Profitable Squab Breeding

by Carl Dare

Fig. 11. Showing the Arrangement of a Small Plant on a Back Lot.

Make a loop of stout cord, looping it over both feet of the squab, and by this string hang it on one of the nails. Then cross the wings over the back in such a way that they are locked. This prevents fluttering and is painless. To lock the wings, turn the pigeon with the back to you and cross the hands. Then take a wing in each hand and pass one under the other in such a position that the "elbows" lock together.

With the small blade of a pen-knife in the right hand take the head of the squab in the left hand in such a way that the thumb and forefinger may be used to hold the mouth open. If held in the right way, the shoulders of the birds will be in the palm of the hand.

Run the blade of the knife up through the top of the mouth into the brain and immediately pass to another squab, letting the one just killed bleed, as it is necessary for the bird to be free from blood to prevent red spots from appearing along its back after it has been killed a few hours. These red spots are called "blisters" and injure the selling qualities of a squab which shows them.

After the birds are thoroughly bled, carefully pick the feathers from them, being careful not to tear the skin in any place, as this also lowers the value in the market.

The English method of killing is rapidly gaining in favor in this country and is superior in many ways to the use of the knife. By this method the operator grasps the bird firmly in the left hand with the thumb and fingers about the neck and the breast and wing, butts held securely in the hand. The bird's head is caught in the right hand with the thumb over and at the back of the head and the first and second fingers at the throat. Then with a firm pull, the neck is dislocated and the jugular vein is ruptured so the bird is killed instantly and thoroughly bled, all of the blood however remaining inside the skin of the neck.

A little practice will enable anyone to learn this method and it is much faster, neater and cleaner than the old method.

When a squab is plucked clean, throw it into a tub of water from a spring or well from thirty minutes to an hour. Then it should be thrown into a tub of ice-cold water to further cool and solidify the flesh, for all the animal heat must be chilled out before a squab is packed or it will not keep well, arriving in the market soft and unattractive in appearance.

Be very careful to have the second chilling water almost cold enough to freeze the birds. In cold weather they soon cool out in water which has been exposed to the air, but at any time in the year first cool them in well or spring water of normal temperature.