The Feather's Practical Pigeon Book 



be harmony between them. Sometimes you may know 

 the pair you desire to mate are cock and hen, and yet 

 the hen may prove a termagant, and in no way satisfied 

 with the mate you have chosen for her. She will then 

 make it so hot for him, that you, for the sake pf peace, 

 will be obliged to separate them. This is a case where 

 if the partition is removed and they are allowed to come 

 together, the cock, if a strong, vigorous bird, may whip 

 the hen into submission. But I do not advocate such 

 matings when avoidable, and tfiey do not seem as nat- 

 ural, and are certainly not as peaceful as where the two 

 accept each other without discord and strife. The pairs 

 when properly and satisfactorily mated, can then be 

 placed together in the nesting-places, and if my direc- 

 tions as to partitions and doors have been followed out, 

 can be kept confined there a few days or until they are 

 settled in their new quarters, when the screen-door can 

 be removed and they allowed the liberty of the loft. 



Previous to putting the mated pairs in the breeding- 

 room, it will be advisable to remove any odd males or 

 females, if there be any confined there, as they only tend 

 to create a disturbance by intruding their attentions on 

 the mated pairs. A strong cock will often pair with two. 

 hens where there is a surplus of hens, and dividing his 

 attention between the two, frustrate your breeding 

 plans. So sometimes such a cock will drive off the cock 

 the breeder has selected and appropriate his hen to his 

 own use, and in this way cause a continuous quarrel to 

 be kept up, where it is most desirable that concord a'nd 

 harmony should prevail. 



The birds being paired and "wonted" to their sep- 

 arate apartments, a nest-pan should be provided them, 

 half filled with either pine or cedar sawdust as I have 

 recommended. Everything being clean and new when 



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