[245] Leontinus urina quoque rostra abluere iubet, quasi ea per se sola pituitam curare apta sit. Verum et membrana ipsa leviter unguibus avellitur, ac post allio trito plaga mundata conspergitur.

Leontinus - a geoponic writer - suggests also to bathe the beaks with urine, as if this alone were a remedy for pip. Really, the membrane itself is delicately pulled away with fingernails and afterward the cleansed wound is sprinkled with ground garlic.

Eiusmodi vero omnia remedia mediocriter laborantibus Gallinis adhibentur. Nam si pituita circumvenit oculos, et iam cibos avis respuit, ad ferrum deveniendum est. Columella[1] genas rescindi iubet, Paxamus partes aperiri, quae sub gena consistunt, et coactam sub oculis saniem[2] omnem exprimi, atque ita paulum triti salis vulneri infricari. Quo tempore ad umbram ducendas esse admonet. Quod ad potum attinet, is talis sit, quem diximus, aqua munda nempe, vel in aqua allium, vel eiusmodi remedia, qualia recitavimus, macerata sint. Andreas Caesalpinus[3] corticem fraxini internum, aquam in qua maduerit, caeruleam reddere, et Gallinis, cum morbis laborant, apponi scribit, sed ad quos morbos, et cuius authoritate id faciat, non addit. Fas est credere de pituita loqui. Nam etiam antea eius ligni decocto f{a}elici successu Guaiaci loco usurpari dixerat.

But all these remedies are used for hens only moderately ill. For if the pip surrounded the eyes and the bird at this point rejects the foods, recourse must be had to an iron tool. Columella tells us to cut the eyelids, Paxamus - a geoponic writer - to open the parts lying under the eyelid and to press out all the pus collected under the eyes and then to rub the wound with a little bit of pounded salt. He advises us at this time to lead them into the shade. As for their drinking water is concerned, let it be such as I said, that is, pure water, or garlic or those remedies I said soaked in water. Andrea Cesalpino writes that the inner bark of the ash tree makes blue in color the water in which it has been steeped, and this water should be given to hens when they are ill, but he does not say for what diseases or on whose authority he does so. It is reasonable to believe that he is speaking about the pip. For he said also before that we can successfully have recourse to a decoction of that wood in place of guaiacum.

Secundus morbus, quo Galli, Gallinaeve laborant, {ptiriasis} <phthiriasis>[4] est, cum scilicet pediculis, atque pulicibus infestantur, maxime cum incubant. Hic autem affectus facilius, quam pituita tollitur: quinim<m>o saepenumero sibi ipsis magistrae eo sese pulverando liberant. Caeterum et hoc malo affectis veteres cum Latini, tum Graeci Geoponici remedia praescripsere. Multi illitu olei e lino facillime curari tradunt, staphisagriam, et torrefactum cuminum pari pondere cum vino contusa Palladius[5], Paxamusque laudant, si malum leve est sin pennarum penetraverit secreta, decoctum lupinorum. Sunt qui proprio experimento edocti Gallinas arena litorali, aut, quod praestantius esse aiunt, cineribus saponariorum a lixivio relictis, cura mulierum sese pulverantes, istoc malo ocyus liberari referunt. Varro[6] ab eisdem animalculis praeservandas iri tradit, si in cubilibus, cum pepe<re>runt, auferatur substramen, et recens aliud subijciantur.

The second disease which troubles roosters and hens is phthiriasis, that is, when they are infested by lice and fleas, especially when they are incubating. But this disease is removed more easily than the pip: for very often, as mistresses of themselves, they get rid of those parasites by dust bathing. On the other hand also ancient geoponic writers, both Greek and Latin, prescribed remedies for those affected by this illness. Many relate that they are very easily treated by smearing them with linseed oil. If the illness is slight, Palladius and Paxamus recommend staphisagria - Delphinium staphisagria - and parched cumin in equal weight pounded together with wine, but if it penetrated into the inner part of the feathers, a decoction of lupines. Some people, acquainted by personal experience, report that hens become quickly free from this illness when dust bathing with a women’s zeal using beach sand or, what they say is even better, ashes of the soap makers, ashes remaining after lye's preparation. Varro says that they will be preserved from these little animals if after they laid eggs the straw in nests is carried out and fresh straw is laid down.

Aloisius Mundella Capos epilepsiae obnoxios esse prodidit[7]. An vero Gallus, et Gallina eodem morbo laborent, ignoro. Ex oculis autem laborare, utrumque certe scio, nam et eorum acie parum valere author est Aristoteles[8]. Si itaque ii male habeant, mulieris lacte, aut portulacae succo, vel sale ammoniaco, et cumino, et melle, aequis portionibus contusis illinito. Ipsas vero sub umbras deducito. Crescentiensis[9] haec remedia ita recitat, ac si prodessent etiam ad grana illa, quae sub oculis provenire solent ex esu Lupinorum amarorum, quod minime probo, quandoquidem ea, nisi acu leviter apertis pelliculis auferantur[10], visum extinguunt, tantum abest, ut tam levibus medicamentis cedant.

Luigi Mondella related that capons are subject to epilepsy. Whether rooster and hen suffer from the same disease I do not know. I certainly know that both are taken ill with eyes, for Aristotle says they are not very flourishing as eye sharpness. Therefore, if eyes are suffering, smear them with woman's milk, or common purslane's juice, or with ammonium chloride, cumin's seed and honey equally pounded together. But you must lead them into the shade. Pier de’ Crescenzi mentions these remedies in this way, as if they are helpful also for those granules which are accustomed to come out under the eyes from eating bitter lupines. But I disapprove this at all, since these granules can ruin the sight if they are not removed with a needle after the small skin covering them has been delicately opened, so it is near impossible that they will disappear with so slight medicaments.

Depravatur item huic avium generi appetentia, ac potissimum Gallinis, hisque {niti} <nisi> cum pariunt. Etenim tum quandoque cum propria tum aliena ova depascuntur. Si ergo ita laborent, ut a tam pravo more desuescant ex ovo albumen effundes, et in luteo ipso humidum gypsum inijcies, ut testae duritiem contrahat. Volentes quippe in subiecto ovo gulam explere, nec in eo amplius invenientes quid succi, ovorum aliorum fastidio capiuntur, atque ita tandem appetentia illa depravata corrigitur.

Likewise, in this genus of birds the appetite twists, and especially in hens, and in them just when are laying. For at such a time they occasionally eat both their own eggs and those of other hens. Therefore if they are so ill, in order to break them of such a bad habit, pour out the white of an egg and put moistened chalk on the yolk itself to attain the hardness of the shell. Thus, those wishing to satisfy their gluttony with the egg put under them, and not finding any more juice in it, they are seized by a dislike for other eggs, and thus that depraved desire is at last recovered.

Si diarrhoea infestat illas, ut fit quandoque, farinae tantum, quantum manu apprehendi possit, tantumdemque c{a}erae[11] vino levigabis, et pastam conficies atque ante alium cibum devorandum offeres: aut pomorum[12], Cydoniorumve decoctum bibendum dabis. Quae mala sub cineribus cocta in eodem casu auxiliantur.

If diarrhoea troubles them, as sometimes happens, you will pound so much meal as you can take with a hand and you will made it homogeneous with wine and the same amount of wax, and you will make a paste and feed it before any other food: or give them to drink a decoction of apples or of quinces. These apples baked in ashes are helpful in the same situation.

Aegrotant praeterea Gallinae, teste Alberto, cum multa pariunt, et non incubant, eo quod non abstrahuntur a partu: quoniam ipsis omnis potentia, ac virtus ob nimium partum exhauritur. Quod, ut videtur, Albertus ab Aristotele mutuatus est, sed qui id universaliter de omnibus avibus prodidit. Rursus, quae incubant aegrotare quibusdam dicuntur, sed tunc animo potius, quam corpore languent. Nam nimius erga pignora sua amoris affectus, quem immutata vox acutior nempe facta indicat, morbi istius, si ita appellare placet, causa existit. Eodem tempore furere Aristoteles[13] eas dixit propter inediam. Cum mulieribus vero commune habent, quod abortiunt. Qui sane affectus heris maximo detrimento est, quod ova imperfecta, ac non debito saepe tempore pariant. His ita medetur: ovi candidum assatum, et uvas passas tostas aequo pondere terunt, et ante alium cibum offerunt.

Hens also grow ill, according to Albertus, when lay many eggs and do not incubate them, because they are not drawn away from the task of eggs laying: since every strength and energy is exhausted by too much laying. It seems that Albertus got this statement from Aristotle, who nevertheless reported it about all and sundry birds. On the contrary some say that the incubating ones grow ill, but at that time they languish rather in spirit than in body. For their too great affection for offspring, indicated by a unchanged but sharper voice, is the cause of this illness, if one wishes to call it so. Aristotle said that even at the same time they grow fierce because of abstinence from food. But they have in common with women the fact that they can have abortion. Undoubtedly this illness results in serious loss to landlords because they lay eggs which are not perfect and often not at proper time. A remedy can be found for these things: they crush together an equal weight of cooked egg white and baked dried grapes and offer this mixture to them before any other food.

Atque hi ferme Gallorum, Gallinarumque affectus sunt. Quod modo ad pullos spectat, ii quasi primis infantiae diebus persedulo tractandi sunt, plumulaeque sub cauda clunibus subtrahendae, ne stercore coinquinatae durescant, et naturalia praecludant. Sed quanvis id caveatur, saepe tamen evenit, ut alvus exitum non habeat: itaque pinna pertunditur, et iter digestis cibis praebetur. Cavendum pariter, ne stercus etiam pedibus eorum adhaereat; nam podagram creat, sed qua Capi magis quam Galli afficiantur, quinim<m>o Capi miris modis, Galli non, si Scaligero[14] credimus, qui huius quaesiti etiam hanc rationem assignat: Quia Capis pusillus calor, edacitas multa: in Gallo calor multus, cibi abstinentia non minor.

These are usually the diseases of roosters and hens. As only chicks is concerning, they must be very carefully handled from nearly the first days of their life, and the down under their tails must be plucked away from their buttocks so that it may not grow hard with excrement's contamination, occluding the intestine's opening. But although one is careful about this, it often happens, nevertheless, that the chick's bowels cannot be evacuated: therefore the opening is perforated with a feather and a passage is supplied for digested foods. Take care likewise that excrement does not cling to their feet; for it causes podagra - bumblefoot, but by which capons are afflicted more than roosters, or rather, capons in an outstanding fashion and roosters not, if we believe Giuseppe Giusto Scaligero, who for this query gives also this reason: Because the capons have little heat and much voracity: in the rooster there is great heat and no less moderation for food.