' CHAPTER XL 



COMMON PIGEONS 



Why Common Pigeons are not r'rolllable. 



On several occasions the writer has been asked if it would 

 not be just as profitable to breed common pigeons and allow 

 them to fly at large as it would be to house up an equal number 

 of pure bred birds. On the face of the matter the experienced 

 breeder realizes the folly of attempting to make money out of 

 common pigeons. It cannot be done scccessfully. As a parallel 

 case we never see poultrymen endeavoring to breed common 

 chickens or mongrels for egg production or market purposes. The 

 answer is plain enough. The breeding is not in the bird's make- 

 up and it is therefore not capable of producing proper results. 



The common pigeon is a mongrel with the blood of several 

 breeds flowing in its veins. They mate up promiscuously accord- 

 ing to their own likes and dislikes and cannot therefore be 

 relied upon to prodtice anything of value. These birds fly at 

 large in the majority of cases and live in the eaves of houses 

 rearing their squabs in the best manner possible. For a living 

 they pick up whatever they can find on the ground and streets. 

 It is not bred in them to produce plump white skinned squabs 

 of marketable value. 



When we confine a bunch of these birds and care for them 

 as we would for pure bred stock we soon find out the folly of 

 it all. The speed of breeding is lacking anfl any breeder would 

 be extremely lucky to average six pairs per year for his flock 

 of mongrels and what squabs he did get would be a conglomerate 

 bunch of skinny, dark skinned birds fit only for feeding his 

 dogs on. This has been my experience for I have both tried it 

 myself and have seen others make this test. 



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