nycdaug Chapter 148 The Eggs Smell Delicious
Chapter 148 The Eggs Smell Delicious
"Sis, how much is this?"
The proprietress responded warmly, "These chicks are five yuan each. If you buy a lot, I can give you a discount."
"Holy crap! One is this expensive?"
Li Mu frowned. He hadn't expected these ordinary chicks to be so expensive. If he bought those specialty breeds of chickens and ducks, the price would definitely be even higher.
However, he quickly adjusted his mindset, thinking that since he had decided to raise the animal, he couldn't be afraid of spending money.
"Okay, let's buy fifty of them first."
Upon hearing this, the proprietress beamed with joy: "Alright, I'll pack it up for you right away."
The three of them carried the chicks and tossed them onto the tricycle. Tian Xiaohu stayed behind to guard the vehicle, while Li Mu and Li Jianjun continued searching for breeding cages at the market.
They searched the entire market and finally found a shop in a corner that specialized in selling livestock supplies.
The shop was filled with various cages, feeders, waterers and other essential supplies for raising livestock. After buying a few hundred yuan worth of stuff, Li Mu glanced at an old man squatting in the corner with a cage of chicks in front of him.
People come and go, but no one visits; it looks rather pitiful. The old man sat on a small stool, puffing on his pipe, a hint of melancholy in his eyes.
Li Mu walked by and glanced at it a few times, then stopped in his tracks.
"What are you looking at?"
Li Mu pointed to the chicks in front of the old man: "Look at these chicks, aren't they different from the ones we just bought?"
Li Jianjun looked in the direction Li Mu was pointing and saw that the chicks in front of the old man had sparse feathers, dull color, and listless appearance.
“It’s definitely different; these chicks look like they’re sick.”
No wonder nobody buys them; who would want a sick chick?
With these thoughts in mind, Li Mu stepped forward and began chatting with the old man.
"Grandpa, how much are these chicks?"
The old man looked up at Li Mu and asked, "How many do you want to buy?"
"all!"
Li Jianjun was startled: "What are you doing?! You're buying sick chickens?!"
Li Mu ignored him. These chickens weren't sick; they were chicks of the special breed he had been searching for—the green-shelled egg-laying chicken. Although the chicks looked unwell, Li Mu, with his extensive breeding experience, judged that their discomfort was only temporary due to transportation and environmental changes. With proper care and treatment, they would soon recover.
Li Mu patiently bargained with the old man and finally bought all the chicks at a very low price.
Li Jianjun and Tian Xiaohu watched in disbelief, unable to understand why Li Mu would buy these seemingly worthless, diseased chickens.
Li Mu had his own plans. Specialty chickens hadn't yet become popular, and no one had ever seen them being raised before; this was their opportunity. Once these green-shelled chickens were fully grown and produced their unique green-shelled eggs, they could dominate the market and sell them at high prices.
Li Mu carefully put the chicks into the cage, preparing to take them back to the village.
Li Jianjun was so angry that he kept nagging, "Are you crazy?! Buying these sickly chicks is a waste of money! Nobody in our village has ever raised these kinds of chickens before. What if they don't survive? Then all that money will be wasted!"
Tian Xiaohu glanced at them and thought they all looked sickly. What if they got infected if he took them home?
"Brother Mu, are you sure this thing will work?"
"Stop talking nonsense. We've already bought it, what else can we do? Let's just take good care of it and see how it goes."
Li Mu ignored their doubts and returned to the village. He then separated the newly bought chicks from the healthy chicks he had previously bought and raised them separately.
Li Mu asked Jiang Xuefen for some cornmeal and vegetable leaves to feed the chickens. After mixing them well, he took the feeding bowl and headed towards the chicken coop. As soon as the healthy chicks saw Li Mu coming, they chirped and swarmed around him, vying for the food.
The newly purchased green-shelled chicken chicks refused to eat after smelling the aroma.
"A picky eater! He's definitely sick!"
Li Jianjun was about to get rid of these sickly chicks to avoid wasting food and time.
"Hey, hey, hey! Go away! Stop messing around here! Go get me some medicine, I'll treat them. These chicks are precious, we can't just let them go to waste."
"Where am I supposed to get this for you? Who would dare to give you medicine so casually? This is no joke. If the wrong medicine is given, these chicks could all die."
“I know what I'm doing. I'll go tell Sister Liu that I need some oxytetracycline.”
Sister Liu is the village veterinarian. Whenever someone has a headache or fever, or their livestock gets sick, they go to her for medicine.
Li Mu knew that oxytetracycline was a broad-spectrum antibiotic that could be used to treat infections or intestinal problems that chicks might experience.
Sister Liu hesitated after hearing Li Mu's request.
"You can't just use oxytetracycline. You need to figure out what's wrong with these chicks before you can treat them properly."
Sister Liu's words made Li Mu's heart skip a beat; he hadn't expected getting some medicine to be so troublesome.
But then I thought about it again, and what Sister Liu said made sense; we shouldn't use medicine blindly.
"Sister Liu, look at these chicks, they don't seem to be feeling well. What do you think might be their illness?"
As Li Mu described the chick's symptoms, he carefully placed the chick in front of Sister Liu.
Sister Liu carefully examined the chicks and asked Li Mu about the process of buying them, and then she had a clear understanding of the situation.
"These chicks don't seem to have any disease. It's more like a stress reaction caused by transportation and environmental changes. If you give them a more comfortable environment and feed them some easily digestible food, they should recover slowly."
After Sister Liu finished speaking, she gave him some electrolyte solution and asked Li Mu to dilute it in water for the chicks to drink, to help them relieve stress.
Li Mu mixed the chicks into his usual water bottle.
The green-shelled chicken chicks were initially wary, but after smelling the faint sweetness emanating from the water, they rushed over and began to drink.
Sure enough, just as Sister Liu said, after three days, the chicks of these green-shelled chickens showed obvious improvement in their condition, and their feathers gradually became brighter, revealing the unique appearance of green-shelled chickens.
Li Jianjun, unable to resist, plucked a chicken feather: "It really is green-shelled. If these green-shelled laying hens are raised to adulthood, will their eggs also have green shells?"
"More than that! The eggs are even more fragrant now!"
"Really? Brother Mu, are you kidding me? Don't all eggs look the same? How could they possibly taste better?"
Li Jianjun has eaten thousands of eggs since childhood, but he has never tasted eggs laid by this kind of green-shelled chicken.
However, on the other hand, these green-shelled chickens are a special breed, and their eggs are definitely different from ordinary eggs. With such a gimmick, how could they not sell?
What if someone thinks this egg is poisonous?