The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-01
FORTUNES CAN BE MADE WITH PIGEONS East Lake Man is Breeding
 Belgian Homers THEY INCREASE RAPIDLY Twenty-Five Pairs Will h One Year Produce 125o Young end Profits
 of the Business Are
 Enormous.
THEY INCREASE RAPIDLY
BY BYN.P.TgFINcH. N.


 place to go to when one has money to spend It Is not a place in which to make money, at least 1t Is not so regarded by the Man About Town, the Fellow who has | cut his Eye Teeth, but MT Merrill who l lives down there is demonstrating on a lot 100x15O feet that a man can make as well as spend money in East Lake. At present MT. Merrill has but 2000 Bei- | gian Homer pigeons, but by October he will have by the law of increase fully 10000, the while shipping each week enough squads to pay running expenses. When he has 10000 pigeons he will have big Income, and a business as secure and stable as any other business you can name. His pigeons will produce twelve years.
 Do you doubt the ratio of increase? I assume that you do, so .ncredulous is | mankind. The Belgian Homer nests ev- cry month in the year, but a good breed CT will not let his birds nest in the moult- ing season. He lets the faithful creatures rest two months in the pear. Let us start with 100 pairs. or 200 pigeons on January 1.
 '.e will have pigeons then as follows: January, 400; February, 600: March, 500; April, 1000; May, 12OO; June, 1900; July, POO; August, 5000; September, 4O0O; Octob- CT, 520O; less 10 per cent by losses of all sorts, or 46S0 net. That Is what 200 pigeons will do in a year. MT. Merrill has 2Oo0 pigeons, or ten times more, and if he should ship no squabs he would have in years time 45,0O0 pigeons. He wants but 10oJO, for he does not desire to rival Mr. Rockefeller In H edith getting He is | reasonable in his ambition. He is also a. good breeder He prefers the Belgian Homer because 1t produces more and larger squabs, and he avoids inbreeding ] by exchanging his male pigeons with , some other breeder. He sends his brother breeder POO cocks in a crate, recovering in return a like number.
 How Profit Is Made.
 But let us look a little further into the | profit problem. One pair produces 10 pairs year-that is to say, one pair of Bel g1an Homer pigeons will do that. The common pigeon that one sees flying here and there is not good for more than five pairs year. The hen lays two eggs in three days; in seventeen days the two eggs are matched: the pair feed the young birds eight days-total, twenty-eight days at the end of which time the hen lays two more eggs, and the process of per- petuating the specie is repeated. An ex- cellent pair of squabs at the end of four weeks will weigh one pound each, and they are worth from 30 to 50 cents each Tn New York or Chicago. It costs , cents month to feed the pair of breeding pigeons. Each pair produces a net profit monthly Of 10 cents, or S750 a year Mul- tinly this by 5000 and you will have MT. Merrilfs yearly profits after next fall.
 MT. Merrill puts 800 birds In each house ana hying pen. The pen. may be 12x16 and 10 feet high surrounded by wire The house holds the nests, the boxes extend- ing up to the roof. Each pair selects nest, and there the couple will stay if left to themselves all the days of their lives The male bird is the master of his nousehold. When the hen should go to her nest he sees that she does it, and ne Will use force if need be to drive her to the nest. The cock stays on the nest from 10 o'clock until o'clock and the hen the rest of the time. Both feed the | young birds eight days, and after that tune the cock takes care of them, the hen having started a new nest in the | box. The cock is ever alert to duty, but | the hen will shirk unless closely watched by her mate' and he holds her up to her work They are true to each other There are no plural marriages, and no divorces | in the pigeon house.
 Birds Require Care.
 Ten thousand pigeons will keep the proprietor and one helper busy. The birds are easily kept free from parasites by putting tablespoonful of naptho leum in the bath pan. They are fed twice a day, their ration consisting of red wheat or..cracked corn They occasional " get millet, Kaffir corn, hemp seed, or Canada peas as daintes They are not delicate. and their care Is not difficult but like all other branches of business the details of squab raising must needs be carefully studied. One cannot be- come a successful breeder by reading bird journal. The breeder who makes money is man who loves his birds and studies their habits and methods.
 MT. Merrill has bred pigeons in Califor- mia and in other states, and he expresses the opinion that this climate Is especially favorable for breeding those birds They thrive here and young birds rapidly ma ture mourning a small percentage of loss In Dothan and Florence and Citronelle and Livingston and perhaps at hale a dozen other places in this state breeders of Homers are to be found, and all of them are doing well.
 Opportunity for Pleasant Work. My object in writing this article is not to advertise MT Merrilrs enterprise, for it speaks for itself and MT. Merrill needs no advertising, but my desire is to show those men who wish to supplement their income, or those women who want em- ployment at home that is pleasant, even fascinating, what the advantages of the squab raising industry are. MT. Merrill says Homer pigeons are better than a bank He says he Is not hunting for any better business. Here is what he recom- mends to the beginner:
 Take twenty-five pairs for a basis to begin on, and start any month of the year, say April. For the first five months twenty-five pair would hatch you fifty squabs per month, which would be a total of 250 young Now, a pigeon com mences to lay and hatch at five months of age, consequently, on the sixth month the first hatch would join in, making 100 young for that month; on the seventh month. 150 young, in the eighth month 200 young, the ninth 250 young, tenth month 300 young. so at the end of the tenth month you would have the original fifty old pigeons and 1250 young, making your flock in round numbers 1900 In num- Ter. Now, you are ready to sell suuabs."
 MT. Merrill supplies all corners with breeding pigeons: he even furnishes blue print plans for squab houses and flying pens; but alas he does not, clever as he s quite take away from the industry it's essential cruelty. To raise the pretty fiedgelings in order to murder them when they are four weeks old for gain from