DOMESTIC PIGEONS 111 



Be that as it may. Although an untold number 

 of failures have occurred in the squab business, 

 some people have made good. It may be that the 

 breeder owns the proper housing facilities for his 

 birds; he may have the nests arranged in the 

 order that they should properly be in; he may 

 have a ready market near by; he may feed the 

 squabs by correct formula; he may have the pa- 

 tience of Job; but success will be lacking unless 

 he has the knack of producing squabs. This abil- 

 ity is something that all the books and all the 

 formulae in the world cannot teach a man; it 

 must be born a part of him. And when the 

 breeder does have the gift, he lives "happy ever 

 after. " 



Squabs are reared in well-ventilated, vermin- 

 proof lofts and placed on the market generally 

 when four weeks old. The mother bird lays two 

 eggs, and when the nestlings are about three weeks 

 of age she deposits two more in a near-by nest. 

 She incubates the second clutch while the male 

 completes the rearing of the squabs. For the 

 first five or six days after hatching, their sole 

 food consists of "pigeon milk," a soft milky 

 substance formed in the crops of the old birds 

 and regurgitated into the mouths of the young. 

 On the fifth or sixth day the youngsters begin 

 eating grain and, with the addition of their 

 "milk," continue to do so until they are fit for 

 the market. 



