50 National Standard Squab Book. 
breeders and mating so as to get something larger and plumper, you are 
all the time getting bigger squabs. HEvery breeder of squabs has it in his 
power to increase the efficiency of his flock by studying his matings. 
There is commercial satisfaction in breeding for size and plumpness be- 
cause it puys at once, and at the same time the breeder has the satisfac- 
tion of increasing the stamina and variety of pigeons. 
To be master of the matings, the breeder should band his squabs. As 
soon as they are weaned (that is, as soon as the breeder sees them flying 
to the feed and eating it) they should be taken and put into a rearing 
squab-house. When about six months old, the breeder should begin mat- 
ing them by selection, using the mating coop, then when they are mated 
turn the pair into a working pen with other adult birds. By looking at the 
number oa the band of each bird, then on your record card, you know how 
to avoid mating up brother and sister. 
When the young birds are just over four weeks old, or between four and 
six weeks, they are able to fly a little, and if they do not hop out of the 
nest (or are not pushed out by the 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 are left in the squab house, they will bother the old birds by begging 
for food, and this infantile nagging will hinder the regular breeders in 
their next hatch, so the very best thing to do is to put the young birds by 
themselves in a rearing house, where they cannot bother anybody. 
Of course there is likely to be a little inbreeding when you leave the 
birds to choose for themselves, but not much. If the breeder has not the 
time to make forced matings, then he may not care to make them. Re- 
member in mating that like begets like. The parent bird that feeds its 
young the most, and most often, will raise the biggest squab. Sometimes 
a parent bird will have fine nursing abilities and will stuff its offspring 
with food. These good-feeding qualities are transmitted from one genera- 
lion to another and are as much under the control of the breeder as size 
and flesh-color. Your biggest squabs will be found to have an extra-atten- 
tive father or mother, or both. A pigeon with a dark skin, if mated to a 
white skinned bird will produce a mulatto-like squab. It is the large, fat, 
white-fleshed squab which you are after. Disregard the color of the 
feathers when mating. If when plucking your squabs you come across a 
‘nigger,’ that is, a squab with a dark skin, find out what pair of breeders 
it came from ard whether the cock or the hen is at fault, and get rid of 
the faulty one. It is important to start with adult birds that are not re- 
iated, then you will not begin inbreeding. That is why we make 2 
special effort with our adult birds to have them unrelated. 
Some letters from customers make plain to us that_a clear knowledge of 
what inbreeding means is not possessed by everybody. Several have 
written to this effect: “If I buy two or three dozen pairs from you to 
start, how can I increase the size of my flock without inbreeding ' Now, 
inbreeding, or breeding in, is the opposite of breeding out (or line breed- 
