In fact, the biggest challenge now is to wait until next month when the white mycelium fills the entire bottle for cultivation. The temperature needs to be maintained at around 13-15 degrees.
Next month will be the real summer. Although the summer now is not as hot as it will be later, with only a few days exceeding 30 degrees, it is still difficult to get the temperature below 15 degrees.
So when she built the mushroom house, she had someone dig a semi-basement, one floor above ground and one floor underground. For this basement, the cost of building the mushroom house doubled.
Why is it a semi-basement? Because there's a row of windows above the horizon, allowing light in and ventilation. But once the windows are closed, the river is right next to it. This basement is extremely cold and humid.
The original oyster mushrooms and golden mushrooms were also moved underground. The culture medium was being boiled in the pot, so she had some free time to clean the basement.
There is no way. Although we are growing mushrooms, mushrooms are most afraid of bacteria. Once infected, this strain of mushrooms will be useless.
Due to the economic and technological limitations of the times, she cannot afford any sterile equipment and can only rely on manual labor.
From sterilization to cooling, and then to inoculation, the day was almost over. Chen Chunhua went home to eat a meal in the middle, and basically moved around the mushroom house for the rest of the time. She wore a mask when entering the mushroom house, and went out of the mushroom house to get some fresh air when she felt suffocated.
She had been going in and out all day, and even though it was only early summer, she was sweating all over.
It was not until the evening that Lin Yulan came to call her, saying that the chickens had arrived and Liuni was putting them in the cages, that she rushed over again.
The distance from the west to the east of the village is really not a short one. She rode the tricycle with Lin Yulan for almost 10 minutes. When they arrived, they heard chattering all over the yard.
The ducks and geese that were still raised outside were the biggest enemies. They quacked and wanted to rush over to peck at the new arrivals, but Liu Ni whizzed them away with a bamboo pole.
"Aunt! Mom! Hurry up and carry the cage in!"
The delivery driver helped Chen Chunhua and Lin Yulan get the chickens, big and small, into the coop, and then began unloading the equipment at the back. Chen Chunhua asked Liu Ni to ride her tricycle to the newly opened shop at the village entrance to buy a bottle of soda.
He gave the driver a bottle of soda and the balance due to the breeder farm. "Thank you, Master!"
Soda was not a particularly expensive item, but the driver felt happy taking it. He said happily, "You're welcome," and asked Chen Chunhua to check if she had left anything behind before he drove out of the village.
Chen Chunhua bought a large feed mixer, so she no longer had to mix feed manually. She also installed the A-shaped stepped cage racks, the manure trays, the water troughs, and the feeding troughs, and then she could house four chickens in a cage.
The original native chickens and the newly arrived breeding chickens were all placed in this way. For the 1,000 chicks, Chen Chunhua pulled out the iron wires from several cages and weaved them together to make a large cage that ran through the shape of an A, and then locked up 50 chicks in each cage.
After the new chicken coop is built, they should have grown a lot bigger and can continue to be kept in cages of four.
Standing at the door of the chicken coop again, I suddenly felt different.
When the chicken coop was first built, there were only two or three hundred chickens, and I thought it was too big. But when these chickens came in today, I suddenly felt that the coop was too small.
"With so many chicks, by this time next year I'm afraid I'll be using baskets to carry money, hahaha." Lin Yulan couldn't stop laughing.
She was just a salaried employee, but she was happy to see it. After all, her bosses were her sister-in-law and daughter. She was happy no matter who made money.
"Don't be so happy. Hurry up and give the chickens some water and feed. They just came from a long distance and they might not be able to acclimate to the local climate. If one dies, it will be our loss."
In fact, dozens of chicks have died, but because the breeding farm donated an extra hundred chicks, there are still 1,032 alive, which is more than expected.
Chen Chunhua mixed the feed, Lin Yulan poured water, and Liu Ni checked the mental state of the chickens one by one, serving them like their ancestors.
"I asked them if they bought 15-day-old chicks. In two weeks, they will need to be vaccinated with fowl pox vaccine and Newcastle disease F-strain water vaccine. I've asked about these two vaccines and they're available in the provincial capital. I'll buy some and vaccinate them all."
"Chickens also need to be vaccinated?" Lin Yulan was a little stunned. She had only heard that newborn babies needed to be vaccinated, but she had never heard that chickens also needed to be vaccinated.
Although she has been helping out here for over half a year, the chickens used to be free-range, so they were the kind that could survive if they could, but there was nothing they could do if they couldn't. They could only do their best to clean up the poultry's excrement, pour water and feed at regular times, and remove the eggs in a timely manner.
Now this new batch of chickens need to be vaccinated?
"Of course they have to be vaccinated. Poultry, like humans, are animals and can get sick. Some of these diseases are contagious. If one chicken gets sick, it's very likely to infect the entire coop. Even the ducks outside, the loss would be significant."
While observing the chickens, Liu Ni caught the few that looked listless, put them outside, and fed them water and food manually.
"Not only do we need to vaccinate them, but we also need to pay attention to whether they are getting enough nutrition. If they lack vitamins, the chickens will become paralyzed."
Liu Ni’s long time in breeding courses was not in vain. Not only will she graduate from junior high school this summer, but she will also finish this round of breeding courses at night school. All that’s left is practice.
She was very confident in the knowledge in her notebook.
Lin Yulan distributed the feed that Chen Chunhua poured out of the mixer to one trough after another, and the smile lines on her face were almost wrinkled into chrysanthemums.
"Okay, okay, you are all professionals. I will just follow your instructions. When to vaccinate them, when to supplement their nutrition, I will just do my job as you say."
"I'm worried that the chickens will grow bigger and bigger, and there will be more of them. The three of us may not be able to handle them all."
Chen Chunhua held the blender in her hand and looked at the rows of cages in the house. She felt that she still had to hire people. After all, she also had to manage the mushroom house. Before, the mushroom house and the chicken coop were together, and the three of them were watching over both sides.
Now that they were split up, with so many chickens, Lin Yulan and Liu Ni had to focus on this area. The contract Liu Ni had signed with her was about a share of the chicken coop's profits, so she couldn't be asked to run back and forth between the two.
"Why not wait until autumn? This summer's chicks probably won't lay eggs yet, and the free-range chickens will be sold slowly over the next few months. We still need to figure out how to raise the eggs from the breeder hens."
I won't be going to school anymore, so the three of us can just keep an eye on things and we'll be able to handle it."
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