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The mother incubates the chicks
Wang Dailun
Spring green earth, all things revived. At this time of the year, my mother used to take the eggs laid by her own chickens and use the chickens to incubate one or two nests of chicks. So I can also see chickens hatching eggs and taking chicks.
The mother first chooses the eggs that hatch the chicks. The eggs of the hatching chicks must be from the hens that the rooster has stepped on the butt. The eggs laid by a hen that has not passed through the rooster cannot hatch the chicks. To be able to hatch chicks' eggs, the roosters must be kept in captivity with the hens, they will naturally become affectionate, and the eggs laid by the hens (experts say "fertilized eggs") can be used to incubate the chicks. Each time the mother chooses eggs, they are large, smooth and smooth, and the hatched chicks are really strong and good-looking.
Then, the mother has to pick a good hatcher. The hatching hen must be a "lai hugging" hen. The hen generally lays eggs for a period of time and then lays eggs, and then lays eggs, and the cycle repeats. The chick's mother who hatches the chick must choose the hen during the egg laying period, and it will be at ease to warm the eggs in the nest to hatch the chick. At other times, the hens have to lay eggs and run out at any time, and they can't sit still and stay in the nest. The chicken woman should not be too big and too heavy, and her legs should not be too long, otherwise it is easy to step on rotten eggs and trample on chickens.
After the eggs of the hatched chicks and the mother-in-law were ready, the mother would find a large basket with thick (cut into short) hay, press it firmly by hand, and then pile more than twenty eggs on it. When it was dark, the mother caught the chicken woman, put its legs apart on either side of the egg, and spread the two wings to cover the egg, and the egg was completely warm and hidden under the chicken woman's body. At the same time, the mother will mutter to the chicken wife, "Obey, obey, incubate your son well, if you don't obey, you will prick your ears." The first few times I heard my mother talk to the chicken mother, I was a little amused. Years later, I seemed to have realized something, as if the chicken woman could understand the mother's words, and the mother seemed to know that the chicken woman wanted to hatch her children, the chicken boys. The chicken woman was caught by the mother in the basket to hatch the chicks, and as soon as she changed the wayward rampage of the previous one, she immediately became honest and honest.
It is very hard for the chicks to hatch. Mothers also work harder.
The chicken woman can say that she stays in the basket twenty-four hours a day and has been insisting on it for more than twenty days. Mother worked in the fields during the day, and every night, she would light a kerosene lamp, and later under the electric lamp, she would catch the chicken woman (and at the same time cover the egg with the cotton jacket we did not wear to keep warm), let it eat and drink on the ground, and then catch the chicken woman into the basket.
About seven days later, the mother began to feel the eggs one by one from under the body of the chicken mother, and held them in front of her eyes to see if there was a black shadow in the egg, which meant that it was becoming a chicken. If it is still transparent and there is no black shadow, it means that this egg is a "widow egg" that cannot hatch the chicks, so pick it up (on difficult days of life, the mother will fry it for us to eat). The mother only has one or two "widow eggs" at a time, indicating that the roosters in the flock are responsible.
The rest of the time is for the chicken to incubate the chicks day and night. The chicks in the egg grow up day by day.
"On the nineteenth day, the chicks began to peck their heads," the mother said. Sure enough, the chick will use its tender pointed beak to break the eggshell. The exciting moment arrives, on the twentieth day, at the latest twenty-one days, new beings are born, and the cute chicks will all drill out.
The mother raised an eyebrow in delight. When we were young, we would also huddle up to our mother and watch curiously watch the slow motion of the chickens coming out of the eggshell little by little. Some of the chicks are weaker, and the mother will help them gently peel off the small pieces of eggshell that are still stuck to the body, and the fresh chicks will be completely free. At this time, the happiest people are not only the mother and us, but also the chicken wife. It kept calling "shell-shell-shell", stretched its neck, and used its hook-like mouth to take the chickens under its body, covering them with its spread wings, hugging the newborn baby like a mother, caring for its own child.
Once I couldn't help but stroke a chick, and the chicken lady mistakenly thought that I was "ill-intentioned" and pecked at the back of my hand with a red mark. My mother watched me being pecked and reprimanded the chicken woman on the spot, "Don't go out of your way, peck yourself, I'm going to prick your ears." Loving children is the instinct and commonality of mothers in the world.
More than twenty chicks came out. Mother would cook white rice and feed them carefully for a day or two. The chickens will also peck at the fine grains of rice, put them in front of the chickens one by one, and let them peck at themselves. The chicks began to chirp-chirp,000, as if the baby was lying in front of its mother, wanting to eat, or wanting to go out and see what the world was like. But after all, these little guys were only born for a day or two, and some of them still couldn't stand steadily, they couldn't blow the wind, they couldn't bask in the sun, and their mother had to let the chickens and chicks continue to stay in the basket.
The chicks are the same every day. After a few days, the fluff on these well-behaved little ones grew, black, gray, white, yellow, and variegated. Live and jump, more and more cute. The mother looked at the hatched nest of chickens, still not relieved, and from time to time she had to say a few words to the chicken mother: "Bring your son well, disobey, and pinch your ears."
Chirping chicks, in the call of the chicken mother "shell-shell-shell, shell-shell-shell", ran to the courtyard dam to play and enjoy the bright spring light.
About the Author
Wang Dailun, a native of Mianyang, Sichuan. In June 1985, he graduated from the Chinese Department of Mianyang Normal College (now Mianyang Normal College). He is a third-level researcher of the Finance Bureau of Youxian District of Mianyang City, and the leader of the social development team of the Decision-making Advisory Committee of Youxian District. He is a member of the Sichuan Provincial Essay Literature Association and the Mianyang Writers Association. His works have been published in China Youth Daily, China Education Daily, Language Teaching Newsletter, Leadership Science, Sichuan Essays, Mianyang Daily, Dandelion and other newspapers and periodicals. He is the author of "Collected Essays on Teaching and Educating People", "Collection of Essays on Doing and Thinking", and "Narratives of Years".
Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office
Author: Wang Dailun
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan
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