Mei Yiqi was a little embarrassed and said: "Mr. Zhou, your idea is good, but the actual operation is a bit difficult. Nowadays, materials are in short supply during the war, and opening a chicken farm requires a lot of food. I am afraid that raising these chickens will cost money."
Just like raising cattle and horses, you only need to feed grass. This is a misunderstanding that many people have about the breeding industry. Raising cattle and horses requires feeding concentrates and coarse feeds, and raising chickens and ducks also requires feeding grains, especially before modern feeds were popularized.
Food consumption is even greater.
The problem is that now people don’t have enough to eat, so how can there be food to feed chickens? People are also competing for whole grains!
Zhou Hexuan explained: "What I mean is, let's open a modern scientific chicken farm."
Science is very sacred these days. Everyone became interested when they heard about "scientific chicken raising" and asked hurriedly: "What kind of scientific method?"
Before Zhou Hexuan traveled through time, his uncle's family had a small chicken farm. However, he lost all his money due to a bird flu outbreak, so he later switched to raising pigs. Although he didn't understand the details very well, he still knew some key points.
Point, combined with the situation at this time, explained: "The first step is industrial incubation; the second step is male and female identification; the third step is feed configuration."
Fei Xiaotong said: "I know about industrial incubation. It is available in the UK, and it doesn't seem to be difficult. But what is the identification of male and female? Are there still male and female chickens?"
Zhou Hexuan explained: "First, roosters cannot lay eggs and can only be used as broilers for food; second, roosters grow quickly and get stronger and like to grab food, which will affect the growth of other chicks. Therefore, scientific chicken raising must raise hens.
, roosters need to be abandoned as soon as they are born.”
Jin Yuelin laughed and said: "Chickens are all the same when they are born. How can you tell the male from the female?"
Zhou Hexuan said: "Chinese farmers have been able to distinguish male and female chickens in ancient times. Experienced farmers can easily distinguish male from female through the difference in the appearance, cry, defecation and walking of chickens. But this observation method is very difficult.
It's rough, and the accuracy is only 70 to 80%. More directly, you can press and open the anus of the chick. The one with bulges is a rooster, and the one with no bulges is a hen. The accuracy of this method is close to 100%."
This method of distinguishing males and females mentioned by Zhou Hexuan was widely used by small and medium-sized chicken farms in China in later generations. Although it seems very simple, it has changed human table recipes and brought economic benefits of hundreds of millions every year.
Before the emergence of chick male and female identification technology, it was impossible to achieve large-scale breeding because the cost of raising chickens was too high. It was not until 1950 that the Japanese Takeo Kizawa invented the chick sex identifier, and the chicken industry around the world
It developed rapidly.
However, the male-male identification technology invented by Takeo Kizawa is very problematic and can easily cause infection and death of chicks. It is far less safe and effective than the butt-breaking identification mentioned by Zhou Hexuan.
Zhou Hexuan himself is a master at picking the buttocks of chickens to identify males and females. When he was in elementary school, he would go to his grandmother's house every summer vacation. His grandmother and aunt often took him to break the buttocks of chickens, and he could identify one in a few seconds.
Not much slower than machine recognition speed.
With this technology alone, if Zhou Hexuan changes his career to raising chickens, he will soon become a capitalist and have the only chicken raising secrets in the world.
Zhu Ziqing exclaimed: "Everything in the world is knowledgeable, but I didn't expect that Mingcheng also had in-depth research on chicken raising!"
Zhou Hexuan continued: "After identifying the male and female chicks, you need to prepare the feed. If you feed them purely rice, beans, or wheat, the chickens will not grow well and their egg production will not be very high. You need to give them a little more
Meaty."
Mei Yiqi smiled bitterly and said: "I haven't seen meat for half a year. How can I give chickens meat?"
"Meat is not necessarily meat. You can grind bones into powder, or use earthworms," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "Especially earthworms. Using human and animal feces to fertilize the soil can allow earthworms to multiply in a short period of time. If you raise them
Once the chicken farm reaches a large scale, it will be more convenient to directly use chicken manure to cultivate earthworms."
"This is a good method," Wen Yiduo nodded. "Feces and earthworms are common things, so raising chickens doesn't waste food."
Zhou Hexuan said: "Food is still needed. If only earthworms are fed to chickens, it will affect the chickens' appetite and lead to a decrease in egg production."
Liu Wendian heard Zhou Hexuan's eloquent words and was surprised: "Mingcheng has raised chickens before?"
Zhou Hexuan casually made nonsense: "When I was a child, I was homeless in the United States and didn't have enough to eat. I once worked as a child laborer on a farm. What I just said are the chicken raising secrets of the farmer and are not taught to others. So I only know the general and detailed information.
The feed ratio is unclear. How to use manure for retting to allow earthworms to reproduce healthily; how to mix and prepare chicken feed to make chickens grow the fastest and best. These require repeated trials by teachers and students of the College of Agriculture."
This thing really needs students from the Agricultural College to avoid detours. Let's talk about breeding earthworms. The Agricultural College has a soil science department, so they can definitely get twice the result with half the effort.
Mei Yiqi spread his hands and said: "Southwestern Associated University does not have an agricultural college."
Zhou Hexuan said: "I will go to Chengdu again later and invite teachers and students from the Agricultural College of Central University and Jinling University. Through experiments and exploration, they should be able to develop a scientific method of raising chickens and promote it nationwide. This
Chicken farms should be opened not only in the Southwest Associated University, but also throughout the entire rear area of the Anti-Japanese War. As long as they are promoted effectively, the prices of chickens and eggs will definitely be reduced and nutrition will be provided to more poor people."
"This is a great thing that will benefit the country and the people!" Fei Xiaotong, who holds a PhD in sociology from the University of London and majored in political economics, immediately anticipated the huge influence of Zhou Hexuan's plan.
Everyone present is smart, who can’t figure it out?
Not to mention anything else, if this scientific method of raising chickens is successful, at least they will be able to eat eggs every now and then.
Mei Yiqi immediately made the decision and said: "Mr. Zhou, I will help you choose a piece of land near the school, preferably far away from the city to avoid being bombed by Japanese planes. I will then organize the best architectural designers to build a
Chicken farm design factory building!”
Zhou Hexuan joked: "Sicheng and Huiyin are very good, let them design the chicken farm."
Mei Yiqi laughed loudly: "That's a bit difficult. The couple are inspecting Sichuan Kang. Even if they come back, I'm afraid they won't agree. When I asked Sicheng to design the earth-walled school building, he even lost his temper.
It is said that Liang Sicheng is not needed to build a mud house and thatched cottage."
"Haha, I'm just joking. Principal Mei doesn't need to take it seriously." Zhou Hexuan was overjoyed.
Jin Yuelin couldn't wait to raise his hand and said: "I want to participate. I am no longer the site manager, just give me the position of a breeder."
"No problem." Zhou Hexuan agreed immediately.
The wild male classmate held his rice bowl and asked excitedly: "Will we also be able to see eggs in the cafeteria in the future?"
"Of course there are eggs," Zhou Hexuan asked casually, seeing that he looked familiar, "What's your name?"
The wild male classmate said: "My name is Yang Zhenning."