Meng Yuqing picked up the dozen or so eggs and looked at them in the sunlight.
Many of the chicks in these eggs are fully developed, but for some reason they haven't come out.
Several of them stopped developing halfway, and two of them even developed only to the point of having blood streaks and then stopped developing.
Lian also came over and sat on the hay, saying, "Since last night, these cuckoos have started to hatch one after another. I calculated the time. If they are from the same litter, if they haven't come out by now, then they will never come out."
Meng Yuqing held up a fully developed egg and said, "But inside these eggs, they've already grown. I can still feel them moving, they're not dead."
Lian scratched his head, not knowing what to say.
It was the flying orc incubating the duck eggs who spoke up, "They can't break their own eggshells. They'll die sooner or later if they keep staying inside."
"We can help it from the outside." Meng Yuqing poked the egg in his hand.
"Eh - but they can't even break their own eggshells. Even if we force them out, they will be weaker than their peers and won't be able to survive." Lian also picked up an egg.
If their flying orc partners are pregnant with orc cubs, they can lay two to three eggs in one litter.
However, not every egg can successfully hatch. Their instinct tells them that even if they help a cub that cannot hatch on its own, that cub will be much weaker than a cub that hatches normally.
Some even die within a few days of coming out.
If they are lucky enough not to die, as they grow older, the difference between them and normal orcs who have just hatched will become larger and larger. Their beast form will be only one-third the size of other normal orcs, similar to some small wild beasts.
"But these are livestock, aren't they? They are not orcs, nor are they wild beasts that need to survive outside. All we want is for there to be enough of them for us to eat, and for them to continue laying eggs when they grow up." Meng Yuqing said.
Lian and the flying orc frowned and thought about it. It seemed to be the case. Birds in the wild need to survive on their own when they grow up, and orcs also need strong strength.
Breaking out of the shell is the first hurdle for them to prove themselves.
But livestock are different. They are very weak to begin with, and no matter how weak they are, they can't be that weak. Even if they die soon after you help them hatch, it won't be a loss for them. They can survive and grow up and continue to lay eggs.
And these are not orc eggs, nor are they their own eggs.
After figuring this out, Lian said softly, "Why don't we give it a try?"
The flying orc also nodded, then he stretched his neck to look at the movement here. It was the first time they saw someone helping to hatch, and they were very curious.
Meng Yuqing took out a corner knife and carefully tapped the eggshell.
The little chick inside felt the movement outside and exerted some force inside.
Meng Yuqing knocked a crack in the eggshell and carefully peeled off a piece. The chick inside struggled even harder and soon pierced the membrane with its beak.
After Meng Yuqing knocked out a few more cracks, he put the egg down. This little chick was pretty good. With this much help, it should be able to come out by itself.
"Is that all?" Lian looked at the egg.
"It's almost done. Let it try again on its own. If it doesn't work, I'll go and help." As he said that, Meng Yuqing picked up the second egg.
The second egg seemed to be not yet fully cooked, as some of the nutrients inside had not been completely absorbed. Meng Yuqing carefully placed the egg in Xuan's hand and said, "Hold it, don't pour it out. This needs to stay in the egg for a while, and the nutrients haven't been fully absorbed yet."
After making small holes in all the formed eggs, the chick in the first eggshell came out smoothly.
It looked a little weak. Chain and the flying orc frowned at the chick for a long time before Chain spoke up, "It's a little weaker than the other Cluckers that came out on their own, but not by much. It should be able to survive."
He sighed as he spoke, "If only our eggs were only this weaker when hatching with external help."
The flying orc also said, "Yes, but ours is much worse from the moment they lay the eggs. But it's also good. We flying orcs have a higher chance of giving birth to two cubs at a time than you do."
Xuan and Meng Yuqing stayed here until evening.
In the end, three chicks that helped hatch died, but the chick from the second egg survived.
Because Meng Yuqing cracked the egg at the chick's tail, the chick directly pecked through the eggshell at its head when it absorbed the egg's liquid and was ready to break out of the shell, instead of relying on the crack knocked out by Meng Yuqing.
Lian looked at the scene in amazement, "Does this count as our help, or does it come out on its own?"
"Half and half."
Meng Yuqing scratched his head. He actually didn't know how to calculate it.
He thought that the chick was simply not moving because it was not time for it to hatch.
It's not that it doesn't have the ability to break out of the shell, but I feel like we're doing it a disservice.
The little chick nestled obediently in Xuan's hands, chirping from time to time.
Meng Yuqing looked at the little chick, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's take this cackling beast away and raise it."
Xuan looked at Meng Yuqing, then looked at the little chicken in his palm.
"Okay, keep it."
He knew that the way Meng Yuqing raised the animal was different from the way other domestic animals were raised. It should be the kind of pet that Meng Yuqing had told him about.
Although he didn't quite understand the behavior of keeping a "pet", Xuan felt that since Meng Yuqing liked it, it would be okay to keep a little thing like this.
It's a small one, with no attack power, but it still makes Meng Yuqing happy.
Before leaving, Meng Yuqing said to Lian, "They're pretty easy to take care of. Just make sure they're warm and don't freeze to death. Feed them some vegetable leaves or insects, and put them in a box and take them out to the ground in the sun. They'll find food on their own in the grass."
Thinking that the bugs in this world were larger than those in the modern world and were beyond the ability of these little chickens to handle, he added, "As for bugs, it's best to kill them and feed them to them. They... may not be able to defeat them now. Don't feed them poisonous bugs either, as they may not be able to withstand the toxins."
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