It is but very little trouble to keep such records and the value of them is very great, for the pigeon-keeper can refer to his records at any time and find how any bird that was hatched in his lofts has been bred.
This enables him to select the best producers and feeders and improve his stock all the time, selling off its inferior ones and keeping up a high standard, which will in time give him a reputation for squabs or breeding stock that will be valuable to him, as he will get higher prices than he could get for ordinary stock.
On a large plant this method means an endless amount of bookkeeping work so it has not been attempted. The largest breeders do not bother to band their birds or keep a record of squab production for each individual pair but usually have a pen of select breeders that have proven their worth and from these are raised the new breeders to replenish or increase the flocks.
When a bird dies out of the working flock it is dissected to determine the sex and another of the same sex is placed in the fly to mate with the odd bird. These two soon get together and the fly is once more filled with mated, contented workers.
CHAPTER VI
MAKING A MARKET—PREPARING SQUABS FOR MARKET
We make one of the sub-heads of this chapter, "Making a Market," although the market for squabs is already established, and the demand for them in the larger cities is constantly increasing.
Notwithstanding this, the enterprising squab-breeder will make his own market and get better prices than he can get if he sends his squabs to the larger cities.
In the beginning he may be obliged to ship to the cities, but he can build up a home trade among those who like to have the best the market affords and by degrees his home demand will grow until he will find a ready sale nearby and will be saved freight and commission charges as well as the cost and trouble of packing and icing for the longer shipments.