¶ The Husbandlye ordering and Government of Poultry.  
Practised by the Learnedste, and such as have been known skilfullest in that Art, and in our tyme.  
¶ Imprinted at London, by Thomas Purfoote, for Gerard's Dewse. 1581.   

To Mistress Katherine Woodford (wife to master james Woodforde Esquire) and chief Clerk of the Kitchen to the Queen's Majesty Leonarde Mastall wisheth a prosperous estate in health long to continue.  
THe remembrance of your Worshipful Parents, gentle mistress Woodforde, unto whom my father & his family have always borne good will, and you showing likewise a continual courtesy towards me and them, perceiving also your wise and orderly using your house for your family & households with a desired mind to further the same in knowledge, how to use and govern Poultry to profit for maintenance of your said housekeeping, which thing you have been desirous to know, with the ordering of strange wildfowl, how to preserve and keep them to pleasure and profit. I having known your parents (in Brestall) and you from my youth, showing herein my good will towards you and your father's house, to farther and pleasure your desired mind therein, the remembrance thereof hath moved me at this present to enterprise and translate out of French Columella and Stephanus into English, certain orders for government of the said poultry, and also the ordering of divers other wildfowl, besides many other approved collections & practices learned in this realm, necessary to be known to all good householders, desiring you to be the patron and defender hereof in print, in so doing I shall think my travail well bestowed, and my time well spent. Thus I leave, wishing you a prosperous estate, with increase of worship long to continue to the pleasure of God.  
Finis.   

To the Reader.  
FOr so much gentle Reader, as beasts and Cat-tail is profitable to man's living, so is also poultry and other foul a good thing for the common wealth, and specially to them that are housekeepers, as well for the Gentleman, as the husbandman, and to farther the maintenance of the same, I have taken some pains therein, which here thou shalt find gentle reader, as well for the wild foul as others, such order for the government thereof, as hath not here before been written, or revealed in our english tongue, with a ready table by Alphabet, to find out any thing herein contained.  
by L.M. 1581.   

¶ The Argument.  
THe government of Poultry is chief thing to be maintained fo● the state and keeping of a house, which thing in respect, all men's houses ought to have, specially the Husbandmanne who ought to have understanding her in, how to rule and govern the same about his house, in which they ought t● be careful from time to time, as we● how to save them as, to breed them, a hereafter shall more plainly appear Taken forth of Columella and Stephanus in french, with divers other approved practices.   

The nourishing and government of Poultry.  

¶ The Order of Columella for the hennehouse. Cap. 1.  
first it shall be good to make and prepare you a henhouse to save and keep your poultry in, and so to set it if ye can at the east end of your house, made close, & to closed beneath with stone, or other ways ●ade strong, that no vermin may break 〈◊〉 to them by night: made with perch and nests within for them to lay and sit in when breeding time shall be: or at other times to lay in, and to place your hens above from your other poultry, and your Ducks and Geese beneath, each by themselves, that they may not fight one with another, for they will not so well love the house, but lay and sit in corners, and ●edges and out places abroad, and thereby they are often killed.  
Again ye shall make the like nests beneath for your ducks and geese, as above for your hens, and your ducks placed by themself, and your Geese themselves and to see that your henhouse be close 〈◊〉 thed round about above, for fear of Kn●ues by night, and other dangers, and 〈◊〉 that ye make places for them all abou● the sides of the henhouse to sit, and to lay in, with separations each by himself, all ye shall use to feed them before the he● house door mornings and evenings which will cause the young poullets' th● better to love the hennehouse, and to v●● them so nightly, will cause them and th● old hens to seek no other place to 〈◊〉 or roost in. Thus much of Columella for the hennehouse.   

¶ Stephanus Opinion. Cap. 2.  
Our Hen house ought to be built on the orient or east part of your house, by ●●me smoke house or kitchen, that that smoke (which is very good for poultry) may ●●me unto them. And your hen house 〈◊〉 be made of one length and one room of height, turning towards the orient or ●ast part of the house, and ye shall make other in the side or end, one narrow entering ●or them to lay, & come to roost at night, ●e shall also make a partition above for the ●ennes to sit, with perches thereon, no●●ette very high from that flower, & placed ●ne perch a foot from another, and also half a foot one perch above another, and set so wide as they may be seven foot square within the perches, and on the midst ye shall make two entries, one on the right side, & another on the left side, which shall be good to go and come to the other two ●houses. This entries shall be made at the ends joining to the walls, which is to be made each against other in coming into the house, against which wall shallbe made such moderate fire, in such sort their entering be not let, and also look that the smoke do not annoy the other house of your fowl, the room for your hens to sit & lay in, must be set seven. foot high, and to be made as large as half the height or more.  
Also ye shall make in each separation, a small window against the east fide of your house, that the poultry may see day to come forth amornings into the court to feed, and likewise ye must have a care to shut the door of their entering when they be come in to roost at night, to be the more assured of them, and to leave those windows open, which are made with lathes, so made that no vermin may come in to devour them by night, for they must have some clear light to see the better when they go to roost, and those persons that do keep them, aught to see specially to those that do sit, and ready to hatch, or have new hached, for else there will be soon some loss of them. Your Separations within, aught to be made close and strong: that one do not trouble another of them that do sit, or hatch their young. Some do take it to be a very good way to stick poles before in divers places of your hen house walls, and thereon to hang panniers or baskets for your hens to lay & breed in. Also ye must put in each nest a nest egg, which will cause the hens to lay therein the sooner: & ye must so place your perches across, that your hens may come and fly easily unto their nests from time to time, and ye must always see that your henhouse be kept clean: for when it lieth foul, it will cause the poultry to forsake the house, & to seek abroad some other cleaner place to roost in: for it it not good for them to roost where much of their dung is, because it will cleave unto their feet, which will cause them to have the gout in their feet, for this cause they cut their perches square for them 〈◊〉 roost on, for if they be round they cannot so well sit thereon. These perches being made square, they make two holes in ●he walls of each side of the hen house, and puts the perches therein, so that they ●e not in height from the flower two foot, and the one to be set as far from the other, so that the poultry shall not strive one with the other for their places: and after this s●rte is the best way to make a ●heune house for your poultry to roost in. Also ye shall make some place in their corte, to have always ready water for them, when they have said. It is not good to have water for them but in one place, to drink in, and that the water be kept always clean: for if the water be foul and salt, it will make them have the rye or rheum, and it will increase also the pip on their tongues. Therefore ye must not keep them from water, which water would be set in vessels after this manner. Some prepare troughs of lead to put their water & meat in: but it is most certain, those that are made of wood or  earth, are most wholesome and best for them, the which vessels (for water) ought to be covered above, the one half of the vessel whereas the water is, & therein to have holes half a foot asunder, wherein the poultry may put their heads & drink when they have eaten: for if ye cover not their water, they will soon mar it with their feet. Some do make vessels with holes in the cover above, which way is not so good: for the poultry when they are above thereon, they will dung into it, which will defile and mar their water. And see that no lathes or holes be broken, and that their perches be strait and even set for them to sit on. Also in some places assoon as the poultry is gone forth in the morning, they do cleanse the henhouse once or twice aweeke, and puts their dung apart for to help the garden, and also meadows, & their pens ● nests must be often refreshed with clean straw, and the hen house windows or door ought to be shut up assoon as the sun is down, and opened again in the morning with the rising of the sun. Their troughs also in winter twice a day to be cleansed, & thrice a day in summer, so that always their water may be fresh and clean. It shall be good also to cast some ●●esh straw often beside the Dunghill, and also before the henhouse, whereas the pullets do use to scrape, and to mix it with some sand, ashes, or dust: to give them a pleasure to scrape & to bask them in the sun, which they will do to cleanse their feathers: and look ye cast far from your bouse your pomes of fruit or wine when as ye strain them, for the eating thereof doth cool your hens, & do let them from laying. Also let there be no bright iron set up in the henhouse: for the brightness thereof will make them to gaze thereat, & so fear them, that they will go nigh to forsake the house: ye must see also to avoid the danger of Owls, Cats, Foxes, Wesils, and Polecats, with such like, which will nightly devour all that they may come by: and likewise on the day, with Buzardes, and Puttocks, Kites, Pies & Crows, which often destroyeth their eggs abroad, and also in their henhouses, if places therein be open: they will also devour young Chickens, Duclings, & goslings under their dams, or if their dams be not nigh them, or for lack of good tendaunce. Also whereas the hen oft times will departed from her chickens (& sudden loseth one) as to fly on walls, or pales, or such like: ye shall therefore clip the ends of her great feathers of one of her wings, and not once to suffer them to enter into your garden, for if they catch once your Garden when they are young, & by long custom being there brought up, they will commonly after love the same place where they are so brought up in, & by that means ye shall have your Garden spilled, & it will hinder them from laying: as for the Cocks and Capons, it is thought good not to shorten or clip their wings: therefore ye must use to bind or set thorns, or, lay bushes of thorn on your walls, tops of pales, or low hedges: or else with lath nailed to the tops of your pale posts, and then put thorough your laths pacthred, breast high of a Cock, from the tops of your pales, & that will let them from coming in: for the pacthred will hit them on the breasts, when they would light on the top of the pale, and so it will put them down again. And see also to other of your poultry, if they use to fly or mount on walls or houses, to cut their wings for fear of losing of them, and to use for their meat and drink as is fore mentioned.   

¶ Signs in a good Cock Cap. 3.  
STephanus Saith, the signs in a good Cock are these: his body large & deep withal, well and right irested, his comb jagged and red, his eyes round, & great grey or whitish, his bill crooked with some red and yellow or after an azure colour, his beard or cheeks, of the colour of roses drawing towards a white and red, his neck feathers fair and long of a golden colour somewhat changing, his legs black and well stalled, great and short, his claws short & strong, his hinder claw wrincled and sharp, his tail fair and strait, great and heavy. Also Columella saith, it is not good to keep a cock, if he be not stout, hot, and knavish, and to be of the same colour as the hens are, in having as many claws.  
But in his body to be more hire raised, his comb to be high and red as blood, and strait withal, his eyes black, or azure colour, his beak short and crooked, with a grey crest shining like red on white, and all his feathers from the head to the breast, to be of a changeable colour varying like gold or yellow, his breast large and big, his muskels on his wings big like ones arms, with long wings, his tail fair & long with two ranks of crooked rising feathers, and to be oft crowing, is a sign of a lusty courage, the red colour is thought to be the best Cock, his legs short and ●●tong, his thighs great and thick, and well covered with feathers, and armed well with long spurs rough and pointed, 〈◊〉 it is not meet for fight cocks to be without fair spurs, notwithstanding if ●●●y do foewe fair, straight of body, light, fierce, eager in battle, vigilant, ●●●dye, and often trowing, and not easily ●●●rde: These are the signs of a good ●●●ck, for oft times he must resist to defend 〈◊〉 hens, and to kill Serpents which ●●ll brag against him, or other vene●●us beasts, and for these Cocks to ●●●e but five hens shall be best, for these Cocks which are so hardy to fight with ●●er Cocks which tread their hens, they are hore of nature and so lascivious, though they cannot tread themselves 〈◊〉 more, yet they will not suffer other ●●ckes to serve their hens, now for to ●●ke that heat of jealousy, ye shall slit ●●o pieces of thick leather, and then put ●●em on his legs, and those will hang o●●er his foot which will correct the vehe●●ēt heat of his iealonzy, which is in him. Thus much here for your Cock.   

¶ The signs and properties of a good Hen. Cap. 4.  
THe signs of a good Hen are these to be of a tawny colour, or of a russet which are counted the chiefest colours and those hens next, which hath the pen● of their wings blackish, not all black but part: as for the grey & white hens are nothing so profitable, the Hen with a tuft of feathers on her head is reasonable good, and the low featherde hen also: their heads not to be great, and the● tails ought to be in a mean, and he breast large, her body deep and long, f● the greatest hens of body are not the a● test hens to lay, nor yet for that purpose so natural, or if a hen have v. claws as the Cock, they are then more apt t● be trodden, and taketh least: as for tho● hens which hath hinder claws, the will commonly break their eggs in sitting thereon, and they sit not so surely a● others, and will oft times eat their egs● also those that are very fat, or hath the flux● of the belly, they lay the egg then with out a shell: as for your young hens a● first they know not how to cover nor go●erne their young chickens, wherefore it were better to fat than or put than, to some other purpose for your profit. As for those hens which do call or crow like the cork, or doth creak and scrape, to help the same, ye shall pluck of the greatest feathers of ●er wings, & give her of millet wheat to●kte, and also of barley, and barley passed ●●●in sinale inorsels, & crumbs of bread tem●pred in water with some barley meal, 〈◊〉 ye shall keep her in a close place for a 〈◊〉. Ye shall also pluck the feathers of 〈◊〉 head, thighs and breast, and to eat those 〈◊〉 in February is the best: & for hen's 〈◊〉 fat, for they will not lay so well, wherefore ye shall put chalk into their ●●●ter, and mix also their meat therewith, 〈◊〉 at will make them more lean: or tem●●● their meat with the powder of brick, 〈◊〉 it will do the like. If any hen have 〈◊〉 flux of the belly, ye shall give her for 〈◊〉 first meat, the whites of eggs hard ●●ed, and beaten with two parts of boiled ●●●sons: and for those hens which use to ●●ake, & is in a rage with heat, They will commonly hide their eggs, and eat them. Therefore ye must use to plaster an egg shell with plaster, or passed upon pap, & anoint it all over with the yolk of another egg, and if she do break it and find nothing within, so she will at length leave that use. Or lay in the nest a piece of chalk like an egg, and it will serve as well for that purpose, and ye shall never leave but a nest egg in the nest after she have laid, also when a young hen do begin to clock, than she would sit, if ye will not have he● fit, put a small pen thorough her nostrils, for young hens are more meeter to lay then to sit, and the elder hens are better for to sit and bring up young chickens then to lay. Some do use when they would have a hen to sit, they rub her all under the belly with strong nettles, & some Farmer's wives are so presise, which do wet their bellies in the cold water, to quench they heat, and some do use to make them fast from meat four days, & shuts them up i● a pen. But then if ye will they shall no● sit, ye must within two days after tha● she is once cooled of her heat, and have so fasted, then put her in the morning unto the cock to make her forget her sitting, ●d so she will begin again to lay. And if 〈◊〉 will have a Capon to lead your chyc●ns, it is best for to take a great feathered ●pon, and rub his belly with nettles as ye do the hen, and if the capon be young, he will the better give himself to love the chickens the sooner, and he will brood and govern them as well as the hen: when you take your capon for that purpose, ye must take him toward night, for than it shall be best, & put the chickens vn●● him, if he will not then cover them, net●●e his belly well again with sharp net●●●s, and so keep him in the coop or pen, the space of two or three days: or so long until ye see him have a love unto the chickens.   

¶ When to set your hens. Cap. 5.  
●E shall set your hens in the increase of the Moon from the tenth day to the ●●●teenth is best, so that they may hatch in the increase of the next new Moon. The day in sieting that do give life and form unto the chickens are xxi, and of Peacocks, Geese, and Ducks, & other water fowl, are nine days more. Therefore when ye set your eggs with other, ye must give their eggs to the hen ten days before her own eggs, and then give her four eggs of hers, or five, not above, and let them be of the fairest and greatest eggs ye can have, for little eggs will bring small chickens. Also if the hen be negligent to turn her eggs, & do not sit close or even on them, it were good sometimes (when she is gone abroad) gently to turn them, & there be some women that think it long when the hen doth sit, not to let her abide the end of her hatching, but within fourteen days that she have sit, she takes forth all the eggs one after another, & looks them in the sun beams, and if she cannot see no bloody streks within, she throws those eggs away, and takes others. And likewise after the xxi. day, if she see they remain unclosed, she takes & raises the hen from the nest, but the good sitting hen will no more return to sit after that she is so raised and touched.  
Ye may choose your eggs in the sunnebetwixt your hands, & put them under the ●en again, & those eggs which ye doubt are not good, and will not hatch in due time thorough the hardness of the shell, ye shall bathe them in a vessel of wood, with lukewarm water about the xxviii. day, and those that do swim above, cast them away, and put the other under her again, ●●●t ye must not constrain the hen to rise from her nest: when ye do this, also ye ●aye do great good & save some chickens when ye hear them begin to piepe in the shell, and cannot come forth by hardness thereof. Then must ye help the hen and break the top of the shell or pick it softly with your finger, although it be the natural office of the hen to do it: ye must fulbreak it that the head of the chick may come forth, so shall ye use all those that have hard shells, to help the hen in the ●●●e of hatching.   

¶ The time best to set your young hens. Cap. 6.  
IF ye will have your young hens & pul●● lets to sit, it shall be best to set them in ●●e Second year of their laying: until the third and fourth year: also ye may fet many hens at one time together, & it shall be good afore ye set your heune, to lay under each nest a piece of some iron: for as they say, it is good against thunder to preserve the chickens: and also good against the breeding of the pyppe, or increasing of a monstrous nature in the eggs, or to lay of bay leaves about the nests, is good against the thunder, or to put therein the heads of Garlic, or of grening weed as some say is good against the pyppe: or increasing of monstrous fruit in the eggs, ye may have of xx eggs, xxi chickens: for some egg will have two yolks, & those will bring two chickens.  
They do use also to set the hen in the beginning of the Moon, from the second day to the fourteenth, (as saith Florentine) & Columella saith, it is good setting hens from the tenth unto the fifteenth, to the end the hens may hatch and unclose in the increase of the next new moan, for there is no more necessary hatching days for the hen to bring forth chickens, but xxi. and for other water fowl xxviii. vaies: also when the hen is gone of her nest, ye shall come and search the bottom of her nests & stir the straw a little, that nothing be grown or fallen therein to wet and rusty the nest: some do use to perfume the nests with Brimstone, before they set the eggs under the hen, for they say, it will keep the eggs from ill in the sitting, as often it chanceth some chick will be dead in the shell. Ye shall also set her with marked eggs, to see when she hath turned them, ye must choose to set the most fairest and newest eggs of her own if ye can possibly have them, and they use commonly to set their hens all the summer, from the seventh of February unto the xxii. of September. As for other times it availeth little or nothing, much like the first setting, because the time than is commonly cold as a part of winter, & in November, December, & january nothing availeth to sit: In February they use to set a hen with xv. eggs, in March with nineteen. and in April with xxi. for the most greatest number to set is not to be received above xxiii. eggs, & from the second of October they use to set no more, nor they ought not to set no more, if they have not Duens to set their Eggs in, as they have at Malt and at Beauceron, & those Chickens and Pullet's are very evil to bring up in Winter, and so likewise the common opinion of them is, that from mid june the Chickens profit but smally, because they do not grow nor increase in the heat of Summer, but very little, if ye will not be to curious (as some be) in giving your hen other eggs to sit on as well as her own, as the Goose Egg, Peacock, turkey and Duck, if ye set these with hers, ye shall put them to the hen seven or nine days before her own eggs: and the common order to set eggs in number is odd, as to set seven, nine, eleven and thirteen, etc. which is to make them lie round in the nest, and to have the odd egg in the midst: if ye set Fezante eggs with your Hen eggs, ye need not doubt to set them altogether, for they ask all one time to hatch and unclofe, then if ye will have them to be Females, take the roundest wrincled eggs and also to have them all males take the long rough eggs, as they say they will be males, also some do choose the egg which the hollow crown in the side of the cup for the Females, and also the crown in the top under the shell for the males: again some do say to have males, set your hen on the masculine day in the forenoon, as on Tewesdayes and Thursedayes, saturday and sunday: and for the females, set your hen in the afternoon on the Feminine days as monday and Friday, and some do observe this ceremony in setting a hen, which is, not to put one egg after another into the nest with her hand, but lays them first in a wooden platter, them gently puts them altogether in the nest, and ye must take heed that the Coeke or other hens do not sit in her nest when she is risen, for the Cock with his spurs will break the eggs, and the other hens in sitting therein, will make her forsake her neaste, ye shall therefore set meat and water by her twice a day, that she may have no occasion to rise & seek her meat, and her eggs to cool in the mean time, for if a Hen have great hunger, and tarry long in seeking her meat, some hens will hardly return again, if that she be not of a frank and a free nature.   

Of Chickens newly hatched. Cap. 7.  
THe Chickens which are newly hatched should be put into a siue and perfumed a little with rosemary, which is good to save them from the pip: ye must not of two days give them any meat, if one hatch before an other, but keep them under a hen that hath but few, till the rest be unclosed, and yet the hen herself will keep them tender enough under her wings without hurting, the first and second day being past, ye shall take them out and crumb them some tender bread, or otemele soaked in milk, or sodde wheat, Curds, or barley meal, mixed and soaked in Wine and water, with a few Leek blades hacked small and then a little boiled.  
This order will save them from the catarrh, the rye, and the pip, and from the second day to the sixth day, ye shall keep them with the hen in the house. Then at the end of six days, ye may let them go abroad with the dam, and then give them of the foresaid meat, and if ye have many other sitting at the same time, if they do hatch, put them unto a more elder Chickens, and to feed them with the other, or ye m●y put them to a Capon, and use them as is aforesaid, and then let the young hens be put again to the Cock, but give not a hen above xxv. chickens for to feed, for they cannot be all well covered, also ye must see to the hen that keeps them, that she be not hot and defirous of the cock, for then as often as she covers them, she will hurt them and scrat them, in putting them oft in a heat, nor she will not labour nor scrape for their meat, nor yet take regard of the place, that the young may follow her, wherefore it were better (being so hot) not to let her depart the court, or to put her in some pen, or tie her by the leg with some string the space of one month or six weeks, until they be more stronger to guide and help themselves with some other.  
Also there is a cur iositie of those persons which will hatch chickens without the hen, which thing may be done, but it is not so sure nor so commodious, which is: they set the eggs an end in an Oven, always of a temperate heat, upon hen dung, and they lay bags of feathers under and above, and turns them often. Then on the eighteenth day they do hath them in lukewarm water, and on the one and twentieth day, they help to break the shells, and so takes them forth, and doth nourish them as other chickens.  
Again they may do this another way which is, they mark the day as they set them in the oven, (as they do another hen) and then they take so many eggs as they think good to set, and sets them an end in the oven, on bags of sifted hen dung, in compassing them round therewith, like a neaste, and then they make a bed of hen dung, and lays it over the bags, on the which bed they set their eggs an end, as before is declared, and then they cover them with other hen dung, and lays bags thereon again, so that there do no other thing touch them, then after the fourth and fift day they turn the Eggs gently once a day, and sets them so that one Egg do not knock another, and at the fifteenth day the chickens will begin to pick in the shells, than ye must help them forth, and break the tops of the shells, and set them unto another Hen that hath but a few chickens, and these chickens are in all things of their own proper nature.   

¶ How to keep eggs long. Cap. 8.  
THe housewife that would profit by keeping and selling of eggs, she must (as some say) keep them in a warm place in Winter, as in straw and such like, well covered therein, and in the spring toward summer, in fresh bran, or meal according to the ancient counsel, which under correction I believe the contrary, for the straw is fresh and warm and the branue or meal is hot, it followeth then that eggs kept hot, will not endure nor last good so long as those that are kept cold, as those which are kept in dry salt, or to sleek them in sally water it doth diminish, but ye shall not doubt those eggs, to take any evil cast thereby, a sweet selld is also good for to keep them in both in winter and also in Summer.  
Again, Columella saith, the manuer to keep eggs long time, is, in the winter in straw, and in summer in bran or meal, some do put them first five or six hours in fine beaten fault, and then they wash them and lay them in straw or bran, and some keeps them among beans, and others keep them in bean meal, and some do let them remain in unbeaten fault, and other some do soak them in brine or salt water, but like as cheese do keep them from rotting, yet thereby they will diminish and waste, and they will not be so full of meat as those which are newly laid: wherefore the best is, if they trouble you, to sell them, because those which are put in brine, cannot so long be kept full, but will waste: hens, ducks and others will lay without the Cock, but will not be young.   

Eggs to gather and keep. Cap. 9  
THese kind of poultry hens are accustomed to lay eggs all the year but specially in the spring they do commonly begin (in could countries) to lay first in January, about the fifteenth day, but if ye feed and nourish them well, they will lay sooner, wherefore it shallbe good in bringing them forward to give them barley half sodde, for that will make them hot, and to lay more sooner and more oftener, and also greater Eggs than others, but ye shall mix with this Barley, of Millet Wheat sodde which will also heat, and increase more courage in the hens, and also to give them of the other meat aforesaid, which ought to be given to the goers abroad, and to give to each hen 4. ounces of Barley, mixed with millet wheat: if so be you have not fetches, give them of the Wheat called mill.  
Ye shall see also to so many as do lay abroad, to have from time to time of clean straw in their nests, and often changed with fresh straw, for a laying hen doth like that well, for it will keep them from fleas and other like vermin, which often they bring with them when they come to their nests to lay: ye shall mark also those hens when they lay, although most hens do give a warning when they have laid, in, cackling, and yet some Hens will hold their peace when they have laid, and some hens will (when they have laid) but clock, wherefore ye must look and vistte their Nests when they have laid, and then gather their eggs together, and all those hannes that have laid that day, for those eggs are best to be put under a hen that clocks, as for the other eggs ye may sell: the chiefest eggs to hatch are those which are newest laid, and yet ye may set other eggs also which are older laid, so they be not above ten days old.   

¶ Eggs to have all Winter. Cap. 10.  
Hens commonly gins to lay betwixt February and march, & then young hens lay a year and half well, and at the two years end they are then better then at the first, and then must ye see that they be well fed, as sometime with good Oars mixed with Fenicreeke, to make them more hotter, and if ye will then have them to lay great eggs, your Hens must not be to fat, for commonly pullets and fat hens will lay small Eggs, pullets because they are but young, and old hens because they are so fat, therefore ye must mix their meat with chalk & put of beaten brick into their troughs with some wine and water mixed, and so let them have it daily for a space, or to give them of Barley half sodde and mixed with tars, or the grain called millet. Wheat. hens do commonly cease laying about the third of November, when the cold begins to come, and then feeding on blackbriers, elder, & other fruit, but for being troubled, ye might choose of the fairest hens for to lay eggs all the Winter, as well as at other times, which order is, ye must nourish them with toasted bread, and then soaked ale or small Wine, mixed with some water: Some do take of Water and milk, and soaks the toasts therein, from the evening to the morning and so gives it them on the morrow to their breakfast, and at night they give them some oats, or barley, and for the time ye must not let them be trodden of the cock, and after the first laying also, let them be kept from the Cock, and so they will long continue good, and when your hens are passed three years it shall be best to sell or to eat them, for after those years they will hardly lay but wax barren, therefore it shall be good to change them for younger hens if ye can: & again, some do mark the places of those hens which are given to lay mute, or make no noise, those hens must not be let go abroad to seek their nests (for else ye shall have small profit of them) but only to bathe them in the sun, when the day is fair, and then to fee them had in again. If a hen be trodden of a crow, as some be, she either dieth or waxeth barren, or prospereth not after.   

¶ Chickens of a later brood. Cap. 11.  
THose Chickens that come of a later brood, some good housewives doth hold opinion, that they will be better layers, than those that come in the spring, the other saith they are best for that purpose, if they may be nourished and well fed in the first winter, but yet by your leave, they willbe more tender in cold times, than the other that are bred in the spring: because they are all winter brought up in the house, wherefore they are called house chickens: but those hens that brings up their chickens abroad, and never comes in the house all summer, are the best, and they will be much fairer and harder to live then the other brought up in the house: & also more profitable if she can keep them from spoiling till they be great.   

How to feed Chickens from the dam. Cap. 12.  
TO feed & nourish Chickens from the dam, ye must use to give them meat thrice a day, in the morning, noon, and at night, and also to give fresh water, and always set by their meat, so shall ye always keep them fair and from the pip: for when they have eaten any meat they will desire to drink thereunto, and if they have not always fresh water by them, they will seek & drink of the next puddle and foul water they find, and that will soon breed in them the pip, by the which it causeth a mortal poison in them, and it will make them droop, and hang their wings, & at length die thereof. And ye must cleanse out all the tars and darnel, from the barley and other meat ye give them, and so feed them with the foresaid meat till they wax more stronger: ye must also perfume them with penneriall, and rosemary, and to perfume your other poultry, ye shall take Isope, Linseed or flax, and burn it, and hold the heads of your poultry with their mouths open, over the said fume, & this will preserve them also from the pip.   

¶ The pip, and the cause, to help also. Cap. 13.  
ALL Poultry are subject to the pyppe on the tongue, which will grow on the end thereof like a thin scale, and it will let them to feed. One occasion there is when they lack drink, or else when they have drunk troubled or filthy water, or have eaten of filthy and stinking meat out of the channel, dunghill, or other dirty place, whereas lies the garbage of some filthy flesh, or such like, or any evil savour will breed the pip. Therefore if ye fume your poultry sometimes with savin, Bays, rosemary, or Gynnsper, it will save them from the pip.  
Also they say the pip will be a hard scale on the tip of their tongues & to help the same, (some takes it of with his nail) and some do steep a clove of Garlic in oil olive, wherewith they chafe & rub his bill, & they do make them to eat of stavesaker among their meat, also Dioscorides saith, the berries & leaves of Privet to be given them, will preserve both Cocks and capons from the pip: again, some do use to give them Garlic cut in pieces with butter, and given them when the pip is take of, & then with your mouth to spurt a little Ale, Wine, or Bear into their mouths: Again, other some do raise the pip softly with their nail, or the point of a Knife, & so takes it off gently, and wash it then with ale or bear, and so let him go, or to rub it with salt and Vinigere, or lay thereto of beaten Garlic which is counted good against the pip: again others do keep the pip when it is taken off, & gives it him to drink with ale or bear, and they say it will help, whereof they have a proverb which saith, if he eat not the pip, the pip will eat him: and also to save them from the piype, some do put into their throats the blades of Garlic steeped in warm oil, and do sprinkle their bills with men's brine warm, and then holds them close together a long time after, so that by the bitterness of the urine, makes them to cast the pip, and phlegm at their nose. Wild grapes mixed with other meat, is good for them or beaten and stamped and so given to drink with water. These are good remedies for poultry that are seldom sick, if phlegm have already take their eyes, they will not then eat, then must ye slit their jaws to cause the matter to come forth that is gathered under their eyes, then rub it with a little beaton salt and parsley, this grief breeds commonly when they abide much cold, wet and hunger, or in summer when they drink of a standing puddle, or foul water, as is before said: again, Chickens when they wax old, are subject to have the Rye in their head and eyes, catarrhs, rheums, and distillations, at their nostrils: thorough the cold and numbness of their feet, and to drink the water of ice, or frozen water, or too much cold taken thorough the fault of the henhouse, being to open in the night or sitting abroad on Trees, or under the eaves of houses when it rains, and such extreme cold, causes them to be more founded in their feet, which in some poultry breeds the gout, specially in tender birds, as young turkeys and such, and also the gout may come by the drinking of ice water, all these do breed the like diseases aforesaid, whereby many dies thereof.   

¶ To help the Catarrh or rheum in poultry. Cap. 14.  
THey teach to put a pen cross thorough their nostrils, and then they do bathe them with lukewarm water, and some time they do warm their feet, specially of such as are yet young and tender: and some do use to lap them in woollen clothes, wool, and in feathers, & so keeps them in a vessel by the fire side, or in some warm oven, or such like place, then if the Catarrh do still continue on the eyes and towards the beak, ye must then gently cut it, and lance the impostume, and put that matter forth that is conieiled therein and so put thereon a little beaten salt.   

¶ How many hens to a Cock. Cap. 15.  
COlumella saith xii. hens shall be sufficient for one good cock which will cause them the rather to be of one colour, and yet saith he, our ancestors did use to give but five hens to one cock, which caused them rather to be of divers colours some white, some grey, some reddish, and some taunye, some black, and some of a speckled colour, which are not thought to be so good as the red & grey speckled: and to have hens all of one colour is best, and the hens all of one colour (save the white) are counted the best laiers. Again, Stephanus saith that twelve hens to one good Cock is sufficient, and yet (saith he) our ancestors did give but five Hens to a Cock, which being so few (as some judge) it did cause them to be neither white nor grey, but part reddish tawny, and black, which are (among the rest) not counted the best Hens to lay or breed.   

¶ Of hens that hatches abroad, as in bushes. Cap. 16.  
Hens that sit abroad or other poultry, ye shall take her and blindfilde her softly in the evening, & take up all her eggs, with so much of the nest as ye can, & then set her where ye shall seem good, & lay therein her eggs as they were before, and then set the hen softly thereon, and deck the nest with green boughs like the place she came from, and so shut her in all that night, on the next day give her meat and water: but let her not forth the space of three days, but give her meat and water in the place, & so she will soon forget the other place. Thus ye may have her & her chickens in more safety then to let her sit abroad: ye must not rashly set all sort of hens, but first learn & know their natures, for some will sit well, & soon forget her chickens: others will bring up & nourish chickens better than sit, & some in sitting will break their eggs as aforesaid which are better to sell than sit: also assoon as a hen have ended her first lay, she will then covet to sit, wherein you must have reason, and see that ye set her with no more eggs than she may well cover, the number of eggs that ye ought to set a hen, may not be above twenty & three, and they ought to be all of one sort, as of one hen, and yet not always of one hens laying, for ye must give them according to the time in januarie they give unto a hen xv. eggs, in March nineteen. and in April xxi. and so all the summer unto the first day of October xxi. and after that time no more, for if ye breed Chickens in the cold winter they are like to die.   

¶ Cause of Flux in poultry. Cap. 17.  
ALso the flux of the belly in Poultry which thing doth make them weak it cometh oft times to poultry by eating of moist meat, or else they have eaten of some laxative herbs, or if their henhouse have been left open all night, or taken some cold sitting upon trees abroad, or in open places a nights, or else by eating of some fruit, these and such like will cause them to have the flux, which doth much weaken them, whereby they will not lay so soon nor desire the Cock.   

¶ Remedies against the flux. Cap. 18,  
THe Remedies are these, ye shall take and make powder of the husks of Acorns, then mix it with barley meal, & with red wine, so make a paste thereof and give it them, or cast it unto them cut in small pieces, or give unto them the whites of eggs hard roasted, & then beaten with two parts of the kernels of great raisins beat to fine powder, and so made in passed as the other and cast unto them. Another, they make paste of beaten barley, with chalk, & mixed with the water wherein Pomegranates or Quinces have been sod in, and so do ye give it unto them.   

¶ Against stopping of the belly in Poultry. Cap. 19  
IF your Poultry be stopped in the vent & closed up, specially oft times in young chickens. They do take and open the vent with a straw or such like, and then clip away all the feathers about the vent or tuel, and also on the insides of both their thighs, to the end their dung thereby be not holden or kept long, which oft times is the cause of the stopping of the tuel, or vent, and for the stopping of the greater poultry, they use to put a quantity of honey among their water, & also their meat, and that will help them again.   

¶ Against louse and vermin in Poultry. Cap. 20.  
WHereas lice, fleas, hoggelice, sow worms & such like, do trouble and hurt poultry, so that they cannot quietly feed nor rest a nights, whereby they will wax poor, which increaseth when they cannot bathe in dust, Sand, or ashes, they get them also in scraping abroad among foul straw, or on dunghills, or gotten when they fit in nests not made clean, or in the henhouse by their dung lying long there, which corrupteth their vodyes, and breeds louse and fleas, the remedy, ye shall take the powder of pepper mixed with warm water, and therewith bathe them, or take fine powder of stavesaker, and mix it with lie, and so wash them therewith, or to bathe them in soap water, which is good to kill lice, or the fine powder of pryver, mixed with vinegar, and so wash them therewith, again some do wash them with Wine wherein comen is sodde, and Stavesaker, or with the Water that wild fetches or tars hath been sodde in, all these are good to kill lice and Fleas in poultry.   

¶ Of Vermin that bites and stings poultry. Cap. 21.  
YE must also from time to time look unto your poultry for stinging or biting with venomous worms, by haunting their houses, and breeding in the dung or old walls, as spiders, Eftes, snakes, shrove mice which is venomous of nature and house mice or field mice, which will trouble poultry, or Toads which will covet to sit on warm eggs: also against biting, ye shall anoint the venomed place with oil of scorpion, or put thereon of Mithridate, also give them a little treacle with ale or bear, moreover against Vermin that devours poultry and eggs in the henhouse in the night, the ancients did counsel to strew and set poses of rue in the open holes or door, and likewise they council to cast of Brine all about on the walls and sides of the henne-house, the doors and windows, and to embroy or anoint the walls, and the doors and windows of the henhouse, with the gall of a Cat, dog, or Fox.   

¶ Of sitting hens that rise in wet and rainy days. Cap. 22.  
WHen as your hens do sit, after they have sat a day or two, yea three days or more sometimes, not rising to eat, than hunger will constrain them to rise, and when they go abroad to seek their meat and water, if the day be then wet, ye shall not suffer them to go abroad and wet their feet, for when as they return unto their neaste, and touch their warm eggs with their wet feet, the eggs thereby may soon i'll, and thereby come to small proof, therefore in wet times and rainy days let not your hens that fit go abroad to seek their meat, but set meat and water by them, so long as it is wet abroad: so shall their eggs come to good, otherwise they shall be in danger of chilling by her wet feet, and thereby come to nought, as those eggs which do chill, whereas the hen in seeking meat abroad, is long absent from her neaste, in mean time they cool, and for those hens that will break their eggs and eat them, ye shall make a nest egg, and plaster him all over with whites of Eggs beaten with plaster and chalk, and laid thereon and dried in the air, and when it is hard it will be like the shell of an egg, and make that the nest egg, ye may make neaste Eggs of plaster and chalk, and use them as is before declared.   

¶ What time to carve young Cock chickens. Cap. 23.  
TO cut young Cockerels to make them Capons, the time thereof is best to cut or carve them soon after their dam have left them, or when they cry or pule no more after her, as when they begin to crow and wax hot to tread the pullets.  
The gelding or carving of them is, to take away in them the hot desire they have to tread the pullets, and to make them chaste, wherein there is two manner of ways, which is not only to lose their stones, but also when their spurs is seared with a hot iron and so consumed. Then after if any spur do swell or rankle, ye shall cover it with potter's earth or clay till it be hole. This way is more difficult, and yet used among the Greeks at Delose.  
The common way of cutting or carving is not to be dispraised, and is most known as this way: they take them in the morning commonly (the sign being good, and on the wane of the Moon) and lays the cock in her lap upon his back, in trussing up his legs by his sides, them the carver plucks first away the Feathers above the vent, and takes up the upper skin with the point of the Needle, and slits it overthwart an inch long, and then takes up the under thin skin, next the guts and slits that likewise, than the Earuer annoyntes her forefinger of her right hand, with Oil or butter, & puts it gently to the rains of the cock on the left side, and with her finger brings forth the stone. Then she annoyntes the forefinger of her left hand, and puts it unto the stone on the right side of the Cock, and with her finger brings it forth, so done, she placeth the guts and sows the skin up again with a thread, and then annoyntes that place with some fresh butter, and lets him go, but if the day then be cold or wet, keep them in the house warm for a day or two after their Carving, but if it be fair, let them go abroad and when they are a year and a half old, there is no more disposition or rankness in them, than ye may choose and take the most fairest and greatest Capon to govern and lead your Chickens, although there is not so great stoutness in him, as in a cock.   

¶ Against the inflaming of the eyes and the haw. Cap. 24.  
Against the inflaming of the eyes in poultry, ye shall boil in water sothernewood, and wheaten bread, and therewith bathe their eyes, also ye may bathe them with the distilled Water of pourcelayne and Woman's milk, or with the juice of Pourceleine mixed with a little honey, or the juice of Sheapheardes' purse mixed with Woman's milk. And against the haw in the eye, ye must rub the eye with bowl Armoniac, Comyn and honey, beaten all well together, as much of the one as the other, and so lay it too, or if ye have the practice to lift it up warily and lightly with the point of a needle, and so take it away, also the juice of ground ivy with the Berries or leaves stamped with water or wine is better, and plaster wise lay it too, and remove it once in 24. hours and it will help.   

¶ Cramming and fatting of Capons. Cap. 25.  
WHen as ye take up your Capons to make them fat, ye must prepare of wheaten meal, or barley meal mixed with two parts of bran. Then ye shall heat ale or bear, but ale is the better, or lukewarm Worte, and therewith temper your meal and bran. Some do put thereunto fresh hog's grease, or of sheep, or oil Olive, and when it is all tempered together, they take a small piece, and make and roll it betwixt their hands, of two inches long or more, and small at both the ends, like this figure , than they dip it in milk, ale, or oil, and give a Capon so many thereof as ye shall think good, to a great Capon xx. rolls, & to the other as ye shall see cause: thus ye must feed them twice a day at morning and evening, and so ye shall make them fat in a month or less, but always ye must see that their meat is digested before ye give them any more, for some be of a slow digestion, and if ye give meat upon meat they will loathe it: Again, they do fat Capons in some countries, as in Mauce, and in Britain (as they say) when they would fat them, they siele up their eyes, as they do other birds, and so gives them meat to eat, as Corn half sodde, and then made in paste, and so into pellets like that other, or made in small morsels, and feeds them therewith, and so they are made salt in six or ten days at the most, but ye must keep them from Vermin, and filing themselves with their own dung.   

¶ Meat for hens and other poultry, and where and when to feed them. Cap. 26.  
THe best meat and feeding for, your hens is bruised Barley, or Fetches, or bruised pease, likewise of wheat called Millet, or the wheat panic, these are the chiefest for them to eat, for these do both heat and dry them, wherefore they use to sift out the coursest of the wheat, and mix it with the other, and to give them all wheat it were to costly, in many places, ye may therefore give them the seeds of cockle, with bran and other meal not much sifted, but if there be not some meal with it mixed, it will not then give them so good an appetite.  
And for those hens that are lean, they do give them the leaves and seeds of melilot herb, for that is very good to make them have an appetite to their meat, and whereas ye cannot have that, than ye may give them the rome's of strained grapes (if they lay not) or raisins stamped with Barley meal, for that will make them more given to lay, or if ye give them the seeds of Ray, it will cause them also to lay, but after Autumn they lay then seldom, because they stray abroad and eat berries and cold fruit not ripe, which makes them not disposed to lay: then must ye give them store of meat twice a day in your court, morning and evening, to cause them to tarry that strays abroad then let them not go far from the henhouse at night, not to tarry long a mornings for their meat, for straying abroad, and have no care of that place, and every night for to tell them if ye have all or not, for soon ye may be deceived, also ye must sayc Sande or Ashes along the wall sides for them to bathe in, for thereby they cleanse their feathers from vermin and filth: if ye will beleetie Heracleus an Ephesian which sayeth, that Hogs do cleanse them in the mire and dirt, & poultry do cleanse them in sand, ashes, and dust.   

To fat hens best. Cap. 27.  
Because it is the common office of the Councreyutan or woman to fat hens, and poultry, so likewise it is for the craftsman to buy keep and se●● them, and because it shall not be vinnie eat for both sorts to feed them, ye shall hunderstand ye must do this: ye 〈◊〉 prepare a warm place and dark, and put each hen by herself in a pen; made so narrow that she cannot almost turnt her ther●●●, and those pens in u●● have on 〈◊〉 sides two holes the one ●●pu● forth her head, and the other her tag●● and & ●●●pe, and so to give her meat 〈◊〉 she hath disgrested that in her craw, and to cleanse her pen oft, that her dung do not hinder her fatting, ye must also put clean straw under her, or soft hay of the later season, for if they stand hard in the pen, they will scantly fat, ye must place all the feathers on her head and under her wings, and on her thighs, those of her head and wings because there shall come no Lice to trouble her, the other feathers on her thighs, because the dung shall not annoy and cumber her tuel, her meat shall be Barley meal made in past with water, and fashioned in pellets long ways, after this figure or as it is afore declares, for the feeding or cramming the Capon, and so to make her to swallow them, the first day it shall be best to give her but little meat, until she be accustomed to digest it, for above all ye must see that she digest her meat well, and give her no more so long as she hath any meat in her crop, and when she is filled, let her go a little without the pen, so that she go not far, then if any thing prick or bite her she will complain, and so ye may help her, and thus ye may see the general rule how to fat hens, and if ye will have them fat and tender withal, ye must knead your barley meal with water and honey, and that will fat them, and make them tender meat: some do put into 3. parts of water, one part of wine, or strong Ale, and stiepes wheaten bread therein, and that will also fat them well, if ye begin to fat them in the new of the Moon, as it is counted best, ye shall have her fat about the twencith day after, also in the mean time if she do refuse her meat, ye must then diminish or give her less, so many days as ye have fed her, the full time that ye should fat her, is but xxv. days, thus much for their meat, and fatting of hens.   

¶ The feeding of big Chickens. Cap. 28.  
THe feeding or fatting of big Chickens in the Coop or pen: They do commonly give them steeped bread in Ale, sometimes of dry bread, and their drink milk and water, or of soaked bran in milk, and sometimes ye must give them barley, and to feel them one after another, if there be any thing in their crops, for if that which they have eaten is not gone or consumed, nor their craw yet empty, that signifieth undigested and like not that meat, then give them no more till they have digested that, and for younger Chickens that go yet with the dam, ye must not let them go far abroad, till they be strong, but let them remain with the hen in the house, or pen, and give them oatmeal or Barley meal, till they be more stronger and keep them as much as ye may from venomous worms, as Adders, Suakes, Toads, and such, for if they breath and blow on them it is a poison come to them as evil as the pestilence which killeth them, against such venomous worms the remedy is: ye shall burn in that place the horn of a Stag in powder, or of Gallamum or Woman's hear, or hogs Dog, or Cats hear, for the smoke thereof will cause the Snake or Adder to fly, and void, ye must see to have them in temperate places, not to here nor to cold, for they may not (being young) endure much heat 〈◊〉 much cold, wherefore it were good to keep them temperate in the pen with the dam forty days, till they be more able to go abroad, ye must also clip the down between their theyes, and under their rump, that their dung wax not hard, and stop the natural Conduit, therefore ye must see oft unto them that their ventes may have issue.   

¶ To feed or cram young pullets. Cap. 29.  
FOr the feeding and cramming of young pullets a very good way is this, to make them fat and tender to eat, ye shall keep them in a dark place as aforesaid or blindfield them: then take ground barley small, and sift our all the bran thereof, than they do use to moisten the said barley meal with warm milk, & some takes ale, and some bear, and so they cramm● and feed them as aforesaid, morning and evening, in giving to them so much at once as they may well digest and to help their digestion: some do mix with their meat of Mustard seed, or aniseeds: thus ye may fat them in short space.   

¶ Ordering and letting forth Poultry amornings. Cap. 30.  
YOu that have henhouses, your hens and poultry ought to be let forth a mornings with rising of the sun, or within half an hour after, and to roost at night half an hour before sun set, this hath been the common use among farmer's houses in most countries, and in Autumn some will not let them forth of the henhouse a days for a certain time, but gives them meat and water there thrice a day, or oftener than others, for they give unto each hen eight ounces of grain a day, and those that goes abroad but four or six ounces a day, and those that be kept in pens to feed, to use them as is before declared, and they ought to have on the Sun side, a long window made with lath, that the sun may shine on them, which will make them to pick and cleanse their feathers, and thereby will like the better, and those that shall look unto them must be painful, clenlye and trusty, otherwise there is small profit or gains to be had by the breeding of them but travel and datly charge, therefore ye must look well unto them always, specially, when they are young and tender, for else there is no gains but loss, and time spent in vain.   

¶ The order in carving Poultry of some here in England. Cap. 31.  
SOme do use to carve or cut young cockerels when they be nigh a quarter old or more, as being hatched in march, they carve them in August following, or when they do grow in a heat, and wax proud and crow often, or do offer to tread the young pullets, and roost before the hens, than it shall be best to carve them, and suffer them not to go to long (for as some do say) if they tread before they are cut, their flesh will not be so tender, and the older they wax the more danger it shall be to cut them, wherefore to carve them betimes shallbe always best.  
The order of carving here in England of some is thus: they take them up in the morning, than the carver sits down on a low stool, and another person holds the body of the Cockrel in her lap, bowing his feet close by his sides, & holding them down with his hands fast on his belly, and laying him on his back, and turning his tail towards the Carver. Then the Carver shall pluck away with her right hand all the feathers and down clean from his panel, the breadth of a shilling or more to make the skin bare, than the Carver takes a steel needle, and pricks thorough a part of the upper skin, and so takes it up and cuts it overthwart his panel, an inch and a half, and next his guts ye shall have another thin skin and take up a part of that warily for pricking his guts, nor let him strive as little as ye may, for if he do, he is in more danger to prosper after, than the Carver with the forefinger of the right hand shall spit or anoint it with oil, and with her finger lift up softly his guts, in putting softly down her forefinger unto his reins (on his left side) of his rump, & there plucks away his stone with her forefinger to the cut place, and so take it out with her forefinger and thumb, than the Carver spits or annoyntes the forefinger of her left hand, and then puts it softly down to the reins on the right side of the Cock, and there takes up the other Stone with her forefinger, as in the other side, if there be any, for some will have but one stone, then put in his guts and place them again, them with a needle and thread sow up close the skin again, that no wind enter into the waund, and beware in stitching his guts with the skin, then anoint it all over with fresh grease, and so let him or them go, but than if the time or day be cold, wet, or windy, the best is to keep them in the house a day or two after, and give them meat and water, and they will be nothing the worse.   

¶ Other things necessary to know for the keeping of Poultry Cap. 32.  
THose that will gain and follow my counsel they must first consider how many hens they may keep, and then be gin to nourish them accordingly, first to know what time one ought to gather eggs to use and keep: then after to hatch and how they should be set to the hen well, some in setting eggs within xxiiii. hours, will take each egg, and look on them against a Candle or sun, if there appear red strekes in the eggs, those she sets, and those  hath none, takes them away and eats them, & when your heune hath hatched, look to the nourishing of your Chickens well, till they be able to do some pleasure: in doing this, they shall gain in governing well all your poultry about your house, that number that he must have, he must consider off: Many Farmers may well have two hundred head of poultry: to nourish and govern this number well, it shall be enough for one person to feed and save them from dangers, also take heed of being a white hen, for she is counted no good layer, & she is seen far of, whereby she is in more danger than others: and the black hen is no good layer, nor good to keep, for she is in danger to be trodden of the flesh Crow, and then she will never prosper after: therefore keep such hens as are of a good colour breeders and layers, as the grey, the brown, and red feathered, & such and their bodies to be big and large, than they will lay the greater eggs, their breast full and square with a great head, her creastes red and straight, and her claws to be indifferent great, which is a good sign in them, and those which have five claws so they have no spurs growing on the insides of their legs for those with spurs, is a sign of males or male kind, and they will seldom lay nor abide the treading of the cock, and when they sit they will break their eggs with their spurs, therefore choose to keep those that are best to nourish and lay, and sell the rest. Chickens after their hatching will lay within seven months after, as being hatchte at Lammas, will lay at March next after, and in Autumn: because they cease laying by eating of fruit abroad, some do think it good then to keep a less number, and sell all above 3. years old, and those that seldom lay, & not good to breed, or mar their eggs in sitting, and those that crow like the cock, or tread on other hens, these sorts of poultry are not profitable, nor yet good to keep, nor those Chickens which are of a later brood, as hatched after the fifteenth day of September, for the time than will wax cold, and they will smallly grow and increase of body, but to keep your Cock chickens till they tread the hens it shall be best, and then to choose the fairest, the reason is: for ye shall hardly find a good cock, till ye have seen their proof, then to choose and take those ye like among other, the red cock is counted one of the best, and when your hens do cease laying by eating fruit in Autumue, some do keep so many hens in the house, as be layers all the time of Autumn, and there gives them meat and water for a season, and thereby they have had plenty of eggs, so that you keep their house clean, and for them that goeth abroad in Autumn, to give them Corn it is but lost, but let them shift for themselves for that time, and those ye keep in the house, make their perches and nests, so that one sit not over another, for filing those under, nor their perches set nigh together, for biting or fight one with another of them which will cause them to have less love to the house, and when ye have bought strange poultry and young, put them first in your hen house at night, straude afore with some meat, which will make them after to love the house, and so use them with meat two or three evenings after, till they be acquainted with the henhouse. Thus much necessary so know of the nature and government of poultry. Also, if ye set Geese together in pens, if one hatch before an other, those that since will rise from their eggs and let them cool, and go with the other that hatched therefore let not one Goose see an other hatch before hen own be come forth: Barley half so● and fed, will make hen or duck to lay great Eggs: if ye mix it with the seed of Citisus so called in french.   

¶ The nature and government of Geese. Cap. 33.  
GEese among other foul are most profitable for husbandmen and also for others, because their bodies is a common meat, they do pleasure to the Gentleman and yeoman, and the grease profitable other ways, and among other water fowl those which the Greeks do call Amphibia fowls of two kind of lives, because they feed as much on the water, as on the land. Among all other the Goose is most profitable for the buyer, and also the seller and to the husbandman, because they need not have to great a charge and care for their meat as other must have, for they do keep as good a watch alway as the Crane or Dog, all water Fowle must have water, wherefore the Goose cannot live or be kept long without water and Grass, it shall not be good to keep them where there is low brousing herbs, for they will crop, kneble, and eat so far and so high as they may reach, but if ye have any voyde ground or place by some poude or lake where they may have gross or corn to feed them, there it shallbe best for them to be, I am of this opinion, not by any great proof, but because I see they are kept with small pain and travel, wherefore we may with small charge have both the Geese and their feathers, which feathers in some places they take not as ye take Corn in the field once a year, but feathers some takes twice a year, which is, they elippe in April, and pluck in August, for than they will come off lightly, Geese where as they come they will slain the ground, and for that cause if the country or place will not bear them, they ought to have but certain, as every husband man to have one Gander, and three geese, because they are a poison to grounds but to keep in your several Court or houses and yards ye may have so many as ye shall seem good.   

¶ Of places and houses for ordering of Geese. Cap. 34.  
Columella saith, those which hath a desire to have a number of Geese, or other water Fowl, they ought to make places and houses for them to breed or fat, and to be used after this sort it would do well, which is: ye must have a large court close paled or walled of nine foot high, that no Vermin may enter into them, and all about within the same, to make allies and galleries with partitions, and such chambers for one alone to sleep in, and over the same to set your house for them made strong with Stone or Brick 4. foot square, placed about your court, and to each house a close door for them to come in and out to lay, and also to shut them in when ye shall have cause, then if there be not a pond or river nigh unto them, and to the house, ye must then make one else to seek their water far off, which is not good, for Geese that sit must have water to bathe them, when they rise from their nest, or else (as some say) their eggs will not prosper, if there be no water, you must make a pond, and clay it in the bottom, for the water to remain, and made somewhat deep, that they may plunge therein, for a saying is, a Goose will not like without bathing and washing her often, no more than a Beast without Pasture.   

¶ A ground and pasture best. Cap. 35.  
THe ground and pasture to nourish Geese best, is that which is like a marsh or moist ground replenished with grass and other herbs, also ye must sow other kind of feeding for them, as Fetches, melilot, the three leaved grass and fenigreke, and specially of Citory, which the Greeks call Ceries, also it shall be good to sow of lettuce, for that is a tender herb for the Goslings, and Geese doth love them well, all other poulse is meat for them.   

¶ To choose Ganders and Geese with all white Feathers. Cap. 36.  
STephanus sayeth, ye must provide to have of the greatest Ganders & Geese that ye can get, and those which are white feathered, yet ye shall have many do breed black Geese, and have them as tame as the other, but they come of the wild kind and are scant so fruitful as the other, nor so good to have, wherefore nourish as few of the black Geese as ye may, because their flesh is not so good, for it is more drier, nor their feathers so wholesome for beds as the other. The goose is very profitable for the husbandman and others, and also they are great marrers of grounds, of profit, because there is no great charge or care in breeding them, and they yield mavye Eggs, and bring forth many young, to great profit, for their Feathers serves many ways, for beds, for Arrows, and quills for writers: and they are also hurtful unto grounds, in staining and marring Meadows, and Fields with their dung, if they be not kept out, they bruise herbs in gardens and spoil corn in Fields, their dung stain all grounds where they come, so that no Beast will scant feed after them, the wild hurt common fields, a number of them in half a day will destroy a great piece of wheat, if it be but low, and the house Geese is more hurtful, for they in feeding will pluck up the roots of Corn, with the blades, & where they dung there comes nothing after, but evil weeds: the Ganders are loving to all the young Goslings: they are better to be all white then grey, or mixed with two colours, and the black colour is worst of all, and of least goodness.   

¶ The laying and setting of Geese, and feeding the young Goslings. Cap. 37,  
THe Goose doth lay at three times in the spring, if she do not sit, at first she will lay five Eggs, than four, and then but three, and some will lay at each time twelve eggs, and some more, which time is from the first of March, unto the end of june, and then no more, wherefore ye shall not forget her first lay, but set them, for they will prove best, and the time best to set your Geese, is after winter is gone, as from the first of March unto june, and not after, and when they have laid their later lay, they will covet to sit, all the rest of the year they lay not, ye must also look well to their laying, that they lay not abroad, for when they are inclined to lay, they will take up straws as they go, and will cast them aside here and there, on each side of them, and soon after then they will lay, wherefore toward night ye must take them up, and feel how many be ready to lay, which ye shall perceive if she be nigh laying, ye shall feel the end of hev egg hard at her vent, than shut her up, and put her alone in a nest till she have laid, so she will seek that place again to lay, where she have been before, and when you set her take heed of her eggs, for ye must set her of her own eggs, for a Goose loves not to sit but of her own eggs, if ye set her of others, ye must have part of hers withal, and then mark all the other eggs, or else hers with ink or such like, for they say, a Goose will not hatch the eggs of another, if she sit not of her own withal. They set the Goose on her eggs, as the pehenne on her eggs, with five or more under her, but at least they set her with three eggs, ye may set a Goose with seven or nine eggs, and the most do set a Goose but with fifteen Eggs, ye must also remember when ye set her, to lay in the straw under her of strong net roots, which will (in hatching) preserve the goslings & is special good against the stinging with nettles, for thereby (they say) they shall take less hurt by stinging, and if there chance any to be stung, they die thereof commonly soon after.  
To hatch in cold times the Goose will have then thirty days, and in temperate times she will hatch (being well used) in xxv. days at the most, and when they are hatched they must not then go abroad, or forth of the pen, house, or court, the space of ten days till they wax more stronger, but feed them in the house with the Dam, and give them Barley meal, or oat meal, or steeped wheat, some do give them Garden cress chopped small therewith, which will make them to have an appetite, they give them sometime of stieped barley, or malt, or meal, chopped with Hemtockes and so given, or else with barley meal steeped, and mixed with honeyed water, it shall be good to keep them in the house with the dam, and there to feed them with meat and water, till they may fly the danger of Crows and Kites, for when they are small, the flesh crow will fet them away, if any remain behind the dam: and when they are able to avoid the crow, than ye may let them go abroad with the dam, or in a fair day being young, ye may put them abroad with the dam, having one to keep them, and setting a Basin of water and meat by them, or else not put abroad, and ye must look they be not stung with nettles, or scrat with briars and thorns, nor when they have great hunger to let them go abroad, but to give them Succorye small chop, or the tender leaves of lettuce, if ye than let them go abroad to feed in pastures being young and hungry, they will force themselves to pluck at herbs, which grow fast, and so falls back, and lie sprawling on their backs, are so taken with Kites and Crows. Therefore it shall be more sure to keep them with the Dam in the house till they are more of strength, and give them of mill wheat, or other wheat steeped in water and set by them, & when they are more stronger, ye may put them in houses with others to fat as hereafter shall appear. Stephanus saith, at the months end ye may then choose your young geese & fat them, then take the fairest and put them up into a court or pen, and fat them, for the younger sort of geese ye may fat them in thirty. days, & the elder sort in two months, ye must give them meat thrice aday, of barley meal and whey, or to give them steeped wheat in water and honey. The barley doth make their flesh white, and the whey doth nourish and fat them. Some do take figs new dried, and thereof makes a paste and gives them, and their drink must be bran and water: and some when they do fat them, do pluck their feathers of their heads and bellies, and the great feathers of their wings, and then sieles up the eyes of the old Geese when they fat them, and gives them beans and pease and fair water, which is a good fatting meat for the country Goose, and also they feed them with all sorts of pulse, first soaked in warm water and bran which do feed them well, and many do give them bran alone, made somewhat fat, and doth also give them of lettuce, of succory, or Cressis to make them have an appetite, and feeds them so thrice a day.   

¶ The fatting of young Geese. Cap. 38.  
COlumella sayeth, when young Geese are four months old, than they take the greatest and fairest to fat them, for while they are yet but young, it is the better fatting of them, than when they are more older, and these need not to have no other thing but Barley meal, and the flower of meal, and to be fed therewith thrice a day, and they must have drink continually with their meat, ye must also keep them in a close house or dark pen, and kept warm withal, which serveth much to make them forward to fat, and thus in two months ye may fat them well, or in six weeks, the sooner when they are young and tender, then when they are tough and old, and some will change their meat often, and they will feed the better, and be the sooner fat.   

¶ How many Geese to one Gander, with other government. Cap. 39  
OUr Ancestors did give but 3. Geese to one gander, and we give six, but for marring & staining of meadows, pastures, and fields, they are profitable for the husband and keeper of house, as any other fowl, and they require a small tending, but when they are young, for the space of 3 weeks, or a month, and so long to have a keeper till they be out of danger of the Crow and Rite, and to keep them from eating evil weeds, as henbane which is called the death of Geese, and Hemlock which is not good for them to eat much thereof, for it will make them sleep so much, that they may be soon taken, and are in danger (as some say) to die thereof, to have many in a flock is not good, they use not above thirty Geese in one flock, and our Ancestors did use but xx. in a flock, for the bigger will beat, and be master always of the lesser, both abroad and in houses, therefore it shall be good to part each breeding houses by themselves, which houses must be always kept dry, for they love to sit dry a nights, and to be strewed with fresh and soft straw, or with soft hay, and oft to be cleansed for breeding of Vermin, because that Geese are more subject thereunto, than the hens are, the rest of their government & meat is like unto other fowl, and take heed of briars, nettles, Snakes, and other venomous worms, while they are young, for a small thing kills them soon after their hatching.   

¶ Of the feathers of Geese, which are best, and what time to pluck them. Cap. 40.  
THe profit that many good huswittes do find by Geese feathers and others is this: they use in many places yearly to take a fleece of their Geese, as men do of their sheep, which feathers commonly they take in july and August, and in some places they take their Geese feathers twice a year, in march they clip all save their bellies, to cover their young, & they pluck in August, and some do pluck in March, and sayeth their feathers will come the sooner or rather then when they are clipte, for in clipping the quills remain still till melting time, wherefore plucking them is rather counted better (then clipping) to have two fleeses a year. Thus ye may use them as ye shall see cause, to have their feathers for a more profit to furnish yearly your beds which are occupied daily, as in Inns and such, but whereas there are great ponds or rivers nigh your house, it is great danger to pluck the feathers of their bellies, for whereas such cold waters are, it is a danger to kill them, as experience hath showed in some places of this realm, therefore if ye pluck their bellies, to keep them from such places for a time it shall do best. Of all feathers the swan is the chiefest, and the feathers of the white Goose next, the black or grey Goose feather next him and the Capon and pullet next, likewise all other land fowl, than Duck, Wegin, Teal, and such water fowl are next, and are best to be rather put in cushions then in beds, because they are more hotter, and a greater soker of men in beds, than the other, and the Pigeon worst feather of all, for they soak too much to be put in beds, and are unwholesome, for they say if a sick person lie on a pillow of pigeons feathers, he shall long continue so without departing, which thing I hardly believe, and likewise all sick feathers or bloody Feathers are not good to be put in beds, nor Coshions, because they do commonly breed worms, therefore it is not good to put any in beds or coshions: thus much concerning the nature and goodness of the Goose feather and others.   

¶ Of Ducks, Teals, Sheldrakes, and such like, Cap. 41.  
Columella.  
TAme Ducks (among the rest of water fowl) is most profitable for the husband man's house, and for once a year they are layers of many eggs, and breeders also of many young, with a small attendance as the goose, save in the time while they are young, and to have the like places convenient to nourish them in as the goose, but somewhat more chargeable, because they are great feeders, and for all other sorts of water foul, as wild ducks sheldrakes, wigions, morehennes, coats, and such fowl of the ponds: ye shall hardly make them tame being old, and likewise all other birds that useth to feed in waters and marreshes, which are called of our ancients, birds of double living or nourishment, to nourish and keep such which are accustomed so to feed, and keep them in house, ye must choose a plain place closed about with high walls of xv. foot and covered above with rails, wire, or nets of big cord, to the end they fly not out, nor eagles, Rites, bozards, or crows, shall come in, and all the walls without and within aught to be polished smooth, to the end that cats, or other venomous worms may not catch hold and climb to come in, and in the midst of the same court ye must make a pond of two foot deep, So long & wide as the place will serve, and that the water there may run full continually to the brinime thereof, that the banks may not be marred, and also made with plaster, and cimmond in the bottom, and all about the sides, paved with smooth stone, that no weeds do grow therein, but that the fowl may have clear water still run thorough, and in the midst ye shall make a mount of earth, & thereon sow beans of Egip, and such other green herbs as commonly comes in waters, to cover & hide those fowl therein: for some of them loves to be hid in tufts of grass, roses, sedge, and such: notwithstanding ye must not cover their holes, for (as I have said) the water must be all the day without weeds, to this end, that in the heat of the day, when they would come forth to bathe and pick them they may then swim and plunge in the clear water at pleasure, for so it is best agreeing to their nature, whereas they may enter into water at their will to take pleasure and watch for small fish therein, or flies upon the water. Therefore ye shall do them great wrong, to put them where they cannot come to the water when they would, and all about beneath at the bottom of the walls, ye shall make holes xx. foot from the water, and all the sides covered with berbes, and by the wall sides to make holes of stone, a foot square, then cover them to make their nests therein, and garnished all about with boughs and branches which they will like the better, and ye must make a channel for to convey the running water. & use to feed your fowl in the said water as other fowl, & to give them mill wheat or panic wheat, or other grain, and feed them in the said water, or with barley, ground corns, and rome's of reasons, which is also good for fish, which ye shall put in the water (to feed them) of Crevice shrimps, loaches, Menues, bansticles, and such river or brook fish, which will never wax big, all these they will take pleasure to hunt after in the water. The wild Duck when she lays, the Drake shall not know, for if he might know, he would suck all her eggs, they tread in the time of the spring, as other wild Fowl do, in March or after, in which time ye must cast unto them of rushes, or ventes, and small twigs into their court, which they will gather, and make their nests withal. There is an ancient rule that whensoever ye would have a great flock of these fowl, ye must gather of wild Duck eggs where they lay, and put them to a hen to hatch, and when they are hatched, they will then leave their wildness with use of the hen, and then when they wax big, ye may put them into your close Court, as I have aforesaid, and these will breed and multiply, for if ye take wild Ducks which are accustomed to live at liberty, and then shut up in a close place, they will never lay, being so kept, very few or none. A saying is, if ye touch the eggs of a wild Duck when she lays, with your bare hand, she will not come and lay no more there, and if ye take away still her eggs and leave but one, she will still lay till she be so poor, that ye shall take her on the nest. This shall suffice here for the keeping of the Ducks, and other Water Fowle.   

¶ How to take your wild Ducks in the Court. Cap. 42.  
Stephanus.  
WHen as you would have any of your wild Ducks taken, to make them more tamer, ye shall cast (in the court) unto them grain mixed with the lies of wine sweet wine, or sour, and lay it on their accustomed place to feed, give them also passed made with Wine, or a leaven paste with branue and Wine lies, cast it in the said place, and when they have eaten thereof, they will be drunk, than ye may take and choose of the best without great trouble of the other fowl.   

¶ The common feeding and the nature of Ducks. Cap. 43.  
THe Duck is a gross, greedy, and filthy feeder, and a hot Bird of Nature, and still will be eating. They use to feed them with all kind of pulse, as ye feed a hog, and to have them fat they give them gurgions of corn, but ye must always let them have water by them, for they must still be drinking as they eat, they love also to wander in summer in the evening, in August and September to seek after Worms, Beetles, Frogs and Toads, and they will eat them, and when she hath hatched, she is careful of her young, if any of the young be stung or angerde they be so peevish, they will die straight way, and yet many lets them go with the dam into Waters or pools, being but two or three days old: she will make her nest herself, against she lay and sit, and so she hatches in xxv. days, or xxviii. at the most.  
The wild Duck will steal from the Drake, and when she hath laid and hatched she is very subtle when she hath young, for if any person come nigh them, she will fly flappering nigh before him on the ground as though her back were broken & could not fly, thus will she 'tice him a good way from her young, and then will she take her flight to her young again. Ducks eggs hatchte under a hen will be of a better meat, than those hatched with a Duck. Ducks are not good to bring up chickens, for she cannot call as the hen will to every crumb she finds, and the Duck loves the water, and the Chicken the Land, nor the Duck cannot scrape as the hen will, nor the hen good to bring up Ducklinges, for she loves not to go into the water with them, and thereby oft times they are taken away with the Bozard, or Rite, when she cannot help them, and those Ducks that have been brought up under a hen, the Drakes of that brood will desire to tread the hens, and one Drake is sufficient for vi. Ducks, also Ducks that are trod of the Crow, they never prosper, and are vuwholesome to eat, as they say, again they say, the Ducklinges that are brought up under a hen, they will be always desirous to be about the house, and on the dry ground nigh the house not abroad, nor yet in waters, which is their nature, whereby your house and courts cannot be long clean kept where they use, and yet by nature they should commonly love the water. Thus much for the nature and feeeing of Ducks.   

¶ Of turkey hens profit and also disprofit. Cap. 44.  
STephanus saith, they that first brought these turkeys into France, called them the peacocks of Indie, which doth rather enrich the mouth, than any great profit to the farmer or breeder: for they are a right coffer for oats, & a sack for corn, a gulf, a swallower of barns, a devourer of much meat. They cannot receive so much pleasure by them, but as much trouble and anger when they are great, for they be great strayers abroad, & being young they are always crying for meat, with puling & complaining of the rye, or gout, or such like, and soon die thereof if they be not well kept. True it is, their flesh is delicate, but heavy and hard of digestion: therefore they must be well basted and larded, and yet there is much more goodness in the flesh of Peacocks, then in them. They were brought into England about the eight and twenty year of the reign of king Henry the eight.   

¶ The nourishing of old turkeys. Cap. 45.  
THe nourishing of these fowl, is like the feeding of hens and other poultry, and with the like meat when they are big, and as much tendaunce or commonly more, because they will stray abroad to seek their meat, it may be well said to the farmer or breeder: so many Turquyes in his court, so many moilecoltes in his stable to feed. Their training in deed is more easier than of other Peacocks, nor doth not demand such open air, but their feeding is a more greater destruction in Gardens, of leeks, onions, & all other kinds of other good herbs, which they will eat, and will commonly feed of grass, as well as the goose, & are as fulsome in the house as the geese.   

¶ The age of turkey cocks best to tread. Cap. 46.  
YOur turkey cocks that ye keep to tread your heunes, ought not to be passing a year, or two years old, three years is the most or too much, for being old they are so heavy in treading, they will commonly hurt the hens, in bruising their backs and treading of their feathers of their backs, and also it is not good to keep two cocks in treading time: for one will hinder the other, so shall your hens eggs come to small profit in setting, and ye shall have some cocks will peck and kill the chickens if they be put forth being very young, and again ye shall have some cocks will love and keep their chickens as tender as the hens. Therefore be sure to know your cock to love the chickens, when ye put them forth young, and also when they go feeding abroad, they will not lightly keep one place to roost in, as other poultry will, wherefore ye must daily look unto them for leasing, for sometime they will sit in high ways on the ground, sometime on low places nigh the ground, and here is to be noted, ye must not use your hogs to feed on carrion or dead flesh about your house, for if they catch eating of flesh, they will not stick to eat your poultry on their nests, or your turkeys when they sit on the ground a nights, or any low places nigh the earth, and they will not stir if ye touch them, wherefore they are in more danger of stealing or devouring divers ways, than other poultry are.   

¶ Of the turkey hens sitting, hatching, and nourishing the chickens. Cap. 47.  
THe turkey hens do commonly lay as the house hens do, but they will commonly lay away in secret places of their own seeking, as in bushes, hedges and such, if ye look not well unto them. They begin to lay in March, and they do use to set them in April when the great cold is passed on nine or eleven eggs, sometimes more, they do hatch in xxv. days, and when they have hatched, ye must feed them with curds soaked in strong ale or wine, and such tender meat, as sod wheat in ale or bear, for the hens will never call or feed their young (as other hens will) therefore ye must give them often meat being young in six or eight days till they wax more of strength, and then ye may give them sod barley, and more stronger meat, the dew will kill them, if they eat thereof, and to bring up your turkey chickens in the house, they will not like so well, as to let them go with the Dam in some safe place abroad, and better they will like abroad then in the house, but in wit and cold times ye must see them kept warm a nights, or else they will soon catch the gout, cramp, or the rye, and being yet young they can bide no cold abroad, also those hens that layeth their later lay and sit, they bring up their chickens about mid August, or after, which chickens are so tender in winter following they will hardly prosper, for they may abide no cold, but have the like diseases aforesaid, therefore to sell or eat them is best, the best time for turkey hens to hatch (here in England) is in April, when the chief cold is passed, and also to house them in winter is best, to keep them from the diseases afore mentioned.  
When as any of your turkeys have the rye and therewith droop, ye shall make a long pellet or two, with soap, butter and pepper, mix them altogether, and so give it them a mornings, and they will mend, and if your turkeys be great, and having swollen eyes in winter by cold, ye shall slit it with a sharp Knife, then shall ye see the humour leap out, then wash it with ale, or wine, and if it fill again, open still & wash it till it be whole, also when they begin to droop, ye shall put down their throats, two or three of sow worms with many feet, and then take fennyll a little, & bruise it, then make it like a pellot, and put it after down their throats, and so let them go and they will amend. Thus ye may keep them safe (with good looking to) from time to time, till they be great as the dam.   

¶ The feeding and the ordering of turkey hens and chickens. Cap. 48.  
THey use in some places to give the turkey chickens new hatched curds and ants eggs, for seven or eight days, of barley meal, mixed with penniriall, and made in paste with good ale or wine, little prinke but curds, and ants eggs, and ●o give them melilot herb with otemele ●nd milk, which is a great feeder: or Isope, or to give them of parseley, and sometimes they give them chopped onions, leek ●lades, time, and such like: any of those chopped small with the, foresaid barley meal or otemele, and tempered with strong ale, ●r beer, and made in paste (as aforesaid) and so given in small pellots, it will save them and deliver them from the rye, pip and swelling in their heads, & the gout in their feet, which commonly comes of cold and to much drink: also in winter ye may mix with their meat a little aquavite with ale, which will in likewise save them from the the rheum, & other diseases: moreover when as any have taken cold on their feet being but young, if ye rubhis legs and feet (with neat's oil) in wet and cold times, it will save them from the cramp, and when they are great and old, Some (for want of other meat) do feed them in winter with haws, and heps, black berries, nut Kernels, acorns, & such, which things they will eat, being hungry, for they are hot birds of nature & great raveners withal, among the hens, the white turkey hen is exteemed better than the other colours, to hatch and bring up their chickens: for they are of a more harder and kinder nature than the other commonly are, & will keep their chickens better: also if a turkey hen do hatch and bring up other hen chickens with hers, when they wax big, she will know they are none of her kind, and she will beat them and drive them away, and so long as your turquye chickens be young, ye shall give them of sod barley in ale or beer, or steeped in wine and it will preserve them from those diseases, which commonly they are troubled with all here in England, for our country is more colder (as it should seem) then from whence they came first, and so long as they are yet young, they are tender and soon hurt by venom & stinging with nettles and such, till they be a quarter old or more.   

¶ The common feeding of turkeys. Cap, 49.  
THe nourishing and common feeding of those kind of fowl, is as I have said like the feeding of other poultry & hens, and with as much or more diligence, else there is no difference, but they must have much more meat, and their training is easy: but to have tendance while they are yet young, their manner of feeding I have afore declared: they are filthy birds in a house, wherefore the maid must come always after them with a besom, to cleanse where they have been, the hens will lay like our hens, if they be well kept all the year: and when they have laid a certain time, they will covet to sit, and ye may use them as you do other hens, and to give their eggs unto other hens to sit & govern while she end her lay. Their diseases and remedies are like other poultrie● wherefore it is superfluous to say here any more, but as some do say, when they are very fat, they will not lay so well nor take the cock, as when they are kept in a mean.   

¶ Of peacocks the nature and feeding Cap. 50.  
THe Peacock is a strange bird to seed and to govern, for they hardly be so familiar with any person, as other birds will. A brief rehearsal of Columella, which saith, to nourish peacocks requireth a more diligence in a Civil person, then in a rude & troublesome farmer: for it is the part of a good keeper of birds, to seek all means he can to make them gentle and tame, in so doing, ye may easily nourish these kind of birds, or else not, and to have places made fit for them to be kept in: the greatest part of their feeding they provide for themselves abroad. The Pehenne doth willingly nourish her young, as though she were in bondage unto them. They do prepare for them a square court with high walls to nourish and feed them in, and there use them to the call when they do feed them, like other poultry. Their delight is to be always among bushes abroad, & they cover their walls, & makes round about long galleries for them to walk under, with perches made square, and mortred on the walls, and often to be made clean. Afore three years the hens are commonly barren, and of small heat, and after three years they will breed well. The Cocks have an amorous heat, as much as the house cocks, and therefore they give him five or six hens, for he is ready to tread the hen that comes from laying. Wherefore he mars the eggs of some within the hen, which are not yet already form, & he will not suffer her to bring them to perfection, and by the anger then of that hen, the egg falls from her before they are half ripe: also at the end of winter ye must feed both male and females, & give them plenty of meat to make them in more heat, to give parched beans on the embers when they are cold, is a good feed for them, to give to each bird twelve ounces thereof, and to use it four or five days together.  
And also to feed each by themselves in their pens, and to set fair water by them always, and when ye put them abroad, let the males go with the females which will do well, ye shall have some Cocks so sterce, that they will not suffer other cocks to tread their hens. Therefore in all such times it shall do well to separate them with pertitions, in hotter countries the peacocks do enter into their heat, when the East winds commonly blows: as sayeth Favonius, which is from the xv. of February, unto March or after, the sign when they enter into heat, is, when the Cocks do spread their tail feathers, the saying is, they make a wheel. So when the hens are trodden, ye must look they lay not in out places abroad, but in their houses, and at evenings ye must feel if any hen be nigh to lay, or hard with egg, for in laying they will let them sudden fall from them, wherefore ye shall shut them up which will lay, so that they lay not abroad, but in their houses, which must be strewed thick with straw under their perches, to save their eggs when they fall from them, for as they sit on their perches, sudden their eggs falls from the hens, and then if they light not soft, they break. Therefore make your perch the lower, that they fall not so far, and their laying is in the morning, then search diligently for to gather up their eggs, which eggs will sooner hatch being new then being old, and when ye set any hen, those pehennes that sit not, will lay their layings in the spring of the year, and those that sit wax so poor and troubled in bringing up of her chickens, those hens will lay no more that year, the other that lay commonly thrice, the first time she will lay commonly five eggs, the second time four eggs, and the third time she will lay but three or else two eggs.   

¶ The time best to set your pehenne. Cap. 15.  
ANd when you will set your hen, ye must set her with some hen eggs withal, which ye must choose to be fair, ●lde and great, and set your hen with them, in the beginning of the Moon, & set her with nine eggs to sit thereon nine days, of which eggs there oughce to be five Pehenne eggs, and four hen eggs, and on the tenth day, take away all the hen eggs, and put under her four other hen eggs, to the end that on the thirtieth day, after, in the next new Moon, all will hatch together, and when the hen doth rise and is gone from her nest, ye must turn her Eggs with your hand, and those that ye turn, mark the upper sides thereof with ink, that ye may know which is turned when she riseth again, and when she hath hatched let her then go with the young, not far abroad before five & thirty days, but tie her by the leg with a long string, and so keep her in, ye must also see to the young peacocks, where the dam do love them or not, for some will forsake them, and ye shall suffer no other hen that have young Chickens, to come where the Pechicks are, until they be great, for she which have other Chickens of hers, her nature is such, she will hate and forsake her own Chickens, and love the other, because she seethe the Pechickes greater and fairer than her own. The pehennes have the like disease, as other poultry have, and are cured with the like medicines, as the rye, ●ippe, and such and when they are seven months old, ye must then see they be had to roost a nights with their dams, but let them not sit on the bare earth, if they sit thereon, ye shall set them on perches as aforesaid, to the end they take no cold, for that will bring them to like diseases as the other.   

¶ Of the goodness of the Peacocks flesh, and their nature in laying. Cap. 52.  
STeph●●us saith, that Peacocks flesh doth nourish much, and are great eaters, and hard to bring up or breed. They need no daily tendaunce, but let that young go with their dams. They will mar Gardens and fields of corn, they love a hot temperate air, and to breed alone in bushes: our ancestors did make enclosures by their Garde●s and houses, with cages therein for them to go in, and other closures to nourish them in: but we make not so great matter of it, it shall suffice her to lodge them above the hennehouse, and yet they love to be at liberty, and fit on high Trees, rather than in houfes or places beneath, which places ought to be daily clean kept, and where as they sit a nights, ye shall often find their eggs fallen from them, and after a hen hath laid and hatched, and brought forth her young, she will lay seldom in three years after, and when a Hen beginneth to lay, she will steal from the Cock, and lay in some secret place, than he will not cease to seek, if he can find her, if he then find her nest, he will break all her eggs, for he hateth to see the young till they have creastes on their heads: about thirty days she will hatch, and being hatchte, they keep them in the pen or nest with the dam, that the Cock see them not, for he will then peck and hurt them, till they have their creastes or Combs on their head, then after he will love them well, wherefore unto that time ye must keep them well and warm, for they will soon be sick, and the most part very seldom liveth till they be great, the Cocks be hardy, and they say he cannot abide to see any venomous worms, as Snakes and such, but will fight with them and kill them.   

¶ The hatching and feeding of young Pechicks. Cap. 53.  
THe first day of their hatching, they perfume them with rosemary in a siue over coals, and then they give them barley meal tempered with wine, and made like a thick paste, and soft Cheese kneaded therein, but press out all the Whey, for Whey or clear milk doth much annoy them, also ye shall sometimes throw unto them of grasshoppers, in taking away their legs, and sometime they do give them wevels, Sow Worms, and Spiders for to cure them, for they will chiefly seek for those things, and wild where they haunt, and if they find few thereof, after s●r ●●ckes they give them boiled barley as they do the da●●e, and lets them go with her, but keep them from cold and rain, for they will soon pule and draw their wings incontinent after by a little cold taking, specially if they be not hatched by mid june, in Autumn being then but young, they will never endure all the winter, in hatching they turn her eggs when she is from the nest, for her eggs being great, she cannot turn herself: therefore ye must then turn them with your hand as is afore declared, and mark the upper sides of them, else ye may turn them amiss, and when they be hatched, give all the pechickes to the pehenne, & all the hen chickens unto the house hen, but let not her come where the pechickes are, and if she see them, because they show more fair and greater than hers, she will not after love her own chickens.   

¶ The sickness of Pehennes. Cap. 54.  
PEhennes and Peacocks are very sick when they mue their feathers, which is a kind of chillness as some do suppose: then must ye heat them with honey, wheat, oats, and beans ground great, they are also in a great heat, in the canicular days, then must ye give them always fresh water because of their heat, they do give to each cock, v. hens for change, for when her eggs are but tender within her, he will tread her again, and so bruise those eggs within her, and so they fall from her and come to nought. Thus much for the government of Peacocks & Pehennes.   

¶ The nature and feeding of Swans. Cap. 55.  
STephanus saith, the haunt and feeding of Swans, is like the feeding of geese their delight is in certain places, as in rivers, pools, brooks, mixes and standing pools, and they are assoon made tame as geese. They use commonly mires, & fresh waters, but they hurt and destroy much fish, and sometimes they eat of green corn, if it be nigh their haunt, as well as the tame or wild Goose, to have a couple in your pond, or two couple for great need, where as many Swans are bread, there is no great store of fish, they tread their hens on the water, as well as on the Land, the hens will make their nests themselves, without cover. They delight to build on Islands compassed with water, they must oft be cleansed, for they file much, if they have not sufficient meat, ye must feed them, and give them bread soaked in water, and certain small fishes, for these fowl are gluttons and raveners of meat, and therefore they must often be fed. They lay and sit but once a year, and most commonly they lay but three eggs, except they like the place, and be well fed withal, than they will have five, some seven, and some nine young synets, but that is seldom seen. When they choose their makes they will lightly not change, so long as both do live, and if some other Cock Swan do chance to tread his hen, he will know it, and then he will never leave him, till he have killed him that hath done it: and the Cock sits when the hen is gone to feed.   

¶ The nourishing and fatting of Swans. Cap. 56.  
THey use to fat Swans, both in open Courts, and in houses, and they give them such meat as they do in fatting of Geese, as soaked bread, fod barley, ground beans, with Oats, all pulse, and such like: they chiefly do love moist meats, and thus may ye fat them in six or eight weeks, in often changing their meat, and cleansing their places, for they do file much: The flesh of old Swans engendereth evil juice, and increaseth Melancholy. Thus much of Swans.   

¶ The order and profit of Pigeons, and place for them. Cap. 57  
STephanus saith, the profit in nourishing pegins, is no less than the profit of poultry, specially where they breed many and often, and where the sale for them is good, in some places they have taken at one flight two or three hundredth pair of young Pegions to sell, and bestow other ways, and these foul need not so much looking to as other fowl, true it is, they are great eaters & devourers of corn in fields, and therefore it is not permitted or thought good for most men to build them Dovehouses from the earth, but where there is much arable ground of theirs in those fields nigh thereunto.  
Let us then for the easement of the farmer have a Dovehouse from the ground made and set in a place meet and high for it, by his house, or over his house in a tower, or Touret of stone or clay, and placed very nigh some water, because a Pegion is a hot bird, and do heat the meat they have taken to give their young, therefore they rquire water, also it is certain the Pie, and the sparrow, as well the Males as the Females, do cover their Eggs when the hen is gone to feed, the cocks do sit in the mean time on their eggs, thus they use to cover, till the young be out of their shells, so doth not the mule doves therefore it is not so much to be regarded, whether the Dovehouse be open or not, but places for them to come and go, 〈◊〉 to make a window towards the southside, in summer for them to sleep in, & in winter to give heat into the pegiouhouse, and make your house sure at the foundation, and well plastered within, and with smooth stone couched close in the bottom, for fear of their dung do not corrrupt the place which must be fair and even within, and the chapts and holes always seen too, and stopped close for fear of Weasels, polecats, rats and mice, for these do commonly happen in dovehouses which are not well seen to●ye shall dress your Douchouse without, close made, for in crevices and cracks, vermin will seek to enter, and so will devour both old and young doves, for the like danger is in a dove-house, as in a henhouse, therefore ye shall make two centres, about your dove house without, like battelmentes of stone, board or lead, one in the midst of the wall without, and another under the windde or eaves, where as the Doves may enter, or sit and prune them thereon. Some do nail plates of lead all about the window unto the walls, and they make as it were a Portcullis setnye with laths together, which may be drawn up evening and morning for danger of bats, owls, and Cats, and on the top of the cover or lover, they make the figure of a Dove, to draw other flying by to come there, ye may also place sparrow p●ts all about your Dovehouse without, and hang faggots of thorns by, but always see to your Dovehouse, that none of these evil vermin aforesaid d●e haunt your house, for they will fear the old, and devour the young.   

¶ To replenish your Dovehouse, and to choose the best breeders. Cap. 58.  
AT the beginning for to furnish your dove-house with young Doves, it shall be thought sufficient to have xx. pair of young pegions with feathers, but coming forth, for those are best: to have old doves it is a danger, for they will return home again to their first company, and commonly such a care they have, or else to some other company. Among the chiefest breeders it is good to have the ash colour, the brown, & the black pegion, also the gresild with a copte head, and the russet colour, and those which are gilded about that necks, and those which have red eyen, and red feet, are most frankest and best breeders, and chiefest replenishers of houses, the whice pegion is not so good a breeder, and she is se●ue far off, and thereby most in danger of Kites, Bozardes, Ringtayles, Dwles, and Hawks. The dark yellow, or dun Pegion, and the red and tawny colour they breed fieldome, but to serve for the Kitchen, and make them tame, ye shall give them first mil wheat, and then fetches, ●●en Comine, for these grains will make them love the house much, and sometimes ●●giue them the gurgions of sifted whe●● Les them not go forth of the house of fiforene ways after ye have taken them and when ye give them leave to go forth, let it be cowaides the evening, or in a 〈◊〉 or ray ●●ie time, to the end they may trourn, and not tar ay long forth of the d●●chonse.   

¶ Times to feed them, and to maintain your brood. Cap. 59  
TRue it is, that Pegions are more charable to the Farmer in Winter, then in Summer, or in times of frost and snow or when the wheat is not blossommed, for than they can find nothing in the fields but bents and cadlocke seeds, wherefore there is a charge about two months and more than to give than meat, once or twice a day ye shall do well, in this time you must let your first brood fly, to replenish your house all the year after, which time they call from March to into April, for those young Pegions then bred, will be the fattest and tenderest Dou●s of all their broods for thue year.  
And Columella faith, after this order ye must feed both culvers and house-doves, and because of such great profit by them, I will here (saith he) say little, but chiefly it pertains to a good Farmer, to have these sort of Fowl, because there is small charge to feed them in open wether, for than they will fly abroad far from the house, to seek each corner of the field for meat, and soon return again, yet notwithstanding for two or three months they must be fed as is aforesaid for so shall ye better maintain and save them, and being nigh villages and great towns, is dangerous for taking with nets, and killing divers other ways, therefore in such times the best is, to feed them in the Dove house at noon, for than is the best time.  
Also flower not your Dove house with earth, for that is to cold in Winter, whereby they will not like so well to feed thereon, it is best therefore to feed them on high places, with windows toward the South, and the walls within made with holes one above another. Like your henhouse with pertitions of lath, lome or board, for them to breed in, or in pots of earth fastened against boards, for them to go and come at pleasure, and also your house and holes ought to be made white, for that colour pleaseth them well, and see always to keep your Dovehouse clean, as afore is said.   

¶ Of the meat and drink for pegions and flying abroad. Cap. 60.  
COlumella saith, when Pegions 〈◊〉 fly together about your house, it doth reioyte them, and soon they return again to their young, their water ought to be like as for your hens, not so as they may enter in deep, but shallow for them to bathe in, for fear of chilling their eggs, nor to cbuer their eggs, nor to cover their young, also ye shall give them meat beside the Dovehose without, in some clean place where there is no dung. The best grain for them is fceehes, orobe, ears, milwheat and cockle seed, and the rubbiss ye cast out of wheat, and such thing as ye nourish hens, ye must often cleanse and sweep your Dovehouse, for the cleaver it is kept, the better they like thereof, and where they are so kept, they will love that house the better, and hate all other which are foul kept, and if they be able, they will fly away, and come no more there, which have been often seen and proved and to remedy the same, there is an old conunaimdement of Democritus, which saith: Take the young of a bird called buse, which builds with clay and dirt, conunonly under battlements, put each one of them in earthen pots by themselves. Then cover and stop the pots close with playster●, and so hang them in corners of the Dovehouse, and that will make them love them dove house so, that they will never forsake it.  
Also if ye will have Pegions to breed, let them not be old, nor yet too young, and keep those which hath large bodies, wherefore ye must not separate them before they have brought forth their young, and where so many are fed together they are commonly final of body, if they join with other flights, or with some other kind, the young Pegions do fat best under their dams, and when they are somewhat strong ready to fly, some plucks their feathers, some breaks their legs, so that they shall not departed from the house, but than ye must feed well their dams that they may nourish well their young, and some doth bind their legs, for if they break them, as some suppose, it will be painful, and thereby they will wax Ieane, wherein they say it is not best to fat them, and again to bind their legs, they will struggle, and so torment themselves, that will hinder also their fatting, therefore to break their legs, their pain is no more but for two or three days at the must, and it taketh away all hope of going out, or flying abroad.  
Also to feed Pegions, take the se●mme that comes of seething brine, and the offal of dregs of the brine tub, & then take lome dry and put them together, & work it like a mortar, than put thereto old chamber lie, and so make thereof loves, and lay them in your dove-house on a board, and the pegions will gladly feed thereon, and so shall ye have them love the dove-house the better, also if ye mix it with Comen seed, wild tars, or cockle seed, it will be the better, and they will have a more love unto the house.   

¶ How to perfume your Dovehouse, to cause them to breed and to love it. Cap. 61.  
STephanus saith: if ye often perfume your dove-house with Genoper or Rosemary, and sometimes with a little frankincense, or with some Lavender, these will make them to love the Dovehouse more than any other, and those Doves which ye have made tame, when they do begin to breed, ye must then give them liberty, and cast along by the walls small grain or seeds, or where they use to bathe them, and so they will bring many other unto them, beside your twenty pair that ye first put in, that within forty days ye may have two or three times so many more, for they breed three times in a year and the good breeders four times a year, and there is no great care for them, but to keep your dove-house clean, and cleanse the nests of the old and young, to keep them from fleas and lice, and other Verinine, more needful in Summer then in winter.   

¶ Pegions seeking their meat far, are raveners of corn. Cap. 62.  
COlumella saith, Pegions are great raveners, and far fliars to seek meat, commonly four or six miles, sometimes ten miles, yea some do suppose they will seek forty miles, and come again at night, which thing I scantly credit, yet surely they are strong and swift fowl of flight, and will continue long in the air, again, some do say, put a pair of doves in a house, and let them lack no meat nor water, and they will devour a quarter of wheat, and a Ton of water in one year, therefore they are called ravening birds, devourers of Corn, and reapers in fields, viziters of reeks, glenars of sheaves, and thieves in Barnes, notwithstanding if ye will not so maintain your dove-house, ye must let fly the first breed, (as is afore said) in March and Aprll because that thorough many occasions in a year many kill your old doves, and by that means your Dovehouse is replenished again.   

¶ To draw Pegions to your Dovehouse. Cap. 63.  
SOme do teach, take and roast a spayde bitch, take forth her guts, and fill her belly with Commine seed, mixed with bay salt, and when she is well and dry roasted, let her be cold, then lay her in the midst of your Dovehouse, on a high board and ye shall see the Doves will eat of her gladly, and so many other Doves that smells them which have eaten thereof, they will come to the Dovehouse with them.  
Again to make a paste or stimie matter to cause Pegions to resort to your Dovehouse, which is? Take so much as ye think good of a gum which the Italians call Sorgo, or Meige, which groweth as high as Parsenippes', or Commine, and it beareth a bigger seed, boil of the said gum in Commine water, and when it hath sodde and is flimie like buck lie, ye shall put thereto a quantity of Commine, and some honey, and then give it a boil or two more, and stir it always for burning too. Take of this being all hot, and anoint the holes of your Dovehouse therewith, so that the pegions in going in and out, may rub their feet and legs thereon (which scent will dure for certain days after) and so many other as do smell the same, will follow them to the house, and after they will not departed from thence, also to lay in your Dovehouse the stalks of Lavender cut a shaftment long, the Doves will gather them to build their nests, and thereby will smell thereof, which will cause other Doves (so many as do smell them) come to their dove-house, and for the like some to take of sand stones (which is a soft greet) and boils of them in brine to soak, and then lays them on a table in the Dovehouse, and the Pegions will feed thereon, some pours on the said stones the scum that comes of boiled brine, which the Doves will like well, other do use to lay on a board of fault stones, which the Pegions will feed on, and it will cause them not to seek far abroad, others do use to soak of soft bricks, in brine, and then lays them on a board in the dove-house, and Pegions will feed thereon, all these are thought good to train doves to the house.   

¶ The nature and profit of wood pegions, culvers, and rough footed doves. Cap. 64.  
COlumella saith, the Wood Pegion is soon perceived from other doves, they are not so fruitful to lay as hens, and yet more profitable, for they will have young viii. times a year, and if the females be gnod nurses, the young will not be lean, and if they be fair, lean or barren ye may fat them like hens, and sell them, in like manner ye may fat Woodeculuers, but they are more ravenars and eaters than the other, and very hard to make tame, if they be old, they love soaked bread in wine, and that will soon fat them, but ye must not forget to lay of gravel for them to bask in, the Woodeuluer loves in winter to eat of ivy berries, and they lone to breed on low Trees, & will have but two young at once.  
The rough footed Dove, as some judge, comes of the wild kind, and yet they are to be made as tame as hens, they are great eaters, and are very hot of nature, they lay and bring forth young viii. or ten times a year, if they be well fed. They will never have passing two young at once, or one alone, and as soon as the hen hath hatched, she will suffer to be toden again of the Cock, they are loving birds one to another, and the Cock will sit on the eggs while the hen feedeth abroad, and he will feed the hen in sitting (as the Rooks do) and also he will feed the young pegions.   

¶ How to take Owls that haunt your Douchouses. Cap. 65.  
OUles that haunt your Dovehouse by night, they destroy many Doves both old and young. To take them, some do set a ladder to the roof of the house afore the sun go down, and somewhat dark, they tie on both sides of the roof, a dead dove, and lays their bellies upward, and do stick lime rods in clay round● about them, or limed straws, and thereby takes them, and some ties a live Pegion a pretty way of the house on the ground, and sticks lime rods round about her, or prick sticks half a yard high from the ground, and puts small packthreede limed in the cloven tops of the rods, other takes them in wedging a mouse tail in the hole of a board, and lays that on the ground, or ties a bird with a string on the ground, and pricks lime rods about her, and so takes them, in a light Moonshine night, in a dark night they lay for the owl in the owl flight, for them is best setting for them: if she enter into the house she kilth all she can, both old and young, and will remain there, for she cannot get forth again at the Lover, and she will commonly feed of the forepart, the neck and the shoulders, by that ye may know it is an Owl, and she will be and sit all day in one of the holes. Thus much for the taking of the Owl, there is also calls to make them come to the place in treading time, but I have not the practice thereof, therefore here I will leave with it.   

¶ For Polecats and Weazels that haunt your Dovehouse. Cap. 66.  
IF Vermine haunt your Dovehouse, as Fechons, keen, Polecats, Weazels and such, ye must mark the holes where they get in to your Dovehouse. There ye shall set a which or fall of four foot long, close by the Dovehouse side, than ye shall hedge it so that nothing shall pass any other way, but if your Which or fall be stained in taking or scaping of any of them, they will not come to the bait within on the burge, which ye shall bait with a new conye liner, or such like, if that serve not then set your fall in some other place, or there, and hedge it, and cover it with thorns, that they may pass no other way but thorough the fall, and after any is taken y● must cleanse and air your fall or Whitche if this serve not, ye shall put the powder o● Arsenike into the slits of livers, and tha● will poison them, but see that no other thing come there to eat it, before ye tak● it up, and thus ye may destroy them i● short space, if ye keep the outsides smoot● that no weasel climb up into the house, from time to time. Other ways there is by setting pots in the ground, with bait in them, and with a fall, like a pitfall.   

¶ To take Bozardes and stars, that molest your Dovehouse. Cap. 67.  
THe Bozarde, and Puttock, that haunt your Dovehouse, will sudden strike at your Doves sitting on the house, and so kills many, when any such do haunt your Dovehouse, ye shall set stales of live Doves on the ground with limed straws, or tie a live mouse and wedge her tail into a stick compassed with three grains or twigs lymbde, then lay it on the ground a pretty way of the Dovehouse, and watch it, and ye shall see her strike at ●t, and so be taken, and likewise set limed straw's about your dove-house on the ground ●r small timed twigs, thus ye may ●ake them in the spring. Again, stars ●ill commonly haunt a dove-house in the ●inter time chiefly: which do molest the doves in driving them from place to place and beating them out of their holes, and if it be cold, they will covet to sit under the doves Wings, and being hot of nature themselves, will make the doves so hot, that thereby they will become lepers, and they will have dry spots on them like pocks, therefore when you see stars haunt your Dovehouse, in the night ye shall cover the lover that no Pegion go out, and then go in with a Lantern, for they will fly to the light, and so with clapnets' ye may take them, and they will kill the young, and also suck the Doves eggs.   

How to Cock your Dovehouse. Cap. 68  
SOme saith, if a Dovehouse do remain five or six year without taking the old cocks, they will not prosper nor breed, because of so many old Cocks alive, which cannot tread themselves, nor yet will suffer the young Cocks to tread their hens. Therefore some do cover the lover, and in a winter's night goeth in with a candle and lantern, and with a bush net take● all that comes, and puts then in baskets, and so choose out all the old Cocks, and kills them, and lets the rest remain, which old cocks ye shall know by their great bodies & heads for they are bigger than the younger, and they will have a ring of blue whitish feathers about their necks, and the young cocks will have none: Again, some do set a ladder before night to the lover, and in the night one or two goeth up the ladder with a lantern and light, and covers the lover hole with a net, and sets the light by the Lover, than one knocks at the door beneath, or else goeth in, then will the doves come to the light, and ever as they come, take the old Cocks and kill them, but this way (as some judge) is not so good as the other, for they will bruise themselves in flying against the posts and walls, in the dark house, and some do hold opinion to let them alone is best, without taking the old Cooks, for I have hard some say, that after their Cocking their Dovehouse have not been so prosperous as before, Wherein here ye may choose which way best to take. Thus much for the cocking your dove-house.   

¶ Of Pegion dung. Cap. 69.  
THe nature and property of Pegion dung is to heat the earth, therefore keep well their dung ye take out of the Pegion house, and meddle it when ye list with cow dung, or other horse dung, and it doth more than Sheep dung, for Pegion dung is very hot, which will serve to amend cold and naked places, in your fields or meadows, and also to refresh and sucker old trees against cold and wet.   

¶ Of Turtle Doves. Cap. 70.  
COlumella saith, to nourish Turtles for profit, it is superfluous, for they will lay no eggs in your Cages nor hatch young, therefore from the time you have taken them, they keep them to fat more sooner than many other Birds, but not in all times of the year a like, for in winter there is great care to fat them, and in this time there is more plenty, and the price doth diminish, in Summer they will fat themselves if they have meat to eat, there is no other pain but to feed them with mil wheat, not because they will not fat with other wheat, but because they love mill wheat better, and yet in Winter they are as soon made fat (as Wood culvers) with sops of bread soaked in Wine, and like with other things, and they do not entreat them like other Pegions, in holes, but stones set in the walls, not with partitions, but as stays for them to sit on, they must be closed with nets round, that they fly not forth, and thus they use to fat them with mil wheat, and other wheat which must be given dry, half a bushel a day is enough for six score Turtles and always they must have fresh water in clean vessels, and see that their dung mar not their feet, which dung is good to keep for the fatting of trees, as all other birds ●aue those that swim, and to fat these, ye must choose the youngest rather than the oldest, also about harvest, the young Turtles ●re big enough to fat, than they use to fat ●hem.  
Stephanus saith, those fowl are rather to be nourished then to breed. They are used as Fezantes, with branches applied to the wales, and fastened wiar, with doors hard by, also in the corners ye shall make places for them to perch on, and set branches of Genoper and Bayes, about your trees set against the walls, also ye shall fasten small panniers to the walls, to tyce them to lay, if they have any desire thereto.  
And ye shall place your cover for your cage the height of a man, and places made round for them to roost under, & strawde with fresh straw, renewing it often, and make places for them to eat, with troughs for them to drink in, and change it ofte● They love the hot air, in cold times they pass the Seas in flocks, from on● country to another, they are made tam● as our house poultry, which is very har● to do, for they are not to be fed, but fo● the delicateness of them in feasts & banquets. The Turtle is more easy to mak● tame, than other quails or Partrich● and to fat also if they be taken young, an● by giving them wine, they make them forget their liberty, for they will be very angry when they are first take, and they never lay enclosed, nor fat scantly in winter, they are contrary to other foul, as gives and such, their nourishment is fetches, barley and most of other grain, ye shall give fresh water in a vessel, so they may bathe therein, and lay by of gravilye send to scour and heal them, when they are sick, and look to their bills for the pip, and take it away if there be any, also look to their feet for troubling with their dung, and also under their wings, if they have any vermin, ye must help them as you do your poultry.   

¶ The ordering and fatting of hearnes. Cap. 71.  
STephanus saith, I have afore recited of the great curiosity of diverse kinds of fowls to nourish, and here again I must say the like of the hearne, for she is but expense, without profit to any. True it is, for princes and great Lords, to tame to fly for pleasure, otherwise the Hearne alone, it is but the dainty mouth to eat the flesh, as the saying of some is, the hearne is a royal meat, but this pleasure costs double charge, for she is a great spoiler and devourer of fish, we may think them the father of a family in household, be it Prince or great Lord will sometime take pleasure in the flight of the hearne, or for his mouth, there is no other reason to be made, then for to make a place to keep them in, not only for pleasure, but also profice for his Lord or master, now to make this place to fat them and keep them in bondage, which loves daily to be abroad alone, and solitary in their mind, and yet not rest long in a place, except it please them well, for she is wayward, fearful, and delights to build on high Trees, a place for them may well be made for two occasions, one to nourish them in for the pleasure of the Prince, and again to have them ready at need for any banquet, and those that are so closed, will call others that fly by, and cause them to breed there abouts.  
Also ye must consider of the place meet for them, to keep them in, for if it rain not there sometime, she will take no pleasure therein, nor yet breed, but mourn, and so pine and die, also ye must hove a running water thorough the midst of your court or place, for the Hearn is a waterish Fowl, and hath pleasure for to look for fish in waters, to take Eels and other small fish. The place for them ought to be covered all over with lathes, set nigh together, and walled or boarded round, six foot high, so that other Hearnes if they will may make their nests thereon, and their feeding shall be live Eels, or cut, and cast in water, and to give other small fish, sometimes the entrails and livers of beasts cut small, or dogs flesh cut and given them, to fat for flight or banquet, they will not lightly breed being in bondage, they be a pleasure for flying, but not to let fly nigh their Court, for the rest will be afraid, and those that come there to breed they will forsake the place and build there no more.   

¶ The ordering and nourishing of Partridges. Cap. 72.  
THe Partridge is a dainty Byrd, and lives in fleldes among bushes and hedges, the Cocks are stout and hot of nature, and the hens also, and will lay above twenty eggs at a time, and bring forth their young, they breed but once a year, which is in the spring, the Cocks will fight for their hens, and he which hath the victory will constrain the other Cock to follow him and run after him, as doth the hen, their feeding is very dainty with millet wheat, or of panic wheat or other wheat, also if ye take the Partridge eggs and set them under a hen that sitteth, she will hatch them and bring them forth and nourish them like house chickens, they must be fed with ants eggs, till they be of a more strength, and of a good bigness, than ye may feed them as ye do house chickens, and those which ye so nourish and feed, ye may easily keep them tame in your Courts, and they will breed from time to time, and nourish their young, if ye help them with ants eggs, while they are young, and ye must make pretty places on the ground for them to breed in, and covered with boughs, for they love commonly not to be seen or have any to look and behold them, ye must give them of fresh water, shorning and evening, & keep their court clean.   

¶ quails feeding and their nature. Cap. 73.  
quails are a dainty flesh used for banquets, they are of nature furious fighters, and currish, therefore they that keep them, let not them have so much liberty as other Fowls have, nor yet so much light, therefore they cover their cages with canvas, or leather, for mounting and busying their wings against the sides of the Cage, they put their meat and drink in vessels a part, each Quayle by himself, which will make them sooner to fat, they love to eat green wheat, and also of other wheat, which is their principal meat. They use much that circuit where they are commonly bred, they breed in Corn fields, and in Pastures, they will have five or six at a time and breed but once a year, they love the place whereas there groweth much elleborye, called sneezing powder, of some: whereof Didimus saith, their flesh is laxative, and also will make one's head heavy and also will make one's head heavy and evil, and for this cause some do sear●● them with Wheat, and boils them well therewith, if any find grief thereby, they drink the decoction that millet is sodd in or the seed of Myrrh, which is good also to give quails to eat, the young loves to be feeding among grass, to be picking on flies and such. The tame ye may use them to a call, as ye do your chicken.   

¶ The Gulls how to feed. Cap. 74.  
Gulls do breed in the rocks, and banks of the Sea, in extreme cold weather they fly from the Sea into the Land, and lives on mountains and plains, and they feed there on worms and such as they can get, and they that do fat them do take them ready to fly, in holes and rocks by the Sea side, and then they feed them, the old are not good to fat, they feed both with fish & flesh, as the livers of beasts, and fresh sea fish as place and such, cut in small pieces and given them, their vessels of water ought to be pans of earth, filled with fair water, then lay therein brick bats or stones that they bathe not therein, for they will desire to bathe, and that will keep them lean, their meat must be chopped rue, and laid on boards, and they commonly fight (and cry) one with another, and they be great ravenars, and ought to be fed twice or thrice a day with sweet meat, and they use to lay it in fair water to keep it sweet two or three days, they breed but once a year, and will have four or five in a nest, or more.   

¶ Of Puets'. Cap. 75.  
PUets are birds or fowl that breeds in Rocks and banks by the Sea, they are taken young from the nests like the Gulls, and fed for banquets, they are a dainty flesh, and pleasant to eat. They are kept to fat in large houses and courts, for some do use to put them in parts, for they will fight like the gulls, one with another, and those that they intend to eat shortly, they feed them a part with curds, for that will soon fat them, and make their flesh white, s●p●●te, and fair, so will not those fed with flesh, as livers of Oxen and sheep, smally chopped as is aforesaid of the gulls & laid on fair boards twice a day, for they are ravenars, & to give them fair water laid with stones like as ye do for Gulls aforesaid, for bathing will keep them lean, & they breed but once a year, & have 5 or 6 at a time, or me.   

¶ Of pheasants and their nature. Ca 76.  
STephanus saith, it is a great curiosity to nourish the old Pheasants which Columella doth name them hens of Numidie but for those that may feed them, it is both pleasure and profit, but ye must have one to do no other thing, for they require great attendance, & ye must make their Court somewhat high, set also with boards against the walls, round about the court in length, & their perch made so to sit where the sun may shine, and each bird his place, and also to have one general house to cleanse the hens, and to give them meat, and closed all above, & before with laths very nigh together, about the height of a pole from the earth well covered all over, also the Fesante Cocks and hens, are birds of a stout courage, and are not content to be enclosed or made tame, if they be above a year old, and the old hens are grieved, and disdaineth to lay or sit, and the young will not so soon agree with the air, being so constrained there: because it is not like the Region from whence they were take, also there must be given to one male two females, the Females lay but once a year and she beginneth in March, and layeth some twenty eggs by order, or she stint, and then she sits on all together, or ye may give xv. of hits, and the rest of other strange eggs ●f ye will, she sits thirty days, and in setting them ye must have the like dilli●euce as of your house hens, and these ●ust not be without their houses, and the ●ong being once hatched, shall have a mixture made of sodde barley bran, then ●olde and given, and to give them wheat ●eale, the which ye shall sometimes ●ire together and so given, sometimes of ●rashappers, and the eggs of Aunts, and ●ten to change their water to have it still ●eane, for they are subject unto the like seizes as the house hens are.   

¶ How to fat Fezantes. Cap. 77.  
THe ancients did use to fat and nourish the pheasants, both Cocks and hens not only for increase, but as we● for feasts and banquets, and in the beginning they give them water and wine mix together, to make them forget their natural place and then they feed them wit● barley meal steeped in water, and groun● beans, and steeped barley mixed together with millet, and also naves and linseed boiled, then dried, and mixed with barley meal, and likewise to heat them and 〈◊〉 purge them, they did use to give them f●nigreke the space of five days, and so th● were cleansed and mud in forty days, a● thus some keeps them that are of skill, nourishing of dainty Fowl, and Colmella saith, ye may well give them me to fat them for banquets, for few or no being wild hens are given to lay or sit being kept in bondage and bred up abroad.   

¶ Of Godwits, Knots, and Stints. Cap. 78.  
THe Godwits, and Knots are taken young, they breed in holes and Rocks by the Sea, and also in Islands nigh the Sea, they are exteemed a dainty meat, and pleasant, and costly to keep, and make fat, for they are commonly fed with Wheat, and fair water other feeding I have not known.   

¶ Of Plovers. Cap. 79.  
THere are two kind of Plovers, the one is called the green Plover, which ●ue call the Lapwing, and the other is called ●he grey Plover which breeds in islands ●ye the Seas, or in great heaths, and parish grounds, and also the green Plover breeds commonly in marishes, deaths, Fields, and such, they breed ●ut once a year, and when they lay as in Harche and April, they will not have ●ast four or five young, their feeding is ●mmonly on Worms and flies and such as they can get, they will hardly be made came being enclosed, for they are a wild kind of peevish birds to tame. They are fed with wheat and Water, like the other fowl aforesaid, the young green Plover is easter to make tame, and they use to keep them in gardens to kill worines and gives them worms and water, but then beware the Rite and the Cat, thus much for the Plovers.   

¶ Of the Bitter and Curlew. Cap. 80.  
THe Bitter is a strange kind of fowl, and lives commonly in Fens, and in morish heaths, they are evil to be made tame. Their flesh is pleasant to eat, and are kept for banquets, they are fed with raw livers of beasts, & such like, they are ireful, and will strike suddenly at a man's face, and stand lurking in a corner like the hearn, & they fear the sight o● a man's face, and those that do fat them they do cram them with raw flesh cut in small pieces, which they will cast it v● again. Therefore when ye cram then ye must put a double thread over his bil● to posse his nostrils, and thorough his nostrils put a small stick or quill, and that will keep the thread up, and let him from casting up his meat again, if that were not, he would cast it up incontinent.  
The Curlew is a fowl that feeds commonly in moist grounds and heaths, their flesh is pleasant to eat, they feed commonly on worms and such, and they fat them with wheat and fair water, other feeding I know not what is best for them, Thus much for the Bitter & the Curlew.   

¶ Of Blackburdes and Thrustles. Ca 81.  
THe Blackbyrde is a dainty flesh to eat, & they are more charable to keep then many others, & they that shall keep them in cages being taken old, & brought from other countries, they are hardly saved to be transported, also if ye put the old to be fed in cages, some thereof will suddenly die of envy and fear, when they are taken of the Fowler and put to fat, therefore the best remedy is, ye shall take of came Blackbyrds and put unto the wild, and when they are accustomed to be serust, the wild in seeing the tame feed, they will feed also, and so forget their anger and liberty, and thus ye may best bring the wild to be tame, and to receive their meat with the other.  
Also their cages must be made toward the South, with perches of wood set in the walls to sit and prune, when they have eaten, and ye must not set their perches above a man's height, that in standing on the ground they may touch them, ye shall not feed them where their perches are, for keeping their meat more cleaner without their dung, and for their meat, some do use to feed them with dry figs, and barley Flowar beaten together, and give them thereof, so they may leave some, also sometimes they chew it in their mouths, and so gives it unto them, but where as many are, it is not quite cost to feed them, and other some are of opinion to feed and give them of divers kinds of meat is good, for fear if they should be weary of one meat, as sometimes t● give them worms, ants, wheat, hard eggs and soaked bread in water, and th● seeds of wild tars, or chervil seeds, or wild Olives, or ivy berries, and wild Apples, for when they are in the Woods, they eat of all these, but in their Cages it will trouble them, and yet cause them to provoke appetite, which is necessary, for the more they eat, the sooner they will be fat, and ye shall fill also their vessels with mill wheat, which is the chiefest meat for their delight, the other do serve but as sauce of pleasure, their drink ought to be clear water and often changed, and thus ye may fat the blackebyrde, so may ye nourish and fat the Thrustle, and Fieldfare, other birds there is, which are not so necessary to be fed, nor yet so profitable. Thus I leave for the governing and fatting of Blackbyrdes and Thrustles, with all the government of poultry and Fowl aforesaid.   

¶ To make white birds come of any eggs. Cap. 82.  
TAke your eggs of what bird ye will, and lay them two days long in honey and then put them again in the nest, and let them be sat on, and ye shall have them white.   

¶ To make hens of the colour of your eggs ye set her. Cap. 83.  
YE shall take some Eggs of a brood hen, and colour them with what colour ye will, and put them to the hen, and ye shall see the Chickens to be of the same colour ye coloured the eggs.   

¶ For Goose. Cap. 84.  
IF ye set a Goose where as she ca● come by no water to bathe her, whe● she riseth her eggs then will not prospe● nor come to any perfection, Also when goose have sat her time, and cannot w● break and unclose her eggs, ye sha● burn the stalks and leaves dried of coleworts before her nest, and perfume her nest therewith, and soon after they shall unclose and hatch, likewise if ye have divers brood Geese, and but one Gander, some Ganders will love but one or two Geese and hate the rest, therefore it shall be good to have more Ganders than one to serve their Goslings, for when the Goose leads and goes afore her young, the crow will take some behind her, and therefore ye shall see the Gander come behind his goslings, and thereby saves many from the Crows and Rites.   

¶ To make hens lay.  
TO cause hens to lay all the winter, take the crops of nettles when they are ready to seed, then dry them, and mix them with bran and hempseed, and so give it your hens a mornings, and they will lay, ye may also give them the seeds of Cowmake, a weed amongst ●orne so called in Turnars Herbal, which will also cause them to lay.   

¶ For breeding Capons.  
ANd those that would breed many Capons, ye must not then have any Cock that is used to fight, for than he will always beat your Capons, and not suffer them to be at rest but hunt & kill them at length.  
Finis.    

The table of all the principal matters in this Book, following by Alphabet.  

A.  
Against the pip. Cap. 13,   

B.  
Bytters how to make fat. 80.  
Blackbyrdes how to nourish. 81.  
Bozardes that haunt dovehouses. 67.   

C.  
Capons how to fat 25.  
Catarrh or rheum in poultry. 14.  
Carving of poultry. 31.  
Carving young chickens. 23.  
Chickens newly hatched. 7.  
Chickens of a later brood. 11.  
Chickens fed from the Dam. 12.  
Cocking of a Dovehouse. 68  
culvers and their nature, 64,  
Curlewes how to feed. 80.   

D.  
Dongue of Pegions profitable. 69  
Ducks profitable for the husband. 41  
Ducks wild to nourish. 42  
Ducks and their nature. 42.   

E.  
Eggs to keep long 8.  
Eggs how to gather and save. 9  
Eggs without a Cock. 9  
Eggs to make white birds. 82.  
Eggs to have all the winter, 10.  
Eyes inflamed of poultry. 24.   

F.  
Fatting of Capons. 25.  
Feeding great Chickens. 28.  
Feeding young poullets. 29.  
Feeding of poultry. 26  
Fieldfares how to feed. 82  
Feathers of geese which are best. 40.  
Fezants how to fat. 77  
Fezantes and their nature. 76.  
flux in poultry to help. 18.   

G.  
Gander's white are the best. 36.  
Geese and their government. 33.  
Geese and places fit for them. 34  
Geese what pasture best. 35.  
Geese all white are the best. 36.  
Geese young how to fat. 37.  
Geese young to fat. 38.  
Geese how many to one gander. 39  
Goslinges how to feed. 37.  
Godwits how to nourish. 78.  
Goulles how to nourish and fat. 74.   

H.  
Haw in the eyes of poultry. 24  
Henhouse to order and make. 1.  
Hens with their good properties. 4.  
Hen's when best to set them. 5.  
Hen's young to set. 6.  
Hens how many meet for a cock. 15  
Hens that use to hatch abroad. 16.  
Hens that sit and rise in wet weather. 22.  
Heunes of the colour of the eggs y● set her. 63.  
Hen's how to make fat. 27.  
Hearns to nourish and to fat. 71.   

K.  
Knots how to feed. 78.   

L.  
Lice & varmine in poultry. 20  
Letting forth poultry a mornings. 30   

M.  
Meet when to feed poultry. 2●   

O.  
Ordering Poultry a mornings. 3●  
Owls that haunt a Dovehouse. 6●   

P.  
Partridge how to nourish. 7●  
Perfuming the dove-house. 6●  
Pegions to draw to the dovehous. ●●  
Pegions with profit & place for them. ●●  
Pegions to replenish your house. 58  
Pegeons and best breeders. 58  
Pegions to feed and maintain. 59  
Pegions that fly abroad to feed. 60  
Pegions that seek their meat far. 62.  
Pegions and their nature. 64.  
Peacocks and the goodness of their flesh. 52.  
Pehens their nature in laying. 52.  
Pechickes hatching and feeding. 53.  
Pehens and their sickness. 54.  
Pegins dung good for trees. 69.  
Pippe the cause and remedy. 13.  
Plovers how to nourish. 79.  
Polecats that haunt dove houses. 66.  
Puets how to fat. 75.   

Q.  
quails how to nourish. 73.   

R.  
Rough footed doves to keep. 64.   

S.  
Sheldrakes to nourish. 41.  
●●gnes in a good Cock. ●●.  
stars that molest doves in their noses. 6●  
Stints how to nourish. 78.  
Stopping the flux in poultry. 1●.  
Swans nature and feeding. 5●  
Swans how to nourish and feed. 5●   

T.  
Teals how to nourish. 4●  
Threstles to fat. 8●  
Things good in keeping poultry. 32.  
turkey hens and their profit. 4●.  
turkeys to nourish. 45.  
turkey cocks best treaders 46.  
Turquy hens in hatching their young. 47.  
Turquy hens the order & feeding. 48.  
turkey chickens how to nourish. 48.  
turkeys the common feeding. 49.  
Turtle doves to nourish. 70.   

W.  
Wezels that haunt a dove-house. 66.   
FINIS.