53 



$i.iO to $1.25 a year. If a certain loft contains pigeons 

 of extra breeding qualities, it will cost more for feed, as 

 the old birds have more squabs to feed than would be the 

 case where less productive birds were kept. 



it should be understood that when we give the cost of 

 keeping a pair of breeding pigeons a year, the feed con- 

 sumed by all the squabs produced is included. That is 

 when we say it costs $1.10 to $1.25 to keep a pair of pigeons 

 a year, we mean it will cost these sums to keep the pair and 

 all the squabs they produce in a year. 



NUMBER OF SQUABS TO THE PAIR. 



Some enthusiastic — or dishonest — sellers of breeding pig- 

 eons talk about their birds producing eight or nine pairs 

 of squabs a year. There are very select birds which will 

 do this, but they can not be bought at any reasonable price. 

 No pair of birds will raise two squabs every time they hatch, 

 for accidents will happen and one squab, or both, in some 

 brooding periods, will die. Occasionally an egg will be 

 broken, and once in a while an egg will prove infertile. 

 These accidents, which happen in the best cared-for lofts, 

 come to every pigeon-breeder. 



If a loft of pigeons averages six pairs of pigeons a year, 

 it will do as much as can be expected of it. More will fall 

 below that than run above it, because there are more care- 

 less pigeon-breeders than careful ones. 



Say, for the sake of a basis from which to argue, that a 

 loft of a good strain of Homers, properly housed and fed, 

 will produce an average of six pairs of squabs a year. As 

 pigeons breed ten months in the year, this average should 

 be easily made. This would be an even dozen squabs for 

 each pair of pigeons in the loft. These we will put at the 



