153 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE 



than females, use a small open band and band the smaller of 

 the two nest mates, when they are about three weeks old, taking 

 for granted that the smaller one is a female. Then when they 

 take out squabs to market they leave the banded bird in the 

 nest, and the next time they are around taking out squabs, they 

 know that the single bird in the nest is a female. Otherwise, 

 if they have a large plant and could not remember, they would 

 naturally conclude that there was only one bird raised in the 

 nest, and it was a male. 



If just one egg hatches, it is invariably the male, and if a bird 

 dies in the nest, it is generally the female, for the reason that 

 the male is stronger, as a rule, and will come nearer picking its 

 way out of the shell and with more vitality will be less apt to 

 die than its sister. 



If you should make a mistake and save more females than 

 males you can easily secure enough odd males from some other 

 breeder to even up your stock, but if you save more males than 

 females, it is very hard to secure the necessary odd females, 

 for the reason that most all breeders have a surplus of males, 

 and are short on females. 



If you are breeding for color, as well as size, type and other 

 qualities, you can judge your birds fairly well after they are 

 about three weeks old, to such an extent that the best color 

 could be saved. With Cameaux, for instance, when solid reds 

 are desired, all youngsters that have light or slate colored rumps 

 will invariably prove to be splashes, or slates, after they shed 

 their baby feathers, and about as much can be told regarding 

 color at three weeks old as later on until after they have gone 

 through their first moult, which takes place when they are 

 about three months old. 



Most all Cameaux look to be solid reds when they are squabs, 

 but at the time they moult out their second feathers, they then 

 take on their permanent color. The same is true to a large 

 extent with other varieties. Personally, I am opposed to breed- 

 ing for color unless you are desirous of raising show birds or 

 birds for exhibition purposes. 



There is very little or no advantage in color from a breeding 

 standpoint. In fact, there is more often a disadvantage. Birds 

 of one color will produce as good and as many squabs as birds 

 of the same breed of another color. The only question is the 



