Book IV, chapter 26: Housekeeping and the increase of household-stuff

CHAP. XXVI.

To hatch Eggs with out a Hen.

NOw shall I shew how without a Hen, Eggs of Hens and other Birds may be hatcht in summer or winter, so that if any sick people desire to eat Chickens then, they may have them. Birds Eggs are hatched with heat, either of the same Birds or of others, as the heat of man, of the Sun, or fire; for I have seen Hens sit on Geese, Ducks, and Peacocks Eggs, and Pigeons sit on Hen Eggs, and a Cuckow to sit upon any of them. And I have seen women to foster and hatch Eggs between their brests in their bosoms, and under their arm-pits. Livia Augusta when she was young and great with childe of Nero, by Caesar Tiberius, because she earnestly desired to bring first a boy, she made use of this Omen to try it by, for she fostered an Egge in her bosom, and when she must lay it aside, she put it into her nurses bosom, that the heat might not abate, Pliny. But Aristotle saith that Birds Eggs, and Eggs of forefooted Beasts are ripened by the incubation of the dam; for all these lay in the earth, and their Eggs are hatched by the warmth of the earth. For if forefooted Beasts that lay Eggs came often where they are, that is more to preserve and keep them then otherwise. And again, Eggs are hatcht by sitting. It is Natures way, but Eggs are not onely so hatched, but of their own accord in the earth, as in Egypt covered with dung they will bring Chickens. Diodorus Siculus de Egyptiis. Some are found out by mans industry, by those that keep Birds and Geese; besides, the ways that others have to produce them, that they may have Birds that are strange, and great numbers of them: for Birds do not sit upon their Eggs, but they by their skill hatch the Eggs themselves. At Syracuse a certain drunken companion put Eggs under the earth in mats, and he would not leave off drinking till the Eggs were hatcht. In Egypt about grand Cayro, Eggs are artificially hatcht; they make an Oven with many holes, into which they put Eggs of divers kinds, as Goose eggs, Hen Eggs, and of other Birds; they cover the Oven with hot dung, and if need be they make a fire round about it, so are the Eggs hatcht at their due times. Paulus Jovius in his Book of his Histories. In Egypt there is abundance of Hen Chickens: For Hens do not there sit on their Eggs, but they are hatcht in Ovens by a gentle heat, that by a an admirable and compendious art, Chickens are hatcht in very few days and bred up, which they sell not by tale, but by measure. They make the measure without a bottom, and when it is full they take it away. And in the Island of Malta in Sicily, they make an Oven, where into they put Eggs of divers Fowls, as of Hens, Geese, then they make a fire round about, and the Eggs grew ripe at times. But let us see how our Ancestors hatched their Eggs, Democritus teacheth

If a Hen do not sit, how she may have many Chickens,

The day you set your Hen upon Eggs, take Hens dung, pound it and sist it, and put it into a hollow vessel with a great belly, lay Hens feathers round about. Then lay your Eggs upright in it, so that the sharp end may be uppermost; and then of the same dung, sprinkle so much on them till the Eggs be covered. But when your Eggs have lain so covered for two or three days, turn them afterwards every day, let not one touch the other, that they may heat alike. But after the twenty day when the Chickens begin to be hatcht, you shall find those that are in the bottom to be crackt round, for this reason you must write down the day they were set, lest you mistake the time: Wherefore on the twentieth day, taking of the shell, put the Chickens into a pen and be tender of them. Bring a Hen to them which is best to order it: yet I tried this most diligently, and it took no effect, nor can I tell how it should be done. They that commend the Oven, do not teach the manner how it should be done. But what I have done my self, and I have seen others do, I shall briefly relate, that with little labour and without Hens, any one may

Hatch Eggs in a hot Oven.

Make a vessel of Wood like a Hogshead, let it be round, and the Diameter so long as your arm is, that you thrust in, that you may lay and turn the Eggs, let it be four foot in Altitude. This we divide by three boards within into four parts: Let the first be a foot and half, the second little above a foot, the third a foot, and the fourth least of all. Let every concavity divided with boards have a little door thereto, so large as you may thrust in your arm, and its shut to open and shut at pleasure. Let the first and second loft be made of thin boards, or wrought with twigs, let the third be of brass arched, and the fourth of solid wood. Let the first and second stage have a hole in the centre three fingers broad, through which must pass a brazen or iron pipe tinned over, that must come half a foot above the second story, and so in the lower most, but in the bottom the orifice must be wider, like a Pyramis or funnel, that it can fitly receive the heat of the flame of a candle put under it; in the second story let the pipe be perforated about the top, that the heat breathing forth thence, the place may be kept warm, and the Eggs may be hot in the upper part, as they are under the Hen. Above these three rooms strew saw-dust, which I thinks is best to cover them: Let the saw-dust be highest about the sides of the Hogshead, but less in the middle; in the bottom where the pipe is lower, that the Eggs that lye upon it may receive the heat that comes from the pipe every way: In the third story where the pipe ends, let it be pressed down about the sides, and higher in the middle about the pipe, let a linnen cloth cover the saw-dust, a fine cloth, that if it be foul'd it may be washt again, and the Chicken hatcht may go upon it. Lay upon every story a hundred Eggs, more or less, let the great end of the Eggs lye downwards, the sharp end upwards. The walls of the Hogshead that are above the saw-dust within the concavities, and the upper part of the story must be covered with sheep skins, that their warmth may keep in the heat: In the lower concavity under the Tunnel, must a light lamp be placed, at first with two weiks, in the end with three, in summer; but at beginning of winter, first with three, and last with four or five: Let the light fall upon the middle of the Tunnel, that the heat ascending by the pipe, the rooms may heat all alike. The place where this vessel stands must be warm and stand in a by place; in the lower part where the lamp is lighted, you must lay no Eggs, for that heat there will not hatch them. But where the Chickens are wet when they are first hatched, shut them in here to dry them by the warm heat of the lamp, marking twice or thrice every day whether the heat abate, be warm or very hot. We shall know it thus, take an Egg out of the place, and lay it on your Eye, for that will try it well: if it be too hot for you, the heat is great, if you feel it not, it is weak; a strong heat will hatch them, but a weak will make them addle. So you must adde or take away from your lamp, to make the light adequate & proportionable: after the fourth day that the Eggs begin to be warmed, take them out of the cells, and not shaking them hard, hold them gently against the Sun beams or light of a candle, and see whether they be not addle, for if you discern any fibres or bloody matter run about the Egg, it is good; but if it be clear and transparent, it is naught, put another Egg in the place of it: All that are good must be daily turned at the lamp heat, and turn them round as the Hen is wont to do. We need not fear spoiling the Eggs, or if any man do handle them gently; in summer after nineteen or twenty days, or in winter after twenty five or twenty eight days, you shall take the Eggs in your hand, and hold them against the Sun, and see how the Chickens beak stands, there break the shell, and by the hole of the Egg take the Chicken by the beak and pull out its head; then lay it in its place again, for the Chicken will come forth it self, and when it is come out, put it in the lower cell as I said: But let the lamp stand something from the parement, lest the Chickens allured by the light, should pick at it and be burnt by it: And if you do work diligently as I have shewed you, in three hundred Eggs you shall hardly lose ten or twenty at most. But because they are hatcht without the dam, I must shew how to make

A Cock foster Chickens as the Hen doth,

For they would die, if none did keep them. But a Cock or Capon will perform what the Hen should; do but shew him the Chicken, and stroke him gently on the back, and give him meat out of your hands often, that he may become tame. Then pull the feathers off of his brest, and rub him with Nettles, for in a few hours, not to say days, he will take care of the Chickens so well and give them their meat, that no Hen did ever do it, as he will.