MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 267 



and take some exercise. Counting from the time the last egg 

 was laid, the period of incubation is sixteen or seventeen days. 

 Young squabs, like all other young birds that are naked when 

 hatched, are ugly little things. They have apparently insatiable 

 appetites, and their mouths seem to be always open. They are 

 fed by the parents with pigeon milk, which is simply the 

 usual food of the old birds softened in the crop. The pigeon 

 has the power of disgorging the contents of the crop at will, 

 and feeds its young by forcing food from its crop into their 

 mouths. When they are well fed, the squabs grow very fast. 



FIG. 219. Dressed squabs. (Photograph from Dr. J. G. Robinson, 

 Pembroke, Massachusetts) 



Young Homers four weeks old often weigh from three quarters 

 of a pound to a pound, or even more, and are ready for market. 

 Many of the fancy varieties of pigeons are hard to rear, because 

 the abnormal structure of the beak or the interference of pecu- 

 liar feather characters prevent the old ones from feeding their 

 young properly. All the breeds described in detail in the pre- 

 ceding chapter are known as good feeders. 



Pigeons will breed nearly the year round, stopping only while 

 molting, but in cold climates many young birds die in the nests 

 in winter. Those who are breeding for market take this as one 

 of the risks of their business. If only half of the squabs are 



