My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 374 The greatest temptation for chickens is...

Seeing another bird egg being pulled out, Chen Ling quickly tore off his clothes, his eyes rapidly tracking the spot where the egg had fallen. Under the tree, he spread his hands and caught it steadily.

"Thank goodness it didn't break..."

Chen Ling glanced at the bird egg, which was slightly larger than a pigeon egg, grayish-green, with small light brown spots on it. It looked a lot like a quail egg, but it was larger, and the spots were lighter in color and sharper.

"That thieving bird is quite bold; it's been barking for so long, yet it still hasn't flown away."

"go."

Chen Ling reached out and shook the tree, shouting a warning to shoo it away, and the bird flapped its wings and flew away.

"What's wrong, brother-in-law? What are Heiwa and the other two shouting about?"

Just then, Wang Zhenzhen came running over from the farm with a group of puppies and a kitten.

Today is Saturday, and the little girl arrived very early. Besides helping Wang Susu take care of the children, she was also looking forward to watching good cartoons and TV dramas over the weekend.

She and Wang Susu were collecting eggs over there when they heard the noise and ran over.

Wang Susu followed behind, carrying Rui Rui in her arms.

"I didn't make any noise, I just saw a cuckoo rummaging through someone else's nest for eggs."

Chen Ling pointed to the bird's nest in the tree, and then to the two bird eggs that had fallen to his feet.

As soon as Wang Zhenzhen saw that the yolks of the two bird eggs were scattered all over the ground, Erhei and his gang of puppies rushed forward and quickly licked the yolks, egg whites, and shells clean.

Even Heiwa and Xiaojin couldn't help but drool a little. They also love eating eggs, and they couldn't resist the sound of cracking eggs. However, they had just been praised by Chen Ling and told to behave well, just like primary school students. They were still full of energy after hearing a few words of encouragement from their teacher.

So I forced myself to keep my eyes straight ahead and put on a very obedient and composed appearance.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way! I haven't even seen it clearly yet and you've already eaten the bird eggs."

Frustrated, Wang Zhenzhen shoved the group of puppies away.

"It's okay, the dog ate it, I still have some here."

Chen Ling handed her the bird eggs he had caught in his clothes. Wang Zhenzhen exclaimed "Wow!" and rubbed them in her hands for a moment before raising her head and staring at the bird's nest in the tree with bright eyes.

"Brother-in-law, what kind of bird's nest is this? I'll go and raid it."

Rural children have an unusual obsession with raiding bird nests, and many girls are no exception. After all, bird eggs taste just as good as chicken eggs, and how could these greedy little kids easily let them go?

Chen Ling chuckled upon hearing this: "You're always raiding bird nests, don't you recognize me?"

"Hehe, even so, you don't recognize them all, brother-in-law. This nest is a mess. It looks like a spotted dove's nest to me, but spotted doves don't have nests this big, and their eggs don't look like this..."

Wang Zhenzhen chuckled and shook the bird eggs in her hand, then stuffed them back into Chen Ling's hand. "I'll take them out first."

He turned around and was about to climb the tree to raid the bird's nest.

Wang Susu walked up at this moment, and seeing this scene, she frowned and shouted, "Zhenzhen, what are you trying to do now? You just changed your clothes yesterday, and you've gotten them dirty and torn. See how your mother will deal with you."

"Oh, don't worry, sister, I won't get it on my clothes."

"No, get down."

Wang Zhenzhen reluctantly let go of the tree trunk and stood aside with a pout.

Chen Ling patted her little head, then took Rui Rui from Wang Susu's arms and pointed out the bird's nest in the tree to his wife and son.

After hearing what Chen Ling said, Wang Susu was very surprised: "Are cuckoos really that bad? They lay their eggs in other birds' nests and even pull out their eggs?"

Yes, the bird that was just scratching at the eggs was a cuckoo.

This bird doesn't incubate its own eggs or raise its chicks. During the breeding season, it lays its eggs in other birds' nests and lets those birds incubate them.

Furthermore, if they find too many eggs in other bird nests, they will push a few of the eggs out of the nest.

It is all so that their offspring can hatch safely and grow up healthily.

"That's right..."

Chen Ling couldn't help but laugh when he saw his wife's adorable expression: "You don't know, this bird is born to be a thief. Afraid of going hungry, it hatches its eggs faster than other birds in order to snatch food. The baby birds are also wicked from a young age. After hatching from the egg, before they even open their eyes, they are just like the adult birds, putting all their strength into pushing the eggs in the same nest out."

Even if these eggs aren't pushed out, and they do hatch successfully later, the cuckoo, which hatches early and grows quickly, will still peck them to death.

After he finished speaking, not only was Wang Susu stunned, but Wang Zhenzhen was also dumbfounded: "Wow, how can this bird be like this?"

Then she looked up and said, "Brother-in-law, you forgot to tell me what kind of bird's nest this is. How unlucky! The cuckoo kicked out several of the eggs."

"It's a crow's nest. There are so many crow's nests in the mountains. I don't believe you haven't seen them."

"Huh? Is this a crow's nest? It's so small. The crow's nests I've seen are similar to magpie's nests, with lots of dry branches piled together. There are far more branches than in this bird's nest, so it's hard to dig them out."

Wang Zhenzhen looked up with her little face, her eyes filled with great confusion.

"Right, sister? The crow's nest outside our village looks just like that, you can't even tell the difference between it and a magpie's nest."

Wang Susu hummed in agreement and nodded gently. "Our village is on the mountain, and the crow's nests in these mountains are quite large, so I can't really tell them apart."

She went to the mountains to collect herbs a lot in the past two years, and saw quite a few crow nests.

“There are many birds in our orchard. This crow’s nest must have been built just this spring. It looks a bit small.”

The young wife spoke, looking at Chen Ling.

Chen Ling smiled and nodded: "Yes, this is a newly built nest. Like the swallows, this crow has to rebuild its nest every year when it lays eggs..."

Then I taught the two sisters how to distinguish between a crow's nest and a magpie's nest.

First of all, whether in the deep mountains or near villages, most crow nests are much smaller than magpie nests, and they are also built shorter than magpie nests.

Although both are a bunch of messy, withered branches, the crow's nest looks rough on the outside and is rough on the inside, while the magpie's nest is a different story inside.

The three of them were talking while pointing at the bird's nest. However, Rui Rui in Chen Ling's arms was not content to be left out. He reached out his little hand, pried out the crow's egg that he was holding, and was about to put it in his mouth.

Chen Ling was startled when she saw it and quickly snatched it away. This kid really does put everything in his mouth.

Wang Susu even hugged her son and gave him a few slaps on the bottom.

"Haha, Rui Rui is hungry and wants to eat eggs. How about Auntie gets you some?" Wang Zhenzhen jumped around and teased her little nephew.

Wang Susu knew exactly what her younger sister was thinking. It would be strange if this mischievous girl could resist her curiosity after hearing Chen Ling's story about the cuckoo.

He glanced at her and said, "You're not allowed to climb trees. If you want to steal bird eggs, go home with your brother-in-law and get a ladder. Bring the ladder over here before you climb the tree."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenzhen was overjoyed and dragged Chen Ling home.

Let them steal birds' nests. Isn't climbing a tree the same as climbing a ladder?

The little girl couldn't wait to see if there really was a cuckoo egg in the bird's nest, just as her brother-in-law had said.

Chen Ling didn't think that the cuckoo could lay its eggs in the crow's nest so quickly.

As a result, after climbing up the tree using a ladder, they discovered that there was indeed a very conspicuous oddity in the crow's nest—it was the cuckoo's egg.

Seeing this, Chen Ling muttered, "No wonder they were in such a hurry to pull the crow's eggs out; it turns out they actually laid them inside."

"Brother-in-law, shall I take the cuckoo's eggs?" Wang Zhenzhen said, her eyes shining, as she stood on a thick branch nearby.

"Okay, go ahead and take it. Didn't your teacher assign an essay? Write an essay about this."

"Hehe, okay."

How could Wang Zhenzhen not be happy to write such a fun thing into her essay? Besides, she could show it off to her teachers and classmates at school. Just thinking about it made her very happy.

Listening to their conversation under the tree, Wang Susu couldn't help but smile, thinking to herself: Ah Ling really knows how to coax a child. Knowing that Zhenzhen doesn't want to do her homework while watching TV, she actually used this method to coax her.

There was one big and one small cuckoo egg in the tree. They took out the cuckoo's egg and then a crow's egg, leaving three eggs.

According to Chen Ling, three eggs are just right, as they increase the survival rate of the hatchlings.

"Sister, can you hold these bird eggs for us? We'll find a few more nests to raid. These three eggs aren't enough for Rui Rui."

Knowing that Wang Zhenzhen was really into playing, Wang Susu didn't point it out. She helped the two of them carry the bird eggs and watched them continue to look for bird nests.

There have been an extreme number of bird nests in the farm's orchard in the last two years, both in the trees and under the trees.

However, the area under the tree is a different story. Dogs and civets frequently visit, and they've become quite clever. They come to the farm during the day to find food instead of building their nests there.

As a result, there are more and more bird nests in the trees.

Chen Ling led the little girl to check several trees. It was the peak season for birds to lay eggs. In every two nests, one had laid eggs. They didn't take more than one nest. They took two eggs from the nests with more eggs and one egg or none from the nests with fewer eggs. Soon, Wang Susu's hands were full of bird eggs, so she had to put them in her straw hat. Rui Rui looked at the bird eggs and chirped, drooling.

The morning air was fresh, and the sun was rising. Several key members of the film crew who were staying at the farm came out chatting and laughing, preparing to go to the village for lunch. They saw the family playing around here, seemingly trying to catch a bird, so they came over to take a look.

"Fugui, it's rare for you to have dinner so late today. It's past eight o'clock, aren't you in a hurry to make breakfast?" Fat Director Lao Kang walked over and said with a smile.

The farm was located at the foot of the mountain, in a very quiet place with little noise. So they could hear the cooking commotion very clearly and knew that Chen Ling's family always got up very early to cook.

"Haha, so the kids at home are clamoring to steal birds. They lose track of time once they start playing," Chen Ling replied with a laugh, standing on the ladder.

The young actors were drawn to a straw hat and bird eggs lying in the grass near Wang Susu's feet, and gathered around, marveling at them.

The two actresses squatted down, teased Rui Rui, and exchanged a few words with Wang Susu. Then they looked up at Wang Zhenzhen in the tree and said, "Little sister, can you give us two bird eggs?"

"Okay, you can take it..."

After collecting so many bird eggs, Wang Zhenzhen was very generous: "But don't take the cuckoo and raven eggs. I'm going to take them back to incubate them and let them fight after they hatch."

"Huh? Why are they fighting?" The two actresses were a little confused when they heard this.

"Because the cuckoo is so naughty, I'm going to hatch it together with the crow, and then not give it any food or water, so the crow can teach it a lesson..." Wang Zhenzhen clenched her little fists, looking indignant.

This wasn't something Chen Ling and Wang Susu taught her; it was an idea she came up with herself.

So Chen Ling and her husband were also surprised when they heard this, and then they didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This girl just keeps making a fuss.

However, the two actresses still didn't understand why she did this, so they asked her what was wrong with the cuckoo. She said the cuckoo is a good bird.

They're just teasing Wang Zhenzhen like she's a naughty child.

Wang Zhenzhen then told them the story of the cuckoo. After she finished, not only the two of them, but also the fat director and the others were a little surprised. They really didn't know that the bird was trained in this way.

"But how do we incubate the eggs? You've already taken all these bird eggs out," the actress asked.

"Don't worry, I have a brooding hen at home. Once a hen starts brooding, she'll incubate even if you put a round stone in her bed, so bird eggs are even more likely to be incubated."

"Wow, little sister, could you help us hatch a couple of little birds? We don't need the eggs anymore." The two actresses, being young, found this extremely amusing and immediately begged Wang Zhenzhen.

"Okay, what kind of bird do you want to hatch? I'll pick one for you."

Wang Zhenzhen jumped down from the ladder, clapped her little hands, and looked like a little adult.

This made the two actresses surrounding her look like her little followers, constantly asking Wang Zhenzhen what kind of bird eggs this and that were, which ones hatched quickly, and which ones were pretty, etc.

Two adults and one child were chattering incessantly around a straw hat and a bird's egg. Even when the fat director called them to eat, the two young women didn't bother to go. They said they wouldn't eat breakfast and would only feel at ease after putting the bird's egg in the henhouse.

Actually, two young male actors were quite interested, but out of pride, they held back and didn't say anything. They even looked back several times as they left.

Here, Chen Ling and his wife, holding their son, accompanied the two adults and one child to the chicken coop to find the brooding hen.

In the spring, Chen Ling kept the brooding hens in the chicken coop, as it was easier to manage them that way. Otherwise, if they were on the mountain and not moved, they would easily be killed and eaten by weasels and wildcats at night.

"Brother Chen, is it really okay to use an old hen to hatch bird eggs?"

"Okay, don't worry. The most tempting thing for a hen during brooding is eggs. Whether it's chicken eggs, duck eggs, or even stone eggs, as long as it looks like an egg, she'll lie down on it or crawl under her body to incubate it."

"Won't the chicken crush the bird eggs? The old hen is so fat and heavy."

"Will not."

As they were talking, an angry "cluck cluck..." came from the henhouse. A large spotted hen had already stuck its head out and was pecking fiercely at Wang Zhenzhen's hand. Fortunately, Wang Zhenzhen had practiced collecting eggs often and reacted very quickly, dodging the attack.

"Be careful, Zhenzhen. Brooding hens can be quite temperamental. Don't peck your hand."

"Okay, it's alright."

Wang Zhenzhen turned around and gave her sister and brother-in-law an awkward smile. Then she slapped the fat, spiky chicken on the head and threatened fiercely, "You dare to peck me again? If you peck me again, I'll have my brother-in-law kill you. Today you'll be eating spicy stir-fried chicken."

Then he reached out and pinched the big flower chicken's beak.

She was just showing off to these two pretty older ladies when this old hen pecked at her hand. It was so disrespectful.

(End of this chapter)