Chapter 44 The Chick Lays Eggs

Half a month after my birthday, the chickens in the house started laying eggs.

In the time after the apocalypse, several chickens died in our house.

Some died from being trapped in their cages, while others died inexplicably in their sleep.

I don't really know the reason, but I'm sure it's not an infectious disease.

Otherwise, all these chickens would probably be in trouble.

There are now 12 chickens left in the cage: 3 black-boned chickens, 7 hens, and 2 roosters.

This morning, while feeding the chickens, I suddenly discovered two eggs in the coop.

This surprised and delighted me; it had been two months since we'd run out of eggs at home.

Finally, the chicks have started laying eggs, and my egg-eating life can continue.

Since I didn't know which hen laid the egg, I saw all the hens looking at me with loving eyes.

The chicks need to eat a lot so they can lay lots of eggs!

So I fed the chickens much more diligently than usual today.

I've collected these two eggs, and I'm going to have a good meal with them.

First, crack an egg into a bowl. The chickens I raise myself are different; the yolks are especially yellow, and the egg whites are especially clear.

It looks absolutely delicious.

Whisk the egg with chopsticks, add warm water, and steam it in a pot to make steamed egg custard to eat with rice.

I haven't had steamed egg custard with rice in a long time, and I'm really, really craving it.

The other egg was fried in a frying pan, which is another way I really enjoy eating eggs.

Once both eggs are cooked, mix the steamed egg custard evenly into the rice.

Take a big bite with an iron rice spoon; the steamed egg custard is still a little hot and has a strong oily aroma and a subtle fragrance.

The sticky, gooey mixture in the rice is incredibly satisfying.

The best way to eat a fried egg is to start from the edge and shake it little by little. The edges of a fried egg are crispy, while the yolk in the middle is soft and chewy.

After savoring a fried egg, I felt extremely satisfied.

I was really looking forward to the next day, hoping that I could still find eggs.

I had just woken up in the morning when I heard the hen clucking.

I used to think that the sound was just a hen clucking and didn't pay any attention to it.

Looking back now, I realize the clucking sound was because it laid an egg.

I quickly mixed some chicken feed and went to feed the chickens, occasionally glancing into their coop when the hens weren't looking.

There were three eggs in there today, which means the hens are starting to lay eggs one after another.

I picked out three eggs, but I didn't eat them today.

I saw my grandma do the same thing.

The eggs you collect don't necessarily have to be eaten on the same day; instead, you save them little by little, accumulating a whole boxful to eat slowly.

As long as there is food stored at the bottom of the box, the chick will lay a new egg every time it finishes eating the food.

That way, we'll have eggs to eat whenever we want.

For the next month, an extra egg would appear in the henhouse every now and then.

After a month, you can harvest 7 eggs every day.

Two of the eggs are green, so they must have been laid by a black-boned chicken.

So I have three hens and one black-boned chicken that don't lay eggs.

I don't know why they aren't laying eggs, or which hen is specifically not laying eggs.

But that's not important. I just hope they can recover quickly.

So I feed them even more diligently every day.

However, seven eggs a day is enough for me; not only is it enough for myself, but the puppies can also have some.

In this situation, you can still save a few more each day.

I am incredibly wealthy; growing vegetables and raising chickens to lay eggs has enabled me to achieve sustainable development.

I even doubt that I could survive without any other supplies.

There are plenty of eggs now, but green vegetables are a bit scarce, as it takes one or two months for a new batch to ripen.

With that in mind, I decided to fill the remaining pots with plants as well.

Chives are delicious, so I'll plant another pot. I'll also plant another pot of garlic, cilantro, and scallions as the main seasonings.

Finally, I planted all the remaining fruit trees. Since fruit takes a long time to ripen, planting them separately means I'll have fresh fruit to eat every now and then.

I'm taking vitamin supplements while also satisfying my cravings.

I'm tired of all kinds of stir-fries and stews lately, and I'm really craving barbecue.

It's the kind of grilled meat where you slice beef, grill it on a grill to render the fat, then add garlic slices, wrap it in lettuce, and eat it.

And a new batch of lettuce has just ripened, so it wouldn't feel like a waste at all if we were wrapping it around grilled meat.

The biggest problem is that I don't have charcoal for grilling meat; I overlooked this when I was stocking up.

So I went to the bookshelf in the small west room to look for various functional books, searching for ways to make barbecue charcoal.

It took me almost 20 minutes, but I actually found it.

Making charcoal turned out to be very simple, so I got right to it.

The wood blocks brought in from the lumber mill were all raw wood blocks, and the book said that these raw wood blocks were the best material for making charcoal.

Simply put the logs into the iron bucket and then cover it with the iron lid.

Seal the area where the lid and the iron bucket meet with mud, and then poke a few holes in the top of the iron lid.

Then you need to put a full bucket of wood into the fire to burn.

My stove is the best combustion tool. Since the iron bucket has holes, it shouldn't explode.

It poses no threat to my stove.

The fire in the stove was lit in the morning, so I didn't even need to light another fire; I could just put the wooden bucket in directly.

After the wooden bucket was placed inside, I would occasionally observe the small vents, from which moisture and smoke from the wood would continuously emerge.

Once you see that the small holes on the lid of the iron bucket no longer spew out hot air and smoke, the charcoal is ready.

Gently pull the metal bucket out and let it cool on the kitchen floor for an hour.

Then I opened the lid to look at the charcoal inside; the wood had turned completely black.

When you tap it, you can hear the crisp sound of charcoal.

I'm very satisfied; it seems the charcoal was made very well.

This big bucket of charcoal I made should be enough for me to grill meat three or four times.

Then I need to make a grill for roasting meat.

I picked up the wire fence I had bought earlier and used pliers to remove a lot of the wire.

Then use pliers to weave it little by little into a square wire mesh.

This is really hard to do, it's tiring for your hands, and it's really troublesome to weave it little by little.

It took until dark to finish weaving a barbecue grill.

I was too tired in the evening and didn't have the desire to continue grilling meat, so I just ate a bowl of instant noodles.

However, I still need to eat on the second day, so before going to bed I prepared the meat I would need for tomorrow in advance.

Because the temperature in the back room can reach -60 degrees Celsius, I always thaw any meat before eating it.

Otherwise, you really can't cut it open at all if you try to cut it directly.

Since it was my first time eating barbecue, I naturally wanted to try the best beef.

So instead of buying meat at the supermarket later, I decided to eat the top-quality beef from the Japanese restaurant first.

I brought in the premium beef I bought from the Japanese restaurant and put it in the kitchen, and also brought in the seasonings to melt.

I'm just waiting to wake up tomorrow so I can marinate and grill the meat.