Discernitur an id quod latet in ovis vitale sit, et prolificum, si post quartam diem quam foveri coeperit, nulla facta commotione vehementi sensim contra splendorem Solis et lumen ea quispiam speculetur. Nam si fibrosum aliquid cruentumque videatur discurrere, prolificum est quod inest: sin contra perspicuum maneat, ceu infoecundum est reijciendum, in reiectorumque locum substituenda alia. Nec nobis verendum est ne corrumpantur ova, vel si ab aliquo saepius sensim et commode permutentur, Florentinus. Multum refert ne moveatur manu, nam venae et humores inversione corrumpuntur, quod vel inde constat: quod cum gallina in occulto excubat, ova omnia foecunda fiunt: manibus vero hominum tractata plura corrumpuntur, Albertus. Ova incubanda deliguntur, in quibus Soli obtentis semen galli apparet, tum a septem (quatuor, ut Varro[1] et alii) dierum incubitu iterum inspiciuntur et si quod est quod Soli obtentum non appareat alteratum, abijcitur tanquam subventaneum et inutile, Idem. Vide supra ubi dictum est de ovorum ante incubationem delectu. Et in aqua experimentum est, (de hoc etiam tanquam ante incubationem potius adhibendo superius scriptum est,) inane fluitat, itaque sidentia, hoc est plena, subijci volunt. Concuti vero experimento vetant, quoniam non gignant confusis vitalibus venis, Plin.[2]

It is possible to see whether what is hidden in eggs is vital and bearer of chicks, if after the fourth day since it started to be warmed, without violently shaking them, somebody gently looks them against shining sun and an oil lamp. In fact if he sees that something fibrous and bloody in appearance is stirring, what is inside is prolific: if on the contrary it stays transparent, it must be removed being infertile, and in place of removed ones they put other eggs. And we don't have to fear that the eggs rot even if by  someone they are rather frequently turned in a delicate and suitable way, Florentinus. It is very important that it is not shaken with the hand, in fact the veins and the liquids are altered when turned, a thing that turns out evident also from the following: in fact when a hen broods in a hidden place, all the eggs become prolific: on the contrary when handled by human beings quite a lot of them rot, Albertus. They are chosen for incubation those eggs in which, put against sun, the semen of the rooster is visible, then after 7 days of incubation (4, as Varro and others say) they are once more observed and if there is something which put against sun doesn't appear modified, it is removed being regarded as windy and useless, still Albertus. See above when I spoke about the choice of the eggs before incubation. And a test exists to be done in water (also about this I wrote previously as a thing to be done preferably before incubation), the void one floats, and therefore those sinking, that is full, they say to put them to be brooded. For they forbid them to be shaken for trial, since they do not give birth to the chick if the vital veins have been ripped apart, Pliny.

¶ Pulli exclusi a singulis gallinarum statim subtrahendi sunt, subijciendique illi quae paucis incubat: quae tamen sub ea sunt ova vel nondum concreta et formata, distribuere convenit inter alias quae adhuc fovent teporem suo, ut una cum aliis et ipsa calefacta animentur, Florentinus[3]. ¶ Sunt in Alexandria illa quae ad Aegyptum spectat, gallinae quaedam Monosirae (ex quibus pugnaces oriuntur galli) bis ac ter incubantes, post absolutionem scilicet pullis ipsis subtractis, seorsumque enutritis, sic ut contingat gallinam unam quadragintaduos, aut etiam sexaginta pullos excludere, Florentinus[4].

¶ The born chicks have to be immediately taken away from each hen and put under that one is brooding few eggs: nevertheless those eggs she has underneath, not being yet delineated and formed, it is worthwhile to distribute them to the other hens already warming them with their warmth, and so, warmed up together with others, they take life, Florentinus. ¶ In Alexandria, that belonging to Egypt, there are certain monosir hens (from which are hatching some fighting roosters), and the former are brooding two and three times per year, after they have been freed, that is, after the chicks have been taken away from them, being the chicks bred separately, so that a single hen hatches 42 or even 60 chicks, Florentinus.

¶ De ovis diversarum avium quae gallinis subijciuntur. Diversi generis ova aliqui gallinis supponunt, Florentinus. Anatum ova gallinis saepe supponimus, etc. Cicero[5]. vide in Anate C. Anatum etiam sylvestrium ova, ut ibidem scripsimus, si incubantibus gallinis exclusa fuerint, anates inde cicures nascuntur. Anserum ova quomodo gallinis supponantur, vide supra in Ansere E. item pavonina quomodo, infra in Pavone, et Phasiani in Phasiano.

¶ The eggs of different birds put for incubation under. the hens. Some give hens for incubation the eggs belonging to a different species, Florentinus. We often give hens to brood the eggs of duck, etc., Cicero. See at the paragraph C of the duck. As I wrote still in this paragraph, if the eggs also of wild ducks have been hatched by broody hens, domestic ducks are hatching. What is the manner of putting eggs of goose under hens for incubation, see before in the paragraph E of the goose. Likewise, for the manner used for those of peacock, see farther in the chapter of the peacock, and in that of the pheasant for those of pheasant.

¶ Exclusio. Diebus fere viginti excludunt, Varro[6]. Phasiani ova non aliter quam gallinarum, ad vicesimamprimam diem excluduntur, Florentinus[7].

¶ Hatching. They hatch within about twenty days, Varro. The eggs of pheasant hatch at 21st day, not otherwise than those of hen, Florentinus.

¶ Quae gallinae propria comedunt ova, eas sic dissuefacere oportet. Ex ovo enim albumine effuso, in luteum ipsum humidum gypsum inijcito, ut testae duritiem contrahat. Volentes quippe gallinae in subiecto ovo gulam explere, nec in eo amplius invenientes quid succi, cito quidem destiterint vastare ova, Florentinus.

¶ The hens eating their own eggs have to be dissuaded in the following way. After the egg white has been sent out of the egg, add dampened chalk to the yolk, so that the former takes the consistence of the shell. So the hens wishing for satisfy their gluttony with the egg put under them, not finding any liquid, they will stop very soon in damaging the eggs, Florentinus.

¶ Ex phasiano mare et gallinis gallinaceis quomodo phasiani procreentur, ex dialogo Gyb. Longolii de Avibus, in quo author et Pamphilus colloquuntur. long. Novi quosdam, qui singulari artificio ingentem apud nostrates educatione et seminio phasianorum quaesi<t>um faciebant, quorum sane aedes rectius officinam, quam vivarium phasianorum quispiam appellaverit. pam. Quaeso rationem istam explices. long. Phasianum marem, qua poterat diligentia, curabat (quidam in) domuncula decem pedibus longa lataque, viminibus et luto undique bene ab aere tuta, in ea fenestellae omnes in meridiem spectantes, de summo tecto copiose satis lumen administrabant, in medio crates vimineae domunculam dividebant. intervallum cratium tantum erat opertum, quantum satis fuit avis capiti colloque transmittendo. In altero maceriae latere phasianus solus regnabat. pam. Quid vero altera pars, carebatne habitatore? long. Audies. Sub initium veris, villaticas aliquot gallinas sibi comparabat, sed foecunditatis cognitae, plumisque variis, ut propemodum foeminam phasianum mentiri possent. has aliquot diebus communi pabulo alebat, verum ita obiecto cibo, ut phasianus in gallinarum convivio, traiecto per craticulam collo, lurcaretur. pamp. Qua de causa obsecro non admittebatur? long. Principio hac ratione consuescere cum gallinis discunt, deinde molesti esse nequeunt, cum veluti carcere ab iniuria inferenda prohibeantur. Alioqui ita ferociunt capti, ut ne pavoni quidem parcant, quin mox ore dilacerent. At ubi iam aliquot dies consuetudine gallinarum mitior factus est, una, quam cognovit illi inter reliquas magis familiarem, intromittitur, pabulumque copiosius suggeritur. pamp. Quid de reliquis fiet? long. Plerunque primam iugulare solet: ne gallinarius itaque custos omni spe sua decolletur, reliquas in subsidium alit. pamp. Quid si res ad triarios redeat, solaque una superest spes gregis? long. Tum latrone comprehenso candente ferro rostrum illius tangunt, et vino Chymico[8] nares illius lavant. pamp. O Apitianam diligentiam. long. Ubi cognoverint gallinas ab illo plenas factas, divortium statim procuratur, admittiturque nova pellex, quam cupiunt uxoris more ab illo tractari. Uxorem autem ad ovorum partionem alunt. Ova autem quotquot posuit, incubantibus aliis supponuntur. pamp. Ea forte ab gallinaceis reliquis nihil distant. long. Im<m>o punctis nigris undique sunt maculata, et longe maiora speciosioraque[9]. Ubi autem post animationem exclusa sunt, a gallina seorsim educantur: maxime polenta illius frumenti triangularis, quod vulgo non inepte fagotriticum vocant, quod semen fago, (id est fagi semini,) farina<e> triticeae[10] perquam {similis} <simile> sit: idipsum aqua ex lacubus fabrorum hausta subigunt, apii folia recentia cultellis domita, immiscent: obijciunt etiam baccas, quae ex hyeme superfuere. hijs enim maxime delectantur, et ad incrementa proficiunt. pamp. Non tamen fieri credo, ut per omnia patri similes sint. long. Non sunt: verum qui fucum istum non novere, fraudem [429] non facile sentiunt. Porro foeminae ex hoc seminio procreatae, cum ad patrem admittuntur, primo aut secundo partu, genus ad unguem propagant. pamp. Mirum ergo mihi, non omnia aviaria phasianis esse plena. long. Non dubito magnum proventum cuius etiam polliceri, modo neque laboris sit impatiens, et sumptus magnos ferre possit. Cogitur enim paupertinos aliquot alere, qui pro baccis quotidie in sylvam excurrant. Nam sine hijs nihil ab illis boni sperare licet, Haec omnia Longolius.

¶ How from a male pheasant and from hens of the genus Gallus pheasants are generated, drawn from Dialogus de avibus et earum nominibus Graecis, Latinis, et Germanicis of Gisbert Longolius in which the author and Pamphilus are talking. longolius. I am aware that some our fellow countrymen with a special artifice were drawing a huge profit by raising and hatching pheasants, and someone would have more correctly called workshop their residences rather than pheasants' farm. pamphilus. I would like that you explain me the reason. long. Someone with the more possible diligence was taking care of a male pheasant in a small room wide and long ten feet - 290x290 cm, well protected from air at every side with rushes and clay, and in this room all the small windows have to be facing south, and from the summit of the roof they got in light rather abundantly, and in the middle some rush hurdles divided the room. The surface of the hurdles was closed so to be enough for admitting the head and the neck of the bird. At the other side of the wall the pheasant was reigning, who was alone. pamph. Was then the other part without lodger? long. Please hear. Toward the beginning of spring that man was getting some barnyard hens, but known as being fertile, and with motley feathers, so that they could almost seem a female of pheasant. For some days he was feeding them on shared food, that is, throwing food so that the pheasant, passing the neck through the hurdle, could guzzle at the banquet of hens. pamph. Why he was not admitted? long. First of all in this way they learn to familiarize with hens, besides they cannot be troublesome, being hindered in causing damage as being in a jail. On the other hand when are imprisoned they become so fierce that neither spare a peacock since in a while they tear it asunder with the mouth. But when he became meeker, after some days he entered in familiarity with hens, one of them is put inside, that one seen by that man as having with pheasant more intimacy in comparison with others, and food is given in larger quantity. pamph. What will happen with others? long. For the more he usually cuts the throat of the first hen: but so that the hen-pen's manager is not deprived of all hopes, he keeps the others in reserve. pamph. What would happen if the situation becomes very heavy and only one is surviving as hope of the group? long. Well, after the malefactor has been caught, with a red-hot iron they rub his beak and wash his nostrils with brandy. pamph. What a care in the manner of Apicius! long. When they believe that the hens have been made pregnant by him, at once a separation is carried out, and a new concubine is put with him, that they warmly desire to be by him treated as being a wife. In fact they feed the wife so that she lays the eggs. But all the eggs she laid are given for hatching to other hens. pamph. Perhaps they are not very different from the other eggs of hen. long. To say the truth they are widely speckled by black dots, and they are far larger and better in appearance. But once after having taken life they hatched, the chicks are raised separately from the hen: chiefly with a mash of that triangular wheat usually and rightly said wheat of beech – buck-wheat, because the seed of this flour of wheat is very similar to beech's seed (that is, to the seed of the beech tree): and they dip this seed in water taken from the tubs of blacksmiths and mix fresh leaves of garlic cut up with some little knife: they also add some fruits left from winter. In fact they very delight in them and they are useful for growth. pamph. Nevertheless I don't believe that it happens that they are wholly similar to their father. long. They aren't: to say the truth those who don't know this trick don't easily realize this deception. Furthermore the females procreated through this crossing, when put in contact with their father, at first or second delivery they perfectly reproduce the species. pamph. I'm therefore surprised by the fact that not all the aviaries are bulging in pheasants. long. I don't doubt that it is a great outcome so that it has also to be flaunted, and neither that it is bearable as work, and that it is able in causing big expenses. In fact we are forced to maintain some poor fellows who daily have to go round in the woods to pick up some fruits. Indeed without the fruits it is not possible to hope for something of good from them – from chicks, Longolius writes all this.