BOOK VIII. XI. 12-15 



attention to mark the mother-hen when she leaps 

 down and to visit the nest-box frequently and with 

 his hand to turn the peahen's eggs, which on account 

 of their size are more difficult for the farmyard-hen 

 to move ; and so that he may carry out this task with 

 greater care, one side of the eggs should be marked 

 with ink and the poultry-man will then have a means 

 of knowing whether the eggs have been turned by 

 the hen. But, as I have said, we must remember that 13 

 farmyard hens of the greatest possible size are pro- 

 vided for this purpose ; and if they are of only moder- 

 ate build, they ought not to sit upon more than three 

 peahen's eggs and six of their own kind. When the 

 hen has hatched the chickens, the farmyard chickens 

 will have to be transferred to another nurse, and any 

 young peafowls which are hatched from time to time 

 should be collected round one nurse until a flock of 

 twenty-five head is made up. But when the young 14 

 peafowls are hatched out, on the first day, like farm- 

 yard chickens, they should not be moved, but on the 

 following day they should be transferred to a coop 

 with the hen that is to bring them up, and during the 

 first days they should be fed on barley-meal sprinkled 

 with wine and with gruel made from any kind of 

 cereal and allowed to grow cold. Then after a few 

 days a Tarentine leek cut up small should be added 

 to their diet and soft cheese which has been pressed out 

 with great force, for whey is obviously harmful to 

 chickens. Locusts too, whose feet have been re- 15 

 moved, are regarded as useful for feeding the 

 peachicks and they ought to eat them until the sixth 

 month ; afterwards it is enough to give them barley 

 from the hand. After the thirty-fifth day following 

 their birth they may even be quite safely taken out 



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