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Raising P. V. Squabs for Profit
JOHN S. TRECARTIN
Caldwell New Jersey
RAISING P. V. SQUABS FOR PROFIT
_By_ JOHN S. TRECARTIN
A Manual of Instruction from My Personal Experience
in Building, Stocking and Managing the Largest
Successful Squab Plant in New Jersey
Tells how we market squabs for twelve dollars per
dozen, wholesale.
Details of necessary requirements for a successful
business.
How to house, feed, market and care for pigeons.
Importance of good foundation stock.
Profits and how secured.
COPYRIGHT 1920, JOHN S. TRECARTIN. CALDWELL, N.J.
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 3
CHAPTER I.
Is There Profit in Raising Squabs? 5
CHAPTER II.
Description of Passaic Valley Squab Farm and Housing in General 7
CHAPTER III.
The Fundamental Requirements for Successful Squab Raising 10
CHAPTER IV.
The Utility Pigeon 17
CHAPTER V.
Habits and Peculiarities 20
CHAPTER VI.
Squabs for Market 24
CHAPTER VII.
Selecting Breeders 28
INTRODUCTION
The squab business in America has too long been looked upon as a
pastime and game for children's amusement. Raising squabs is not
child's play, but a real scientific business with unlimited
possibilities for development.
Success in this business as in any other, depends largely on a proper
start. In the following pages I will endeavor to present with great
simplicity the right way to start in the squab business and the results
I have obtained in raising squabs for market. The information contained
herein, may, I trust, be of as much benefit to the reader as it is my
pleasure to impart.
JOHN S. TRECARTIN.
[Illustration: PASSAIC VALLEY SQUAB FARM, CALDWELL, N.J.]
CHAPTER I.
IS THERE PROFIT IN RAISING SQUABS?
Of the question of profit in squab raising, there is no doubt. Squabs
are coming into use more and more every day, not only as a delicacy for
invalids, but also for hotels, restaurants, catering establishments,
and household use.
The first question is naturally of the market for them. The Hebrews,
who entertain lavishly, are among our largest customers. They buy the
squabs alive, as their poultry has to be prepared according to the
Jewish Dietary Laws. The hotels in all large cities use enormous
quantities of squabs, and we have had to freeze large quantities for
them in the summer in the past few years, so as to insure them a steady
supply through the winter months. We have frozen as high as 5,000
squabs for a single hotel in one year, and now we make a practice of
always keeping a reserve of frozen squabs, to meet the winter demands.
The prices of squabs are for the most part regulated by the large
cities in the vicinity. Commission merchants are always anxious to buy
in any quantity and they send out weekly quotations as to what they are
paying for squabs. The prices to butchers, hotels, and consumers of all
classes, are based on these quotations and naturally the direct sale to
the consumer, cutting out the commission man, commands a much higher
price.
The following table is made up of the quotations Conron Bros., New York
City, paid for squabs during the first week in January in the following
years:--
1912 Squabs weighing 9 lbs. to the dozen $ 4.75
1913 " " 9 lbs. " " 4.75
1914 " " 9 lbs. " " 4.75
1916 " " 9 lbs. " " 5.50
1919 " " 9 lbs. " " 9.25
1920 " " 9 lbs. " " 11.00
Squabs are graded according to the weight of one dozen. That is, one
dozen squabs weighing twelve ounces each, would weigh nine pounds to
the dozen. We have taken that weight squab as a basis, as that is the
average weight squab produced from good breeders.
The cost of raising squabs depends entirely on the price of feed and
the number of squabs produced during a given period. Before the war, it
cost $1.25 a year for feed for one pair of pigeons. At present, the
cost per pair for feed is $3.00, according to our records. Now, how
many squabs will a pair of pigeons produce in a year? That question we
cannot answer, but we know how many squabs we have produced from our
breeders. In 1919, we raised an average of 14.3 squabs per pair, for
our entire plant. Our average pen production ran from 10 to 16 squabs
per pair a year, and as we always select our breeders for their fast
breeding qualities and plump squab, we fully expect to average 15
squabs per pair in 1920.
Considering the useful breeding life of a pigeon, which continues for
five years, the question of profit in raising squabs should answer
itself.
The selecting of breeders will be treated in full, further in the book.