this in six 
 months' time you will know exactly what may be 
 expected of every pair of birds in your house, and 
 if there be any poor workers their shortcomings 
 will have evidenced themselves amply by that time. 
 
 If you are going to save any of your young birds 
 it is of course very essential that you know who 
 their father and mother was. There are squab 
 bands as well as bands for the old birds. You can 
 purchase small numbered bands if you wish, but 
 the author has used exclusively in banding his 
 youngsters, and recommonds what is generally 
 termed the flat blank or open aluminum band. In 
 connection with the use of these bands it is neces- 
 sary for you to have a set of steel dies with num- 
 bers on them from 1 to 0. These dies can be pur- 
 chased at any hardware store, or from squab and 
 pigeon companies. AVe will say, for example, you 
 have a pair of youngsters about 4 weeks old out of 
 a pair of old birds that have proved wonderfully 
 hard working pigeons, and realizing, as you will, 
 that like begets like, you wish to save that pair of 
 squabs. The old pair of birds, are, we will say, No. 
 28. Take two of the open V-shaped blank flat 
 bands and place them on a smooth surface. At the 
 extreme left end of the band stamp the number 
 "28." That indicates the pair from which the 
 squabs were raised. The youngsters, we will say, 
 were born in February. In the middle of the band 
 stamp the number "2." That indicates the number 
 
 33 
 
of the month in the year in which the pair were 
 born. At the extreme right end of the band stamp 
 "16" if that happened to be the year in which they 
 were born. 
 
 Your band would then read "28 2 16." Shape the 
 band into a ring by using a round pencil, and then 
 re-open it sufficiently to admit of it being slipped 
 about the leg to the squab, after which, of course, 
 it should be pressed together again. In about 5 
 months from the time these young birds have been 
 placed in the rearing pen they will begin to mate 
 up with others of opposite sex in the same pen. 
 When you find a pair mated you can catch them 
 and by an examination of their bands you will know 
 exactly from what old pairs they came and the 
 month and year of their birth. You can then remove 
 the small bands and replace them with the double 
 number bands, provided of course they are mated up 
 to suit your wishes. You will then give them a 
 regular pair number and on their card you will 
 put the information about their parentage and 
 month and year of birth. In this manner you will 
 have a complete card index of every bird in your 
 house, and can absolutely prevent any inbreeding, 
 a subject which is dealt with further along in this 
 volume. 
 
 You no doubt will from time to time run across 
 persons who will tell you that banding your flock 
 is all foolishness, a waste of time, and that just as 
 good results can be obtained without bothering 
 about banding. The author absolutely disagrees 
 with any one making such a statement, unless of 
 course the flock be limited to a few pairs of dif- 
 ferent plumage, and no effort is made to increase 
 the number of birds. With flocks of any size, how- 
 ever, banding is the only manner in which you can 
 keep an accurate record of what each pair is doing 
 By the use of bands you can mighty quickly tell 
 whether you have a pair of birds who are not worth 
 the grain they consume, and can get rid of them. 
 
 DOUBLE NUMBER LEG BANDS. 
 
CHAPTER Vlir. 
 
 THE EEARIXG PEX. 
 
 How to Arrange It — IVlieii to Wean the Young. 
 
 If it is your intention to raise some of your young 
 birds witli the idea of adding to your flock, or of 
 selling them when they reach adult age, it is neces- 
 sary that you have a separate pen in which to 
 place them when they have reached the weaning 
 age. The rearing pen should be equipped In every 
 particular just as is your breeding pen. As your 
 youngsters grow they will become familiar with the 
 general arrangement of nest boxes, drinking foun- 
 tain and feeder, and when later on removed to the 
 breeding pen there is little delay in their going to 
 work. You will understand, of course, that it is 
 not absolutely necessary that rearing pen and 
 breeding pen be exactly alike in every particular, 
 but simply that it is better if such an arrangement 
 can be made. If you construct your own house, you 
 can make it of two units, one for breeders and one 
 for young stock, with but little more expense than 
 is necessary to construct a single unit. The author's 
 first rearing pen was a small portion of an old barn 
 loft, and he had excellent success with it, but since 
 building a modern unit house, in which every unit 
 is exactly alike, he finds the young birds go more 
 promptly to work after they have been mated up in 
 the rearing pen and are for the first time released 
 among the older birds. 
 
 Young birds should not be left among the old 
 birds in your breeding pen any great length of 
 time. Between six and seven weeks of age is a good 
 time to remove them and put them in the rearing 
 pen among the other young birds. They have by 
 that time learned to hustle for themselves and will 
 get along all right. At five weeks of age, you will 
 frequently find the old cock bird still willing to 
 give them an occasional meal, and as long as this 
 is the case it is best for them to remain among the 
 
 35 
 
old birds. They will get many a peck from the 
 older birds as soon as they leave their nest, which 
 is at about the age of five weeks. You will find 
 them aimlessly wandering about the floor of your 
 squab house, apparently getting in every other 
 pigeon's way, and in place of increasing in size ap- 
 parently getting smaller. Squabs for market are, 
 as has been previously stated, killed at the age of 
 about four weeks, just before they leave their nest. 
 Frequently at this time of their existence, they are 
 larger than their father or mother. For four weeks 
 they have sat quietly in their nest with their crops 
 bulging with grain, and their little bodies have be- 
 come plump and round. This condition rapidly 
 changes when they leave the nest. The parei^'^t 
 birds will, in all probability, have another nest with 
 eggs in it by this time, and they give but little at- 
 tention to the young birds. The cock bird appar- 
 ently does not so soon forget his off-spring as the 
 hen, and he will from time to time feed them. His 
 fatherly administrations begin to dwindle toward 
 the end of the fifth week and the young pigeon 
 must then hustle for himself, and in so doing he 
 meets with many rebuffs from the older pigeons, 
 just as it is among human beings. He grows thin 
 and rangy looking, as a consequence, and does not 
 become a thoroughly roundad out pigeon again, 
 until he has mastered the art of getting his share 
 of grain, grit, water, etc. 
 
 As a general rule young pigeons will begin ta 
 mate up with one another, at between the ages of 
 five and six months. Some will start sooner, but 
 not many. They are somewhat awkward, as well 
 as slow about the building of their first nest, and 
 the laying of the first setting of eggs, and in a great 
 many cases either one or both of the first eggs will 
 prove infertile. It has been found advisable, to 
 allow a young pair to hatch, and raise their first 
 setting of eggs before they are removed to the 
 breeding pen. They have more confidence in them- 
 selves by that time, and will apparently get off with 
 a better start, when first released with the older 
 birds. It may be necessary to destroy a setting of 
 their eggs, when they are removed, but if they are 
 the right kind of birds, and have had the proper 
 kind of attention, they will in all probability have 
 another set of eggs in their new home within 10 
 days or two weeks. Some times you will have a 
 nest in your breeding pen in which there may be 
 one egg, caused by some accident, and if it has b«en 
 laid within a day or two of the time the eggs of the 
 36 
 
young were laid, you can put one of the eggs of the 
 young pair in this nest, and thus save losing at least 
 one of the eggs. Of course, if you can find places 
 for both eggs, save them. Pigeons make no objec- 
 tion to having additional eggs put in their nest, and 
 will continue setting quite the same as if nothing 
 had happened. You can switch your eggs about 
 as much as you please, provided of course, the eggs 
 you put under one pair of birds were both laid 
 within a day or two of each other. Also, you should 
 not place a pair of eggs which have but recently 
 been laid, under a pair who have been setting for 
 a week or ten days. A few days one way or the 
 other, will make little difference, but after a pair 
 has been setting the necessary 17 days, and they 
 find their eggs are not hatching, they are very apt 
 and generally do, desert them and start building 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Sometimes it becomes necessary, rather than to 
 destroy an odd egg, to place it in a nest where 
 there are already two eggs, making a total of 
 three. This can also be done, and there is little 
 doubt, but that the pair in whose nest you have 
 placed the three eggs, \yill go right along taking 
 good care of them. If the three eggs hatch, and 
 you have another nest in your squab house, with 
 but a single squab in it of about the same size, 
 take one of the three and put it in the nest with 
 the single squab. Neither of the pairs of old birds 
 will complain about the decrease or addition to their 
 respective families, and you will get better results 
 than if you burden one pair with three youngsters 
 to feed and look after. The author has experi- 
 mented by placing four squabs in one nest. The 
 old birds will do the best they can with such a 
 large and unusual family, but it is both hard on 
 the old birds and the squabs, and should not be at- 
 tempted unless necessity absolutely demands. In 
 case of the death of a pair of old birds with squabs, 
 through some unlooked for happening, it sometimes 
 might become necessary. 
 
 37 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW TO TELL THE SEX. 
 
 It Can't Be Done By Examination— Only By Obser- 
 yation. 
 
 You cannot tell the sex of pigeons by catching 
 them, and making an examination of their bodies. 
 You might do so if you killed the pigeon and cut 
 it open, but it can't be done by any outside obser- 
 vation. There are, however, numerous ways in 
 which you can tell the cock bird from the hen bird, 
 but they must all be done by observation. It is 
 true that the bones at the vent of a female pigeon 
 are wider apart than they are on the male, but if 
 you should happen to catch two females one after 
 the other, or two males one after the other, for 
 examination this bit of informaion would prove of 
 no avail. If you knew for a certainty, that one 
 bird was a hen and the other a cock, this bit of 
 information could only be used to prove what you 
 already know. Birds which you purchase from 
 squab and pigeon companies, will in almost every 
 instance come to you properly banded, cocks with 
 bands on the right legs, and hens with bands on the 
 left legs. There is therefore no necessity for you 
 to worry yourself about the sex of your first lot of 
 old birds. It might well be said here in passing, 
 however, that it is a good thing for you when pur- 
 chasing pigeons from dealers, to absolutely demand 
 that they are both banded and mated. You would 
 hardly have to ask this of reputable concerns, but 
 like every other business, the one of selling pigeons 
 has its generous number of unscrupulous dealers. 
 When your young pigeons begin to mate up with 
 one another, watch them carefully whenever you 
 have the spare time. If you do you will witness 
 a number of things, which will quickly tell you 
 the cock bird from the hen. About the first thing 
 you will witness is the process termed billing. One 
 
 38 
 
of the birds will take the bill of the other one in- 
 side its bill and the two of them will go through 
 a sort of pumping process, very similar in every 
 respect to the motions you see when the older 
 birds feed their squabs. The bird that has its bill 
 inside the bill of the other is almost invariably the 
 hen. The other pigeon must, therefore, of neces- 
 sity be the cock. Occasionally, but not often, two 
 cocks will temporarily decide to make a fruitless 
 effort at mating. In that case you could tell noth- 
 ing about the sex by witnessing them billing. Such 
 occurrences are not frequent, however, and as a 
 general thing, the above rule holds good. 
 
 As a general rule, treading immediately follows 
 billing. It is presumed that the cock will tread 
 the hen, and not the hen the cock, but such is not 
 always the case. The cock as a rule treads the 
 hen first. Generally that ends the treading, but 
 not always. The hen will sometimes tread tlhe 
 cock in turn. If you have witnessed the billing 
 you can with a great amount of certainty pick the 
 cock bird, as he is generally the first to tread. 
 
 A cock bird as a rule does a vast amount of coo- 
 ing and strutting about the loft, and when making 
 advances to a hen pigeon, will drag his tail about on 
 the floor, ruffle up his neck feathers, and turn round 
 and round in an effort to attract the hen's attention 
 to his many superior qualities. A hen pigeon will 
 strut about and coo a bit at times, bui does not find 
 it necessary to turn around in a circle several 
 times in order to attract attention. She seldom 
 goes more than half way around. 
 
 It is a mighty easy matter to tell a cock pigeon 
 from a hen pigeon, after the first set of eggs have 
 been laid, and have been in the nest a couple or 
 three days. When y|ou enter your squab house 
 early in the morning, the pigeon that is sitting on 
 the nest at that time is the hen. Her time for 
 sitting on the eggs is not up until about 10 o'clock 
 in the morning, and unless she has been frightened 
 off when you enter the squab house, or by some one 
 else before you entered, she will be right where 
 she belongs. Catch her and band her on the left 
 leg. The other pigeon of that pair is of course the 
 cock. 
 
 It has been said that the surest way to tell the sex 
 of young birds, or for that matter old ones too, is to 
 watch them when they are driving one another 
 around the squab house or loft. The one being driven 
 
 39 
 
about is the hen, and the one doing the driving is 
 the cock. As a general rule this holds absolutely 
 true, but there are sometimes drivings going on in 
 your pens that tax your patience, to say nothing 
 of confusing you, especially a beginner. Sometimes 
 two cock birds will decide to mate up with the 
 same hen, and they will both proceed to make her 
 life somewhat miserable by driving her about. 
 That's possibly not so bad, for you can catch one 
 of the cocks, and remove him from the pen for a 
 few days, until he has changed his mind. Two 
 cocks will sometimes, however, take a sudden and 
 unexpected liking for each other, and go gala- 
 vanting around the squab house and flying pen, 
 even going so far as to build a nest and sit in it' 
 Lots of good it does- them, for of course, no eggs 
 put in an appearance. 
 
 When the author first started in the pigeon busi- 
 ness, he had unloaded upon him just such a pair 
 of birds. They billed, they treaded, they built nests 
 and they industriously sat in them, but as the 
 small boy says, "there was nothing doing." This 
 kept up for several months until one day a gentle- 
 man visited the loft and his attention was called 
 to this particular pair of birds. He was an ex- 
 perienced pigeon fancier and immediately surmised 
 the difficulty. As a result of his visit, the two 
 birds were taken from the loft and each one placed 
 in a mating coop with a young female. They both 
 mated up in a few days, with the hens which had 
 been provided for them, and when put back into the 
 loft began life all over again, but each with a dif- 
 ferent partner, and they billed, and they treaded 
 and they built nests, each in companv with his new 
 mate, and best of all both of the pairs had eggs 
 and raised squabs. So you see there is an excep- 
 tion to the rule about being able to tell the sex 
 from watching the birds drive. 
 
 Little can be told about the sex of pigeons by 
 witnessing any fights among them in your squab 
 house The cocks as a rule get into more arguments 
 "3^!' ^!l ^^}^ ^^^"s. A beginner may experience some 
 ditticulty in applying all of the above general rules 
 but within a short time he should and will be able 
 to tell the cocks from the hens, by watching them 
 but a minute or two when they are active about 
 the squab house or flying pen.. 
 
 40 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 PIGEOJf PECULIARITIES. 
 
 Many Valuble Points About Tlieir Habits. 
 
 You will find as you go along in the pigeon busi- 
 ness there are many things you can do with your 
 birds, which at first will appear out of the ques- 
 tion, and foolish to attempt. Pigeons once mated 
 to one another, will remain so indefinitely, if they 
 are left together in the same pen. The hen takes 
 unto herself a cock and the cock takes unto himself 
 a hen, and that ends it, unless human beings decide 
 to interfere. Two or three roosters is sufficient for 
 a small flock of chickens. In raising pigeons, how- 
 ever, you must have one cock for every hen. An 
 excess of cocks or an excess of hens in your breed-* 
 ing pen will cause you no end of trouble and ex- 
 pense. Particularly is this true of extra cocks. 
 One or two odd cocks in a pen of working pigeons 
 will be continually fighting with cocks already 
 mated in an effort to steal that particular cock's 
 hen. Nests will be destroyed, nest bowls upset, eggs 
 knocked out upon the floor and broken and many a 
 young squab but recently born will be trampled to 
 death. Enough squabbling occasionally takes place 
 among evenly mated pairs without adding to the 
 difficulty by having any odd birds to join in. Keep 
 nothing but evenly mated pairs of birds in your 
 breeding pen. The youngsters you may be saving, 
 and who are only 5 or 6 weeks old, will not cause 
 any trouble among the older birds, except to take 
 up room and apparently get in every other bird's 
 way. You will be removing them soon, however. 
 
 Suppose you possess a fine pair of Homers or 
 Carneaux and you are particularly anxious to get 
 as many of their young in one year as it is possible 
 to raise. The average number of squabs raised in 
 one year by a working pair of good Homers or Car- 
 neaux is somewhere between seven and nine pairs. 
 
 41 
 
You can increase this number by a little manipula- 
 tion of the eggs of any particular pair. Having de- 
 cided upon the pair from which you desire to raise 
 as many squabs as possible, wait the time until the 
 second egg of. any particular setting has been laid. 
 Look up your cards and find another pair of birds 
 who have laid their second egg within a day or two 
 of the same time. Take these two eggs and destroy 
 them. Take the two eggs from the nest of the pair 
 you are anxious to raise the additional squabs from, 
 and put them in the nest where the eggs were which 
 you have destroyed. In due time they will of course 
 be hatched out by their foster parents. The fine 
 pair of birds will lay two more eggs within the next 
 ten days or two weeks. Go through exactly the 
 same process again, taking their eggs away from 
 them and placing them under some other pair. In 
 
 No. 1 —Eggs in nest. 
 
 No, 2— Squabs just born. 
 
 No. 3— Squabs two weeks old. 
 
 No. 4— Squabs three weeks old. 
 
 No. 5— Squabs four weeks old. 
 Ready to kill. 
 
 42 
 
ten days to two weeks your fine pair will again lay 
 two eggs. Allow them to sit upon and hatch out 
 this third setting of eggs and raise the squabs to 
 weaning age. As soon as another setting of eggs 
 has been laid you can again begin your process of 
 removing the eggs and placing them elsewhere. Al- 
 low them to sit on every third setting of eggs, if 
 you do not they might become discouraged and stop 
 laying entirely for a time. Anyhow they are en- 
 titled to occasionally enjoy the pleasures of mother- 
 hood and fatherhood. 
 
 You may not find it necessary every time to de- 
 stroy two eggs of some other pair in order to ac- 
 commodate the change you contemplate. Possibly 
 from time to time you can find a pair of birds in 
 your squab house with only one egg in the nest, 
 and provided this egg was laid within a day or two 
 of the time the eggs you contemplate destroying 
 were laid you can place an additional one in that 
 nest. Birds that have only one egg make no 
 objection whatever to having an additional 
 egg put in their nest. As a matter of fact 
 they will go right on with their setting if they re- 
 turn to their nest and find two additional eggs, 
 three in all. If all three eggs hatch they will do 
 their best to raise the large and unusual family. 
 Through unlocked for mishaps the author has had 
 as many as four small squabs in one pair's nest at 
 the same time. 
 
 You can exchange eggs from one pair to another 
 just as much as you please provided always, of 
 course, that all eggs so exchanged have all been 
 laid within one or two days of each other. It is 
 hardly fair to put two newly laid eggs under a pair 
 of birds that have been sitting, we will say, for two 
 weeks, and expect them to go ahead and sit all the 
 additional time which would be required for them to 
 hatch out the new eggs. They, in all probability, 
 wouldn't do it anyhow and would probably become 
 discouraged and desert the nest and its eggs. If 
 eggs upon which a pair of birds have sat for the 
 necessary 17 days do not hatch within a day or two 
 of the proper time, instinct seems to tell the 
 pigeons that the eggs are infertile and they soon 
 desert them. Something about infertile eggs is 
 told you later on in this volume. 
 
 Frequently you will find that one of the squabs 
 in a nest is apparently not making the progress 
 the other is. He is being cheated out of his propor- 
 tion of the food furnished by his father and mother. 
 His nest mate is in all probahility a little the 
 43 
 
stronger squab of the two and crowds the weaker 
 squab to one side when the older birds fly to the 
 nest to feed. You cannot, however, lay the blame 
 upon the apparently stronger squab in every case 
 of this kind. The older birds will sometimes, for 
 some absolutely unaccountable reason, show^ parti- 
 ality themselves, and feed one squab more than 
 they do the other. When you discover a condition 
 of this kind hunt around your squab house a bit 
 and see if you can't make a change of some kind. 
 Possibly you will find a nest with but one squab 
 in it and that squab the same size as one of those 
 in the nest where your trouble exists. Place in 
 the nest with the single squab the squab from the 
 other nest which nearest equals his size. Again you 
 may discover another nest in which there are two 
 squabs, one of which is apparently getting the best 
 of the feeding argument. Make a change here by 
 placing the two small squabs in one nest and the 
 two larger ones in the other nest. 
 
 You can switch squabs about with as much cer- 
 tainty as you can eggs. The older birds seem to care 
 little about the new make-up of their family, and 
 will generally go right ahead just as if nothing had 
 been done to their original household arrangements. 
 This information is of great value to any beginner, 
 and if ^he is familiar with these facts at the begin- 
 ning, he will save many an egg and squab which 
 would ordinarily be lost. 
 
 Here is another piece of very valuable informa- 
 tion: The first egg laid by a pair of pigeons gen- 
 erally contains the germ which when incubated the 
 necessary seventeen days will turn out to be a male 
 squab. The second egg generally turns out a fe- 
 male squab. It must not be assumed that this rule 
 holds absolutely true and that every pair of eggs 
 laid will result in one male and one female, nor 
 that the first egg laid is always the egg in which 
 the male will develop. In about every seven 
 cases out of ten, however, the first egg will contain 
 the male squab and the second the female. Also 
 as a general rule, whether they come in the order 
 named or not, one of the squabs is a male and the 
 other a female. Sometimes both squabs will prove 
 to be males and sometimes both females, but not 
 as a rule and generally they are of opposite sex. 
 
 The information about the first egg containing 
 the male squab is of great value if it is desired to 
 raise more hens than cock pigeons or more cock 
 pigeons than hen pigeons. You do this in this man- 
 
 44 
 
ner. We will assume you are anxious to raise a 
 surplus number of hens. As the first eggs are laid 
 in the various nests mark them in some manner 
 with a pencil. The second eggs will appear after 
 an interval of one day. Put two of the eggs you have 
 marked with the pencil in one nest and two of the 
 eggs which are unmarked, which will be the second 
 eggs laid, in another nest. Be sure and note the 
 changes on your record cards so you can kill and 
 sell the two supposed cocks and save the two sup- 
 posed hens when they reach killing age. It is sim- 
 ple and very easily done and will very greatly in- 
 crease the number of hens or cocks as desired. 
 
 From what has been said regarding the moving 
 of eggs and squabs, one should not gather the im- 
 pression that you can move the nest and eggs, or 
 the nest and squabs, of any particular pair of birds,, 
 about the squab house and expect the old birds to 
 continue to look after this nest and its contents no 
 matter where you place it. Such a thing cannot 
 be done. You can change their eggs and change 
 their squabs apparently as much as you like, but 
 you cannot change the location of their nest and 
 expect them to follow it. 
 
 Occasionally you will run across a pair of birds 
 that will greatly tax your patience by building their 
 nest upon the floor or upon the top of the nest 
 boxes, in place of in them, in fact most any place 
 other than in the boxes you have provided for nest- 
 ing purposes. This will frequently occur even 
 though your squab house has been provided with a 
 surplus of nest boxes. It is impossible to com- 
 pletely satisfy the demands of some pigeons. It is 
 not an unusual thing to find a pair of birds who 
 will insist upon laying their second setting of eggs 
 right in the same nest box with their squabs, who 
 are probably not more than two to three weeks of 
 age. With young squabs in the nest the old birds 
 are not given mu?h opportunity to carry additional 
 nesting material into this nest. What little they do 
 carry is generally thrown out upon the floor by 
 the squabs. You cannot possibly provide against 
 such contingencies as this. 
 
 An occasional nest upon the floor of your house 
 or upon the top of your nest boxes is not objection- 
 able, and rather than run the risk of losing the 
 eggs, nests of this kind had best be left alone. You 
 can clean up that particular spot pretty thoroughly 
 after the squabs have been removed or killed, and 
 no serious harm will have resulted from the trans- 
 action. 
 
 45 
 
In case a pair of birds lay eggs in the same nest 
 with the squabs it is of course best to change this 
 situation if possible. The eggs might hatch, or 
 they might get crushed by the squabs which is far 
 more of a certainty. A good plan is this. If there 
 be an empty nest to the right or left of the nest in 
 which the eggs have been laid with the squabs, put 
 the squabs in that nest. They will be close enough 
 to the old birds so they can hear their cries for 
 food, and they will take just as good care of them 
 as before. 
 
 Pigeons appear to have quite a habit of doing 
 just the opposite at times from what you expect 
 them to do. As a rule, after having built their 
 first nest in a squab house a pair is very apt, from 
 that time forward, to build all of their nests in 
 nest boxes within a few feet of the point where 
 they built their first nest. This rule is subject to 
 change upon the part of the birds without notice. 
 They may suddenly decide to build a nest in en- 
 tirely another section of the squab house. This 
 may prove only a temporary move, and for a year 
 thereafter they may build quite close to the origin- 
 al nest box, in fact in it as often as possible. 
 
 Some breeders advocate the use of double nest 
 boxes in order to overcome this habit of the birds, 
 and also the occasional habit they have of laying 
 eggs in with their squabs. A double nest box is 
 nothing more than a nest box which is twice as 
 wide as the single box, and has no partition in the 
 middle. An orange crate with the center partition 
 knocked out would be a double nest box. It is 
 argued that by using this style box there is ample 
 room at all times for two nest bowls in the same 
 box, if you happen to use, nest bowls, and of 
 course always room for two nests. The birds in 
 this case would naturally have room for squabs in 
 one side of the box and eggs in the other. The 
 plan no doubt has some merit, and no possible ob- 
 jection can be offered to its use. If you can get 
 your birds to feel the same way as you do about it, 
 it is all right. The author's experiments along this 
 line were not particularly satisfactory. The pigeons 
 still nested exactly where it suited them. Theo- 
 retically it is an excellent idea, but practically it 
 •does not result in much improvement. You cannot 
 make pigeons occupy a nest box for which in its 
 own mind it has some slight, possibly only tem- 
 porary, dislike. 
 
 Pigeon eggs are not sold by the dozen as Is the 
 case with chicken eggs. Squab and pigeon com- 
 46 
 
panics frequently receive letters from persons un- 
 familiar with this fact who ask for prices on 
 pigeon eggs. Pigeons only sit upon eggs they have 
 laid, or think they have laid themselves. You can- 
 not take a pair of pigeons who temporarily for one 
 reason or another have no eggs, put two eggs in any 
 certain nest, and either by force or persuasion com- 
 pel that pair of pigeons to sit on them. There is 
 one thing right along this line, however, which 
 you can do, and it might be to your advantage to 
 know it. Occasionally, not often, however, you may 
 run across a pair of pigeons who will do everything 
 really industrous pigeons should do except that the 
 hen pigeon will not lay any eggs. In this case it 
 is a pretty sure thing that the hen pigeon is what 
 is termed barren. She probably never will lay any 
 eggs. A pair of pigeons of this character will gen- 
 erally build a very presentable sort of a nest, and 
 the hen will spend much time sitting upon it. When 
 they have reached this stage of their domestic re- 
 lations you can, if you wish, take two eggs from 
 some other nest and place them in the nest of this 
 pair. They will generally welcome the arrival of 
 the eggs, and show their true appreciation by sit- 
 ting on them just as diligently as if they were 
 their own. The author has read of cases, although 
 he has never experienced the occurrence himself, 
 where an apparently barren hen has bsen put on an 
 egg producing basis by putting but one egg under 
 her. It seems that such an act is presumed to get 
 her mind on what is expected, and that within 48 
 hours she will lay another egg. Most writers 
 about pigeons seem to agree that egg laying is a 
 sort of mental process upon the part of the hen 
 pigeon. It is very true she will not lay until she 
 gets good and ready, and has everything arranged 
 to suit her. The prompt arrival of the second egg 
 is good evidence of this fact. It is a very rare 
 occurrence to find an egg in the crate in which 
 pigeons have been shipped, even a very long dis- 
 tance, and yet undoubtedly many of the hen pigeons 
 in the shipment had thoughts of laying when 
 started on their trip. 
 
 If at any time you purchase a number of pairs 
 of pigeons from some responsible dealer who has 
 guaranteed to send you mated pairs, you must not 
 have a feeling of antagonism toward that person 
 if after your receive your birds and they have been 
 released in your squab house, you find them mating 
 up differently from what they should according to 
 their band numbers. A few pairs of pigeons ship- 
 47 
 
ped all together in the same coop would in all 
 probability reach their point of destination still 
 mated as they were when shipped. In large ship- 
 ments, however, it is customary to divide the cocks 
 from the hens, placing so many of each in certain 
 coops, and marking the coops in such manner as 
 to indicate to you upon their receipt which coop 
 of cocks goes with a certain coop of hens. Some 
 breaking up in matings is positively bound to oc- 
 cur. For this reason the author suggests in the 
 purchase of pigeons for squab hreeding purposes, 
 that the purchaser of course demand that all birds 
 shall be properly mated and banded when shipped 
 to him. but that no number bands be placed on any 
 of the birds except the cocks. With an even num- 
 ber of hens and cocks a few changes in mates is 
 of no consequence, and as rapidly as a pair build 
 and lay eggs the hen can be caught and a number 
 band corresponding to that of her mate be put on 
 her leg. The bands to be used for the hens can 
 be sent you by mail. The bands referred to here 
 are of course what is styled the double or single 
 number colored aluminum bands spoken of prev- 
 iously. Few dealers furnish these bands with their 
 birds without extra cost. If you do not specify 
 and pay the additional amount for colored number- 
 ed bands your birds will come to you with the 
 small aluminum open bands on their legs. They 
 are all right for telling the sex of pigeons, but of 
 little use if you contemplate keeping a record of 
 your flock. You can stamp numbers on them, but 
 they cannot be seen without catching the bird. 
 
 iSolid colored birds are not particularly well 
 adapted for squab raising purposes. This may ap- 
 pear peculiar to a beginner but it is nevertheless 
 true. This statement applies more particularly to 
 the Homer than to the Carneau. If you desire to 
 own a few pairs of solid colored Homers just be- 
 cause of the beauty of the birds, well and good, 
 but do not expect either many or large squabs. If 
 you do you will be disappointed. Size has been 
 sacrificed for color in the breeding of solid colored 
 birds. Some of the liomliest colored hvMs the 
 author has ever seen or possessed, proved by far the 
 best squab breeders, while quite the reverse was 
 true of birds with strikingly handsome plumage 
 of but one color. If you are in the squab business 
 for profit, it is results you are after. You want 
 squabs which will weigh 9 pounds and over to the 
 dozen. The person to whom you sell your product 
 direct, or the firm to whom you ship will care 
 48 
 
nothing about the color of the squabs feathers, or 
 whether its parents were solid colored pigeons or 
 largely resembled a piece of coal with a sprinkling 
 of snow. He will demand that the squabs be white 
 meated, plump and tender. The meat on a squab 
 from a snow white pigeon is no whiter than is 
 that on a squab from a variegated colored bird. 
 
 Occasionally you may run across what is termed 
 a dark meated squab. The fault lies with the old 
 birds. There is bad blood in them, and it is best 
 to get rid of the pair immediately. The ordinary 
 barn loft, or common pigeon, is largely given to the 
 production of dark skinned squabs. Squabs of this 
 character are bought, but at a very low price. If 
 you purchase your breeding stock from reputable 
 concerns you will not be bothered with many dark 
 skinned squabs. If one should put in an appear- 
 ance you will be able to tell it promptly without 
 further advice on the subject. 
 
 Pigeons as a rule are a hardy lot. Beginners 
 are very skeptical regarding the ability of a newly 
 born pair of squabs to live. It is true they do not 
 convey to one a sense of great recuperative power 
 the first day they break forth from their shell. 
 The slightest touch of a human hand would ap- 
 parently put an immediate end to their earthly 
 career. And yet such is far from the truth. They 
 are mighty sturdy little bits of flesh and bone, and 
 are apparently able to put up with much handling 
 and rough usage. It is true if they are left un- 
 protected in a nest just after their advent into this 
 vv^orld, and the day be a blustery and cold one, 
 they will eventually freeze. But they are not left 
 that way. For the first few days of their existence 
 the parent birds sit upon them quite as attentively 
 as they did upon the eggs. In cold weather the old 
 birds keep the youngsters warm and comfortable 
 by nestling over them almost continuously, or at 
 least until they are well feathered out, and have 
 sufficient strength to resist the cold themselves. 
 
 Breeders successfully operate large squab plants 
 in parts of the country where the thermometer 
 gets many degrees below the zero point. Again 
 the hottest sections of the country apparently have 
 no effect upon the breeding proclivities of pigeons. 
 In extremely cold climates better results can no 
 doubt be secured in the winter time by slightly 
 heating the squab house. The author lives in a 
 climate where the mercury drops down to zero for 
 certain periods of time during the winter months. 
 He has experimented with heated squab houses 
 
 49 
 
and with unheated squab houses, and can't say- 
 there is much in favor of one over the other. A 
 heated squab house helps some, but it is doubtful 
 whether the number of squabs that might have 
 frozen had the house not been heated, will pay for 
 the coal, oil or gas consumed in the heating. 
 Squabs can be successfully raised in any kind of 
 a climate, and if you can afford to heat your squab 
 house enough to take off a little of the chill in 
 terribly cold weather your net results would be 
 better. Whether they would pay the heating bill, 
 is another question. If you have a squab house free 
 from drafts and dampness, you have done your part, 
 and the birds will do theirs. 
 
 The molting season for pigeons is in the fall. 
 Along about September some of the birds begin to 
 shed their old feathers. Not all pigeons molt at 
 the same time. While some begin in September, 
 others do not start until October, and some do not 
 finish their molting until November. All your 
 flock will not molt at the same time. During' the 
 time pigeons are molting eggs are not as plentiful, 
 and you must anticipate a slight falling off in your 
 product during those few months. The arrange- 
 ment, however, is far from an unsatisfactory one. 
 The prices being paid for squabs during September 
 and October is never as high as it is two months 
 later. After pigeons have passed through theiV 
 molt and have their new coat of feathers, they 
 apparently take on renewed activity, and are back 
 at their maximum capacity just at the time when 
 squab prices are advancing. A really satisfactory 
 condition of affairs. 
 
 Pigeons when molting sit around a good deal, 
 and show but little interest in life. A little change 
 in their diet. A little more hemp. A little tonic in 
 their drinking water, such as a tablespoon full of 
 common household vinegar, three or four times a 
 week, helps them wonderfully. Use common sense, 
 that's all. If you were feeling kind of dumpy and 
 out of sorts you would be demanding a change in 
 your diet. Pigeons confined within the four walls 
 of a squab house and flying pen are unable to get 
 for themselves the things which nature may have 
 provided on the outside. You must be the one to 
 furnish them. 
 
 A point to keep in mind at all times is this- 
 Never have more than an even number of pairs of 
 birds in your squab house. No odd hens or cocks 
 should be permitted to be among your working 
 
 50 
 
flock. Trouble, and lots of it, is sure to follow 
 such a policy. Odd cocks create no end of trouble 
 in a squab house by continually forcing their at- 
 tentions on hens already mated up. Odd hens are 
 not so bad as odd cocks, but they, too, cause discord, 
 and it is far better to have every pigeon in your 
 squab house mated. Overturned nests, broken 
 €ggs and crushed squabs will be few and far be- 
 tween if this piece of advice is followed. If you 
 have any doubts about it, experiment for yourself. 
 You will soon be convinced, although the experi- 
 ment will prove a costly one. 
 
 A MULTIPLE UNIT HOUSE. 
 
 The above photograph is of house No. 3 on the farm of 
 The Indiana Squab Company, at Terre Haute. Indiana. It is 
 built after the specifications contained in this book, being 100 
 feet long, and divided into 10x12 foot units inside with 10x20 
 foot flying pens outside. A three foot passageway extends 
 the entire length of the building at the rear of the units. All 
 feeding and watering is done from this passageway. There are 
 several houses of this kind at this company's plant, all exactly 
 alike except one, which is 140 feet long. 
 
 51 
 
YxVRIOUSLY CONSTRUCTED SQUAB PLANTS. 
 
 The photographs reproduced above should quickly convince 
 you that an expensively constructed squab house and flying 
 pen is not a positive necessity. All of the above pictures are 
 of successful and paying plants, except the one at the top left 
 hand corner. The Indiana Squab Company, of Terre Haute, 
 Indiana, began business in that old barn loft. It is no longer 
 used as a squab plant. 
 
 52 
 
VARIOUSLY CONSTRUCTED SQUAB PLANTS. 
 
 Above are a few more inexpensively conetructed squjrxb 
 plants. Like those on the preceding page all are successful 
 and money makers. The one pictured in the lower left hand 
 corner is the experimental plant of the author of this book. 
 It is a two unit house constructed in accordance with the 
 specifications contained in this volume. 
 
 53 
 
(HAPTEK XI. 
 
 MATING. 
 
 Jfatural and Forced Mating and How to Proce3d — 
 The 3Iating Coop. 
 
 Pigeons are mated in two ways. One way is 
 termed natural mating and the other forced mating. 
 Inbreeding, a subject which is discussed a little 
 further on, is apt to occur in the case of natural 
 matings. Such a thing is impossible in the case of 
 forced matings, provided, of course, you have band- 
 ed your youngsters when they were two or three 
 weeks old, showing from which pair of old birds 
 they originated. 
 
 Natural mating takes place among pigeons when 
 a number of fhem, both cocks and hens, are turned 
 together in one pen. Each will then seek out the 
 bird of its choice. This holds true whether the 
 birds be youngsters just reaching the mating age, 
 or whether they are birds of mature years. If you 
 have a rearing pen full of young birds which you 
 have been saving, you will find them beginning to 
 mate up at about 5 months of age. When you find 
 a pair of young birds driving or with eggs, they 
 should both he caught and their parentage ascer- 
 tained from the bands on their legs. The sex of 
 each bird should have previously been determined. 
 You have been advised how to do that. If you find 
 upon examination of their bands they are not 
 brother and sister, and you are satisfied to permit 
 them to continue life together, now is the time to 
 remove the open bands whi(ih you placed on their 
 legs when they were babies, and replace them 
 with the single or double numbered leg bands. The 
 cock bird is, of course, banded on the right leg 
 and the hen on the left. They are now ready to be 
 turned into the pen with the older birds, and will 
 begin to build and lay eggs within ten days or two 
 weeks. It is possibly more adrisable, however, ta 
 
 54 
 
I 
 
 put them, back into the rearing pen. and permit 
 them to hatch and raise their first set of squabs. 
 They will be more experienced and better able to 
 take care of themselves when put in with the old 
 birds if this is done. 
 
 If you catch a pair of young birds and find upon 
 an examination of their leg bands that they are 
 brother and sister, then in that case, that particular 
 mating should be broken up. If left to continue 
 their life together as brother and sister you have 
 a pure case of inbreeding, which is not at all de- 
 sired. It is not a difficult matter to break up a 
 mated pair of this character. You should have in 
 your pigeon house at all times two or three small 
 boxes. Orange or egg crates for example. Knock 
 out the center partion, and nail a few lath across 
 the front of the box. Arrange one of the lath so 
 it can be removed at will. These are your mating 
 coops Into one of these coops put either the cock 
 or the hen of the pair which you desire to break 
 up, putting the other bird back into the rearing 
 pen. Now catch another youngster of mating age, 
 of course of opposite sex from the pigeon you put 
 in the mating coop. Put this bird into the mating 
 coop with the other pigeon. 
 
 MATING COOP. 
 
 The one pictured here is made from, an empty grape fruit 
 crate. The center panel has been removed and replaced with 
 removable lath. The photograph best explains exactly how 
 it is arranged. Mating coops such as this serve the purpose 
 splendidly, and cost practically nothing. 
 
 55 
 
Hang a couple of tin cups upon the lath in front 
 of the mating coop. One for water and one for 
 grain. A cock and a hen pigeon left together in a 
 coop of this character for three days will as a rule 
 mate up with one another, and remain so. This is 
 not always the case however, and you should watch 
 the birds in your mating coop very closely from the 
 time you put them together. They may begin to 
 pe2k and fight one another at once, or the arrange- 
 ment may work out just as you had hoped. Fight- 
 ing at first may result in complete understanding 
 in the end, and indifference at first may result in 
 much fighting. Pigeon nature like that of humans, 
 is not all alike. If the pair start off by fighting 
 separate them at once, placing one bird in one coop 
 by itself and the other bird in another coop. Keep 
 them separated for a day or two, and then put them 
 together again. Results will in all probability be 
 satisfactory. If not you had best release the second 
 bird you placed in the coop and try your success 
 with some other youngster. As a rule you will 
 find the birds will mate up without much difficulty, 
 but you will ocasionally run across a case which 
 will tax your patience to some extent. 
 
 Many breeders divide their mating coops into 
 two parts with a slat partition. They place one 
 bird on one side of the coop and one on the other. 
 In this manner the two birds can see each other 
 and carry on such pigeon conversation as they may 
 deem necessary, but cannot get together. They are 
 left in this situation for a couple of days, and then 
 one or two of the dividing slats is removed, and 
 the birds permatted to come together. By quietly 
 watching them you can tell in a very few minutes 
 whether they are going to mate up or not. The 
 divided mating coop is possibly the best arrange- 
 ment, and is a very simple and inexpensive article 
 to build. No definite size or shape is necessary. 
 The one illustrated in this book is made from an 
 empty orange crate, and many a pair of birds have 
 solemnly sworn to love, honor and obey each other 
 within its confines. 
 
 It is quite possible to take any two pairs of your 
 older birds, and completely reverse their family re- 
 lationship by the use of the mating coop. You can 
 take the cock of one pair and the hen of another 
 and by the use of the coop cause both of them to 
 entirely forget their former family ties. This is 
 not particularly a good thing to do, but nevertheless 
 it sometimes is advisable. Occasionally you will 
 
 56 
 
find two pairs of older birds that are not doing as 
 well as the rest in your house. By breaking them 
 up, and remating them you will in all probability 
 improve both pairs. 
 
 It is not advisable to turn into a pen of working 
 pigeons a number of new pairs which you may have 
 acquired by purchase. Not more than a pair or 
 two at a time should be released. It is far better 
 to put every pair of new birds purchased into 
 mating coops for a day or two after their receipt, 
 if such a thing is possible. This does not of course 
 apply to a purchase of pigeons wiiich are all to be 
 released at the same time in a new house. A pair 
 or two of strange pigeons turned into a pen of 
 birds which are busily at work will cause con- 
 siderable commotion for a time. 
 
 57 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INBREEDING. 
 
 How to Prevent It— Not a Preyalent Pigeon Trait — 
 Fidelity of Pigeons. 
 
 It hardly seems necessary to say anything on 
 the subject of inbreeding and yet questions are 
 of daily occurrence, and many of them quite foolish. 
 If two squabs of the same parents born at the 
 same time prove to be cock and hen, and reach 
 mating age and mate with each other; that is a case 
 of inbreeding. If a pigeon born in 1912 mates up 
 with a pigeon born in 1920, and they are both either 
 son or daughter of the same old pair of birds, that 
 is inbreeding. The crossing of any member of any 
 family with any other member of the same family 
 at any time no matter when, is inbreeding. 
 
 A little inbreeding now and then is of no great 
 consequence. A continuation of it, however, would 
 result in greatly reducing the size and productive 
 power of your birds. If inbreeding was as dan- 
 gerous as some attempt to make one believe, 
 pigeons would soon become a scarce article in this 
 world. There is but little inbreeding among pigeons 
 who are permitted to choose their own mates. A 
 pair of squabs born in the same nest are apt to 
 hang together for a considerable length of time 
 after having been placed in the rearing pen. It 
 is company they seek, not matrimony, and as they 
 near the mating age their friendship for one other 
 gradually dwindles until they are quite as ready 
 to fight with each other as with other birds in the 
 pen. Being somewhat human they as a rule place 
 their heart at the feet of others than members of 
 their own family. 
 
 Do not allow inbreeding to cause you any sleep- 
 less nights, or days of worry. You will not be 
 bothered with many cases, and as has been shown 
 it is a very easy matter to stop any such cases 
 which may come under your immediate observa- 
 tion. 
 
 58 
 
Many writers are given to the writing of beauti- 
 fully worded tributes about the fidelity of pigeons. 
 The love making of two pigeons is an interesting 
 and beautiful thing to witness. They do remain 
 pretty faithful to one another throughout their 
 lives, if left alone. Their love for one another will 
 last, however, only so long as they are permitted to 
 remain together. Separation; the introduction of 
 another cock or hen and your much talked of fidel- 
 ity is a shattered idol. They do not pine their lives 
 away over lost mates. They promptly hunt out 
 another, and forget the past. Also you will dis- 
 cover as you go along in the pigeon industry that 
 domestic faithfulness among some pigeons is not 
 quite the dominant trait some writers attempt to 
 make it. The author loves pigeons. He loves to be 
 among them, and work with them, but he has 
 worked with them long enough and hard enough 
 to know them and their many peculiarities, and 
 therefore cannot give them, as a whole, a true bill 
 on domestic fidelity. 
 
 As this book has to do entirely with squab breed- 
 ing pigeons, it can truthfully be said that mating 
 your pigeons up one with another because their 
 plumage is of the same color, is bad practice. Birds 
 which are continually being mated as to color do 
 not produce as large squabs as birds of opposite 
 color. Pay absolutely no attention to the color of 
 the birds' plumage. What you are after in the squab 
 industry is big squabs and many of them. You will 
 not acquire many large ones if you continually 
 worry over the color of the older birds feathers. 
 The big squab breeders in this country, when they 
 send in an order for breeding stock, never mention 
 the color of the adult birds' feathers, unless it be 
 to say they do not want any solid colors, such as 
 whites and yellows. They want prolific stock, not 
 show birds, and so do you, if you wish to succeed. 
 Have a few pairs of birds mated up according to 
 color if you wish, just for the sake of their beauty, 
 but if you are after big squabs and lots of them, 
 get the color idea entirely out of your head. 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PIGEO> AILMENTS. 
 
 Canker tlie Most Common, a Result of Filth, 
 
 The most common disease among pigeons is 
 canker. This disease comes entirely as a result of 
 poor food, filthy water and unclean and damp 
 squab houses. Canker forms in the throat and 
 mouth of a pigeon. If you open their bill you will 
 find a yellow looking mass of matter. It is not a 
 contagious disease. It cannot be given by one pigeon 
 to another pigeon, but every pigeon in your flock 
 can get canker from the same source. The author 
 knows of no disease that will run through a flock 
 of pigeons, as is the case with chickens. 
 
 You will not often find a case of canker among 
 pigeons which fiy at large, nor will you find a case 
 of canker among any pigeons which are confined, 
 provided they are having the proper food, water and 
 the attention which they rightfully deserve. Canker 
 therefore is a disease which occurs with pigeons 
 who are unfortunate enough to be confined, and at 
 the same time suffer the misfortune of not having 
 proper attention. 
 
 A case of canker in your flock is a splendid in- 
 dication that something is wrong with the feed, wa- 
 ter or your cleaning arrangements, and the cause 
 should be hunted out at once. Don't get excited 
 and don't worry. Find the cause and remove it. 
 Also remove the bird with the canker. Kill it if you 
 wish although that is not at all necessary. Turn 
 it loose and let is hustle for itself for a while. The 
 chances are it will begin to show improvement the 
 minute it has to hustle for a living. If it eventually 
 flies away you would only be out one pigeon the 
 same as if you had killed it in the flrst place, and 
 the chances are you can recapture it later on should 
 it get well. 
 
 60 
 
There are many remedies advertised to cure the. 
 worst case of canker that can be found. Preven- 
 tion is worth far more than all the canker remedies 
 in the world, and costs nothing. Putting a bird 
 with canker into a box and doctoring it with ad- 
 vertised cures is a slow and tiresome process, and 
 unless the bird be an extremely valuable one, not 
 worth the trouble. 
 
 You will not be bothered with sick pigeons if you 
 carefully follow what has been told you in this 
 book. If you desire to succeed and are just start- 
 ing into the business you will. If you are exper- 
 ienced you know these things without being told, and 
 if you are bull-headed enough to think that much 
 of it is tommy-rot, unnecessary and too trouble- 
 some, you will do as you please and probably have 
 a lot of sick pigeons. 
 
 As great a success with squab raising pigeons is 
 not obtained from those which are permitted to fly 
 at large as is obtained with pigeons confined within 
 a squab house and flying pen. Homing Pigeons 
 which you purchase from some one else must of ne- 
 cessity be confined. If not every one of them is apt 
 to leave you and make an effort to return to the 
 place of its birth. That is the instinct of a Homer. 
 It is part of his mental fibre, and locking them up 
 for a month, twelve months or several years, does 
 not alter this condition of mind to any very great 
 extent. Most of them will leave you as soon as re- 
 leased. The young you raise may be permitted to 
 fly at large if so desired. They know no other 
 home than the one in which they were born, and 
 will always remain with you. These are the birds 
 you would train into flying Homers if you cared to 
 take up that very interesting and exciting part of 
 the pigeon business. There are many Homing 
 Pigeon Clubs over the country, and big price? are 
 paid for birds with fine records for long flights. 
 Nearly every pigeon fancier has a few fine flyers 
 which he has developed himself. 
 
 Carneaux pigeons have little homing instinct. 
 They can be permitted to fly at large after having 
 been confined for a couple of weeks, and will make 
 no effort to leave you. Successful squab raisers 
 the country over, however, confine their birds, and 
 experience has proven it to be the proper procedure. 
 
 61 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PIGEON MANURE— INFERTILE EGGS. 
 
 The Value of the Former— How to Tell the Latter. 
 
 Any one who is not saving and selling his pigeon 
 manure is losing money, and at the same time 
 wasting a very valuable by-product of his plant. 
 The big tanneries of the country use pigeon manure 
 in the tanning of hides, and there is always a good 
 demand for it at a price which well pays one for 
 saving and shipping it. They will not buy manure 
 which is mixed with tobacco stems, as the stems 
 stain the hides. Save the scrapings from your squab 
 house floor. Save the manure which congregates 
 about the tops and the inside of your nest boxes. 
 Place it somewhere where it will dry thoroughly. 
 Put it in sacks holding about 100 pounds. Get into 
 touch with your nearest tannery or some . agency 
 ■dealing in tannery supplies. The income from 
 your manure will go a long way toward paying your 
 feed bills. All successful squab plants save their 
 manure. Any one from whom you purchase breed- 
 ing stock will give you the names of buyers of 
 pigeon manure. If such a concern can't furnish 
 you with the names of those who buy pigeon ma- 
 nure, it isn't much of a pigeon concern, and you 
 had best do future husiness with one that can. 
 
 You will have but little trouble with lice or any 
 other kind of a parasite in your squab house if you 
 keep the place properly cleaned. Pigeons are not 
 given to having lice like chickens, and won't have 
 any upon them if given half a chance to keep clean. 
 It is always a good plan in the early spring to go 
 through all of your pens and thoroughly whitewash 
 the nest boxes and other wood work. During the 
 summer months you can occasionally spray the 
 various nest hoxes and corners of your loft with a 
 liquid disinfectant which any responsible squab 
 company offers for sale at a moderate price. A tin 
 spraying machine costs but little. Fifty cents or 
 so, and a bottle of disinfectant, or lice killer as 
 
 62 
 
sometimes called, costs but little more, and as it 
 is mixed with water in small quantities one bottle 
 of it will last you a long time. 
 
 Lice and mites, like canker and other pigeon ail- 
 ments, only make their appearance when a wel- 
 come is apparently extended to them to come and 
 make their home in your squab house. Keep your 
 place clean and the parasites will seek other and 
 more fertile fields for their operations. 
 
 A hen pigeon will of course at times lay eggs 
 which no matter how diligently they may be sat 
 upon will not hatch. These are called infertile eggs. 
 If the hen pigeon has not received proper attention 
 from the male bird she will lay infertile eggs. If 
 the cock bird becomes too old his hen is apt to lay 
 infertile eggs. If the hen is too old herself a 
 similar condition would arise. Occasionally eggs 
 get chilled in cold weather and become infertile. It 
 is not a difficult matter to tell an infertile egg, and 
 it can be done easily and quickly after the eggs 
 have been sat upon for about one week. Hold the 
 egg in your fingers between your eye and a strong 
 light. If the egg be a fertile one you will at this 
 time see very clearly the veins radiating from the 
 nucleus. If it be an infertile egg no veins will show. 
 A prudent and careful squab raiser will carefully 
 examine all his eggs after they have been in the 
 nest for a week, and destroy all infertile eggs. If a 
 pair of birds be sitting on two infertile eggs you 
 can readily see that much time will be saved by de- 
 stroying those eggs as soon as this fact is dis- 
 covered rather than to allow them to sit the full 
 17 days, and produce nothing. The pair will im- 
 mediately start building for another set of eggs as 
 soon as the infertile ones have been removed. After 
 you have had some experience you will he able to 
 tell infertile eggs by picking them up and giving 
 them but a hasty glance. All minor pigeon know- 
 ledge comes with experience far better than by 
 reading it in books. Learn the important things. 
 The little unimportant ones will develop later. For 
 example as you go along you will discover that 
 pigeons stick to their nests harder, and it takes 
 more to scare them off, as the day for the eggs to 
 hatch approaches. 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE SQUAB MARKET. 
 
 The Demand Increasing and the Price Adrancing. 
 
 Apparently the business of producing squabs for 
 market is in its infancy. More people go into the 
 business each year. More squabs are raised and 
 shipped to the various distributing centers each 
 year, and each year the price holds its own or 
 climbs a little higher. People in this country are 
 gradually awakening to the fact that a fat squab 
 properly cooked is a delicacy of unusual merit. 
 Squabs are particularly nutritious, and alw^ays in 
 great demand among the sick. Hotels and clubs 
 use them by the hundreds of thousands, and would 
 use more of them if they could get them. Seldom 
 is a banquet of any proportions given these days 
 without squab being upon the menu. 
 
 Game birds are rapidly being killed off in this 
 country, and if not being killed are protected by 
 state and federal laws. Something must fill this 
 gap, and squabs are doing it. 
 
 The beginner in the squab industry need not have 
 the slightest fear about his ability to dispose of his 
 product. He will soon discover that the problem 
 he will be confronted witli will be being able to 
 supply the demand. Prices paid for squabs are 
 naturally higher in the winter months than they 
 are during the summer. Many people go away from 
 home in summer time, and the price declines with 
 a proportionate decline in the demand. There is,. 
 however, never a period of the year when squabs 
 cannot be raised and sold at a profit. If you live 
 in a community where squabs have been but little 
 used, you will be compelled to advertise your pro- 
 duct to some extent by giving some of your friends 
 a sample squab. Many ways will suggest them- 
 selves to you which will advertise your product. 
 
 64 
 
Once started you will experience but little difficulty 
 in disposing of all of your squabs to local buyers 
 at better prices than it is possible to obtain away 
 from home. If you increase your flock to such a 
 size that your local demands will not take care 
 of your output shipping will then become a neces- 
 sity, and there are always plenty of reliable squab 
 buyers ready to take all you care to ship them at 
 the prevailing market prices. If you purchase your 
 breeding stock from a reliable squab company, they 
 will always be ready and willing to give you the 
 names of responsible squab buyers. Squab com- 
 panies keep well posted on all that transpires which 
 in any manner affects squabs or the prices of 
 squabs, and this information they are always ready 
 and willing to give to their customers. In fact they 
 gather it for that particular purpose. 
 
 Women and boys are proving themselves quite as 
 successful in the art of squab raising as the men. 
 Many successful plants are entirely in charge of 
 women, and tlicy are making wonderful progress. 
 Any one, be he man. woman or boy, who puts his 
 mind to the task can make a success of this indus- 
 try. Common sense coupled with the fundamentals 
 of the business are all that is required. Stupidity 
 never gets anywhere, and need not look to the 
 squab industry as a fruitful field. 
 
 Purchase the riglit kind of breeding stock from 
 a reliable dealer. Pay the price that is demanded 
 for goad birds. Keep them in a properly arranged 
 squab house, be it loft or the upper portion of a 
 chicken house, or a specially built building. Feed 
 them the kind of food they should be fed. Water 
 them regularly. Keep their premises clean. Do 
 these things and success will crown your efforts. 
 
 65 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SHIPPING. 
 
 How to Properly Pack — U^3i Plenty of Ice. 
 
 Ice is far cheaper than squabs. Use plenty of it 
 when preparing squabs for shipment. Almost any 
 kind of a box will suffice provided it is not made 
 from pine lumber. The odor of pine penetrates the 
 squabs and renders them unfit for use. It is also 
 advisable not to use too large a box. The bottom 
 layer of squabs in a large box will suffer if too 
 many squabs and too much ice is piled on top of 
 them. Line the bottom and sides of your box with 
 heavy wrapping paper. Crack your ice to about the 
 size of walnuts. Start with a layer of ice. Then a 
 layer of squabs, then another layer of ice, and so 
 on until the box is filled. There should be plenty 
 of ice on top of the last layer of squabs. Cover 
 this top layer of ice with heavy wrapping paper and 
 nail on the lid. The less cracks and holes in the 
 box the better. The idea being to keep out the warm 
 air as much as possible. 
 
 The address tag should be very securely tacked 
 upon the top of the box, and in addition to having 
 the name of the consignee upon it, should also have 
 the information that the box contains perishable 
 property, dressed squabs, and that the shipment 
 should be "rushed." Always write a letter to the 
 party to whom you are making the shipment and 
 advise him that you have on that date forwarded 
 him by a certain express company ^:> many 
 squabs of such and such weights. If your squabs 
 vary considerably in weight it is advisable to sort 
 them according to weight, and ship each weight in 
 a separate box. 
 
 Candy buckets are splendid to ship squabs in. 
 They can be purchased from any candy store or 
 ten cent store for from 3 to 5 cents each, wooden 
 top included. They are both air and water tight, and 
 
 66 
 
will hold from 2 to 3 dozen squabs, depending on 
 amount of ice used. They make a very neat pack- 
 age, and one easily handled by you and the express 
 company. 
 
 During the winter months it is not necessary to 
 use large quantities of ice in preparing squabs for 
 shipment. During the hot summer months, however, 
 use plenty of ice if you wish your squabs to reach 
 destination in good condition. Skimping on your 
 ice will in all probability mean a big loss in revenue 
 for you. Ice is cheap, when compared with squabs. 
 You will be allowed a reduction of 25 per cent on 
 the weight of your shipment for icing by all express 
 companies. 
 
 The express charges on dressed squabs is very 
 low. Go to the express company in your town and 
 go over the matter very thoroughly with the agent. 
 He will gladly give you all the information possible 
 on the subject. It is also advisable to prepay the 
 express charges on all your shipments. This is not 
 necessary, but you will find it will work to your 
 advantage to do so. 
 
 67 
 
SQUAB FACTS IN TABLOID. 
 
 (1) The demand for squalDS far exceeds the sup- 
 ply. 
 
 (2) Squabs produce more profit pound for pound 
 than any other form of live stock. 
 
 (3) The rate of mortality is very slight. There 
 is not a disease which will go through a flock 
 of pigeons, as is the case with chickens. 
 
 (4) Good breeding stock should produce squabs 
 continuously for from 8 to 10 years with 
 proper care. 
 
 (5) Half an hours work each day will take splen- 
 did care of a large flock of pigeons. 
 
 (6) Squabs when four weeks old are marketed 
 with or without feathers on. 
 
 (7) Pigeons breed the year round, with the ex- 
 ception of a short period in the molting sea- 
 son, which occurs late in the fall of the year. 
 
 (8) No particular kind of a building is necessary 
 for squab raising. It is the breeding stock, 
 and the manner in which it is cared for that 
 brings the results. 
 
 (9) Pigeons thrive and produce squabs in any 
 climate. 
 
 (10) No large investment is necessary. Start small 
 and grow big. Pigeons multiply at an aston- 
 ishing rate. 
 
 (11) Women and children are quite as successful 
 at raising squabs as men. No vast amount of 
 technical knowledge is necessary. 
 
 (12) In the care of chickens it is necessary to 
 feed and water the youngsters. Not so with 
 pigeons. The parent birds feed and water 
 their young. 
 
 (13) There is no night work connected with the 
 raising of squabs. 
 
 (14) No great amount of space is necessary. A 
 squab house or loft as small as 10x12 feet, 
 connected with a flying pen 10x15 feet will 
 comfortably accommodate 100 pigeons. Fifty 
 pairs of squab raisers. 
 
 68 
 
(15) No matter how absolutely ignorant you may 
 now be regarding tiie raising of squabs, you 
 can. quickly become efficient by following 
 our instructions in this book. 
 
 (16) There is always a good demand for fine breed- 
 ing stock. Start with good stock. Raise 
 good stock, and you will experience no diffi- 
 culty in disposing of all you can raise at a 
 satisfactory profit. Some prefer this branch 
 of the pigeon industry to that of squab rais- 
 ing. There are satisfactory profits awaiting 
 you in both branches. 
 
THE INDIAN A SQUAB 
 COMPANY 
 
 Terre Haute, ind„ U. S. A. 
 
 Breeders of 
 
 HOMER "^ CARNEAU 
 PIGEONS 
 
 Pigeon Supplies of 
 Every Description 
 
 Write for our Combined Catalogue and Instruction 
 Book. IT'S FREE 
 
 THE INDIANA SQUAB CO. 
 
 TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, U. S. A. 
 
Index 
 
 A. 
 
 Page 
 Ailments— Pigeon 60, 61 
 
 B. 
 
 Bath Pans — The kind to use, and where to place them 27 
 
 Bath Pans— Picture of 28 
 
 Bathing— When and how to do it 26, 27 
 
 Bands — Picture of 34 
 
 Banding — How to proceed 32, 33, 34 
 
 Building — Kind to use 4 
 
 C. 
 
 Carneau — Photograph of 3 
 
 Canada Peas — How to feed them 17 
 
 Cards — Record 33 
 
 Cleanliness — How and when to clean 25, 26, 27 
 
 Cleaning— Tools for— Picture 28 
 
 Climate — Pigeons breed in any kind 49 
 
 Common Pigeons — Poor Breeders 4 
 
 Corn — The great staple pigeon food 15 
 
 Cocks — How to raise more than hens 44, 45 
 
 D. 
 Driving — When it occurs 13 
 
 E. 
 
 Eggs — When they are laid 13 
 
 Eggs — About handling 14 
 
 Eggs — When they hatch 14 
 
 Eggs— -Transferring from one nest to another 37, 43 
 
 Eg;jrs — First one laid generally contains male squab 44 
 
 Eggs — Ii same nest with squabs 46 
 
 Eggs — Not sold by the dozen 46, 47 
 
 Eggs — Infertile ones 63 
 
 F. 
 
 Feed — The kind to use 15 
 
 Feed — Variety necessary 16 
 
 Feed— Kaffir Corn 16 
 
 Feed — Wheat should be used carefully 16 
 
 Feed — Proportions of grains used 16 
 
 Feed — Kind sold by dealers 16 
 
 Feeders — Photographs and description of 17 
 
 Feeding— How to do so 21, 22 
 
 Feeding — The young 14 
 
 Flying Pen — Arrangement of 10 
 
 Fcuirtains — Drinking — Photographs of 23 
 
 G. 
 Grit — Its necessity and how to supply it 20 
 
 H. 
 
 Homer — Photograph of 2 
 
 Hemp Seed — Its value and how to feed it 19 
 
 Hens — How to raise more than cocks 44, 45 
 
 I. 
 
 Inbreeding — How to prevent it 58 
 
 Infertile Eggs — How to tell them 63 
 
 Ice — How to use it when shipping squabs 66, 67 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaffir Corn -Its use and value 16 
 
 Killing — When and how to kill squabs 29 
 
 Killing Machine — Photogi-aph and description of 30 
 
 M. 
 
 Mat?- When the young pigeons do so 36 
 
 Mating Coop — Photograph and description of 55 
 
Matins'— How to proceed ka r^ -^ 
 
 ^^^.V^^'-?-ken ^p in%hip;nents •;•.:::::•''' ''' ''' ''' It 
 
 N. '' 
 
 ''"'thenT"r'^'^\*'.^^ ^^^ ^^'^ fro„,_How to arrange 
 
 S'f p^'^f ''■S'^ Bowis-Photograpii' of " 1 1 ! ' ' I 
 
 Nest Bowls— How to arrange them i"'^ 
 
 Nest Boxes-The double kind » 9 
 
 Nests— On the floor . 46 
 
 Nesting Material-Box for-PhotoKraph "of f ? 
 
 Nestincr Material— Kinds used ......■;.■:: JJ 
 
 Oyster Shell— Why it is used ^.' 
 
 Pigeon Milk— What it is 
 
 Pigeons— Peculiarities of 14 
 
 Pigeons-Squab breeding 'varftfes''.' ''' ''' ''' ''' ''' ''• ^J 
 
 Pigcons-How to tell their sex ■;; i^^ia-'i^l 
 
 Pigeons^ Barren ones ^^' ^^' 40 
 
 Pigeons— Solid colored ones ^"^ 
 
 PieeonF— When they molt . ^^ 
 
 Pigeors— Fidelity of 50 
 
 Pigeon— Ailments 59 
 
 Pigeon Manure— Its value ^^' ^^ 
 
 Peanuts— Their use and value ".'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..', ^^ 
 
 s. '' 
 
 iS'^^i^frieiMt "" "'" ^'* °" '^«- -:::::: :;:::::::f3 
 
 Squab House— Heating same .'.■.■.■.■. ^i■ -fj 
 
 Squab Houses-Photogrraphs o( .'.•.•;.• ' 'e ' 'i ' '^i ' 'll' fS 
 
 SQuabs-How^to^mcrease the number from a ' certain ' pair* '' 
 
 Squabs-Just born-Photogrkph' " of" ■;;.■. ^^' j^ 
 
 Squabs-Two weeks old— Photograph of io 
 
 fiut'~V''^ ^'"f ^ old-PhotSgraph of • ; : : fo 
 
 pu^b^-Es S^d^its"^^^---^ of-Ready-to-kiii::::4l 
 
 Squabs— The market for ; ; • -^^ 
 
 Squab Facts— Tabloid form ■'.■.'■, ^t' ^^ 
 
 bo, 69 
 
 Tobacco Stems— Their use .....*. 
 
 Tools— Cleaning— Picture of '.'.'.'.','.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'. 28 
 
 w 
 
 W^f^''~?°'^ .^*^ P'^^^ ** before your birds.. 09 
 
 Water- F oun tarns-Photographs of ... H 
 
 AJeann.g-When to do so Vr;" "?« 
 
 Wneat-Care should be used in feeding' it.:.:. ;;;::::: f^^; . ?6 
 
 Young Pigeons— When they mate o. ,:, 
 
 Young Pigeons-When to wean ^^' ?f 
 
 .00 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGREf^f. 
 
 002 855 940 9 
 
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