The Feather's Practical Pigeon Book 



The scrapings should all be saved, as they make ex- 

 cellent manure when properly composted, or they can be 

 sold to morocco dressers, who prize them highly for use 

 in tanning their hides. Every loft, however small, needs 

 a mating-.cage if care is to be used in breeding. For this 

 purpose a box 2 feet long and 12 inches deep and as 

 many inches high will answer for all varieties except 

 } 'outers. These will need a larger cage or box. Divide 

 the box in the middle by a wire partition; also slat or 

 wire the front. This gives two apartments. Wishing 

 to pair up any particular cock and hen, place them 

 in the separate apartments, and, if congenial, they will 

 soon make love to each other through the wire partition. 

 They would, perhaps, mate if placed in a single cage, but 

 sometimes the match is not an agreeable one to the hen, 

 and in spite of all the enticing actions of the cock, the 

 hen will not accept his attentions. Then comes a series 

 of quarrels, which frequently ends in the hen being 

 mastered and then terribly abused by the cock, he fre- 

 quently pecking her about the head till the skull is laid 

 bare and the flesh a mass of bloody pulp. 



By placing them in separate apartments this is all 

 avoided, and after a time, if there is no agreement en- 

 tered into between them, one or the other can be re- 

 moved and a bird put in its place that may prove 

 more congenial. I have frequently seen birds placed in 

 the cage mate in an hour's time, and again have seen 

 day after day pass and the hen show no indication of 

 mating, and yet in the end, when the right spirit per- 

 vaded her, accept the attentions of the cock and prove 

 a faithful companion. 



Should the fancier's flock be a large one, he would 

 naturally need several mating-cages. These should be 

 located outside or away from the breeding-room, so that 



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