The Meeker herald., 1898-07-30
MONEY in souAs RA,y,No.


usv They Are Produced la Michigan
for the Eastern Markets.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean: The
only squad farm in Michigan IL To-
Gated about three miles south of Grand
Haven. Squads are young doves, or
pigeons, and are esteemed great deli
cacies In epicurean and midnight
luncheon circles. There are several
large SQUAD farms In the East, and
one near Toledo. but the only one in
Michigan, SO far as known, in at
Grand Haven, and It Is conducted by
F. J. Bernreuther. He was for several
years foorwalker in large dry goods
store. His health failed and fve years
ago he took up squab-raisiuS. It was
originally a side issue to his floor
walking, but he now devotes most of
his attention to 1t. His farm COM
prises about ten acres Of land. but
only q small portion of this IL given
to the squad industry. the rest being
planted to wheat and corn. which il
the staple diet for old doves. He has
a big cage of woven wire. 1t is sox
i2o feet and twenty feet high. and the
Goves are kept confined by the wire
netting on the sides and above. On
the north side of the cage is long.
low building, In which the doves
keep house. The roof has a southern
exposure and wind break, and here
the doves sun themselves. The build
ing is divided by partitions into rooms
about ten feet square. These rooms
hor aid
above tier, with small boxes, and
these boxes are the nests. where the
eggs are laid and the young are hatch
ed and grow to be squads. The parti-
tions and boxes extend upward to the
caves of the building, and above the
space Is open from end to end. allow
ing free passageway for the doves
and roosting place for those not
busy with domestic duties. After the
two pretty white eggs are laid. the
male takes his regular trick Of sit
ting on them during the twenty-one
days of incubation, and when the
young are hatched he does his full
share toward feeding them. Four
weeks after the young birds are hatch
ed they become marketable as squads.
The birds are in full feather, but not
yet able to fly. A fast Of twenty-four
hours is the prelude to the flight into
the dove heaven. This fast is i'm
posed not to make them meek in
spirit, but to clear the crops of fooc.
Then a sharp knife point opens . vein
In the throat, and as the life blood
oozes out the birds brief career closes
with flutter. While the flesh is still
warm the feathers are plucked out,
the crop is washed out, and the de-
nuded body is thrown into tub of
water to cool. The next day 1t is
packed In ice for shipment The
squads. dressed for market, weigh
about half pound. and the great
market for them is New York. This
city consumes very few of them.
There is only small demand for them
in Detroit. and Chicago. big and met
ropolttan as 1t IL. is a poor market.
Almost the entire product Of Bernreu-
ther goes to New York, and the ship
ments average three or four dozen a
week the year round. The squads
command from $1.50 to $3.50 dozen,
and there is money in the business
The best breed of doves for SQUAD
purposes 10 the homing pigeon. This
Is not due to any particular delicacy
Of the flesh. but to the fact that hom-
ers are the best breeders, are diligent
in properly caring for the eggs during
the incubating period. and keep their
young we'll fed. But the squad farm
er does not run much to fancy stock.
Just plain. ordinary doves are good
enough. They bring out six to ten
broods year, each of two doves, and
often eggs are in the nest for new
Matching before the preceding brood
has developed to the squad age. Tho
doves usually rest two months in the
year, bu. as there is NO recognized
season for resting, the market can
be supplied the year around.