Chapter 111 The Happy Life of Chickens and Ducks 1
Wang Cuihua felt sorry for the chicks and ducklings in the cave who ate so much food every day, so she suggested letting them out to find their own food.
"Today I asked Ziyi and godfather to fence off the woods next to the bamboo forest to raise these chicks. There are big chickens in the bamboo forest, and we can't let them in. There are too many of them and there won't be enough insects for them to eat. I want to put the ducklings in the pool at the entrance of the cave over there, but they also have to be fenced off. Let's do this in the next two days. I'll go discuss it with Ziyi." Yike didn't waste any more time after he finished speaking, and went straight out of the hidden cave to find Ziyi.
"Mom, where is Ziyi?" When Yi Ke didn't see Ziyi in the cave, he went to the kitchen to ask Zhang Yuling who was cooking.
"I went downstairs to water the flowers you dug up." Zhang Yuling answered while washing dishes, "We can eat now after setting the table. Ask them to come back for breakfast."
"Okay! Mom, you've worked hard! I just heard from godmother that you got up before dawn to cook breakfast. You work so hard! Thank you so much!" Yi Ke couldn't help but say when he thought of godmother Wang Cuihua's words.
"Silly child, if I don't get up early, how can everyone have breakfast? How can we have the energy to work without breakfast? If I get up at dawn to cook breakfast like everyone else, we will definitely not have enough time. There is no way around it. Women in every household go through this. Getting up before dawn to cook breakfast allows men and children to have hot meals at dawn, and breakfast keeps the body healthy. As soon as they get up, I tell them that they can have breakfast, but I still have to run out to water the flowers I planted last night. Go, call them back to have breakfast, so that they can do their own things after breakfast." Zhang Yuling waved her hand and went to call people.
"Ziyi? Ziyi?" Yike shouted from the watchtower, "Godfather? Godfather?"
"Hey! He's down there." The loud voice of godfather Du Jiankang came up.
"Godfather, it's time for dinner. Is Ziyi here?" Yike asked loudly.
"Yes, all are here. They'll be up soon." Du Jiankang's voice came up.
As soon as the mission was completed, he ran back into the hidden cave to call his godmother Wang Cuihua.
"Godmother, it's time for dinner." Yi Ke shouted happily.
"It will be fixed soon. It's just some pig manure." Wang Cuihua answered while sweeping the pig manure into the dung bucket, and did not forget to drive Yi Ke away, "Get out and don't come over here. The pig manure here stinks."
"Then I'll help mother set the table. Please come out quickly." Yi Ke obediently left the cave and went to help his mother Zhang Yuling.
"Mom, let me help you." Yike ran to Zhang Yuling and said.
"Okay, bring out the dishes and set the table." Zhang Yuling didn't stop moving.
Yike hummed a tune while setting the table.
Today's breakfast is a plate of cold cucumbers, a plate of cold houttuynia cordata, a plate of braised pig ears, a dozen steamed sweet potatoes, a large bowl of corn buns, and a pot of white rice and red bean porridge. When everyone was present, they gathered around the table and started eating. Yi Ke brought up the idea of building a chicken coop and a duck coop at the table. Everyone agreed and decided to work together. With more people, the work would be faster and they could build the chicken coop and the duck coop in one day. After discussing what to do today, everyone carefully finished the food on the table. The bamboo forest is on the right side of the cliff. The area is not very large, only enough for the big chickens. In order to circle the woods next to the bamboo forest, Ziyi decided to check the environment of that woods first. The last big snake was killed in that woods, and he wondered if there were any more big snakes. Ziyi and Du Qingcang each went in one direction to check, while Yike and Du Jiankang went in another direction to check. The area where Yike and Du Jiankang were walking was wider and the terrain was lower. There were no tall trees, but only some bushes, some sea buckthorn, thorny water thorn fruit, sour March bubble, fragrant and sweet multiflora, and bright red Schisandra chinensis. It was a pity that these wild fruits had not yet reached maturity, otherwise Yike might not have been able to move forward. I didn’t come to the woods behind last year, so I didn’t know there were so many wild fruits here. It’s a pity that I didn’t come to pick them last year. Yike and Du Jiankang felt like they had been walking for a long time. They found wild fruits and many footprints along the way. After observation, it can be determined that these are not the footprints of large wild beasts or wolves. There should be more pheasants, hares or other small animals here. I just don’t know if there are any weasels, foxes, etc., otherwise I really wouldn’t dare to put the chicks here, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough to fill the weasels’ teeth.
As they walked further, they heard the sound of running water. Yi Ke said in surprise, "Brother Jiankang, did you hear that? The sound of running water. There is a stream over here."
"I heard it. Let's go and take a look."
The two men quickly cut through the bushes to make a path over there. When they reached the stream, their clothes were covered with many water thorn fruits.
The surface of the stream was covered with a layer of fallen leaves. Yellow, gray and black fallen leaves stuck to the surface of the stream. The flow of the stream was not strong. The weak stream could do nothing about these fallen leaves and could only let them stick to the surface of the stream, silently shedding tears underneath. If it weren't for the sound of flowing water, such a hidden stream would be completely overlooked.
The small stream flows quietly in the winding terrain. There are red, green, yellow and other unknown flowers and plants growing on both sides of the stream. There are some big rocks in the middle of the stream or on the edge of the stream. Some of the rocks are concave in the middle like washbasins; some of the rocks are like turtles with their heads sticking out; some of the rocks are flat like cribs; …
Yike didn't understand why there were so many big rocks here, but it didn't affect her good mood.
"Brother Jiankang, let's move the fallen leaves on the surface of the stream to the shore and see if there are any fish or shrimps in this stream?" Yike found a branch and began to sweep the fallen leaves on the stream.
After the two of them worked hard, the fallen leaves on the surface of the stream disappeared, and the hidden stream finally revealed its true appearance: the stream was not deep, and the sand and gravel at the bottom of the stream had been washed by the stream water for a long time, and each grain could be clearly seen. The small fishes and shrimps were swimming around happily, while the naughty ones hid under the big rocks and refused to come out no matter how much the fish were called. One can kick the small stones on the shore into the stream, splashing ripples.
"Sister Yike, how about we go upstream along the stream? See if this stream is the same as the one on the orchard side?" Du Jiankang suggested.
"Okay! I think it's most likely the same one." Yi Ke said confidently.
So the two of them simply walked upstream on the stream. The water was just above their ankles anyway, and as they walked they pushed the fallen leaves on the water to the sides.
The stream is really narrow, not even as wide as two arms stretched out, only a little more than half an arm's width at most.
Yike and Du Jiankang were wading through the water when they suddenly heard a loud noise coming from upstream.
"Could it be Ziyi?" Du Jiankang guessed.
"Ziyi, is that you?" Yike shouted.
"It's me." Ziyi's voice came from upstream, and soon Ziyi was seen walking towards him on the stream.
"Yike, why are you walking in the water? The water is so cold, you'll easily catch a cold." Ziyi came over, picked up Yike and walked towards the bank of the stream. He didn't put Yike on the shore until he reached the shore.
"The creek here is much wider, half as wide as where we just came from." Yike said as he looked at the wider creek.
"I just observed that the source of this stream should be from the paradise. Have you found anything?" Ziyi said as he wiped Yike's feet with his socks.
"We don't have many big trees over there, but there are a lot of sea buckthorns, and a lot of wild fruits, such as water thorn fruit, March bubble, and Schisandra chinensis. There are a lot of chicken paw prints and rabbit footprints on the ground, so there must be pheasants and hares. The terrain over there is flat, with few trees and a small stream, so we can raise chickens and ducks, as long as we cut down some of the bushes." Yike introduced in detail the places he and Du Jiankang had visited.
"That's a good place. My place is close to the mountains and there are many trees. It's not suitable for raising chickens and ducks because there's not enough sunlight. I think my godfather's place is probably not as good as the place you see." Ziyi thought for a while and said.
"So should we go back or wait for my dad?" Du Jiankang asked.
"Go back, cut bamboo and weave long bamboo strips, and use them to enclose the place where you want to raise chickens. In the future, the chickens and ducks will find their way to the chicken coop and duck coop by themselves, so there will be no need to enclose it. Let's go, go back the way you came so I can take a look too." Ziyi said.
The three of them returned along the same path that Yike and Du Jiankang had taken, but this time Yike was carried across the stream by Ziyi.
The three of them returned to the bamboo forest, and Du Qingcang also returned to the bamboo forest. He briefly explained the situation in his direction. In the end, everyone agreed that the direction where Yi Ke and Du Jiankang were was the most suitable for raising chickens because there was a stream there, and the ducks did not have to be sent to the pond on the other side of the orchard.
Ziyi and two other men chopped bamboo and broke it into strips. Yi Ke could go back and ask his mother Zhang Yuling and godmother Wang Cuihua to help weave bamboo strips. The width of the bamboo strips used to surround the chickens only needs to be about 60 to 70 centimeters. The gaps between the strips cannot be too large, as long as the chicks and ducks cannot get out. It does not need to be as dense as a bamboo mat. Bamboo strips can be woven as long as they are broken into suitable sizes.
There is strength in numbers, and we completed the enclosure in just one day. I saw pieces of bamboo strips tied to tree stumps, and some were tied with shrubs. Only in the stream were bamboo tubes inserted directly into the stream. The bamboo tubes were hammered into the bottom of the stream with a hammer. The two ends of the stream were divided, and the stream water could flow. The ducklings could play and splash in the water instead of running away with the current. On the opposite bank of the stream, there are also bamboo tubes or sticks inserted and surrounded by bamboo strips.
The area for chickens and ducks has been fenced off, extending from the bamboo forest to the creek. The entire open area has been fenced off, so there will be enough space for thousands of chickens and ducks to move around.
"We will let the chickens and ducks in tomorrow. At most we will have to gather them up and put them back in the chicken coop in the bamboo forest in the evening of the next two or three days. They will go back on their own after that. We won't have to feed them three meals a day, which would waste a lot of food," said Wang Cuihua happily.
"Yes, there are so many insects and wild fruits here for them to eat. We can just feed them at night." Zhang Yuling also said.
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