Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-01-14
PROFIT IN SQUADS.
Pigeon Producing For the Market ,

Long island
p. r. Ketchem Of Amityville, Long
Island, began raising squads for market
six years ago with 700 breeding pigeons
He now has 1000. For the accommodate
tion Of these 1000 pigeons he has built
ten pens of wire netting, each pan 100
feet long and 10 feet wide. They vary
in height from 10 to 16 feet and stand
side by side and are formed by dividing
one great wire rooted Enclosure into ten
parts. There are in the pens a few
perches placed at height Of about eight
feet for the pigeons to roost upon. There
are ten pigeon houses, one for each pen.
In buying stock for breeding Mr..
Ketcham prefers Antwerps, but it is
difficult to get enough Of them. and SO
be has crossed Antwerps with good large
common birds Pigeons lay two eggs a
month, good birds laying ten months in
the year, from November to August, in
elusive. Then the birds molt, and in
November the females begin laying
again. Where a large number Of pi-
geons are kept there will be some that
will molt little out Of season, so
that there will be some eggs and some
squads the year around.
While the pigeon houses are always
kept as clean as they can be without
disturbing the pigeons, only advantage
is taken of the melting season for a
thorough cleaning. A little stack of
tobacco stems is placed in the corner of
each house for material, and from this
the birds build their nests. the male bird
carrying the material, straw by straw,
to the female, which stands at the box
and arraDges the nest.
When the female has begun laying
again, it lays its two eggs on successive
days, and at intervals of 28 days, or
possibly less. On laying the first egg it
begins sitting at once, the male bird
alternating with it. The eggs are hatch
ed in from IA to II days. The squads
may be weeks or less old when the
mother bird begins sitting on another
pair of eggs. The young pigeons would
not in the ordinary course of events
leave the nest to fly until they were
or weeks old. If it had but one nest,
the mother BIRD would lay its eggs and
begin to hatch them in the same nest
with its half grown squads. At the es-
tablishment described here two boxes,
or nests. are provided for each pair of
birds, so that the female that has half
grown squads in its nest may have an
other nest in which to deposit its eggs.
By this arrangement there is less danger
Of the eggs being broken.
Food is provided in the pens twice a
day, in troughs and on the ground, in
quantity sufficient to satisfy the pigeons
hunger and to provide them with pick
ings SO that they may supply their
young. Water is supplied in small, shall
low tanks. The pigeons are great drink
ers and they bathe often. A pigeon is
likely to take a bath every two days.
The principal food supplied to them is
cracked corn and whole wheat. In the
fall, in the melting season, plenty Of
hemp seed is given to them, which helps
them to molt and tends to make them
begin laying again quicker. While these
are the principal articles of food there
are fed to the pigeons at intervals, as
they may require them and in limited
quantities, other things as a sort of rel
ish and to keep the birds appetites good
and the birds themselves in good condi-
ton. What these other things are the
pigeon breeders do not disclose.
The pigeon grows rapidly, and in
three or four weeks it is ready to kill as
a squad. Squads of good breed weigh
seven or eight pounds tothe dozen. Pr
geons begin to lay when they are from 4
to months old and continue to lay for
10 years. Pigeons once mated, if not
separated, remain mated always.
In the breeding season the pigeon
raiser goes through the pigeon houses in
winter two or three times week and
in summer about every day and selects
the squads that are of the right age and
size to kill. The number varies from
week to week. There are some squads
obtainable the year round. Mr.. Ketcham
said that in five years he had not missed
a week in shipping some, though in
some months the supply is very light.
&4O Ola Hc ttA ANO4eeGO ~ wv C4 AtAkSo -
week for eight to ten months in the year
and altogether between 2, 900 and s, 900
squads year, at an average wholesale
price of about 90 cents. This, of course,
is not all profit. There is to be deducted
the cost of care and feed and of market
ing, to say nothing of the original cost
of plant in pens and houses and of stock,
but when such results as these are at
tanned there is in the business what is
described as ''good. fair profit "
a great many more squads than pi-
geons are sold. Prices are now generally
lower than ever on account of the ex-
tended facilities for carrying stock in
cold storage. Squads have been sold
years ago at retail as high as 81 dozen.
The average retail price now is about
So dozen. 1t may be 81 or So i'll win
ter and So. so in summer. Dark skinned
squads are worth 81 less.