BOOK VIII. V. 15-18 



and must be removed, so that the hen may not be kept 

 sitting any longer after the hatching is over, deluded 

 by vain hope. Chickens should not be removed one 

 by one as they are hatched but should be allowed to 

 remain in the nest for one day with their mother and 

 should be kept without water or food until they are 

 all hatched. On the next day, when the brood is 16 

 complete, it should be brought down from the nest 

 in the following manner. The chickens should be 

 placed in a sieve made of vetch or darnel, which 

 has already been in use, and they should then be 

 fumigated with sprigs of pennyroyal " ; this seems 

 to prevent the pip, which very quickly kills them 

 when they are young. After this they must be 17 

 shut up in a coop with their mother and given a 

 moderately large feeding of boiled barley-flour with 

 v/ater or flour of two-grained wheat sprinkled with 

 wine. For above all things indigestion must be 

 avoided, and so on the third day they should be 

 kept in the coop with their mother and before they 

 are let out for fresh food, they should each be ex- 

 amined separately to see if they still have any of the 

 previous day's food in their gorge ; for if the crop is 

 not empty, this is a sign of indigestion and they 

 ought to be kept away from food until digestion has 

 taken place. While they are very young, chickens 18 

 should not be allowed to wander too far but should 

 be kept in the neighbourhood of the coop and fed on 

 barley-meal until they are strong, and care must be 

 taken that they are not breathed upon by snakes, 

 whose odour is so pestilential that it kills them all off. 

 This is prevented by frequently burning hart's-horn 

 or galbanum ^ or women's hair ; by the fumes from 

 all these things the aforesaid pest is generally kept 



351 



