The Swiss Mondaine is an extra large variety that has met with considerable favor in this country, and the squabs from this variety often weigh as heavy as twenty-four or thirty ounces each. These birds very much resemble the American bred Homer in appearance except, of course, they are much larger. They are slower workers and the squabs require about two weeks longer to mature for market. Breeding stock is usually quite high in price.
Duchess, Runts and Maltese Hens are all large birds and have some merit but I have not found them as profitable as the Homers or Carneaux because they are much slower to mature and do not breed as rapidly, moreover the stock is much higher in price. There are many Runt-Homers, Runt-Carneaux and other crosses on the market being widely advertised and boosted as great squab producers, but the infusion of the blood of any of the larger varieties is bound to make such birds slower workers and less prolific.
Taking all of these things into consideration and as a result of many years in the business and after carefully testing the merits of so many varieties I must insist that the beginner will do the best with straight American Bred Homers of the right quality, or the Giant Carneaux.
BUYING THE STOCK
Always buy of a reputable breeder whose word may be taken for the quality of his birds. The reputable breeder sells in the hope of selling again and sells only such birds as he can recommend and knows will give satisfaction.
If the reputable breeder says the pair he sells are mated it may be depended upon that there are an equal number of each sex in a purchase and that these pairs are already mated and ready to go to work almost as soon as they are in their new homes.
The beginner must not be impatient if the birds after shipment are a little slow in going to work, for he must remember that many of these birds have been taken from their nests and their young and shipped many miles with indifferent care en-route and some of the matings may have been more or less broken up. Many beginners fuss too much with their birds and disturb them until the birds have little chance to settle down in their new homes and go to work. If you provide clean fresh water and feed as directed in this book and leave the birds to themselves they will soon be working.
Some very reputable breeders sell young birds with the understanding that they are sold just as they come from the nests, the buyer knowing when he buys these birds that they are not mated and that he must wait until the birds have arrived at mating age and get ready to mate themselves.
When birds are bought just as they come from the nests, there are always more cocks than hens among them, as about nine times in ten when only one bird is reared in a nest that bird is a cock; but there is nothing unfair in this sort of sale, as the buyer gets his birds at a lower price than he would have to pay for mated pairs ready to go to work.
If it should be found when the birds are settled to work in their new home that some mistake has been made in selecting mated pairs and odd birds are found in the loft any reputable breeder will furnish birds of the opposite sex to mate with these odd birds at a reduced price, so the purchaser will have nothing but mated and working pairs for his money.