Chapter 79 - 79 Wuhe Breeding Base

Translator: 549690339

Hearing what the Chen surnamed guide had said, Qin Lang blinked and subconsciously glanced at Fu Guan standing beside him.

“This guy’s name is Chen Kai.” Fu Guan gave a disgruntled look at Chen Kai who had pushed him aside and started introducing him, “He’s the only one in Dongxia City who owns a Wuhe Phoenix Tail Chicken Farming Base.”

“He’s not lying, he sells the good ones but there are certainly better ones at his breeding base.”

“Since it’s a competition, the ingredients should be as good as possible, you might want to consider visiting the breeding base.”

Qin Lang nodded thoughtfully.

Fu Guan didn’t need to lie to him, so Chen Kai, the guide, seemed reliable.

Visit the breeding base?

That sounded like a good idea.

“Brother Chen, where is your breeding base? Can I go in and have a look?”

“The breeding base is not far from here, you can get there quickly by taxi.” Chen Kai chuckled. “I can’t leave here, but it’s fine, my father is in charge of the breeding base.”

“If you want to go, 1’11 tell him in advance, you can naturally get in when you get there.”

“Thank you, Brother Chen.” said Qin Lang politely.

“It’s no big deal!”

After a few more exchanges, Qin Lang got the address from Chen Kai and hailed a taxi straight to Chen Kai’s breeding base.

The breeding base was named Wuhe.

It was said that Chen Kai’s ancestors came from Wuhe State. After settling in Dongxia City, they occasionally missed their hometown and introduced their local chicken breed to Dongxia City, thus the name of the breeding base.

Soon, Qin Lang arrived at the poultry farm.

With Chen Kai’s prior notice, he was able to enter without any hindrance.

Soon, an old man with white hair came forward to greet him, “You must be the young brother Qin Lang?”

“Hello, Uncle Chen.”

Qin Lang nodded, looking at Chen Ming, the owner of Wuhe Breeding Base and Chen Kai’s father.

“I’ve been told about the purpose of your visit by Xiao Kai.” Chen Ming began cheerfully, “Shall I show you around our breeding base first?”

“Sure,” said Qin Lang, nodding.

Even though there were only two days left for the competition prep, understanding the habits of the ingredients was also important for a chef, so Qin Lang didn’t mind spending time on this.

“Here, this is our hatching center.” Chen Ming, leading Qin Lang, soon walked into a substantial flat building nearby.

The building was split into different compartments, each with a warm glow seeping through the door cracks.

Chen Ming pointed at a label on one of the compartment doors, “The eggs in this compartment were all laid eleven days ago.”

Then, he pointed to the labels on other compartments, “The eggs collected in the hatching center are arranged in different compartments according to the time they were collected.”

“In this way, we can adjust the hatching temperature daily to keep the eggs at the best hatching conditions at different times.”

“Do chicken eggs require different temperatures at different hatching stages?” Qin Lang asked, surprised.

This was the first time he had heard of such a thing.

“The temperature difference isn’t really large, it won’t fluctuate more than one degree.” Chen Ming explained with a smile, “But when we adjust it according to the temperature curve we summed up, the chicks hatched are noticeably healthier.”

“That’s educational.” Qin Lang felt a sense of undisguised admiration.

“Come, let’s go inside and have a look.”

As Chen Ming opened the door, the warm light from the compartment flooded out.

Qin Lang and Dan Bao quickly followed, moving into the light-filled compartment.

Racks of eggs, all placed in individual compartments under incubation, appeared before them. Each of the eggs was being illuminated by the warming lamp from the top and bottom.

The radiant warm lights intermingled, casting a warm glow across the entire compartment.

There were also various testing instruments on the side, conducting real-time detection of the indoor temperature and the state of each egg.

This was the first time Qin Lang had seen a breeding base that managed the egg hatching process to such a precise extent.

Dan Bao pressed its eyes against the thermal glass cover of the incubator rack, carefully observing the upright eggs which, under the warm light, revealed the faint outline of an embryo.

There were so many eggs here!

“Dan Bao?”

Qin Lang’s call snapped it out of its mesmerized state, Dan Bao finally noticed that Qin Lang and Chen Ming were about to leave.

It reluctantly looked back at rows of eggs and quickly followed.

A chick rearing area, a breeding chicken mating area, a broiler chicken slaughter processing area…

Under Chen Ming’s leadership, Qin Lang visited several sections of the Wuhe Breeding Base, finally reaching his destination.

The mature chicken free-range area.

“The Phoenix Tail Chicken is not a complete meat chicken breed so its growth cycle is slightly longer.” Chen Ming began as he opened the protective fence gate, “Between three and five months, is the time when the quality of the chicken meat is the best.”

“In this free-range area for mature chickens, all are Phoenix Tail Chickens in this stage.”

“To simulate the natural conditions of Wuhe State where they originate, we particularly chose a location near a tributary of Xiayun River for the breeding base, such that the Phoenix Tail Chickens can be free-ranged by the riverside…” halfway through his explanation Chen Ming suddenly pointed, “Look at that over there.”

Qin Lang turned his head and saw a Phoenix Tail Chicken with a thin layer of light brown feathers and long, gorgeous tail feathers gracefully gliding from across the river, landing elegantly on the bank and strutting about.

“This chicken can fly, so its free-range area can be very large.” Chen Ming laughed, “Feel free to choose any chicken here!”

“Let me have a look.” said Qin Lang, nodding as he moved towards a group of Phoenix Tail Chickens strolling by the riverside.

After the tour, he had gained some understanding about the habits of Wuhe Phoenix Tail Chickens.

Combining this knowledge with the general knowledge of selecting poultry, Qin Lang felt he could pick the one he admired the most.

There were hundreds of Phoenix Tail Chickens within the mature chicken free-range area, but it didn’t take Qin Lang long to find a particular one. Because it was too eye-catching.

The tail feather of this Phoenix Tail Chicken was more slender than the others, and the chicken itself was considerably larger.

It stood quietly on a tree branch, calmly watching its counterparts below.

The way it held itself reminded one of a king of chickens looking over his subjects.

More importantly, the front chest of this Phoenix Tail Chicken was high and upright, in contrast to the other Phoenix Tail Chickens, the difference seemed to be that of a muscle man and a skinny dog.

“Uncle Chen, that one…” Qin Lang couldn’t help but point at the Phoenix Tail Chicken.

“Nice eye, you’ve picked out our Chicken King at first glance.” Chen Ming laughed heartily, “This Phoenix Tail Chicken flies the highest in this free-range area, and it almost flew away a few times.”

“We even had to raise the fence of the free-range area because of it!”

“If you want to take away this Chicken King, I have no objection.”

“But 1 can’t catch it in a short while, why don’t… you give it a try?”

Qin Lang looked at Dan Bao, a competitive spirit flashing across his face.

“Okay!”