15 
plan is to get some selected Dragoons of pure blood and mate with 
young straight Homers whose records have been kept as directed. 
Such crossing ought to give fair results. The offspring of these 
birds may be mated with full-blooded Homers, making squabs of 
three-fourths Homer and one-fourth Dragoon blood. Squabs from 
birds of half blood should not be mated with each other, but with full- 
blooded mates as directed. These quarter-blood squabs will be a little 
larger than straight Homers, and will be ready for the market almost 
as soon. In making this cross, however, much care must be exercised 
to have very carefully selected Dragoons with good squab-producing 
records. 
FEEDS AND FEEDING. 
Though the houses may be well constructed and the birds well 
selected and properly mated, no success can be expected unless proper 
kinds of feed are procured and the birds are regularly fed. While it 
is true that some breeders have had fair success for a while by feeding 
only cracked corn and wheat, long-continued feeding on these two 
staples alone invariably fails to produce as good squabs or as many as 
when a further variety of grains is fed. In their free state, pigeons 
can select a variety of grains, avoiding one kind and choosing another, 
as their appetites dictate, but when they are kept in a small inclosure 
they must, of course, take what the breeder gives them. Hence, it 
becomes highly important that the breeder have good judgment as to 
kinds and quality of food to set before them, and that he have interest 
enough in his flock to avoid stinting the quantity, or feeding too 
largely of one kind because its price happens to be low. 
The feed room. —As alread}^ suggested, a room should be set apart 
for a store room. It should be supplied with a feed bin divided into 
the proper number of sections to hold each variety of feed used; or, 
instead of such feed bin, small barrels with lids may be used. 
Feeds and other supplies. —In these receptacles should be kept a 
generous supply of sifted cracked corn, Canada peas, wheat, German 
millet, Kafir corn, and hemp. These are the six principal feeds. 
On the floor of each pen keep about a peck of clean sand evenly 
spread. Procure three boxes about the size of small cigar boxes; fill 
one about one-third full of fine table salt, the second with cracked 
oyster shells, pigeon size, and the third with ground charcoal, about 
as fine as ground coffee. These three substances are very essential to 
the health of pigeons. Clean out and replenish each of these boxes 
weekly. Do not fail to keep the salt box filled and before them all 
the time, for the health of pigeons demands it. 
Feeding troughs. —In each pen is placed a feeding trough, made of 
inch stuff, 10 inches wide, 4 feet long, and with sides 1^ inches high. 
This trough is placed in the middle of the pen to avoid feeding in the 
177 
