CHAPTER II 



SELECTING THE BREED 



The Licading Ooininercial Syuab I'ruducing- Pigeons — Advice Against 

 Using- the Coninion l*igeon. 



Which bi'ced shall I select? This is a question that we are 

 confident has puzzled many a beginner. To the mind of the 

 \\riter it seems to he a (luestion which should lie solved by the 

 one asking it, after he or she has fully looked into the facts 

 concerning the diffei'ent breeds. In order to assist the novice 

 we have, (heretorc, iirepareil chapters coxering the different 

 squal) producing varieties. These should be of great value in 

 helping the beginner make a wise selection. 



The writer considers the following to be the Ijesf breeds for 

 commercial squab production. The AMiite King, the Silver 

 King, the Homer, the Carneaii, the Runt, the Mondaine, the 

 Maltese and the Hungarian. Of all of these the Kings, Homer 

 and Carneau are probablx' the most prolific, taken as a breed 

 and the most pi-ohtable. However, the others are excellent 

 si[tudj producers and all can be relied upon if properly handled. 

 The Homer is one of the most used breeds for this purpose, 

 prolialily the most widely useil, but the other breeds are rapidly 

 coming to their own and today we find large commercial squab 

 plants \\iiere tliere are l>ut few Homers. 



Our advice to the novice is to breed a thoroughbred biix!, never 

 a crossiired or mongrel and nevei' \\aste good blood lines of 

 two different breeds by mating them together to get a cross- 

 bred sqiuib. I'nder no circinnstances should one breed the 

 mongrel or common pigeon. The latter will not produce as 

 many nor as large squabs as thoroughbred specimens. 



Having selected a breed stick to it and strive to get the best 



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