Chapter 113 Male and Female Chickens
Wang Cuihua thought to herself, people came here because they couldn't make ends meet outside. Now that they have land, they don't even have to buy food outside, so why should they go out?
Yi Ke didn't want to discuss the issue of whether to go out or not with everyone. She just wanted everyone to follow her way.
"Here's my plan. Except for the eggs we eat, the rest will be used to hatch chicks and ducklings. I will make cooked food for sale, except for the eggs I keep for hatching chicks and ducklings. For example, chicken feet can be made into pickled pepper chicken feet, which means putting chicken feet, pickled peppers, ginger, star anise and Sichuan pepper together and cooking them. Of course, they can't be overcooked. Take them out and rinse them with cold water, then soak them in cold boiled water for an hour, and finally pour them into the pickled pepper water and seal them. It's best to freeze them in the refrigerator and take them out when you want to sell them. Generally, this can be at least It can be stored for three or four days, and no more than six or seven days at most. If it is frozen, it can be stored for at least 20 days. We can make ice ourselves, so freezing is not a problem. Other parts of the chicken can also be used to make salt-baked chicken. This is just one or two methods, and there are many other methods. Just like duck, we can make braised duck, and also put it in the refrigerator to freeze it, and take it out to sell when it is ready. "Yike finished speaking in one breath, and when she stopped, she found that everyone had stopped eating and listened to her, and smiled awkwardly and said, "Eat, or the food will get cold later."
"Yike, what's wrong with your brain? We haven't thought of any solution, but you have thought of so many ideas at once." Zhang Yuling looked at Yike in surprise and said.
"Our Yike is very smart. Nothing can stump her." Wang Cuihua was mysteriously confident in Yike. As long as you can do it, you will succeed.
"What about packaging? What kind of packaging do you plan to use?" Ziyi asked the key question.
In the past, packaging was a trivial issue, but in this day and age there are neither small packaging bags nor packaging boxes. If you go to a factory to order custom canned food, not only will you not make money, you may even end up losing money. So Yike had to settle for the next best thing and stretched out his claws towards the bamboo forest again.
"Put it in a bamboo tube, use wood as a stopper, and then seal the gap with wax." Yi Ke said with a smile. I felt very happy when I thought that selling those delicious foods in bamboo tubes could not only solve the problem of meat shortage in society, but also earn me a lot of money.
"This is a good idea. It can be used not only for chickens and ducks, but also for other meats. It's really smart! Tell us what plans you have. Let us listen to them and have fun." Du Qingcang said happily.
"My godfather is right. I want to raise a lot of pigs so that I can make canned pork. I believe it will sell well. The more pigs I raise, the more pig manure I will have, which can be made into organic fertilizer. I can use it myself or sell it." Yike thought about the fact that farmland was basically short of fertilizer, so he expressed his idea.
"Organic fertilizer, what is it used for? Is it the same chemical fertilizer sold in the commune outside?" Ziyi didn't understand this time.
"They are both the same and different. How should I put it? Organic fertilizer is also a kind of fertilizer like chemical fertilizer. Chemical fertilizer can be quickly absorbed by crops, while organic fertilizer is absorbed more slowly by crops. Using too much chemical fertilizer will harm crops and will have little effect on improving soil texture and increasing long-term soil fertility. Although organic fertilizer is slower, it can change soil texture and maintain soil fertility longer. In short, organic fertilizer is a better fertilizer than chemical fertilizer." The more Yi Ke talked, the more he felt that the organic fertilizer he made and sold would have a better market. It is understood that it is still difficult for production teams outside to buy chemical fertilizer.
But Yi Ke didn't want to earn this money, she wanted to help the production team outside. Since she has traveled through time, she has to do something.
"Godfather, Ziyi, what do you say that I tell the captain of Beishan Village about the method of making organic fertilizer? In this way, their fields will have fertilizer, the crops will grow well, and they won't go hungry. We will then be able to gain a firm foothold in their village, and if anything happens in the future, the people in their village will remember our kindness and help us. Do you think what I'm thinking is right? Is it feasible?" Yi Ke thought for a while and said again.
"I think it's okay. If you want to live in the village, it's good to have good relationships with the members." Du Qingcang said.
"Let's discuss it with Dad when he comes back. Let's try doing it ourselves first. After all, we don't know the details until we try it ourselves." Ziyi said to Yike with admiration.
"Okay, then the sooner the better. We can start doing it tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll do it tomorrow."
The dinner lasted for almost two hours, and everyone was discussing enthusiastically what to do next.
The next day, Ziyi and Du Qingcang got up early and went to check the chicken and duck farm to see if the noose they set up yesterday had caught any prey. Du Jiankang helped his mother feed the chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep and rabbits, while Zhang Yuling prepared breakfast in the kitchen. When Yike got up at six o'clock, he was the last one to get up. Yike couldn't help but sigh that people in this era are really hardworking.
After washing his face and rinsing his mouth, Yike gulped down a large glass of boiled water, and then ran around the medicine drying yard. Du Jiankang came back from feeding a dozen wild boars in the woods and started running with Yi Ke. After running, the two of them did a set of boxing, and both of them were sweating profusely.
Ziyi and Du Qingcang came back, each carrying a bunch of pheasants, and there were rabbits moving in their backpacks.
"Godfather, what a great harvest!" Yike counted the pheasants in the hands of the two men. There were nine pheasants in total, three roosters and six hens.
"Yes, I didn't expect there were so many pheasants and rabbits there. Every trap caught a pheasant. The same went for the pits. A nest of rabbits fell into one of the pits. Hahahaha!" Du Qingcang laughed excitedly.
"Do we still need to maintain these?" Ziyi asked.
"No, let's keep them all and eat them. They won't fit in. Let's experiment with the rabbit meat first and make canned rabbit meat to see how long it can be preserved." Yike said.
"Okay, then we'll deal with the dead ones first and eat them today, and deal with the living ones tonight."
"Well, after breakfast, let's go send the chicks and ducklings to the chicken farm, and then start making fertilizer." Two roosters died, but no rabbits died. Ziyi and Du Qingcang went to pluck the chicken feathers and process the chicken entrails. Yike and Du Jiankang sent the living ones to the hidden cave. There was a small chicken coop in the cave, which was used to store the pheasants and rabbits that had just been caught.
Wang Cuihua has already fed the chickens, ducks, pigs, etc. in the cave, and is now cleaning it.
"Godmother, look, we caught a lot of pheasants and rabbits today!" Yi Ke happily held the chicken in his hand high up to show Wang Cuihua. The pheasant fluttered and dropped feathers all over Yi Ke's face. Yi Ke spat a few times and cursed with a smile: "You are still so arrogant when you are about to die. Be careful or I will cut you into pieces."
Pheasant: You talk as if our lives can be saved. You just said that you will deal with us tonight.
"Do you want to raise them or eat them? If you want to raise them, you don't need to put them in that pen. I'll put them in the bamboo forest with the big chickens." Wang Cuihua said as she came out of the pigsty, which had been cleaned.
"Yes, I want to eat chicken. Haha! We have wild ginseng at home. I can stew chicken with ginseng and ask mom to cook it in the evening so that we can all have a tonic. Hehe!" Yi Ke laughed happily and felt happy at the thought of eating.
"There are some vegetable leaves there. Throw them in to feed them. Don't let them get hungry and become skinny."
"I'll get it." Du Jiankang ran over, got it and threw it into the pen. The pheasants and rabbits, still in shock, ran around in the pen, trying to escape. It’s a pity that this chicken coop is specially designed to lock up such disobedient chickens. The fence was very sturdy and high, so the pheasant couldn't fly out even if it wanted to, especially since its wings had been clipped. The same goes for rabbits. They dig hard at the ground with their paws, but unfortunately the ground here is all stone.
"Let's go, forget about them and go have breakfast. Godmother, let's go." Yike took his godmother's hand and walked out. Du Jiankang followed behind and felt warm in his heart when he saw Yi Ke and his mother being so close.
Today's breakfast is a plate of cabbage rolls and steamed meat. I told Zhang Yuling the method and she quickly learned how to make it. Zhang Yuling is very talented in cooking. She can make many dishes just by describing the general idea verbally.
In addition to the steamed cabbage and meat rolls, there is also a plate of sweet and sour shredded radish and a large plate of sweet potato pancakes, paired with millet porridge. The combination of meat and vegetables is neither shabby nor wasteful, and is nutritious. Such breakfast is not necessarily available even in the families of city cadres outside the mountains.
After breakfast, everyone took big baskets and went to the hidden cave. Everyone worked together to catch chickens, while Yike and the two mothers were responsible for identifying the males and females, because from now on this kind of work would be the job of these women. Ziyi and Du Qingcang were responsible for sending the sorted chicks and ducklings to the chicken and duck farm. Soon the chickens and ducks were divided into male and female and all sent to the chicken and duck farm.
"It turns out that it is so easy to distinguish between male and female. Yike is so smart. We have raised chickens all our lives and still don't know how to tell them apart. Yike is just a little kid, but he came up with this idea." After sending the chicks and ducklings away, my uncle went out to prepare digging holes for making organic fertilizer, chatting as he walked. Zhang Yuling couldn't help but sigh.
"Yike, do you know how to tell which eggs can hatch chicks?" Du Jiankang was curious about how much Yike knew, so he asked a random question and was glared at by his father.
"Of course you can! Hold the eggs up to the light or the sun. If there is a shadow inside, it means chicks can be hatched. If there is no shadow, there is no need for the hen to hatch the chicks, and you will have to eat them yourself." Yi Ke answered without hesitation.
"Can you tell whether the chick inside the incubating egg is alive? When I was a child, my mother would let the hen incubate chicks and the chicks would often die in the eggshell." Wang Cuihua couldn't help but ask when she recalled the heartache her mother felt when she saw the chicks die in the eggshell when she was a child.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
