CHAPTER IV 

 OTHER BREEDS OF UTILITY PIGEONS 



To give a full history and description of each variety of pigeons 

 best adapted for squab breeding would consume considerable 

 time and space. I will, therefore, confine my remarks to a brief 

 description of the most popular breeds of today, which are 

 Carneaux, Homers, Runts, Hungarians, Maltese, Mondaines, 

 Polish Lynx and White Kings. Most any of these birds like the 

 popular breeds of chickens are all right and each have their 

 place in squab breeding. 



HOMERS 



The Homer is a bird a little larger than a common pigeon, 

 but, owing to their build and feeding qualities, they produce 

 squabs almost twice as large as a common squab, and a much 

 fatter and better flavored squab. Homers come in all colors, 

 black, white, blue, red, dun, silver and commingling colors, with 

 blue barred and blue checkered as the predominating color. 



By reason of the prolific qualities of the Homer and its pro- 

 duction of a plump, fat, meaty squab, it stands second to none 

 as a utility pigeon, and if it were not for the fact that its squabs 

 are small compared with other popular breeds hence bring less 

 on the market, the Homer would stand foremost in the country 

 as a squab producing variety. The utility or squab breeding 

 Homer is the same breed as the Racing Homer, except one 

 branch of the breed has been developed for its homing and fast 

 flying tendencies, while the other has been developed for the 

 production of squabs. The homing instinct is an objectionable 

 quality in a squab producing or utility pigeon, for the reason 

 that if liberated they will fly away, unless the bird was raised 

 at the place liberated. They are not able to find their way back 

 home, as is generally presumed, unless they have been trained 



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