67 

 CHAPTER VIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION CATCHING MATED PAIRS. 



When it is desired to catch mated pairs, take the catching 

 net into the fly*with you. Drive all the pigeons out into 

 the fly and shut them out of the house*. Then take another 

 person with you and go into the fly. Watch until a cock 

 begins to drive a hen and trap him in the riet, while your 

 helper watches the hen. Take the cock out of the net and 

 hand it to your helper, who will catch the hen. Then band 

 the two, putting the band on the right leg of the cock and 

 on the left leg of the hen. If squabs are banded in the nest, 

 nearly all of them will be found banded correctly if the 

 band has been put on the right leg of the squab first hatched 

 and the left leg of the one hatched la1;er. 



STARTING A LOFT. 



Buy from ten to fifty mated pairs, according to the 

 amount with which you decide to begin. Keep all the best 

 squabs hatched during the year, so cross-mating them as 

 not to have nest mates mated up for breeding. Dispose of 

 all under-sized squabs, and when the birds have grown up 

 sell all those which prove inferior. In this way you will 

 learn to manage your loft and get your breeding stock at 

 the lowest possible cost. 



THE PRICE OF BREEDING STOCK. 



It does not pay to start with poor breeding stock. Buy of 

 a reliable breeder and pay a fair price. No one can afford 

 to sell first-class breeding stock at less than $2 a pair in 

 large numbers or $2.50 a pair when from ten to twenty- 

 five pairs are sold in a lot. It is poor economy to buj 

 common pigeons as squab-breeders at any price and just 



