Phasiani non modo e Media accersebantur: sed villaticae quoque gallinae ovis e phasiano mare conceptis copiam illorum praebebant, Ptolemaeus apud Athenaeum[1].

The pheasants were brought from Media: but also the barnyard hens offered plenty of them through the eggs fertilized by a male pheasant, Ptolemy VII in Athenaeus.

¶ Exclusio ovorum absque incubatione. Si aut tempus sit bene temperatum, aut locus, in quo ova manent, tepidus, concoquuntur et avium ova, et quadruped<i>um oviparorum sine parentis incubitu. haec enim omnia in terra pariunt, concoquunturque ova tepore terrae. nam si quae quadrupedes oviparae frequentantes fovent quae {a}ediderint ova, custodiae gratia potius id faciunt, Aristot.[2] Et alibi[3], Incubitu avium ova excludi naturae ratio est: non tamen ita solum ova aperiuntur, sed etiam sponte in terra, ut in Aegypto obruta fimo pullitiem procreant. Et Syracusis potator quidam, ovis sub storea in terra positis, tandiu potabat, donec ova {a}ederent foetum. Iam vero et cum in vasis quibusdam tepidis (ἀλεεινοῖς) essent coniecta, sponte ova pullos prompsere. Caeterum Albertus pro recitatis iam postremis philosophi verbis, ita habet: Ovis positis in vasis calidis, superposita stupa calida, leni calore fovente et non adurente extrahuntur pulli. et praecipue calore vitali alicuius animalis, ut si in sinu hominis teneantur: aut si forte sub fimo calido ponantur, aut sub cineribus lente calefactis, aut aliquo huiusmodi. Ova quaedam et citra incubitum sponte naturae gignunt, ut in Aegypti fimetis. Scitum de quodam potore reperitur, Syracusis tandiu potare solitum, donec cooperta terra foetum {a}ederent ova. Quin et ab homine perficiuntur, Plinius[4].

¶ Eggs' hatching without incubation. If the season is very mild or the place where the eggs lie is lukewarm, not only the eggs of the birds come to maturity without incubation of the parent, but also those of quadruped oviparous animals. In fact all these animals lay on earth, and the eggs get warm thanks to the warmth of the earth. In fact if some of the oviparous quadrupeds, often visiting them, warm the eggs they laid, they do so above all for defending them, Aristotle. And elsewhere he writes as follows: It is a rule of nature that eggs of birds hatch by incubation: but eggs open not only in this manner, but also spontaneously in the earth, as in Egypt where they give birth to a clutch of chicks after they have been covered up by dung. And in Syracuse a drunkard, after he placed eggs in earth under a mat, was going on with drinking until eggs didn’t give birth to the fetus. But the eggs hatched out chicks by themselves even when placed in some warm (aleeinoîs) vessels. Furthermore Albertus, instead of the last just quoted words of the philosopher, expresses himself in this way: The chickens are hatched from eggs put in warm containers with warm tow above, by warming with moderate and no burning heat. And above all with the natural heat of some animal, as if they were kept in the womb of a human being: or if they are even set under warm dung or slightly heated ashes, or somehow as well. On the contrary some eggs naturally and spontaneously hatch without incubation, as in dunghills of Egypt. It is well-known that a drinker in Syracuse was usual to drink until the eggs covered with earth hatched. Or rather, they hatch also by the human being, Pliny.

Et rursus, Livia Augusta ovum in sinu fovendo exclusit, (ut referetur infra in h.) inde fortasse nuper inventum ut ova in calido loco imposita paleis igne modico foverentur, homine versante pariter, ut stato tempore illinc erumperet foetus. Si gallina non incubet, hac industria complures habebis pullos. qua die incubanti gallinae ova subijcis, eadem stercus gallinaceum accipiens id ipsum contere, cribraque ac denique in vasa inijce ventricosa, pennas illi gallinarum circumpone. posthaec autem, figura recta imponito ova, sic ut pars mucronata superne tendat, ac dein rursus ex eodem fimo tandiu illis inspergito, donec undique inducta videantur. At, ubi duos aut tres dies primos sic intacta esse ova permiseris, singulis postea diebus illa convertito, cavens ne contingantur mutuo, ut videlicet ex aequo incalescant. post vigesimam autem diem, dum sub gallina ova excludi incipiunt, invenies ea quae in alveis sunt circumfracta. Ob quam nimirum caussam etiam inscribunt diem qua supponuntur, ne dierum numerus ignoretur. Vigesima igitur die putamen extrahens, pullos in cophinum coniicito, eos alens delicatissime. Ascisce etiam gallinam, quae moderabitur omnia, Democritus in Geoponicis, Andrea a Lacuna interprete.

And he goes on as follows: Livia Drusilla - or Julia Augusta - hatched an egg by warming it in her bosom (as I shall say later in the paragraph h), and perhaps hence recently it has been discovered how eggs placed in a warm place upon straw are warmed up with little fire, while a man is turning them at the same time, so that the fetus comes out at the stated time. If a hen does not incubate, you will have many chicks by the following job. On the day when you place the eggs under an incubating hen, on the same day take some chicken dung, crumble and sieve it, and then place it in bellied pots and put hen feathers all around the dung. After this, place over it the eggs upright so that their pointed ends are upturned, and in addition sprinkle them with the same dung until they seem to be wholly covered. But allow the eggs to remain this way untouched for first two or three days, then on each day thereafter turn the eggs over, taking care that they do not touch each other, of course so that they may be warmed evenly. After the twentieth day, when eggs under a hen begin to hatch, you will search the eggs cracked all around laying in the hollow pots. Just for this reason they also write down the day on which they are placed for incubation, so that the number of days is not unknown. Therefore on the twentieth day take off the egg shells, put the chicks into a basket, and nourish them with very tiny feed. Take also a hen who will supervise everything, Bolos of Mendes in Geoponica translated by Andrés Laguna.

qui Graecam vocem γάστρας vasa ventricosa interpretatur, Cornarius ventriculos: Hieronymus Cardanus qui hunc locum in libros de subtilitate transcripsit, pulvinaria, his verbis: Pulvinaria duo reple stercore gallinarum tenuissime trito, inde plumas gallinarum annecte consuendo utrique molles ac densas. ova vero capite tenuiore supra extante, colloca super alterum pulvinar. deinde reliquum superpone in loco calido. permitteque immota duobus diebus, post vero ad vigesimam usque diem illa sic verte, ut undique aequaliter foveantur, inde stata die, quae iuxta vigesimam primam est, pipillantes iam ex ovo sensim educito. Ego etsi hoc etiam modo ova excludi posse existimem: video tamen aliud sensisse Democritum verbis eius Graecis perpensis, et placet gastran vas ventricosum verti, ut primum in tale vas intelligamus fimum inijciendum, tum super fimo imponendas plumas, (ut ἐπίβαλλε potius quam περίβαλλε legatur:) in plumis ova: postremo rursus fimum addendum donec contegantur ova. Erat et gaster[5] vas, et gastra[6] fictilis Dioscoridi. sed et gasterium[7] vocat Aristophanes, servatque adhuc nomen, Caelius. huiusmodi est quod corrupta voce guiscardum[8] appellant Itali, ut quidam in Lexicon Graecolatinum retulit. Scaphos cavitatem navis vocat Thucydides, quam, inquit interpres, gastéra dicimus, Caelius.

Who translates the Greek word gástras - large bellied pots - with vasa ventricosa, Janus Cornarius with ventriculos, bellies: Gerolamo Cardano, who transcribed this passage in his books On subtlety, with cushions, and by these words: Fill two cushions with crumbled hen’s dung: then by sewing fasten on both soft and thick hen’s feathers. Upon either cushion place the eggs but with the sharper end sticking out upward. Then place over it the other one in a warm place. And let them not be moved for two days, then until the twentieth day turn them in such a way that they are warmed evenly on all sides: afterwards at the stated day, corresponding approximately to the twenty-first, you will bring carefully the already peeping ones out of the egg. Although I am thinking that eggs can hatch also in this manner, nevertheless it seems to me that Bolos of Mendes, after his Greek words have been more careful checked, meant another thing, and it is my opinion to translate gástran with vas ventricosum - bellied pot, since I mean that dung must first be thrown into it, afterwards feathers are to be placed upon the dung (reading epíballe - put on - rather than períballe - put around) and the eggs within the feathers: lastly further dung must be added until eggs are covered. Also the gastër was a container, and gástra for Dioscorides was an earthenware bellied pot. But Aristophanes calls it also gastérion and still it keeps this name, Lodovico Ricchieri. It corresponds to what Italians call guiscardo using a corrupt word, as someone quoted in the Greek-Latin lexicon. Thucydides calls skáphos the hollow part of a ship, which, the translator says, we call gastéra - hollow, Lodovico Ricchieri.

Τὸ μὴν ἔδαφος τῆς νεώς κύτος, καὶ γάστρα καὶ ἀμφιμήτριον ὀνομάζεται, Pollux. Eustathius gastra vocem factam ait ab accusativo gastéra per syncopen: et vulgo ab idiotis sic vocari fundum navis. Idem apud Homerum gastram tripodis interpretatur cavitatem tripodis aut fundum eius, Hesychio gastra, posterior pars femoris est. Γάστρα, ἡ εἰς κύτος γεvνηθεῖσα τοῦ λαιμοῦ, Varinus. est autem locus, ut suspicor, corruptus.

Tò mën édaphos tês neøs kýtos, kaì amphimëtrion onomázetai - In fact the bottom of the ship is said either hollow, or belly, or amphimëtrion - a thing surrounding the uterine hollow, Julius Pollux. Eustathius of Thessalonica says that the term gástra is derived from gastéra - accusative of gastër, belly/stomach - through a syncopation: and that commonly by ignorant persons is so called the bottom of the ship. Likewise in Homer the gastra tripodis is meant as the hollow of a tripod - a three footed vase - or its bottom, for Hesychius of Alexandria gástra corresponds to the rear of the thigh. Gástra, hë eis kýtos gennëtheîsa toû laimoû - gástra, that - word - created for indicating the hollow of the throat, Varinus. But, as I suspect, this is a definition non corresponding to the truth.

Fertur in quadam regione inveniri homines, qui furnos ita temperate calefaciant, ut eorum calor par sit calori gallinae incubantis, et in furno seu clibano ponere quam plurimas plumas, et mille gallinacea ova, quae post viginti dies nascantur ac erumpant, Crescentiensis. In Aegypto circa Alcairum ova arte excluduntur: Clibanum parant cum multis foraminibus, quibus ova diversa gallinarum, anserum, et aliarum avium imponunt. tum fimo calido integunt clibanum: et si opus fuerit, ignem circumquaque faciunt: sic ova suo quaeque tempore maturescunt, ut serpentium apud nos per se in fimo calido, Tragus. Apud Aegyptios magna est copia pullorum gallinaceorum. nam apud eos gallinae sua ova non incubant, sed ea in clibanis tepore sensim adhibito ita foventur, ut mirabili arte compendioque pulli intra paucos dies progignantur simul et educantur, Paulus Iovius lib. 18. historiarum sui temporis.

They say that in a locality there are men heating the ovens in such a mild way that their temperature is equivalent to the warmth of a brooding hen, and that in the oven, or klíbanos in Greek, they put quite a lot of feathers, and thousand eggs of hen, which after twenty days are born and hatch, Pier de' Crescenzi. In Egypt in neighborhoods of Cairo eggs are hatched with cleverness: they prepare an oven with many openings on which they place different sorts of eggs, of hens, geese and other birds. Then they cover the oven with warm dung, and if there is need, they light a fire all around, so each egg comes to maturity at its proper time, as it happens among us for those of snake which come to maturity by themselves on warm dung, Tragus - Hieronymus Bock. Among Egyptians there is a large abundance of chickens. For among them the hens do not incubate their eggs, but in ovens, with warmth used moderately, they are so warmed that with admirable ability and time’s shortening within a few days the chicks are hatched, and at the same time they are raised, Paolo Giovio in 18th book of Historiarum temporis sui libri XLV

¶ Pullorum recens exclusorum cura. Excus{s}os pullos subducendum ex singulis nidis, et subijciendum ei, quae habeat paucos. Ab eaque si reliqua sint ova pauciora, tollenda, et subijcienda aliis, [430]  quae nondum excuderint, et minus habent triginta pullos. Hoc enim gregem maiorem non faciendum, Varro[9].

¶ Care of just hatched chicks. The just hatched chicks must be immediately withdrawn from each nest and must be placed under that hen who has few of them. But if the remaining eggs are rather few, they must be removed from her and put under other hens who didn't' yet hatched and having less than thirty chicks. In fact a clutch larger than this has not to be done, Varro.