Don't overcrowd your lofts. It is better to waste a little room than to have too many birds together. Give each fifty pairs a room eight by ten feet and a fly at least ten by twenty-four feet.
SQUAB HOMERS
Health and vigor are the foundation on which success must be built. The well-bred squab Homer carries its head erect, its plumage is smooth and sleek, and its neck carries the colors of the rain-bow. When it stands still, it seems on wires and when you go in to your loft in the morning and look over the flock any bird which does not in turn give you a looking over is not fit for a breeder. The eye is the index of health of pigeons. If the eye is dull or the bird sits winking in a listless manner, there is something wrong about it. Sickly birds shun society and mope in dark corners. The droppings should be noticed. If the birds are healthy, there should be a fair proportion of pure white in them, and they should be rather firm. The squab Homer in health is a beautiful bird, alive every moment and noticing keenly everything that passes.
INCREASING PRICES
Squabs have constantly increased in price in the larger markets for several years, and hundreds of new towns have come in with a call for good squabs. Everyone who begins to raise squabs for the market makes the demand for them larger. There is no danger of overdoing the business and it will continue to grow larger as game birds decrease in numbers. Many restaurants now serve squab when there is an order for quail on toast, and those who like good things usually go back and want some more of that same kind of "quail." Good restaurants now keep squabs on hand and put them on their tables under their proper name, having learned that it pays to do so.
THE SOUTH JERSEY SQUAB DISTRICT
The great business of raising squabs which is carried on in South Jersey started with one man and has spread out until almost every one in the country for miles around Bridgeton keeps pigeons and sells squabs. About 7,000 squabs are sent out of this district every week, equal to 365,000 in a year, and there is never a time but these squabs sell as soon as they reach the market at prices which make it very profitable to produce them. Men, women and children raise squabs in this district, nearly every one of them being sold in New York City.
THE PROFESSION OF SQUAB BREEDING
Only a few years ago the man who spent his time breeding pigeons was thought to be engaged in a small business. Now it has become a profession and is followed by all sorts of men as a profitable way of putting in spare time. The professional man raises squabs as a diversion, the clerk or shop operative keeps a loft to help out on his income, young men pay their way through college on the profits of the squab business, old men who have got beyond the harder work of life make a good living from squabs; and still the insistent food markets call for more squabs at better prices. There is no risk in going into the squab business, if the birds are properly cared for.