CHAPTER VII. 
INCREASE OF FLOCK. 
It 1s Possible to Breed One Pair of Squabs Each Month, but 
in Actual Practice this is Seldom Attained—The Squab 
Raiser with Pure Thoroughbred Homers should Count on 
Six to Nine Pairs of Squabs a Year—The Common Pigeon 
Breeds Only Four or Five Pairs of Squabs a Year, but 
Eats as Much or More than the Homer—Differences 
between the Homer and the Common Pigeon—Good Homers 
Scarce and the Market for them Firm and Steady. 
It is theoretically possible for a pair of pigeons to breed 
twelve pairs of squabs a year, for it takes only seventeen 
days for the eggs to hatch, and the hen goes to laying again 
when the hatch is only two weeks old. So, if you start with 
twelve pairs of Homer pigeons, and they should breed one 
pair of squabs a month, at the end of the first month you 
would have twenty-four squabs; at the end of the second 
month, forty-eight squabs; at the end of the third month, 
seventy-two squabs; at the end of the fourth month, ninety- 
six squabs; at the end of the fifth month, one hundred and 
twenty squaps. Now the first lot of squabs which your birds 
hatched will be ready to mate and lay eggs, so at the end of 
the sixth month you should have one hundred and sixty- 
eight squabs; at the end of the seventh month, two hundred 
and forty squabs; at the end of the eighth month, three 
hundred and thirty-six squabs; at the end of the ninth 
month, four hundred and fifty-six squabs; at the end of the 
tenth month, six hundred squabs; at the end of the eleventh 
month, seven hundred and sixty-eight squabs, and at the end 
of the twelfth month, nine hundred and sixty squabs. Such 
figures are purely theoretical and are seldom attained in actual 
practice. You will have some pairs in your flock which 
will raise ten and eleven pairs of squabs a year, but the 
average will be seven to nine pairs of squabs a year. If you 
get less, your flock is not pure thoroughbred Homers, or your 
feeding and nesting arrangements are wrong. In our visit 
to squab breeders in 1902, we asked every one with whom 
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