142 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE. 



third morning thereafter, there being no egg laid the second 

 day. After the second egg is laid, they immediately go tn set- 

 ting. If the we^ither is extremely cold the mother bird will 

 hover Ihc first egg siifficieiitly enough to keep from freezing, 

 hut )iot enough to start incnbation until the second egg is laid; 

 II1US tlio hatching of flip two eggs takes place about the same 

 thne. It takes seventeen days for pigeon eggs to hatch after 

 the pigeon starts to set. As e.xplained elsewhere, the male bird 

 lakes his turn dail\' on the nest with the female. 



When the squabs are first hatched, they are very tender and 

 delicate, moic like a baby than a chicken from the standpoint of 

 being helpless. The i)arent bii'ds cover their young ones for 

 .se\eral days afler the:,' are hatched to keep them from chilling 

 excn in \\arm weather, and for a longer period in cold weather. 



Until a squab is four or five days old it cannot take grain 

 into its crop, and is fed a gruel-Jikc substance called pigeon 

 milk that forms in the crop of the parent birds after they have 

 been setting about 15 da>s. Then the parent birds begin to feed 

 tliem small grain, which is always mixed with a good portion 

 of water, keeping the young ones' crops well filled at all times. 

 The young birds grow very rapidly. 



A pigeon egg is about the size of a hickory nut, a squab four 

 da\s old is twice the size of a hickory' nut, and when a week old 

 is as large as a hen's egg or small chicken. They continue to 

 double in size about every vv'eek, until they are as large as the 

 old bird at four and oiie-haH weeks old. When a squab is first 

 hatched it is covered with a very fine dovyn like a small chicken, 

 l)in feathers start in the wings and tail and along the top of its 

 back immediately. At two weeks of age it is well covered with 

 pin feathers, and the feathers are developed to such an extent 

 that its color can be fairly well determined. At four weeks of 

 age it is feathered out almost completely with little bare spaces 

 on its side imdcr the wings. When the bare space under the 

 wings is covered with feathers, then the squab is old enough to 

 kill, and if not killed it will soon leave the nest. 



Squabs do not leave the nest or fly until they are four and 

 a half or five weeks old, and they cannot feed themselves until 

 after that age. Once a squab leaves the nest it starts to getting 

 poor, which is caused by exercis^e and the lack of being stuffed 

 with food by its parents. A squab should be killed and market- 



