CHAPTEK YI. 



LAYING AND HATCHING. 



Laying an Egg is ITnder tlie Control of the Pigfon's JlinJ— Fertile an.i 

 Unfertile Eggs— How the Cock Drives the Hen— On? Day Between 

 Eggs— Hatch After Seventeen Days— How Squabs aie Fed by the 

 Parent Birds— Hating ifales and Females— Use of the Mating Coop 

 -Determination of Sex— Color of Feathers Has No Effect ou Color 

 of Flesh— Pigeons Left to Themselves AVill Xof lubreed— No In- 

 breeding Necessary Even if You Start With a Small Flock. 



The hen pigeon builds the nest. When the nest is built, the cock begins 

 to "drive" the hen around the house and pen. In a flock of pigeons on 

 the roof of the squab house, you always will see one or two cocks "driv- 

 ing" their mates, pecking at them and na.gging them with the purpose of 

 forcing them onto the nest to lay the eggs. The cock seems to fake more 

 interest in the coming family than the hen. 



The hen lays one egg in the nest, then skips a day and lays the second 

 egg on the third day. Seventeen days after being laid the eggs hatch. 

 The egg first laid hatches a day before the second, sometimes, -but usually 

 the parents do not sit close on first egg, but stand over it, and do not in- 

 cubate it. Sometimes one squab ma.v .get more than its share of food, and 

 the younger one will weaken and die. This seldom ha,ppens but if you 

 see one squab considerably larger than the other, the thing to do is to ex- 

 change with a squab frouT another nest that is nearer the size of the re- 

 maining squab. The old birds will not notice the change but will continue 

 fee<Jing the foster squal). 



The process of laying an egg is a mental operation. We mean by this 

 that it is not a process which goes on regularly in spite of all conditions. 

 Th'.' hen forms the egg in her body and lays it when she wants to, not 

 when she is forced ro. In other words, the hen lays when conditions are 

 satisfactory to her. That she forms the egg at will is proven by many 

 things, principally by the fact that she allows one day to come in between 

 the first and the second eggs. No doubt, after she has laid the first egg, 

 she hurries the other along and lays it as soon after the first as she can, 

 and it takes ih hours for the egg, complete in its wonderful construction, 

 to form. Hen pigeons in a shipping crate or close coop do not lay eggs, 

 because they know that there are no facilities there for raising young. 

 Once in a while you will find an e,gg in a shipping crate when the birds 

 are taken out, but it is a comparatively rare occurrence. 



Of course, in order to lay a fertile egg, th" hen pigeon must have re- 



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