The Hens that lay the Eggs best to sit them.
And let me here warn you never to set your Eggs (if you have any regard for them) as some ignorant Persons do, under Crows, Turkeys, Ducks, Dunghill Hens, or the like, for certainly, there is nothing that more depraves a gallant parcel of Eggs, than putting them under such Hens as those, who differ so much in nature from the Bird that layed them: And this is seen by such as are Crow-hatched, for tho’ the Egg were got and laid by the best Cock and Hen in the World, yet such a Bird when he comes to Fight do nothing but lug, and pull, and hardly ever strike as he ought to do; and if they are Duck-hatched, then they will strike short, snutter, and be always upon their Noses: And as for those that are hatched under a Dunghill-Hen, if ever they are put to it, to Fight in Blood for the Battle, ’tis ten to one that they skut, and run away, being in Nature more hers that sat them than they are the Hen’s that laid them, for we reckon the Egg after it receives the Tread, to be Nourished but nine Days by the Hen before she lays it, whereas the Hen that sits it, is twice as long before it be hatched, so that from hence it may reasonably be inferred, that the Chicken is more the Hen’s that sits, and Hatches it, than hers that laid the Egg, but sat it not; and therefore, I chuse rather the Chickens that are Hatched by the same Hen, that laid the Eggs.
Runners and Standers not good to breed together.
Know also, that if you take Eggs of a Hen that comes of a Strain proceeding from a straining Fight, and put them under a Hen to Hatch them that is by Nature a Runner, your Chickens will prove meer Mongrils, and have a kind of nodling Fight with them, which is by no means commendable in a Cock of the Game, and for this Reason, never put a Cock that has a standing Fight to a Hen that is of a shifting Breed, for such Birds rarely prove well foughten when they come to be tried.
Broody Hens commonly hated by the Cock.
Now when your Hen is disposed to Sit if you can with conveniency remove the Cock from that Walk, it will be a thing very grateful to your Hen, who now no more delights in the Company of the Cock, nor the Cock in hers, she slights his Court-ship, and by her froward carriage oft times provokes him not only to dismantle, and strip her of her Plumes, but also deprive her of her Life, unless she quit her self better in her escape, for Broody Hens are ever hated by Cocks of the Game, especially such Cocks as have in bloody Battles been engaged: but a Young unfoughten Cock is not so dangerously cruel towards a Sitting Hen, and therefore be farther trusted especially when the Walk cannot well be spared.
How the Chickens are to be brought up.
Perfuming needless.
During the time that your Hen Sits you must be careful in this, that when she comes off her Nest, she may readily meet with her Craw full of good sweet Oats, and fresh Water, but give her no Barly until she have hatched; and in her absence from her Nest be you careful to turn her Eggs if need require it, and see that no Hawk haunt the House whilst the Hen Sits: and when she is hatching you must be very diligent in taking away her first Chickens from her, least she quit her Nest too soon, and leave many of her Eggs unhatched: give to each Chicken a little bit of White-bread, and dip their Bills in new Milk, and then put them into a Basket of Sheeps Wool close covered, and place it by the Fire until Night, at which time you must also feed them again as before, and so put them under the Hen as she Sits upon her Nest, to hurk them all Night, and the next Day when she comes off her Nest with her Flock, be they more or less, you must be sure to put them into some dry warm place, where plenty of Groats, Groundmalt, and such like Food may hourly be offered unto them, and a shallow Sawcer of new Milk set for them to drink and bibble in, and at the Fortnights end give them only Barly to eat, and fresh Water to drink, and now (if it may be) let them have the benefit of the Sun, and be admitted to walk in some Court, or Garden, where they may bather and dust themselves in some Sun-shiny Bank, or Sandy Walk, which is a thing that much delights and forwards Birds of this sort, and as their Strength increases let their Walk be enlarged, but withall remember that Weesles, Cats, and Kites are mortal Enemies to these young Duellers, and that a nasty Sink, or Dunghill-hole is a most destructive thing to Chickens, for they endanger, and breed ill humours in the Body, causing the Roop, Rot-gut and such like dangerous Diseases to come upon them betime, which are Maladies seldom or never cured; and therefore a walk that is clean, and dry, is ever to be best esteemed for breeding Birds of this kind. But for Perfuming either the Chickens, or the Room where they Roost, or by way of Antidote, to give them the blades of choped Leeks, Skellians, or such like things, to prevent the Roop, and other Diseases, proceeding either from foul feed, or ill smells, are things in my opinion altogether needless, and may as well, or better be let alone, than made use of; for certainly they avail nothing towards the preservation of Health in Birds of this sort; for when once they are able to eat it, give them but their fill of good Barly, and fresh Water, with once in three Days a handful of Wheat, or bread crums, and a clean Walk to range in, and you need do no more, for thus managed you will see them thrive and come to your Hearts content.