The ''pullularius'' was the keeper of
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
s used in
alectryomancy, a form of public
augur
An augur was a priest and official in the ancient Rome, classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the List of Roman deities, gods by studying events he observed within a predetermined s ...
y in
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
. It was the job of the ''pullularius'' to throw food for the chickens, and shake the basket they were in, if need be, to get them to emerge. The cockerels were consulted by military leaders as a predictor of fortune.
The Chicken Book
By Page Smith, Charles Daniel
References
Roman augurs
{{AncientRome-stub