Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

Chapter 413 Hatching chicks

After everything is ready, all we have to do is wait for the chicks to hatch.

There are hens and roosters at home, and because a large number of chicks are needed, Xu Han plans to try to hatch the chicks herself.

This way, you can save a lot of money on buying chicks, and you don't have to go to the county town to buy chicks.

During this period, Xu Han did not pick up the eggs laid by the hens, just to fertilize the eggs and then hatch the chicks herself.

But eggs that are too old are not good either, as they are prone to spoilage. Eggs should not be more than ten days old, and seven to ten days old breeding eggs are the best.

This time, Xu Han not only hatched chicks, but also had ducks and geese at home, and she also prepared some breeding eggs, ready to hatch them together when the time comes.

On this day, Xu Han cleaned all the collected eggs and then prepared to start incubating them.

Because incubation requires a certain temperature, Xu Han used the kang in Yunhua's house for incubation.

First, put the wooden trough made by Lu Chuan on the kang, pad the inside of the wooden trough with a layer of old clothes, and then spread the oilcloth on it. Xu Han was afraid that the oilcloth would leak, so he deliberately laid two more layers.

After laying it, add water to the oilcloth to make a water bed. Because the temperature needs to be controlled when hatching chicks, Xu Han was afraid that she couldn't control the temperature well for the first time, so she added more water to the water tank. More water will keep the temperature from dropping and it will be easier to control.

After adding water, spread a layer of oilcloth on the water, then put the prepared breeding eggs on it, and then cover it with a quilt.

Because it was her first time hatching chicks, Xu Han did not prepare too many breeding eggs, for fear that they would not be hatched well and would be wasted.

This time, a total of 50 chicken eggs, 20 duck eggs and 20 goose eggs were prepared.

Chicks usually hatch in 21 days, ducklings take longer, about 28 days, and geese take even longer, up to 30 days.

Once everything is ready, the rest is up to time.

During the incubation process, the eggs must be turned over every day to ensure that the eggs are heated evenly. Special attention must be paid to the temperature during this period. The incubation temperature cannot exceed 38 degrees. If it exceeds 38 degrees, the eggs will be killed by the heat. It is also not good to be too cold. The temperature is too low and they cannot be hatched.

During the incubation period, Xu Han paid special attention to these breeding eggs and checked them from time to time.

He also specially found a thermometer from the space in order to better control the temperature.

Ever since the breeding eggs were placed on the incubation bed, Xu Han has spent most of his time on this matter.

She was even more serious than when she was raising two children, and she even took the initiative to record the incubation process.

On the sixth day, Xu Han couldn't help but want to check the hatching status of the eggs that night.

Normally, after about 4 days, you can see blood inside the eggs, but Xu Han couldn't be sure, and she also heard that chicks that were hatched prematurely would die easily, so she didn't dare to do it.

Xu Han couldn't wait to pull Lu Chuan into the incubation room and lit a candle to see more clearly.

Xu Han took a breeding egg and looked close to the candle, and sure enough, she saw red blood streaks.

"Lu Chuan, Lu Chuan, look, there really is a chick in here."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chuan hurried over and looked in the direction Xu Han pointed. He saw that there was indeed blood inside the eggshell, like a spider web, covering the entire eggshell.

"Hahaha, it seems the method is correct. It really can hatch chicks."

Xu Han picked up another egg and took a look, and sure enough, there was one.

While Xu Han was looking at the eggs, she said to Lu Chuan, "Go get a small frame. I think there must be some white eggs or weak sperm eggs in here. We need to pick them out."

White eggs are unfertilized eggs. Without fertilization, they cannot be hatched. Weak-sperm eggs also need to be picked out. If they are not picked out, they will slowly die during the later stage of incubation and cannot be hatched.

Upon hearing this, Lu Chuan immediately walked out. When he came back, Xu Han had already picked out several.

Lu Chuan looked at the eggs he had picked out and asked, "So many?"

Xu Han continued to look at the eggs without even raising her head. "Well, these should be eggs that were laid that day. They haven't had time to be fertilized yet."

After all the operations, a total of 11 eggs that could not be incubated were picked out from all the eggs.

Xu Han sighed, "This hatching rate is too low. 11 were picked out at once, and that doesn't even include the ones that failed to hatch later."

Lu Chuan put the selected eggs into the basket and comforted Xu Han, "It's okay. It's okay as long as they can hatch for the first time. At worst, we can hatch them a few more times."

"Yes, I have saved up a lot of breeding eggs these days. Tomorrow you can help me make a wooden trough and I will try again."

"Okay, I'll make a few more tomorrow."

Xu Han thought for a moment and said, "No need. Just make another one, a bigger one. When the water bed is ready, we can just put the eggs in to hatch them."

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

The two of them walked out while talking. Ten days later, Xu Han was surprised to find that she could actually hear the cries of chicks.

Xu Han was even more excited about this discovery and called her two children to come over to see the chicks being hatched.

Muer leaned in to listen, and looked amazed, "Mom, there really is the sound of chicks. Are the eggs going to turn into chicks?"

Xu Han patiently explained, "Yes, there is a chick inside the egg. After the eggshell is opened, there is no edible yolk and egg white. These things become the chick, and the yolk and egg white are absorbed by the chick."

"Really? That's amazing."

Xu Han touched Mu'er's head and said, "The chicks will be out tomorrow. You will know when you see them."

"Okay, I want to see if there will really be chicks."

Ze'er was also there, pointing at the eggs and saying, "Dear~eat, you want to eat eggs."

Xu Han picked up Ze'er and said, "Hahaha, my silly son, you can't eat this. The chicks inside will come out soon. If you eat it, there will be no chicks. Mommy will boil eggs for you, okay?"

Ze'er patted Xu Han's arm and said seriously, "Don't eat this, eat eggs."

"Okay, let's go. Mom will cook you some eggs."

Recently, all the eggs in the house were kept by Xu Han as breeding eggs, and for a while, we hardly ate eggs at home.

Even when I occasionally boiled eggs for the two children, I used the eggs that I had saved before.

At noon the next day, when Xu Han went to turn over the eggs again, she saw two or three little chicks lying on the quilt as soon as she lifted it.

Seeing this, Xu Han quickly called everyone in. Lu Chuan smiled and said, "Hahaha, it worked. It really worked."