Chapter 83: Chicken and Duck Seedlings (Seeking Bookmarks)

  Thanks for the strong support from Iron Rod Old Honest Man 888!

  The next morning, Tang Baozi and Chu Jiaqiang went to the peanut field and found that almost every iron cage had a mountain mouse in it. The flavor of the mountain mice from last night made everyone praise them, and Tang Baozi was preparing to take these mountain mice back home.

  After lunch, I sent off Tang Baozi, this foodie. He caught ten mountain rats, a big bag of wild mushrooms, which were dug up by the village children in the morning, and also had fish, shrimp and crab from Chu Jiaqiang's place. Those kids almost everyone earned more than 10 yuan, hid most of the money, then a group of people rushed to the only small shop in Chujiacun.

  Thanks to the help of people like Chu Jiaqiang, the peanuts at Second Uncle's house were settled in just two days.

  Chu's family went out and brought back a batch of thin bamboo. This is the special bamboo for making fences outside, with everyone's help, it only took half a day to get the fence done. At this time, the entire backyard looked very professional.

  In the afternoon, he went to the town again, this time for the chicks. In the past two days, he had also asked Fifth Uncle to build a row of chicken coops next to the orchard, not far from the big ditch. These chickens and ducks couldn't be allowed to run into the house, they would poop everywhere, it was too unsanitary, which made Chu Jiaqiang quite unhappy.

  There are many people in the town buying chicks and ducklings, but business is not very good now. In rural areas, raising chickens and ducks also has its own season, usually starting from Li Chun (the beginning of spring) and selling them around Qiu Fen (autumn equinox). Many people sell their chickens then, leaving a few for the New Year's celebration. Because they are raised for quite some time, these chickens are all around 10 jin (5 kg) big roosters, each can be sold for tens of yuan.

  There are usually no more than twenty or so, mainly because it's hard to sell them in rural areas. Generally, they're raised for personal consumption, and occasionally some will be sold if there's an opportunity.

  It's very important to compare the goods of three chicken and duck seedlings. Walking up, a smell of chicken manure mixed with feed rushed into my nose, and the little chickens and ducks on both sides chirped non-stop.

  Chu Jiaqiang had just walked up when two bosses introduced their chickens and ducks. Chu Jiaqiang just smiled and nodded at them, which was a greeting, but he didn't make a move. After looking around, he went to the store that seemed to be ignored by everyone. Earlier, as he passed by this street, the bosses on both sides would say a few words, but this boss didn't make a sound, engrossed in reading a book, seemingly unaware of Chu Jiaqiang's passing.

  It's not that his chicks and ducks are bad, on the contrary, these chicks and ducks of his are the best, with the most lively personalities. However, at the same time, his prices are the highest, each one being 50 cents more expensive than others.

  Chu Jiaqiang walked closer and saw that it was a middle-aged or older person, wearing a pair of black-framed reading glasses. He is now looking at a book on chicken and duck farming, very seriously.

  He may have felt someone beside him, so he raised his head: "Just take a look." After finishing speaking, he lowered his head and continued reading.

  Chu's family was so surprised that they couldn't help but laugh, such a person is really rare.

  "Boss, doing business like this is no different from Jiang Taigong fishing!" Chu Jiaqiang said.

  "Haha! Isn't this just what they say, 'a willing customer is easily hooked'? You must have seen my chicks and ducklings too. I won't say they're the best, but here, they're definitely among the top two." The old boss said with a smile.

  "The chicks and ducks are good, I admit that, but they're also quite expensive. Can't you make it a bit cheaper?" Chu Jiaqiang was also enjoying the pleasure of haggling over prices.

  The old boss waved his hand: "There's no room for negotiation, of course, if you're buying in large quantities, I can give you the market price." The old boss refused to budge.

  Chu's family looked at the fifty little chickens and fifty little ducks he had set up. He planned to raise a few more, anyway these two kinds of poultry are easy to raise in the countryside, get up early and scatter some rice grains for them to peck. For the rest of the time, they will go dig food by themselves, there are many white ants under the ground which are their favorite food.

  Chickens and ducks raised in this way are the most authentic live poultry, with some close to their natural state. Especially eggs laid by mother hens, more than half of which are double-yolked, have very high nutritional value. In cities, many are artificial eggs, even if they are real chicken eggs, double-yolked ones are extremely rare.

  "You won't just have these, will you?" Chu Jiaqiang asked, pointing at the little chicks inside the chicken coop.

  As soon as the words came out, the other party immediately realized that Chu Jiaqiang was a big customer, and tidied up his spirit: "How many do you want? I still have quite a few in my chicken farm. The quality is all the same, I can take you to see them. If there are more, I can give you the market price."

  "Two hundred little chickens and one hundred little ducks!" Chu Jiaqiang said.

  The boss heard it and indeed was a big client: "Okay, I'll take you there now, just nearby, very close."

  After finishing, he closed the door and led Chu Jiaqiang out of the street to the outskirts. The chicken farm was very simple, surrounded by four sides, with one side for people to live in, and the other three sides were chicken and duck houses. A large hen was leading a group of small chickens pecking at food on the empty ground of the chicken farm. There was a woman inside taking care of it, probably the boss's wife.

  As soon as they entered, several big white geese rushed towards Chu Jiaqiang with anger, stretching their necks, looking like they were going to peck at him.

  The boss shouted at them, and those big white geese finally shed their ferocious appearance, one by one slowly turning their bodies to leave.

  "Is this a big white goose or a dog?" Chu Jiaqiang had never raised geese before and didn't know that big white geese could also guard the yard.

  Literally, the character is composed of "bird" and "I", with "I" originally meaning "person holding a halberd" and later referring to "royal family" or "noble". The combination of "I" and "bird" represents "bird holding a halberd", "guard bird like a watchdog", "royal bird", or "domestic fowl of the noble class".

  A large white goose not only lays eggs and eats meat, but also guards the house. When strangers enter the yard, it will flap its wings and rush over to peck at people with its flat beak. Although they appear gentle and friendly on the surface, the force of their beaks is not small when they peck at people, leaving a purple mark with just one peck.

  "Hehe! The big white goose is the guardian of the house, as long as it sees someone who is not a family member entering the house, it will attack, even if it's someone who comes and goes frequently." The boss explained with a smile.

  Chu Jiaqiang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately said: "You should have some goslings, right? If you do, give me ten of them."

  "Alright, I'll get it ready for you right away. If not, you can go pick one yourself, whichever one you want." This boss is a straightforward person.

  Chickens are five yuan each, ducks and geese are six yuan. After paying nearly two thousand yuan, Chu Jiaqiang informed Chu Shengyi to drive over. The boss helped load the chickens, ducks and geese into large bamboo baskets, then moved them outside together.

  Jiachang was startled by Chu's strong momentum and asked: "Chu, why are you raising so many chickens and ducks?"

  "After all, I'm relatively free at home, raising some domestic fowl to pass the time is also good." Chu Jiaqiang didn't explain in front of his boss.

  Back at the Chu family village, people from the village came to watch, and the old village chief was among them. He asked Chujiaqiang: "Jiaqiang, raising so many chickens and ducks, can you sell them all later?"

  People in the village also feel that young people are too reckless, it's rare to have chicken plague in rural areas, raising chickens and ducks is indeed not very troublesome, easy to raise, but who can sell them if they raise more? Almost every household in the village has them, and at most a few can be sold on holidays in the town.

  "Hehe, don't worry! These free-range chickens are not fed with feed, and they're very popular in the city. When the time comes, we can contact a hotel outside and have all these chickens and ducks packaged. If there's too few, it's too far away, and people won't bother with you." Chu Jiaqiang said.

  "With so many, you should be able to earn a lot, right?"

  "I'm counting with you, a chick costs 5 yuan, after we raise them to be around 10 jin (4.5 kg), these chickens can sell for around 100 yuan outside. One hundred of them would be 10,000 yuan, and the cost of one hundred chicks is only 500 yuan. Usually, we just need to feed them some rice or porridge made from bran, and other times they can go out to find food on their own, so the cost here is almost negligible. Everyone should be able to calculate this."

  When they heard Chu Jiaqiang's words, many people started whispering to each other. They had never thought of raising chickens in batches before, the risk was too great. At this time, it was clear that someone had already been moved, Chu Jiaqiang was right, and the cost was not too high either. Although a few hundred yuan seemed a bit painful, the profit behind it made people eager to move.