Chapter 116 Artificial Incubation
After the apprenticeship banquet, Zhou Yimin returned home with his grandfather, while Chen Baishu and Zhou Daqiu continued to treat the elderly in the village.
Zhou Yimin took a nap, and after waking up, he went to the mountain to check the progress of the construction.
After only two days, wooden stakes had been erected at the foot of the mountain, connected by branches, like a fence.
There is no barbed wire, so this is the only way.
"Sixteenth brother! (Sixteenth uncle)"
Seeing Zhou Yimin, Zhou Zhihong and others greeted them one after another.
Zhou Yimin distributed cigarettes to them and reminded them not to litter cigarette butts as this might cause forest fires.
Zhou Zhihong and others wanted to laugh. Where are the cigarette butts? Who would be willing to throw away cigarette butts if they are not burned cleanly?
"We caught a weasel yesterday and I had someone take it to another mountain and release it." Zhou Zhihong said to Zhou Yimin.
It wasn't just weasels, there were also snakes, several of which were caught. The snakes, of course, were not so lucky, and all went into the canteen's kitchen to make a pot of snake soup.
Zhou Yimin was speechless. The weasel had a good memory and was very vindictive.
If he caught it, he would definitely kill it. He really had no taboos. He could kill a tiger at this time, so what was wrong with killing a weasel?
Rats are also "mythologically" regarded as one of the five fairies, just like weasels.
But in the past two or three years, how badly have rats been punished? As soon as they show up, everyone will call for their punishment.
Besides, what about the Five Immortals? Isn't that feudal superstition? These days, feudal superstition is what we are fighting against. It has been said that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, no animals are allowed to become spirits.
Of course, Zhou Yimin would not impose his own values on the villagers and ask them to change anything. Sometimes, being respectful is not a bad thing.
Zhou Yimin observed the surroundings and pointed: "Assign a few people to build a row of sheds over there."
"Building a shed? Do you need so many for a row?"
"Although the chicks are free-range, they still need care in the early stages, otherwise the survival rate will be too low. In addition to providing shelter for the chicks, the shed will also require two people to guard it every day," said Zhou Yimin.
You were allowed to release the weasel, shouldn't you be on guard?
There is nothing wrong with free-range chickens, but that doesn't mean we should ignore them completely either.
"Yeah! That makes sense. Third brother, you guys go and fix it. People will live here in the future." Zhou Zhihong directed the people to work.
"No problem! Putting up a shed is easy."
Zhou Yimin spoke again: "Not just one or two, but from this side all the way around to that side. By the way, cut down all the trees in this circle."
This order made Zhou Zhihong and others stunned and they looked at each other in bewilderment.
Zhou Zhihong asked carefully: "Sixteenth brother, how many chickens do you plan to raise? Building so many sheds is not an easy project!"
It is not good to raise too many chickens, because the chicks need to be fed in the early stage, right? Where can we find so much food to feed them in the village? Secondly, can the insects, termites and other resources on this mountain support so many chickens in the future?
Zhou Zhihong expressed doubt.
Zhou Yimin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and explained: "It's not all about raising chickens, there are also mushroom houses. These trees are cut down just to cultivate mushrooms.
In addition, the wood that has been grown with mushrooms can be allowed to rot later, nourishing termites, wood maggots, etc., and can also be used to raise chickens. "
He has already thought of a complete biological circulation system.
Chicken manure can also provide organic fertilizer for the village. In short, raising chickens is not just about making a little money from selling chickens, there are many benefits!
Zhou Yimin did not consider the consequences of cutting down trees.
If you want to develop, how can you not destroy the environment? Especially in this era, why do you still think about those things? Let's make sure everyone has enough food first.
In later times, who would dare to cut down a tree without a permit? You would be put in jail in a matter of minutes.
Some farmers were even caught for cutting down the trees they had planted. It's really speechless.
In this era, you don't have to worry about those things. As long as you don't set the mountain on fire, everything will be fine. Recently, Zhou Yimin has been thinking about how to hatch chicks efficiently and how to cultivate mushrooms.
It is not realistic to rely on hens to hatch chicks. It is also difficult for Zhou Yimin to buy chicks. After all, it is very troublesome to buy so many chicks.
The best way is to hatch chicks yourself from eggs.
Then, artificial incubation is necessary.
Artificial hatching involves some other machines, such as chick incubators.
The chicken incubator is a machine that artificially simulates the maternal instinct of oviparous animals, controls the temperature, humidity, and egg turning conditions, and develops the fertilized eggs into life after a certain period of time.
In fact, it is not high-tech at all. It is just a breathable heating box.
Heating does not necessarily require electricity. You can use a variety of fuels such as honeycomb coal, coal balls, coal cakes, charcoal, etc. You can also maintain a constant temperature by replacing hot water.
So, the next step Zhou Yimin wants to do is to set up an incubator.
Now there is no electricity in Zhoujiazhuang, so we use other heat sources instead, but the temperature is not easy to control.
In addition to temperature, you should also pay attention to ventilation and exhaust.
As far as he knows, eggs also need to breathe while developing.
Chicken embryos must exchange gases during their development, especially after the 19th day of incubation, when the embryos begin to breathe with their lungs. The amount of oxygen required gradually increases, and the amount of carbon dioxide discharged also gradually increases.
If the ventilation is poor at this time, it will cause severe oxygen deficiency in the incubator.
Even if the chicks have just hatched, if their oxygen needs are not met, cell metabolism will be inhibited, acidic substances will accumulate in the body, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the tissues will increase, and metabolic respiratory acidosis will occur, which will lead to a decrease in cardiac output, myocardial hypoxia, necrosis, cardiac disorders and cardiac arrest.
It can be said that among the factors that affect the hatching rate, temperature is the first, and ventilation is the second.
As for mushroom cultivation, he had seen related videos in his previous life and remembered the general steps. It was not too difficult.
Some techniques, once pointed out, seem to be understood by many people and are not difficult.
Without breaking that layer of paper, it was like a barrier, and I could never imagine it would be like that again.
"In this case, you few people can't do it. Go back and find some more people to help." Zhou Zhihong said.
After all, they were cutting down trees and building sheds. And the sheds were not just one or two, but a long row of dozens or even hundreds of meters long!
"I'll go get some help." One of them volunteered.
"Remember to explain it clearly to the old branch secretary and others." Zhou Zhihong said.
Such a big thing should have been discussed by the village first. But since it was Yimin who proposed it, there was no need to discuss it, and we just had to do what he said.
The old branch secretary and the team leader have already said that Yimin’s opinion is their opinion.
At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Baishu finally examined all the elderly people in the village and prescribed medicine for them.
"Come to the city to find me tomorrow." Chen Baishu said to Zhou Daqiu.
Since you have accepted Zhou Daqiu as a disciple, you cannot leave him aside. You must keep him by your side so that you can come into contact with various cases.
"Okay, teacher." Zhou Daqiu nodded.
(End of this chapter)
