all right for them to buy a flock and keep it 

 in one house for six months or a year, pay- 

 ing no attention to the mating of the young 

 birds, but leaving that to themselves, so as 

 to get without much trouble a large flock 

 before the killing of the squabs for market 

 begins. Certainly, you may do this, providing 

 extra nest-boxes from time to time until 

 your squab house has been filled with nests; 

 then you will have to provide overflow quar- 

 ters. "We arc asked if the flock will not 

 become weakened by inbreeding, that is, a 

 brother bird mating up to a sister, by chance. 

 According to the law of chances, such mat- 

 ings would take place not very often. Pig- 

 eons in a wild state, on the face of a cliff, 

 or in an abandoned building, would mate by 

 natural selection. The stronger bird gets the 

 object of its affection, the weaker one is 

 killed off or gets a weaker mate, whose young 

 are shorter-lived, so the inevitable result is 

 more strength and larger size. Nature works 

 slowly, if surely. A lot of pigeons in one 

 pen mating as they please when old enough 

 is the natural way, and if you follow this, 

 you cannot go very far wrong. We advocate 

 matings by the breeder because it hurries 

 Nature along the path which makes most 

 money for the breeder. "We all know how 

 Darwin studied natural and forced selection 

 with pigeons. He took one pigeon with a 

 certain peculiarity, say a full breast, and 

 mated it to another pigeon with a full breast. 

 The squabs from these birds, when grown, 

 had breasts fuller than their parents. Then 

 these in turn were mated to full-breasted 

 pigeons from other parents, and the grand- 

 children had even larger breasts. Darwin's 

 experiments covered a period of over twenty 

 years and in this time he developed little 

 faults and peculiarities to an amazing degree. 

 Every intelligent, careful pigeon breeder is 

 striving by his forced matings to push along 

 the path of progress the peculiarity in pig- 

 eons which is his specialty. The breeder 

 who selects most carefully and keeps at it 

 the longest wins over the others. By select- 

 ing from our best and most prolific breeders 

 the biggest and fattest squabs, keeping 

 them for breeders and mating so as to get 

 something larger and plumper, we are get- 

 ting all the time bigger squabs. We expect 

 eventually to raise squabs which when four 

 weeks old will be as big as market-sized 

 chickens. We are amused sometimes by the 

 thought that we have made some progress in 

 this direction, for a judge of poultry at the 

 big Boston show in 1901 was fooled by our 

 squabs and gave them first prize in the 

 chicken broiler class ! Every breeder of 



squabs has it in his power to increase the 

 efficiency of his flock by studying his mat- 

 ings. At the end of a year, his squabs 

 should be larger than when he started, at the 

 end of two years still larger, and so on. 

 There is commercial satisfaction in breeding 

 for size and plumpness because it pays at 

 once, and at the same time the breeder has 

 the satisfaction of increasing the stamina and 

 variety of pigeons. 



To be master of the matings, the breeder 

 should band his squabs as described In the 

 Silanual. As goon as they are weaned (that is, 

 as soon as the breeder sees them flying to 

 the feed and eating it) they should be taken 

 and put into a rearing squab-house. When 

 about six mouths old, the breeder should be- 

 gin mating them by selection, using the mat- 

 ing coop, then when they are mated turn the 

 pair into a working pen with other adult 

 birds. By looking at the number on the 

 band of each bird, thcsn on your record card, 

 you know how to avoid mating up brother and 

 sister. 



When the young birds are just over four 

 weeks old, or between four and six weeks, 

 they are able to fly a little, and if they do 

 not hop out of the nest (or are not pushed 

 out by the parents) you may push them out 

 yourself. They are now able to feed them- 

 selves and you should provide an auxiliary 

 feeding trough in the squab house for them. 

 In a week or so longer, they will be bright 

 enough to go to the self-feeder in the flying- 

 pen. If these young birds are left in the 

 squab house, they will bother the old birds 

 by begging for food, and this Infantile nag- 

 ging will hinder the regular breeders In their 

 next hatch, so the very best thing to do is 

 to put the young birds by themselves in a 

 rearing house, where they cannot bother any- 

 body. 



Of course there is likely, to he a little 

 inbreeding when you leave the birds to choose 

 for themselves, but not much. If the breeder 

 has not the time to make forced matings, 

 then he may not care to make them. Re- 

 member In mating that like begets like. The 

 parent bird that feeds its young the most, 

 and most often, will raise the biggest squab. 

 Sometimes a parent bird will have fine nurs- 

 ing abilities and will stuff Its offspring with 

 food. These good-feeding qualities are trans- 

 mitted from one generation to another and 

 are as much under the control of the breeder 

 as size and flesh-color. Tour biggest squabs 

 win be found to have an extra-attentivi 

 father or mother, or both. A pigeon 

 with a dark skin If mated to a white 

 skinned bird will produce a raulatto-like 



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