Chapter 282 Hatching Chicks, Precautions for Pregnancy

Lin Heng had just put down the bucket and was about to go out when his elder brother Lin Yue came in with a hunting rifle on his back and two pheasants in his hands.

Lin Yue said excitedly: "Brother, I am awesome today. I shot two pheasants with one shot."

This was the first time he had any success hunting alone, and he was extremely excited.

"Great!" Lin Heng gave a thumbs up and asked, "Brother, where did you get it?"

Lin Yue grinned and said, "There were three or four pheasants looking for food in a bush over at Sanyegou. I shot two of them."

"It seems that you, brother, can hunt independently in the future." Lin Heng said with a smile.

His elder brother has been trying to hunt these days. He spent a lot of money to buy a hunting rifle, so naturally he wants to get a good harvest.

Lin Hengze didn't have time to be with his elder brother because he was raising shrimps, but he didn't expect that he would reap the rewards so soon.

Lin Yue smiled happily and handed the pheasant in his hand to Lin Heng: "Brother, I heard from mom that Xiulan is pregnant. Take this to give Xiulan some nourishment."

Before Lin Heng could speak, he added: "Don't be polite. I wasn't polite even when you gave me something."

"Okay then, thank you, big brother." Lin Heng laughed and took it.

"Then I'll go back first." After giving the pheasant to Lin Heng, Lin Yue turned around and left with a smile.

Lin Heng looked at the male pheasant, placed it on the stone table, and then went to the back mountain to pick up some sheep manure to fertilize the vegetables.

After applying the sheep manure fertilizer, Lin Heng also sprinkled some wood ash containing phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, which can effectively promote flowering and fruiting.

The strawberries are basically bearing fruit now, and will mature in another week. The largest cucumbers can be picked and eaten.

After applying the fertilizer, Lin Heng watered them.

"What are we having for dinner?"

The two dogs, Xiongba and Fengshou, came in first, and then Xiulan came in with Xiaoxia, looked at Lin Heng and asked with a smile.

"Brother just gave me a pheasant. Do you want to eat it tonight?" Lin Heng said, pointing at the pheasant on the stone table.

"Brother beat it, you're awesome." Xiulan was surprised for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then let's eat pheasant. You kill it and I'll fry it, and we'll have rice."

"good"

Lin Heng nodded, and after watering the cucumber, he picked the big cucumber, washed it briefly, and divided it into three sections, one for each person.

"It tastes good." Xiulan nodded after tasting it. It was her first time to eat this kind of long water cucumber.

While eating a completely pollution-free green organic cucumber, Lin Heng pointed at the strawberry and said, "This one will be ripe soon. It will taste better than the cucumber."

"There are so many of these, will they really taste good?" Xiulan became more and more skeptical as she looked at the strawberries that looked like snakeberries.

"I guarantee that you will want to eat it again after you eat it." Lin Heng nodded affirmatively.

Xiulan squatted down to take a look, then picked seven or eight green string peppers and said, "I'll go cut some hot and sour peppers. When you kill the chicken, remember to pluck some of the dry feathers. The chicken feather blanket is still short of some feathers."

"Okay." Lin Heng agreed.

"Dad, have you watered the pumpkins in the back mountain?" Xiaoxia looked at Lin Heng, thinking about the fruits and vegetables she planted.

"Let's go water the plants together tomorrow morning." Lin Heng said, touching her little face.

"I want to grow big winter melons and big pumpkins, and then I will give one to my dad, one to my mom, and one to my grandparents..." Xiaoxia waved her little hands.

Lin Hengpei found a bag and plucked the chicken feathers while chatting with his daughter. Xiaoxia used the beautiful pheasant tail feathers to tease the big cat Jinbao and they had a lot of fun.

Lin Heng plucked the chicken feathers, scalded the chicken, chopped the chicken meat and prepared the internal organs before handing them to Xiulan, and then tied the feathers to a feather duster.

Soon a beautiful colorful feather duster was made, showing brilliant colors under the light.

After finishing the feather duster, Lin Heng used other feathers to make two cat toys for Xiaoxia, and smiled foolishly as he watched her teasing Jinbao.

"It's time for dinner." After a while, Xiulan came out from the kitchen and shouted.

"I'm here." Lin Heng stood up and went into the house to help serve the dishes.

Xiulan cooked three dishes in the evening, one was pheasant and its offal, one was garlic-flavored green beans, and the other was stir-fried pumpkin tips.

There was no soup, but rice wine was brewed.

After the dishes were served, Lin Hengxian picked up the chopsticks and rummaged through the chicken bowl, found the chicken liver and chicken heart and gave them to Xiulan.

"Eat this, my darling. It's good for your iron and folic acid. Folic acid can promote your child's neurological development." Lin Heng was afraid that Xiulan didn't want to eat it, so he said something cheesy.

Pregnant women are very prone to anemia and folic acid deficiency, and need to take supplements regularly and eat foods rich in folic acid and iron.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Xiulan blushed and picked up the food and ate it.

"There are also peas, which are also rich in folic acid." Lin Heng said again.

Xiulan nodded. Although she didn't know what folic acid Lin Heng was talking about, she believed him unconditionally.

"Dad, what is folic acid?" Xiaoxia asked puzzledly.

"These foods and substances can make you smarter. Xiaoxia, you can also eat more." Lin Heng smiled and picked up two peas for her.

"Xiaoxia likes to eat green peas." Xiaoxia nodded and said while eating.

The pheasant meat tastes good. The pheasants in this season are very fat. The meat is chewy and has a unique flavor.

"I'll kill a black chicken for you in a few days to supplement your nutrition." Lin Heng said with a smile after drinking a sip of rice wine.

Xiulan shook her head and said, "Those black chickens are willing to lay eggs, so keep them. The food we have now is nutritious enough."

Lin Heng patted her hands and said, "Don't worry, I will hatch a batch of chicks for you in the next few days. They will be able to lay eggs again in a few months."

"You hatch it yourself?" Xiulan wondered.

Lin Heng smiled and explained, "It uses a light bulb to provide heat for incubation. The number of eggs that can be hatched at one time is more than that of a hen. I will teach you how to hatch eggs tomorrow, just in case you are bored at home."

The tungsten filament bulbs used these days generate very high heat, so they are very suitable for hatching chicks, and the process is also very simple.

Hearing Lin Heng's words, Xiulan became interested and nodded, "Okay, let me see how you hatch it."

"And chicken won't make you fat, it's just right for you to eat." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan nodded and asked curiously, "Can ducks and geese be hatched this way, too?"

"Yes, as long as it is an egg, it can be hatched. I will teach you once and you will definitely be able to do it." Lin Heng nodded.

After saying that, he stood up to scoop rice. Xiulan cooked very accurately now, and the rice was just enough for the three of them. Both the chicken and the pumpkin tips went well with rice. Xiulan had eaten too much and left some rice for Lin Heng, who ate it all in two bites.

After finishing their meal, they soaked the bowls and went outside in the cool air to digest the food for a while before washing up and going to bed.

Now they have changed to summer quilts, and in a few days they will spread out the cool mats. After telling Xiaoxia a story to sleep, Lin Heng took a deep breath and lay down on the bed.

Xiulan's pregnancy was a great joy to him, but it also meant that he would not be able to have sex for a long time, especially during the early stages of pregnancy.

"What do you think we'll do if we give birth to a daughter this time?" Xiulan hugged Lin Heng as usual and asked anxiously.

Lin Heng turned his head and touched her little face and said with a smile: "Don't worry about these things. I love both men and women. Don't be anxious."

In his previous life, Xiulan gave birth to two children for him, and the second one was a son. But this life is not necessarily the same, not to mention the different pregnancy time, even if the time is the same, the birth will not be the same as in the previous life.

Of course, he hopes to have both a son and a daughter, but it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t have a son, he can continue to have children.

In his heart, he still loves his wife Xiulan more, and children are just the fruits of their love. He will not beat or scold women for giving birth to daughters like those men in the village. In fact, having a son or a daughter depends entirely on the man's luck and has little to do with the woman.

Xiulan leaned on Lin Heng's chest and said, "But I want to give you a son."

"Don't worry. Even if this baby is a daughter, we can just have another one." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Then he explained the B-ultrasound technology to Xiulan. She said that Ancheng Hospital would definitely have the corresponding machine in two or three years. Then she would just have to pay someone to check whether the baby was a boy or a girl.

If everyone is happy with the boy, then the girl can just abort the baby and get pregnant again.

"Are you relieved now?" Lin Heng said.

"I feel relieved." Xiulan nodded softly.

"Then let's take a rest." Lin Heng nodded, took a few deep breaths and fell asleep peacefully.

The next morning, Lin Heng got up early and looked again at the knowledge about pregnancy in the barefoot doctor's manual.

"What are you watching so early?" Xiulan asked curiously after waking up.

"You can take a look too." Lin Heng handed the book to her. He had already read it once, so he read it very quickly.

"Then let me study it slowly for a while." Xiulan nodded, got dressed and got up.

"Don't wear tight clothes in the future. It's good for your body to wear loose clothes." Lin Heng reminded again.

Xiulan agreed: "Okay."

After getting dressed and getting up, the two of them continued to exercise as usual. Even though they were pregnant, they still needed proper exercise. Lin Heng now began to teach Xiaoxia how to exercise.

After the exercise, I brought a bowl of wheat bran and corn porridge to the female musk deer, which was cooked yesterday.

"The little musk deer are so cute!" Xiaoxia wanted to reach out and touch them, but the little musk deer all shrank into the corner and were a little afraid of people.

These guys look very smart and cute. Lin Heng reached out and grabbed one for Xiaoxia to touch. After more contact, they are no longer afraid of people, just like the lambs next to them, they come to you when you call them.

After milking the cows, Lin Heng took Xiaoxia to water the pumpkin, winter melon and cucumber. The vines were now full of small flowers, and the two boxes of bees from Lin Heng's family were actively pollinating. I believe that in a few days there will be more than enough flowers to eat.

After watering the plants, I picked up three eggs.

After returning home, Lin Heng boiled two eggs, and from then on Xiulan and Xiaoxia had one every morning.

"Why don't you cook them yourself? There are so many eggs." Xiulan blamed.

"I like potato pancakes." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"No, I won't cook in the morning anymore. I'll just eat eggs and milk." Xiulan shook her head and added another one.

"I really don't like it." Lin Heng was helpless.

After breakfast, Lin Heng and Xiulan began to count the eggs at home. They were shocked when they counted them.

"We still have more than eighty eggs at home!" Xiulan said in shock.

The eggs at home are buried in the millet. If you don’t turn them out, you really don’t know how many there are.

"It's indeed a lot." Lin Heng nodded. Although the chickens usually lay a lot, they also eat a lot.

In addition to Xiaoxia's daily consumption, they also often fry eggs and bring some to their parents.

"Let's hatch twenty first and see how it goes, and then hatch more later when we're ready." Lin Heng said to Xiulan.

"Okay." Xiulan nodded, and Xiaoxia watched curiously from the side.

Lin Heng took the thirty eggs that he had picked up recently and brought them back to the bedroom. Then he covered the three people with a bed sheet and shone a flashlight on them to check.

"Look, these eggs with little black dots inside are fertilized eggs that can hatch chicks." Lin Heng said as he verified them one by one.

In the end, there were only two infertile eggs without black spots.

"Generally speaking, fertilized eggs like these can be hatched within a month of being laid. It will be useless if it takes longer than that."

After inspecting the eggs and putting them in a basin, Lin Heng asked Xiulan to wash the eggs with warm water while he prepared to connect the light bulb.

Lin Heng found a wooden box for clothes and began to modify it. He laid some insulating cloth around it and then made a small rack for eggs out of bamboo.

After finishing these, he found an electrical switch and connected a light bulb to the box. After connecting it, he first tested it with a 25-watt light bulb.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

After the light bulb was powered on, I put a mug of cold water in the box and covered it with a small blanket. After waiting for half an hour, I put the mercury thermometer in to measure the temperature. It was only 35 degrees, a little low.

Then he changed the light bulb to a 30-watt one, waited an hour and measured the temperature again. It reached 38 degrees, which was the right temperature.

"It's time to start hatching." Lin Heng said to Xiulan who was picking peas outside.

"I want to hatch chicks too." Xiaoxia was the first to run in.

Lin Heng patted her little head and said, "Just watch. When you grow up, I'll let you hatch the chicks yourself."

"Then I want to grow up quickly." Xiaoxia said with her head tilted.

Xiulan brought the eggs and asked curiously, "How do we hatch them next?"

Lin Hengyong took a charcoal pencil and drew a mark on the eggs. This was not superstition, but just to make it easier to distinguish them so that he would not forget to turn the eggs over when turning them over.

"It's very simple. Just put the eggs on the rack at the bottom of the box. Make sure the water doesn't dry up, and then turn them over three or four times a day. Let's put the eggs in now, and turn them over every six hours. That's enough. Turn them over three or four times a day. Turn them over 90 degrees each time. You don't need to turn them over later."

While putting the eggs on the ground, Lin Heng said to Xiulan that he had drawn four bars on the shore where the eggs were placed, marking one, two, three and four. All she had to do was flip one bar up at a time.

"I see." Xiulan nodded, feeling very curious. She had heard people hatch eggs under quilts before, but this was the first time she had seen it done this way.

Xiaoxia said happily: "I understand too."

"Xiaoxia is really smart. She will definitely be able to hatch eggs by herself when she grows up." Lin Heng said, touching her head.

After covering themselves with the quilt, they walked out of the study. It was just noon, and it was still early today. Lin Heng drank a cup of tea and took a rest. He had nothing to do at noon, so he took out a book to read, and answered some questions from Xiulan's barefoot doctor manual.

"Honey, let's delay the physical examination for a few days. The book says it's best to do it a week later."

Xiulan finished reading the book and said to Lin Heng.

"No problem, we can go in a few days." Lin Heng agreed, and Xiulan said, "Then let's go to the hospital this afternoon to pick bamboo shoots. I saw them growing a few days ago."

"Sure." Lin Heng did not restrict Xiulan's freedom. If she had to stay in the house once she got pregnant, she would be suffocated.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun had set, the three of them carried baskets on their backs and went to their own bamboo forest to dig bamboo shoots.

Arriving at Shiban River, the three of them soaked in the river water wearing sandals. The river water was very comfortable at this moment, and the sun was already very hot.

After playing for a while, they came to the bamboo forest. As soon as they entered the bamboo forest, Xiaoxia cheered: "Wow, there are so many bamboo shoots."

"It's so high now, we're too late." Xiulan shook her head.

"There is water here, so it will definitely grow faster than in other places," said Lin Heng.

"Then you guys break them and I'll peel them." Xiulan said, breaking one off casually and using a kitchen knife to peel off the bamboo shoot shell in two moves.

Lin Heng took Xiaoxia to a nearby place to pick bamboo shoots. Xiaoxia wanted to break them but she didn't have the strength to do so. She could only wait for Lin Heng to break them and then she held them and gave them to her mother.

There are many bamboo shoots in the bamboo garden. Lin Heng only breaks those that are less than half a meter long, and the ones that are generally twenty to thirty centimeters long are the most.

When the bamboo shoots were almost broken, I helped to peel them, and finally I brought home two baskets of them. Some of these bamboo shoots were used to make pickled pepper bamboo shoots, and the rest were all used to dry bamboo shoots.

Lin Heng was helping to cut bamboo shoots when Caiyun and Lin's mother pushed open the unlocked door and came in.

"Congratulations, sister-in-law. I brought you cherries that I picked in town." Caiyun ran in with a bag of cherries and said.

"Aunt, I want to eat!" Before Xiulan could say anything, Xiaoxia rushed over and hugged Caiyun.

"Why did you go out to pick bamboo shoots?" Lin's mother blamed Lin Heng a little.

"Are you okay?" Xiulan said with a smile.

"It's better to be careful. What if you fall?" Lin's mother came over and took the kitchen knife from Xiulan's hand to help cut the bamboo shoots. "I'll do it, you go eat the cherries."

"Okay." Xiulan could only agree.

After cutting the bamboo shoots, put them directly into the pot and cook them. Then take them out and soak them in cold water. Take them out to dry in the sun tomorrow.

Then, when Xiulan went to turn the eggs, Lin's mother Caiyun became interested. She curiously went over to watch and listen to Xiulan talk about the egg hatching technique she had just learned from Lin Heng.

The next day, after getting up, Lin Heng went to Hongfeng Mountain to check out the shrimps and then drove to the town. He first checked the situation at the purchasing station and then bought a ton of cement and some sand and gravel.

He even looked for plastic bags for silage storage, but he couldn't find any suitable ones after searching the town.

Although he couldn't find a suitable plastic bag, there were many cherries for sale in the town, so he picked the best ones and bought some to bring back for Xiulan and Xiaoxia.

"Here, I bought some more cherries." Lin Heng drove home and handed the cherries to Xiulan.

Xiulan looked at the scale in the truck bed and asked, "Why did you bring back a scale?"

"It's to measure your weight. Recording this information can help us determine the condition of the fetus." Lin Heng explained with a smile.

"Oh, I see." Xiulan nodded.

Lin Heng parked the car and took the scale back to the house. This was an old-fashioned mechanical scale with weights. Electronic scales were rare in that era.

Lin Heng put the scale against the wall and weighed himself. He weighed 135 kilograms, which was about the right weight for his height of 175 cm. He was neither thin nor fat.

"Dad, I want to use the scale too." Xiaoxia was the second one to stand up.

Lin Heng simply measured her height. She weighed 21 kilograms and was 84 cm tall, both very healthy figures.

The last one is Xiulan, who weighs 108 kilograms, which seems a little thin compared to her height of 168 cm.

"I've gained a lot of weight. I was only 98 kilograms last year," said Xiulan.

"You're not fat at 120 pounds." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"That's too fat." Xiulan shook her head, not accepting herself being that heavy.

Lin Heng didn't know what to say, so he took out his notebook and wrote down the data. Then he said, "Just test it once a week from now on."

"I made fish noodles at noon and it's ready to eat." Xiulan said.

"I haven't eaten it for a long time." Lin Heng said with a smile, and went to the kitchen to bring out the fish noodles and whistle. The icy fish noodles tasted very comfortable.

After dinner, Lin Heng took three large plastic bags and walked towards Hongfeng Mountain. Someone would be transporting cement and sand and gravel in the afternoon.

Walking on the road, the villagers have started planting rice in the past two days, and the early seedlings planted by his family are all green and lush. In two days, they can go catch eels again.

When he arrived at Hongfeng Mountain, he first looked at the fish pond. After the last fertilization and disinfection, the water that originally looked very clear gradually turned green.

After some experiments, he found that the visibility was about 40 centimeters, which was still a little short. However, there was still nearly a month before releasing the shrimp fry, so it should be almost there by then.

After checking the fish pond, Lin Heng came to the warehouse. His father had chopped all the grass today and spread it on the ground to dry.

At noon, Lin's father was sawing wood in the warehouse. When he saw Lin Heng coming over, he smiled and said, "Son, we can put up roofs for the musk deer pen and the pig pen this afternoon. We have enough wood."

"Then we'll start in the afternoon. I went downstairs this morning to buy some cement and sand and gravel, which will be brought over in the afternoon."

Lin Heng said this, turned around to look at the shrimps, then took a sickle to the pasture and cut a few bundles of grass, which he broke into pieces with a lawn mower and put into a plastic bag.

"Son, what are you doing?" Father Lin asked in confusion.

"It's used to make silage, which is used to feed cows and sheep. It's more nutritious than hay." Lin Heng explained to his father.

He is also conducting an experiment now, because silage requires isolation from oxygen, and lactic acid bacteria will ferment the silage to lower its pH value so that it can be preserved for a long time. Without a revolving door machine or vacuum cleaner, he can only use manpower to press the grass tightly.

The plastic bag he used was originally used to pack biscuits. He brought it back from the store. After making them, he sealed them and stored them in the warehouse. As long as there was no rotting after ten days or so, it meant he was successful.

After making three bags of silage, Lin Heng went to help his father. At around 3 o'clock when the sun was a little smaller, he started to build the roof for the pigpen and musk deer pen.

The pig pen is a semi-enclosed type, which only requires a normal roof. The musk deer pen is fully enclosed, just like building a normal house.

The reason for doing this is to prevent the musk deer from escaping. These creatures have very strong jumping abilities and can jump over a wall four or five meters high.

Lin Heng left ventilation holes on the wall, each of which was a brick-sized hole. Even if these musk deer were powerful, they would not be able to escape from here.

The two men had just nailed the rafters and had not yet put down the tiles when the sound of a horn was heard outside.

"The truck drivers are here. I'll ask them to unload the stuff in." Lin Heng said, then got off the roof and went out.

Asking his mother to help sweep the grass on the road aside, Lin Heng went out, opened the gate, and came in with the tractor.

"Wow, your breeding base is well built, so beautiful." Every tractor driver who comes in is shocked.

"It's okay, unload the goods at the innermost part." Lin Heng said, pointing to the cement floor where film paper had already been laid.

"Don't worry, I guarantee it will be done for you." The driver grinned and backed up the car to move the goods.

After a while, the cement was unloaded, and Lin Heng and his father continued to build the roof. In the afternoon, sand and stones were also brought in one after another. All these cost Lin Heng another four hundred yuan.

"It's finally done."

In the evening, Lin Heng looked at the completed roof and took a deep breath.

"The next step is to choose a day to move the musk deer here." Father Lin nodded.

Lin's mother also asked, "Son, when are you going to buy piglets?"

(End of this chapter)