While Ya Ya was drinking rice porridge, Qiao An'an learned online how to hatch chicks.
She read in the book that chicks don't make a loud sound, but when they grow up, they become very loud, especially roosters whose crowing can be heard for a kilometer or two. However, even if she raised a rooster, the hen wouldn't fertilize it. Fortunately, the book said that she could make a neck collar for the rooster to reduce the sound of its crowing.
She's going to give it a try.
Considering that these are extraordinary times and the internet could be cut off at any time, she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to download anything without internet access, so she opened the internet and downloaded "Livestock Breeding Guide", "Postpartum Care of Sows", and "Prevention of Common Livestock Diseases".
I also found a few classic animated films, movies, and TV series and slowly downloaded them using a download manager.
She wanted to find some handy weapons, but the road outside the courtyard was full of zombies, so she didn't dare to go out easily.
To prevent Song Chi from one day leading his whole family to seize her yard, Qiao An'an even downloaded a set of women's martial arts techniques online. Only after finishing all this did she begin to hatch the chicks.
Following the instructions, she found a cardboard box, lined the bottom with old clothes, arranged the eggs neatly inside, covered the top of the box with a cloth, and finally found a used incandescent light bulb from a renovation, plugged it in, and placed it in the box to warm the eggs.
To make it easier to observe the eggs, Qiao An'an specially cut a large opening on one side of the cardboard box and covered the opening with plastic wrap.
After doing all this, Qiao An'an called Ya Ya over: "These are baby chicks. How about Ya Ya raises them after they hatch in a while?"
Three-year-old Yaya is full of curiosity about all life.
She stared excitedly at the eggs in the cardboard box: "Can they really turn into baby chicks? How long will Yaya have to wait before she sees a chick?"
Qiao An'an nodded affirmatively. She had already checked the information. The incubation period for chickens is about 21 days. After the eggs are placed in the tray, they are exposed to an incandescent light for 7 days, and then chicks will hatch.
All the eggs in her house were put on a plate: "Seven more days."
After preparing for hatching the chicks, I went downstairs to wash Ya Ya's baby bottles, tidied up the kitchen, and washed and dried the clothes they had changed into yesterday with well water (the washing machine was blocked by the iron door and couldn't be used. Actually, even if the washing machine wasn't blocked, Qiao An'an wouldn't dare to use it. She bought a front-loading washing machine, which was very noisy, and she was afraid it would attract zombies).
After finishing all that, it was lunchtime again.
Qiao An'an took out a piece of boiled meat and prepared to make garlic-flavored pork belly. She sliced the meat into thin slices, laid them flat on a plate, and put them in a steamer to steam.
There was still a lot of porridge left, so to avoid wasting it, she decided not to cook rice for lunch. Instead, she scooped the porridge into a bowl, placed it under the steamer, and put a steamed bun on the side of the plate before turning on the heat.
While it was heating up, she washed some bok choy and stir-fried it with the lard she had rendered yesterday.
After the porridge, steamed buns, and meat in the pot were heated up, she added some minced garlic, heated some salad oil and soy sauce, and poured it over the white meat, instantly filling the air with fragrance.
This meal had both meat and vegetables.
Qiao An'an broke off a small half of a steamed bun for Ya Ya, and because she was afraid that Ya Ya was a picky eater, she specially put vegetables and meat inside the steamed bun.
We usually eat lunch at 11:30, but today we were preparing things to hatch the chicks and it was almost 1:00. I guess she was starving, because Yaya ate half a steamed bun and half a bowl of porridge.
Qiao An'an finished all the remaining steamed buns, porridge, and vegetables.
Wash the dishes and chopsticks.
I just took Yaya upstairs to see her favorite picture book.
But Ya Ya is most interested in hatching chicks now. In order not to miss the moment when the chicks hatch, she has stopped reading her favorite picture books. Apart from eating, sleeping and occasionally accompanying Qiao An'an to the yard to water the Shanghai bok choy and Chinese cabbage that have had their outer leaves removed, Ya Ya guards the cardboard box almost every step of the way.
The Shanghai bok choy and Chinese cabbage in the yard are thriving.
Except for a few that didn't survive, the others have grown quite a bit, and are a beautiful, vibrant green.
They are just too small.
Even though Qiao An'an and Ya Ya had eaten all the vegetables in the refrigerator, Qiao An'an still couldn't bear to eat them.
Fortunately, some small dandelions and shepherd's purse grew in the lawn. Qiao An'an dug up some dandelions and shepherd's purse, blanched them, sprinkled them with salt, and mixed them with minced garlic, soy sauce, and MSG. This was enough to meet Qiao An'an and Ya Ya's vitamin intake.
The seventh day of the zombie outbreak.
When Qiao An'an changed the water for the crucian carp in the swimming pool, she noticed that one of them had a flat belly, but she couldn't see any small fish in the pool.
At first, Qiao An'an thought that the fish fry might be too small and she hadn't looked carefully enough to see them, but she walked around the entire swimming pool and still didn't see a single fish.
This is very wrong.
To figure out what was going on, Qiao An'an carefully looked through the section on female fish care in the "Aquaculture Guide." After reading it, she realized that fish would attack their own kind when food was scarce.
Newly laid fish eggs, as well as newly hatched fry with weak abilities to avoid danger, are the primary targets of adult fish.
In nature, crucian carp lay their eggs in crevices of rocks, among algae, and in the mud and sand at the bottom of riverbeds to avoid being preyed upon by other fish.
The pool she used to raise fish was completely bare, with nothing for the fry to hide in. So the fish eggs, as soon as they hatched, or before they even had a chance to hatch into fry, became food for the adult fish.
If this continues, the eggs laid by the remaining two female fish will also be eaten.
To prevent the fish eggs from being eaten.
Qiao An'an decided to renovate the swimming pool.
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