28 
to a distance from their old home. Sometimes they appear to be 
attacked by a sort of homesickness. One thing is certain, they must 
not be put into the breeding pens with the others until they remate. 
Young birds are unmated birds, and must be rigidly excluded from 
the breeding quarters. 
Lack of vitality.—The two principal causes of lack of vitality are 
inbreeding and lice. Careless breeders who keep no records of the 
progeny of each pair of birds, but permit all to grow together and 
mate in haphazard fashion are paving the way to disaster. After a 
very few generations the birds lack stamina and appear listless, are 
careless about sitting on the eggs, and only half feed the squabs. In 
many cases the unhatched bird lacks strength to break its way out of 
the shell and dies there, or, if hatched, lingers a week or two and dies. 
Such results are sure to follow continued inbreeding. These evils can 
be avoided only by keeping a record of nest mates and not permitting 
them to pair with each other. 
When lice become numerous they prey upon the birds, suck their 
blood, and exhaust their strength. When a nest becomes badly 
infested it is not surprising that a bird forsakes it and perches else¬ 
where, hoping thereby to escape its enemies. 
Presence of mice—The experience of breeders during the winter of 
1903-4 has brought out some startling facts concerning infestation 
of pigeon pens by mice. One breeder with 300 pairs killed 150 mice 
in one day. Another with 500 pairs caught 246 mice in January. 
Still another “knew he hadn’t a single mouse in his pens,” but, 
because he had chilled eggs and dead squabs, concluded to clean out 
his houses. As he took down the top nest 15 mice ran out; the next 
one produced 13, and the third a dozen. The man was astonished. 
But he continued the work until he had completely freed his premises 
of mice. He had not been selling squabs enough to pay his feed bills, 
but in a few weeks his weekly receipts showed a nice margin above 
expenses. 
Because a few nests in which mice harbor may now and then con¬ 
tain nice plump squabs is no excuse for tolerating the presence of 
these pests, as they certainly do much damage. 
The foregoing are the principal causes of losses in chilled eggs and 
dead squabs. When a breeder is suffering from such losses he should 
without delay endeavor to discover and remove the cause. 
SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE PURCHASE OF BREEDING 
STOCK. 
Careless buying.—The purchase of breeding stock is necessarily the 
first step to be taken by the prospective squab raiser. It is just here 
that many beginners make serious mistakes, which result in losses and 
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