Profitable Squab Breeding Part 1

Profitable Squab Breeding.

by Carl Dare.

INTRODUCTORY PREFACE

No business has had such a wonderful growth within the last few years as the raising of squabs for market. Only a few years ago the use of squabs for food was confined to a few of the most wealthy families. Game was plentiful and cheap and those who were not very well off preferred quail and other game birds to paying the high prices asked for the few squabs which were sent to market.

Gradually the demand for squabs grew larger, as more people became acquainted with their delicacy and good qualities as food, and this led to larger numbers being produced. Soon all the larger markets furnished squabs and then the smaller ones began to supply them and now many a comparatively small market is not complete without squabs as a part of the supplies of food kept on hand or provided on order.

Game birds have become scarce and high-priced, and squabs have taken their place in such a manner that the demand for game is not so large as it was, while the demand for squabs continually increases.

The rearing of squabs for market is immensely profitable as well as easy. Squab-raising can be conducted on a scale large enough to make it worth while in the back yard of a town lot, or it can be conducted on a scale large enough to require several acres with equal profit on every dollar invested in the business.

Squab-breeding is a business which is profitable when conducted as a side line on a small s.p.a.ce and all the work may be done by women, children, or those who are not strong enough for the more laborious occupations of life. At the same time it is a business which men of affairs need not hesitate to undertake as there are squab farms on which pigeons are kept by tens of thousands with great profit.

The squab business may be commenced with small capital and rapidly increased from the increase of the flock, as each pair of breeding birds will produce at least twelve in a year so the increase is very rapid.

So great has the demand for a book which would give all the details of the business of squab-raising become, that we have felt compelled to publish this book. It is written to teach people, beginners mostly, not merely how to raise squabs, but how to conduct a squab and pigeon business successfully. We have found breeders of squabs who knew how to raise them fairly well and took pleasure in doing so, but were weak on the business end of the industry. The fancier, who raises animals because he likes their looks or their actions, or because he hopes to beat some other fancier at an exhibition, is not the man for whom we have written this book. We have developed utility pigeons and the squabbing industry solely because they are staples, salable in any market at a remunerative price. The success of squabs as we handle them depends on their earning capacity. They are a matter of business. Our development of squabs is based on the fact that they are good eating, that people now are in the habit of asking for and eating them, and there is a large traffic in them which may be pushed to an enormous extent without weakening either the market or the price. If, as happens in this case, pigeons are a beautiful pet stock as well as money makers so much the better. It is just as easy to pet a practical animal as an impractical animal, and much more satisfying.

This book is the latest and most comprehensive work we have done, giving the results of our experience as fully and as accurately as we can present the subject. It is intended as an answer to the hundreds of letters we receive, and we have tried to cover every point which a beginner or an expert needs to know. It has been our experience in handling this subject and bringing it home to people that the little points are the ones on which they most quickly go astray, and on which they wish the fullest information. After they have a fair start, they are able to think out their operations for themselves. Accordingly we have covered every point in this book in simple language and if the details in some places appear too commonplace, remember that we have erred on the side of plainness.

It has surprised a great many people to learn that pigeons are such a staple and workable article. They have been handled by the old methods for years without their great utility value being made plain. When we first learned about squabs, we were struck by the impressive fact that here was something which grew to market size in the incredibly short period of four weeks and then was marketed readily at a good profit. The spread of that knowledge will make money for you. Show your neighbors the birds; you tell them the facts, and perhaps give them a squab to eat, then you will find a quick call for all the live breeders you can supply.

We have tried to answer all the questions which a beginner would ask and give all the details so plainly that any one can begin breeding pigeons and raising squabs with success. The instructions given are based on actual experience in raising squabs and we have tried to write so plainly that any one can understand just how to begin and continue in the business.

Those who follow the instructions given may look forward with confidence to a successful career as pigeon-breeders provided they begin with the right kind of breeding stock, the kind which produces heavy-weight, plump, white-fleshed squabs.

CARL DARE.

Des Moines, Iowa, October 15, 1914.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Pair of Beautiful Blue Bar Mammoth Homers, Straight American Bred.]

CHAPTER I

PROFITS OF SQUAB RAISING--WILL IT PAY?

In first considering squab breeding the beginner always asks, "Will It Pay Me to Raise Squabs?" It is well to consider this phase of any business before making very much of an investment.

The squab business is comparatively new in this country although it has already reached such proportions that there can not be any doubt but it is the most profitable and pleasant business in which any one may engage. Under the methods outlined in this book there is no chance for a conscientious worker to fail.

This country is filled with plants large and small and I have yet to find a plant that is not paying a handsome profit unless there be something wrong with the stock or methods employed. I have visited the great squab plants of California where thousands upon thousands of birds are left to fly at will and nest in open boxes protected only from the sun, and here I find that the squabs are paying a fine return on the investment and thousands of tourists visit these large plants annually and pay an admission fee of fifty cents each so that the revenue from this source is considerable.

I have visited also the great squab district in South Jersey where the squabs are produced for the large cities of the East; the plants also in Ma.s.sachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, and I find that on the best equipped and best paying plants the methods employed are practically identical with those outlined in this book. The fact that experienced breeders in such widely separated sections of the country have adopted almost identical methods is certainly proof that we have the right idea and that the advice we give here to the beginner will be well worth while.

The largest plants in the country are in the far East and far West as indicated, but I believe there is no one other state that has so many up-to-date plants as the state of Iowa. You will find a paying squab farm in nearly every city of this state, and in some of them there are two or three large and up-to-date, well equipped plants. In one little town in the northern part of the state there is a plant where over fifteen thousand breeders are kept right along. The proprietor of this plant has told me that when he began with a few pairs of Homers of indiscriminate breeding he had hardly enough funds to pay for the birds and their feed for the first few months. He now owns the large plant of several thousand birds of the purest stock with suitable buildings, and a beautiful home and drives an up-to-date seven-pa.s.senger auto-mobile.

His son and daughter are both attending a university in the East and every cent of his money has been made with pigeons. If his were the only case of such kind there would still be proof enough of the profits in the squab business to justify careful consideration by anyone, but I personally know of thousands of others who have made a success, some of them on a larger scale, and there can no longer be any doubt of the opportunity of making money in this business.

THE PROFITS OF SQUAB RAISING

In another place in this book we have shown how easy it is to arrange a place in which to keep squabs. Hundreds of people are so situated that they could raise squabs who could not possibly take care of a flock of chickens, because they lack both time and s.p.a.ce.

In raising squabs the cost of attendance is reduced to the minimum.

There are no eggs to be gathered, no setting hens or incubators to be looked after, no young birds to be fed and cared for. The pigeon-breeder simply puts his birds in the loft, feeds and waters them and they build their own nests and feed their young.

The s.p.a.ce that would be needed by a dozen hens will comfortably keep fifty or a hundred pairs of pigeons, and the revenue from a pair of pigeons in a year is about the same as from a good laying hen.

The squab-breeder gets his money in four weeks, while the man who raises chickens must wait at least twelve weeks before he can sell his birds.

The manure from a loft of pigeons can be sold as a garden fertilizer for enough to pay for the cost of feeding the birds. In many cities and towns florists consider pigeon manure the best fertilizer they can get for flowers and garden crops and large tanneries use tons of it in tanning leather. It usually sells for 50 cents a bushel in town for fertilizing lawns, flower and vegetable gardens.

It will cost just about $1.00 to keep a pair of pigeons one year. When the writer visited the great squab farms of South Jersey, he particularly inquired about the cost of feeding a pair of pigeons one year. In that country most of the grain is s.h.i.+pped from the West and from Canada. The wheat comes from New York, Ohio, or states further west, the kaffir corn mostly comes from Kansas and the hemp seed from Kentucky. The peas come from Canada. All these grains are sold with the freight added to the initial price and the feed dealer's profit, of course. In the Mid-West the freight charges would be much smaller than they are in the East, so the cost of keeping a pair of pigeons would be considerably reduced.

In the South Jersey squab district we found that the cost of keeping a pair of breeding Homers one year ranges from $1.10 to $1.25 a year. In other sections of the country the cost runs as low as 85 cents per pair.

If a certain loft contains pigeons of extra breeding qualities, it will cost more for feed, as the old birds have more squabs to feed than would be the case where less productive birds were kept.

It should be understood that when we give the cost of keeping a pair of breeding pigeons the cost of raising their squabs is included. That is when we say it costs about $1.00 to keep a pair of pigeons a year, we mean it will cost this amount to keep the pair and all the squabs they produce in a year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1. A Handy, Home-made Net For Catching the Birds.]

CHAPTER II

THE BEST BREEDS FOR SQUAB RAISING--THE KIND TO BUY

In selecting a breed, the beginner is at once struck by the hundreds of different varieties, each one with some merit, and each one put forward by breeders of more or less reputation as the one best variety to be handled. I believe I have thoroughly tried and tested the merits of all the leading varieties of squab producing pigeons and right here I wish to caution the beginner against paying fancy prices for highly advertised cross-bred stock. There is no advantage to be gained by crossing the blood lines of two or more varieties for breeding purposes.

This is true in pigeons the same as it is true in every other line of pure bred stock. The best results will always be obtained by using pure bred birds and in selecting the variety to stock your plant you must have in mind the investment which you expect to make and the market on which you will sell your squabs. In all cities the squabs are graded according to size and quality and the heavier birds will bring a premium over those of light weight but in some cases the extra heavy birds bring such a premium that it is worth while to produce squabs of unusual size, while in the average market the extra heavy birds bring a little more than those of good weight but not enough to justify the increased expense in producing them.

After an experience of twenty years in this business I do not hesitate to say that for the general market under all conditions, the best paying investment for the beginner is the straight American bred Homer.

Reputable breeders of this variety will furnish stock of good size and they are the best workers and best feeders and will stand more abuse and mistreatment than any of the other varieties I have ever handled.

Squabs from the best American bred Homers usually weigh eight and ten pounds per dozen with occasional lofts that will produce squabs weighing as heavy as twelve pounds to the dozen.

Inferior stock that has not been properly fed will produce squabs much smaller than the above, but at the same time you will find their squabs weighing six or seven pounds to the dozen. If the squabs are plump and of good quality, they will bring a fair price.

The Homers are the fastest workers and the best feeders and they will produce squabs under unfavorable conditions that would discourage all other varieties. For a second selection for the experienced squab breeder who has a market for large squabs of extra quality I would suggest the Giant Carneaux (p.r.o.nounced Karno). These birds come to us from France and Belgium and they are a little larger than the Homers, fast workers and produce squabs of the whitest meat. Breeding stock in this variety is higher in price and usually costs two or three times as much as the Homer stock, and bearing in mind the added cost of foundation stock it would be noted at once that the returns must be larger from this variety to justify the increased expenditure. The Carneaux is a bold appearing, beautiful bird and comes in solid red, solid yellow, and red and white splashed. The latter color being much preferred by squab breeders.

The Swiss Mondaine is an extra large variety that has met with considerable favor in this country, and the squabs from this variety often weigh as heavy as twenty-four or thirty ounces each. These birds very much resemble the American bred Homer in appearance except, of course, they are much larger. They are slower workers and the squabs require about two weeks longer to mature for market. Breeding stock is usually quite high in price.