50 Xaiional Standard Squab Book. 



hrwiUTS anil iiiaiiii^- s.i as m ixi-t somelliiii>; lai^cr and pliiniiKT, you are 

 all mr tinu' j.'i't:ii)t' liit:ser scinabs. Every breeder ol' squahs has it in his 

 power ;o iiiri-iMsi. till' eiHcinncy of his ilock liy studying his matings. 

 There is ( ..umienial satisfaition in breeding for size and phmnmess he- 

 eause it jiays at oiiri\ and al the same time the breeder has the satisfac- 

 tion >it inrrea-ing the stamina and variety of pigeons. 



To lie master of the matings, the breeder shonld band his siiuabs. As 

 soon tis they are "vveaned (that is, as soon as the breeder sees them flying 

 10 the feeil and eating it) they shonld be taken and put into a rearing 

 sijuaii-honse. AMieii about six months old, the bre^eder should begin mat- 

 ing I hem by srleelion, using the mating c-oop, then when they are mated 

 turn the pair into a working pen with other adult birds. By looking at the 

 number oq the band nf eaeli bird, then on your record card, you know how 

 to avoid mating up 'brotli>-r and sister. 



When the >nuiig Kirds are just over four weeks old, or between four and 

 six weeks, they ai.' able to fly a little, and if they do not hop out of the 

 nest (or are imt pii-hed out by (he parents) you may push them out your- 

 self. They are now able to feed themselves and you should provide an 

 auxiliary feeding trough in the squab house for them. If these young 

 birds aie left in the squal> lioust, they will bother the old birds by begging 

 for food, ami this infantile nagging will hinder the regular breeders in 

 tlieir next hatrli, so the very best thing to do is to put the young birds by 

 themselves in a reaiing housi . where they canuot bother anybofly. 



Of course there is likely lo be a little inbrei»ding when you leave the 

 birds to choiisi' for themselves, but not much. If the breeder has not the 

 lime to make forced ujatings, thiui he nniv not care to make them. Re- 

 member in mating that liko begets like. The parent /Ijird that feeds its 

 young the most, and most often, will raise the biggest squab. Sometimes 

 a parent biid will have fine nursing abilities ami will stuff its offspring 

 with fond. These udiid-feeding qualities are transmitted from one genera- 

 tion to anidher ami are as nruch umler the control of the breeder as size 

 and flesh-coho'. Ymir tiiggest squabs will be found to have an extra-atten- 

 tive father or uiotlcr, or bnth. A pigeon with a dark skin, if mated to a 

 white skinned lord will proiluce a mulatto-like squab. It is the large, fat, 

 white-flcshed sipiaii which ycm are after. Disregard the color of the 

 feathers when mating. If when plucking your squabs you come across a 

 "logger," thai is. a s(jiiab witli a dark skin, find out what pair of breeders 

 it came from and whether the cock or the hen is at fault, and get rid of 

 the faulty one. It is import.-int to start with a<lult birds that are not re- 

 lated, then you \\\]] not begin inbreeding. That is why we make a 

 specitil effort with nur adult tjirds to have them unrelated. 



Some letters from i-ustomers make plain to us that a clear knowledge of 

 what inbreeiiing means is not possessed by everybody. Several hare 

 written to this effect: "If I buy two or thi-ee dozen pairs from you to 

 start, how can I increase the size of my flock without inbreeding ' Now, 

 inbreeding, oi breeding in, is the opposite of breeding out tor line breed- 



