Chapter 91: Adaptability Training

  What comforted Xiao Ping was that the fish fry, which had grown up in the alchemy cauldron since the egg stage and had an extremely robust physique, had a very strong adaptability. Moreover, Xiao Ping had also added a lot of spiritual liquid to the fish pond, so although it was moved from the alchemy cauldron to outdoor breeding, with huge changes in the environment, the fish fry adapted very well.

  Xiao Ping and Wang Dapao crouched by the pond for half a day, but didn't see any fish fry floating to the surface. Occasionally, they saw one or two fish fry swimming under the water, shaking their heads and tails very lively. They both let out a sigh of relief. At least from the current situation, the fish fry have adapted to the new environment, and as long as there are no major problems, the fish fry will be able to live well.

  Wang Dapao was more delighted than Xiao Ping, looking at the sparkling pond surface with a smile: "Boss, these fish seedlings are adapting very well, I don't think there will be any major problems, and we should be able to start feeding them tomorrow!"

  Xiao Ping was originally delighted, but after hearing Wang's words, his face changed and he muttered to himself: "This is a bit of trouble!"

  "What's wrong?" Wang asked curiously.

  "The problem of feeding the fish seedlings." Xiao Ping frowned and said, "My friend said that in the past these fish seedlings were fed live bait. Where can we go to find so much live bait?"

  Xiao Ping was not pretending to be worried, but he really was worried about this matter. Before, when the fish fry were all raised in the alchemy pot, he could still buy some fish food every few days to feed them. But now that the fish fry had been released into the fish pond, it would no longer be appropriate to do so - how much fish food would they need to buy to ensure that each and every fish fry got enough to eat in such a large body of water?

  After listening to Xiao Ping's explanation, Wang Dapao also shook his head and said: "Raising fish in a fish pond, the cost of feeding live bait is too high. Why don't we feed them pellets instead?"

  Xiao Ping worried: "Will feeding feed affect the taste of fish? Also, will the fish fry that are used to eating live food eat feed?"

  "If we're worried about affecting the taste of the fish, then let's make our own feed. As long as we use only fishmeal and other raw materials, the composition of the feed is not much different from what the fry eat in live bait, so it shouldn't have too much impact." Wang Dapao thought for a moment: "As for whether the fry will eat or not, we can only train them to adapt to the taste of the feed."

  "What's 'oral training'?" Xiao Ping didn't quite understand what this term meant.

  Wang Dapao knew that Xiao Ping used to be a city dweller and didn't know about these things, so he immediately explained: "Adaptation training is to train fish to get used to new feed. Generally, you need to starve them for a few days first, then put in a small amount of new feed and observe the situation carefully. According to the situation, decide whether to increase or decrease the feeding amount. As long as the feed composition matches the fish's eating habits, it won't take long to get the fish used to the feed."

  Xiao Ping was overjoyed and said: "Great, let's get started right away!"

  "Alright, I'll go buy the raw materials for making feed right away. First, let's make a batch of fish fry feed and then we can talk about it later."

  "Alright, I'll leave this matter to you." Xiao Ping reminded: "This feed is very important, if you need people or money, just speak up, don't try to save me any trouble."

  Wang Dapao laughed and said: "I understand, as long as we can raise the fish in the pond to adulthood, this little feed money is nothing!"

  After Wang Dapao left in high spirits, Xiao Ping decided to take a stroll around the farm. Yesterday everyone was busy disinfecting the fish ponds, today is the first official day of work, and Xiao Ping wants to go around and make sure all parts of the farm are operating normally.

  Xiao Ping first went to the vegetable greenhouse and the orchard on the mountain, everything was normal in these two places. The vegetables were growing as well as ever, after the Spring Festival holiday, another batch of vegetables would soon be available for sale, at that time Xiao Ping just had to wait for the money. The blueberry trees were also growing very well, most of the fruit trees' branches already had flower buds, it seemed like they would bloom and bear fruit soon, which filled Xiao Ping with anticipation.

  However, when Xiao Ping arrived at the chicken farm, he found that something was not quite right. The person in charge, Zhao Quan, sat at the door of the brooding room for chicks, holding his head and muttering to himself: "How could this be? This is not right!"

  Zhao Quan's words startled Xiao Ping, who thought that the chicken farm had broken out with avian influenza or some other disease. He hastily looked towards the outdoor area where the chickens were active and found that all of them were leisurely foraging and sunbathing, and many had just laid eggs and were chirping. The entire chicken farm seemed perfectly normal, not as if anything major was amiss.

  Xiao Ping couldn't help but curiously ask Zhao Quan: "Old Zhao, what's going on? What's wrong?"

  "Has the boss arrived?" It wasn't until then that Zhao Quan faced Xiao Ping, hastily getting to his feet and saying: "It's those little rascals... something doesn't feel right!"

  Zhao Quan said so, and Xiao Ping also became a little worried. He patted his shoulder and said: "Let's go take a look!"

  Two people entered the chick room and immediately saw nearly two hundred chicks running around in a warm room, many of which were drinking water and eating food very spiritedly. The chicks have grown to be about the size of an adult's two fists since hatching almost half a month ago, and have started growing bigger feathers. In local terms, these are no longer chicks but young chickens.

  "Look, layer hens don't grow this fast, these are obviously those broilers that can grow to maturity in less than two months! " Looking at the robust chicks, Zhao Quan said anxiously: "But I saw the chicks hatch from green-shelled eggs with my own eyes, how could this happen?"

  Xiao Ping finally understood that the chicks grew too fast, causing Zhao Quan to mistakenly think they were broilers. He didn't expect that by feeding them spiritual liquid to make them grow faster, he would inadvertently cause Zhao Quan to worry, which also left Xiao Ping somewhat amused and exasperated.

  Xiao Ping couldn't possibly tell Zhao Quan the truth, so he just smiled and comforted him: "Since you've seen them hatch from green-shelled eggs with your own eyes, what's there to worry about? Maybe green-egg chickens are just supposed to grow that fast, don't worry!"

  Zhao Quan was indeed stuck in a corner and couldn't turn around for the time being. After being reminded by Xiao Ping, he also nodded and said: "What you said is also possible, maybe green egg chicken is a fast-growing breed."

  Zao Quan looked less worried than before. Xiao Ping smiled and said: "Don't think too much, just take good care of these chickens!"

  In the next few days, Xiao Ping devoted his main energy to training the fish fry to eat feed. Just as Wang Dapao said, after a few days of adaptation, the knife fish fry gradually began to get used to eating feed. This made Xiao Ping feel greatly relieved, as long as the fish fry were willing to eat food, he had confidence in raising them big. When the time came, pushing them out to various hotels and restaurants would be another way to make a fortune.

  Because the fish pond raised precious knife fish, ensuring safety has become even more important. For this reason, Xiao Ping almost always puts Hei Bao and Yuan Bao in the farm, rarely letting them enter the Lian Yao Hu. As long as Xiao Ping is on the farm, every day after dinner he will take Hei Bao and Yuan Bao out for a walk, patrolling around the farm's surroundings. Over time, Xiao Ping has grown more and more fond of these two obedient spirit dogs, but what he doesn't know is that his beloved dogs have become thorns in the eyes of certain people.

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