If squabs are to be sold for breeding purposes, they should not be shipped till they are at least eight weeks' old, and preferably ten weeks. Only strong birds should be shipped and no shipments should be made in extremely cold weather.
CHAPTER VII.
SELECTING BREEDERS.
Selecting squabs for breeding purposes must be done with great care and understanding. If the right kind of birds are not selected your flock will gradually deteriorate. With careful selection, although slow, you will constantly be adding profitable breeders to your stock. This is, of course, if you start with P. V. Breeders, so as to have the nucleus of a good flock to start with. Remember, good breeders will breed plump, white squabs at a fast rate, while poor breeders will grow small, dark squabs that have not the vitality to ever be first-class breeders. Even with P. V. breeders you must use care in selecting the young, and it is wise when starting with a few of our breeders to sell your squabs for a time and buy more of our breeders until your flock is large enough to have a good selection to choose from.
The months when squabs should be saved for breeders are, February, March, April and May. The birds are in the best of condition then and the squabs will be strong and vigorous. June and July squabs are good, but are more expensive to raise, as they are at mating age in September, October and November, when they are subject to moult and are difficult to mate at this time. I do not recommend saving squabs during the other months, as I have found from experience that they will breed well for two or three years, and then, there is a falling off in squabs and a heavy death rate among the hens.
Figure 6. THE HOME OF P. V. BREEDERS
When ready to select your squabs for breeders, get some light pigeon bands. We use a celluloid coil band that wraps around the leg and stays in position without fastening. By using a different color band every month, we know at a glance the age of the youngster. Always take your squabs in pairs and unless there are two good healthy squabs in the nest do not take them. They do not have to be of unusual size, but they should both be well fed and weigh eight, nine or ten pounds to the dozen if dressed. Band one bird on the right leg and the other on the left and put back in the nest again. This banding is merely to keep from inbreeding and marking so as not to kill, and has nothing to do with their being males or females. It is impossible to tell with certainly the sex of a pigeon without noting its actions. With squabs it is still harder, and although after becoming experienced, it is possible to make accurate guesses, one is apt to make a mistake even with old birds.
The squabs banded should be left with the parent birds till they are eight weeks' old. Then remove to separate pens. The birds banded on the right leg should go in one pen and the youngsters banded on the left leg in a separate pen. This will prevent nest mates going together and avoid inbreeding.