Mountain Village Chicken Tycoon

Chapter 40 A Heavy Snow in 2002

A heavy snowfall started at [-] o'clock in the afternoon on the third day after the heavy snow solar term, and it continued to fall all afternoon, and at night, there was no intention of stopping at all.

Zhao Qingshan's new No-Ma chickens are now kept in the chicken coop near the door, and they are already 5 days old.

There are still ten tons of feed in the feed warehouse, which is more than enough to raise these native roosters.

If chicken raising wants to make money, it is pursuing a lower meat-to-feed ratio and a higher survival rate.The factors that affect the feed ratio of a batch of chickens are mainly the breeding time and the breed of chicks.

Breeding white feather chickens is the most cost-effective for 45 days, while it is more appropriate for native cocks to be around 135 days.If the time is short, the slaughter standard will not be met, and if the breeding time is long, the ratio of meat to feed will increase, which will increase the cost of feed.At the same time, the longer the breeding time, the greater the chance of chickens getting sick, which is what farmers are most worried about.

However, for native roosters, in addition to 135 days, there is another time that is more cost-effective, that is, ten months.

In the local market in Central Shandong, the local rooster market is further subdivided into two categories: young roosters and old roosters.Among them, old roosters refer to chickens that have been bred for about one year, while young roosters refer to chickens that are more than four months old and less than seven months old.

In fact, the weight of an old rooster is not much higher than that of a young rooster.A four-month-old native rooster weighs about four to five catties, while a seven-month-old native rooster weighs about six to seven catties.The native cock after ten months is only about six or seven catties, and there are very few native roosters that really grow to more than eight catties.If the chickens are kept for two years, the weight will not only not increase, but may also decrease.

The lifespan of native chickens rarely exceeds five years, and they are usually very old after being raised for three years. Therefore, a ten-month-old native chicken is already equivalent to about 30 years old for humans.A five-month-old native chicken is equivalent to a human being.

In many places, the local chicken market may not be so finely divided, but in Laigang County, it is very finely divided.

For Qishan fried chicken, it is best to use chickens that are more than ten months old and less than one and a half years old. Therefore, the demand for old chickens in Qishan is very large.

In 2002, the entire Qishan needed [-] old roosters a year.

The purchase price of old roosters purchased on Qishan ranges from 18 to [-] yuan per catty, depending on how long the chickens were raised.

However, even if it is so expensive, few farms will specialize in raising chickens.

Why?The reason is simple. On the one hand, the breeding time has been long, and the feed cost is too high. On the other hand, the risk is too high.

In terms of cost, after four months of breeding, the speed of chicken weight gain obviously begins to slow down, but the feed that chickens eat a day will not decrease, and will even continue to increase.Chickens can eat 100 grams of feed a day when they are four months old, and they can eat 200 grams of feed when they are 150 days old.

Under normal circumstances, the price of native roosters and small roosters in the market fluctuates around 5 yuan for a long time. When it is high, it reaches 7 yuan, and when it is low, it is only 4 yuan.The price of old chickens fluctuates around 10 yuan, 12 yuan when it is high, and 8 yuan when it is low.

Based on the feed price of 2002 cents a catty in 5, the chickens raised for four months can weigh 4 catties, while the feed consumed only weighs 8 catties. Adding the cost of labor, vaccines and medicines, a chicken can There is a profit of about five yuan.However, when the chicken is 300 days old, the weight of the chicken can reach 6 catties, but the feed consumed weighs 45 catties. The cost of labor, vaccines and medicines will also increase, and the survival rate will definitely decline. It is difficult to make a profit of ten yuan for a chicken.

Generally speaking, old roosters are raised by each family in the countryside.

Every family has leftover food, it's a pity to throw it away, and it's the most cost-effective to feed the chickens.

In this way, after a year, raising more than ten roosters and selling them for a few hundred yuan in the end is also a good thing.

In several villages and towns in Laigang County, each town has one or two chicken dealers who specialize in buying old chickens and selling them in Qishan.

Compared with the purchase price of Qishan fried chicken restaurant, there is a price difference of about two yuan for the old chickens purchased from ordinary people. That is to say, chicken dealers can earn about 20 yuan per chicken.

The fried chicken restaurants in Qishan are becoming more and more prosperous. However, many families, especially young people, do not like to raise chickens anymore. After all, raising chickens at home is too dirty.

In this way, the contradiction emerged. On the one hand, Qishan Fried Chicken Restaurant has more and more demand for old-fashioned roosters, but the number of old-fashioned roosters produced in rural areas is decreasing.

Zhao Qingshan remembers that when he went to Qishan to eat chicken, a chicken cost more than 300 yuan, which was extremely popular.

Old-age chickens, if the cost of feed can be reduced, it will be very cool to make money.

Zhao Qingshan has his own good idea, which is to release the chicken.

After the Waking of Insects, insects began to increase in the apple orchard. Grasshoppers, caterpillars, crickets, earthworms, cicada monkeys, etc., are all good protein feeds, which can completely replace feed of.

In another two months, it will be the beginning of spring, when the weather will be warmer, then we can scatter two thousand native roosters into the apple orchard and let them find something to eat.

As long as the cost of feed is reduced, old-age chickens can be a profitable business.

Sitting at the door of the chicken coop, Zhao Qingshan was wearing a pair of autumn clothes and long trousers.

Although it was freezing outside, it was very warm inside the chicken coop.

In the large furnace, five or six catties of lump coal are shoveled in at a time.This winter, in order to keep the chicken coop warm, about five tons of lump coal will be burned.This is also a relatively large cost of raising chickens in winter. In 2002, the price of a ton of coal was around 200 yuan.

The chicks in the chicken coop are still fluffy and cute. The growth rate of native chickens is much slower than that of broilers. Five-day-old white-feathered chickens have been caught in one hand, while five-day-old native chickens can catch four in one hand. five.

The snow fell more and more heavily, and the snow on the ground was up to the ankles. Zhao Qingshan frowned and looked up at the roof.

The bottom layer of the roof is a layer of plastic sheeting, which is supported by bamboo poles, and the top layer of the plastic sheeting is double layers of grass thatch, and the top layer of the grass thatch is canvas.

Zhao Qingshan was worried that the heavy snow would crush the roof of the shed, so he turned to his father worriedly, "Dad, is our shed alright with this heavy snow?"

Zhao Zhijiang has many years of experience in construction, and he is much more professional in load-bearing issues than Zhao Qingshan.

"The snow is fine. To collapse the shed, at least [-] centimeters of snow is needed. We can't have such a heavy snow here."

Zhao Qingshan nodded, he turned his head away and continued admiring the heavy snow at the door.

It looks like the snow won't stop tonight.

(End of this chapter)