Sister Han is good at farming

Ruan Wantie acted quickly and brought Ruan Qingqing's grandmother, Ma, home that evening, along with more than 200 duck eggs.

Ma was a shrewd and capable old lady, with pursed lips and a serious expression. Her hair was combed meticulously and her clothes were neatly dressed.

"Chun Ya, I heard you need a duckling for the kang? Why, do you want to change your job?"

"Mom, what kind of livelihood can we change? Isn't it said that locust plagues often occur after droughts? The weather has been dry since June last year. Daya is worried that there will be a locust plague this summer. She heard that ducks eat locusts and can reduce the harm of locust plagues. So, she wants to raise a few more ducks at home. I thought of you, mom, who can kang ducklings."

Ma nodded. "Severe droughts are often followed by locust plagues. This is possible. Let's start tomorrow! Prepare a dark room for me that is not transparent to light, and then make a small hole in the door."

The younger Ruan Shian immediately asked, "Ga Po, why do you need to make a small hole in the door?"

Ma swallowed the words, "You are too young to ask so many questions!" when she saw everyone at the table looking at her. She explained in detail, "It's for shining the light on the eggs! Just put the eggs at the hole and reflect them repeatedly."

"Ga Po, is there any particular custom to this egg-lighting?" Ruan Qingqing's curiosity was also aroused, as she had never seen it before.

Ma raised her eyelids and glanced at her granddaughter who was said to have received guidance from an expert. She stammered and gave a brief account of the situation.

"For this duck, the first thing to do is to select eggs that can hatch ducklings. Usually, the eggs have to be candled three or four times.

This kind of photography is to put the egg on the doorway, close one eye, open the other, and look at it repeatedly. Of course, some people don't need to put it on the doorway, but hold the egg lightly with their hands like a tube, put it underneath, face the light, turn it around, and you can see if there is a hazy round shadow in the yolk.

The second photo is taken three or four days after the eggs are put down from the kang. Then they are taken out and photo-examined again. After that, they are taken every few days, which is the third and fourth time. After the third and fourth time, the eggs will change. When you know that the eggs in the kang are developing normally, you don’t move them anymore and wait for them to be taken out of the kang and put on the bed.

Ruan Qingqing was still a little confused after hearing this, "Ga Po, what exactly does this egg-lighting look like?"

Ma was surprised. "The first shot is to look at the 'pearl', the ovule in the yolk, to see if there is a drake. If there is no drake, it is a widowed egg, and no duckling will come out. It needs to be removed.

The second photo is to see if the ovule is "full" or not? Is the ovule bulging a little? This is a test of skill and is often difficult to judge. If the ovule is not full, it should be removed. The eggs removed by the second photo can be sold in the market as usual, and you can't tell that they have been heated.

The third and fourth photos are to see if the duck eggs have completely changed. "

"What is a kang?" Ruan Shian asked like a curious baby.

"The kang is a vat filled with mud and grass, with straw and chaff lit underneath, and kept warm with a low fire that maintains a certain temperature.

There are many things to pay attention to. If it is too hot, the eggs will be cooked as soon as they are baked, and all the previous work will be in vain; if it is too small, the heat will not penetrate into the eggs and ducklings will not be baked. When to add some grass and bran, and when to remove some, all these are based on the experience of us duck bakers. "

Ruan Qingqing looked at Ruan Wantie and said, "Dad, is the kang ready?"

Ruan Wantie nodded. "It's just a jar and some mud, grass, straw, and rice husks. No problem. I've collected the straw from the late rice harvested last year and the rice husks from the pounding!"

"Dad, why don't we use the old house next door as the room for the ducklings? We can make a hole in the door and prepare some more kangs. The ducks that have been kanged can also be kept in the old house next door for the time being."

Ruan Qingqing suggested.

Ruan Wantie paused while eating and glanced at Ma cautiously.

"I have to clean up the old house next door. Otherwise, it will leak air, which is not good for the ducks on the bed."

"Okay!" Ma put down her chopsticks after hearing that. "It just so happens that I took some photos of the duck eggs these days, so I'll cull a batch of eggs first."

"Thank you for your hard work, mother!" Wang immediately put a piece of meat into her bowl.

Ma's expression immediately relaxed a lot.

According to Ma, it would take at least 20 days for the ducklings to grow up. According to the calculation, it would be around mid-April before the ducklings could come out. After a while, they would be able to go out and look for food on their own in May. Locust plagues usually do not break out until June, so there is still time.

Ruan Qingqing ate peacefully.

Of course, the locust plague prevention work cannot be solved by just raising ducks by their family. The entire Lulin Prefecture and even the entire drought-stricken area must actively participate in the work of preventing locust plagues.

So she went to the county government office early the next morning and informed Zhou Zheng about the matters related to preventing the locust plague.

"Prevent locust plague?"

Zhou Zheng spurted out a mouthful of tea from his mouth, "Ahem!"

"Tell me, do you have any good ideas?" He wiped his mouth and picked up another cup of tea to drink.

“Raise ducks to prevent locusts!”

Zhou Zheng made a gesture of invitation to Ruan Qingqing with the hand holding the tea lid, "Tell me in detail."

"The locust plagues are mainly caused by migratory locusts that fly over and lay eggs on the ground. In the summer of the following year, the eggs hatch into migratory locusts, which then wreak havoc. The wetlands such as lake beaches, river beaches, coastal wastelands, and overgrown weeds after the water level drops are the breeding grounds for them to lay eggs.

Of course, locusts are not able to fly from the beginning. Their eggs first become locust nymphs. Locust nymphs are black locust larvae, about the size of ants. Locust nymphs emerge from the soil, densely packed into a black mass about two inches thick.

They ate grass and grew rapidly. After three or four days, they were more than one centimeter long and their body color changed from black to dark yellow.

After a few days, the grasshoppers turn yellow. After eating all the remaining leaves on the ground, they begin to migrate. At this time, the grasshoppers cannot fly. They are like a terrifying torrent, crawling on the ground in dense formations.

They are not afraid of ditches or canals. When they come across a canal, they jump into the water, paddle forward, and swim to the other side. When they come across a village, they climb over the walls and houses, and by the way, they also eat up all the edible things they come across on the way.

After a few days, the nymphs will gradually shed their skin and grow wings, turning into migratory locusts. In this case, digging trenches or flooding to stop the locusts is useless, and we must kill them directly.

The best time to kill them is when the locusts have not yet transformed into migratory locusts, or nymphs. Nymphs and locusts are favorite foods of ducks, and their breeding grounds, such as lake beaches, river beaches, coastal wastelands and other wetlands, are also favorite places for ducks to go. "

Zhou Zheng stood up suddenly. "So as long as we have enough ducks, the locusts in the field won't be a threat!"

Ruan Qingqing nodded, "Not bad!"

"Do you have any evidence for this? Or is it just the opinion of the person behind you?" Zhou Zheng stared at Ruan Qingqing closely, not missing any change on her face.