CHAPTER TWO. 



MANAGEMENT— FEEDING, BREEDING, REAR- 

 ING—THE SQUAB, THE SQUEAKER, THE 

 ADULT. 



The selection of special birds for mating I shall deal 

 with in a separate chapter. 



The simplest method to get pigeons to mate is by the 

 use of a mating-pen with dividing bars. You put a bird 

 of each sex in each pen, when they can see one another 

 through the bars. For a time they may sulk, but in a 

 day or two they will " nod " to each other; then follows 

 the ringing of beaks through the bars of the pen, and the 

 cock will proudly and loudly coo and turn round and 

 round, whilst the hen will sweep her tail in a gentle, lady- 

 like manner. The marriage is now complete, the division 

 in the pen may be taken away, and the birds removed to 

 the nest-box in which they are to live. 



In the case of fancy pigeons they are not so strong and 

 robust as the sporting varieties, and it is best to separate 

 the sexes as soon after July as possible, and to mate them 

 up about the middle of February. 



But here again the question of loft situation must be 

 taken into account. In some parts of the West of Eng- 

 land, Torquay, and the South you can with safety start 

 breeding earlier than further north. 



To be successful in the exhibition world you want to get 

 the breeding over early in order to have both the old and 

 young birds nicely moulted for the early shows. 



With the racing bird, however, the matter is different, 

 for you want to delay the moult in order that the birds 



