Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-24

No success can be attained by hap
hazard work. If the birds are not
properly looked after, not properly
watered, fed and house cleaned. not
protected from mice, vermin and the
many kindred ills that pigeons are
heir to, you will not get sufficient in
come to pay your feed bill.
Saving Young Breeders
Save young birds for breeders, May,
June and July, the best three months
in the year. In saving young birds
you want only the best; save only from
your best breeders and good feeders
that give you the largest squads.
After the squads are about four
weeks old they begin to go out of the
nest. Leave them in the house with
the old birds about three weeks more.
shift for themselves.
Put them in a coop by themselves
and don't let them out of doors for
two or three days, then let them out in
the fly or aviary. At night see that
they are all in the house. If you have
rainy day do not let them out, as
they are liable to get colds BY stay
ing out at night they will get colds,
which often result in roup or what we
call a one-eyed sore. This will turn
to canker.
The reason many amateurs lose so
many young breeders is because they
don't watch them carefully enough.
They let them stay out in the fly at
night and sometimes get soaking wet
by the rain This means lot of dead
birds.
Always give them all they can eat:
keep feed by them at all times and
feed plenty Of hemp and millet seed
while they are growing. The only
way to raise good breeders Is by CIV
tnp fhar A1 at.D DTHl nH
Anyone having a flock of squab
breeders should put in new stock every
year. Then they will not inbred. If
you have fifty pairs of young birds for
| breeders, sendrto some good reliable
! breeder and get fifty pairs of his good
breeders, youngsters to cross in with
your young birds.
Mating Young Birds With New Stock
How will put them together when
| get these breeders? Take your
twenty-five young cock birds and put
them in a coop by themselves, also
twenty-five hens from your stock.
Now put twenty-five hen birds that
YOU have bought from some breeder
and put your twenty-five cock birds in
with them. (You ought to be able to
get them for $1.00 a pair, which is
what they are WORTH.
When these birds begin to mate up
they should be watched and caught in
pairs as fast as they mate. They
should then be banded and put in
coops by themselves.
Two can catch pair of birds mat
ing up easier than one. Always catch
the cock bird first, then the hen bird.
Let one keep his eye on the cock bird
and the other on the hen bird. BY do
Ing this you will not make a mistake
in the pairs of birds. 1t is a good idea
to always band the cock bird on the
left leg and the hen bird on the right
leg.
Present Conditions Not Good
During the last eighteen months
prices of grain have scared to such a
high figure that it is aim impossible
to pay feed bills. Many have been
forced to sell their squads at a great
sacrifice; they could not afford to
carry them over through the winter
months owing to the price of grains
and because there Is little demand
for squads.
The writer knows of many breeders
in a radius of twenty-five miles who
have sold out their plants to dealers
who buy up all kinds of birds. This
class of birds never give satisfaction or
good results to the beginner. Some of
these plants have sold as low as seven
teen cents per pair and the dealers
have put the same birds on the mar
ket for s1.00 a pair.
These dealers that buy these birds
are called gyps. This is where the
novice gets stung. So many people
have sold out their plants this year
that 1t will make business better for
those who are carrying on the business
and for those going into the business.
am sure 1916 will make a banner
year for the squab business. The out
going steamers have not been very nu-
merous these last eighteen months.
Passenger ships are large consumers
of squads. They consume about one
half the output. The fact that so many
steamers are interned and not running
to Europe is why the squad business
has been so dull.
The man who sticks to his business
and has good plant and carries his
birds through this winter and pays his
feed bill will come out all right next
year.