HTLCCBFT Chapter 103

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 103

The chicken coop at this time was certainly no longer the temporary wooden shed that Oliver had the slaves build when he first took over the first batch of chicks from Hahn.

Instead, it was located in the center of the four large grazing areas he had designated, with walls made of removable wooden planks. This way, by simply changing the direction of the doors, the grazing areas for the chickens could be easily rotated, saving both materials and time that would have been required to build four separate coops.

As the young chickens were rapidly gaining weight, the carpenters who had just finished their woodblock printing work were also busily constructing nesting boxes under Oliver’s direction.

Each nesting box was needed for every 3-4 hens, and inside, dried grass or wheat straw had to be placed.

With over 200 hens in the flock, the number of nesting boxes alone had to reach nearly 60.

The newly formed chicken coop was clearly not spacious enough, so before installing the nesting boxes, further expansion was necessary.

Once the renovation work was completed, it was Lucy and her team who became busy.

Following the wise guidance of the great Cat God, Lucy and her apprentice caretakers placed an empty eggshell in each nesting box as a “nest egg” to help first-time laying hens find their nesting spots.

Next, they increased the grinding of bone powder to prepare for the upcoming surge in demand and also boosted the water supply.

Major adjustments were made to the free-ranging schedule of the flock—since the peak laying period was from the first bell ringing until the sun reached the treetops of the large tree, Lucy delayed the release time significantly to ensure most hens completed their egg-laying before entering the grazing area.

To avoid disturbing the laying hens, no one was allowed to rush into the coop to collect eggs until all the chickens had left. The second egg collection took place just before the flock returned to the coop in the evening.

If a hen was found nesting and laying eggs outside, she was to be promptly returned to the nesting box. If a few could not be prevented or were discovered too late, the spot where she usually laid eggs was marked for future collection points. If most hens chose to lay eggs in the afternoon or showed significant weight loss, it meant the supplemental feed was insufficient and needed to be increased.

Each collected egg was individually inspected for cracks, cleaned of any surface dirt, and then stored in the cellar.

These unfertilized eggs were intended by Oliver to be supplied at a low price to the commoners of Laina, allowing them to decide whether to purchase them first.

However, since most commoners preferred to learn chicken-raising methods and raise their own chickens on their private plots for self-sufficiency, even at a low price, their demand for these eggs—which were not suitable for long-term storage and too extravagant to eat daily—was not high.

Therefore, the main plan was to process them into by-products like cheese and mayonnaise, which were easier to transport, and sell as many as possible before the Autumn Market ended to accumulate funds.

Under normal circumstances, the selection of breeding eggs would also begin at this stage. However, since Oliver was still hesitating between breeding within the flock of potentially related chickens or finding suitable breeding stock from outside, he had not yet allowed the roosters and hens to be housed together.

However, he couldn’t delay for too long either—a decision had to be made soon. Even if it wasn’t solely for breeding the next batch of chicks as quickly as possible, maintaining an appropriate ratio of roosters to hens would help the hens reach sexual maturity, positively influence follicle development, and thereby increase egg production.

The initial eggs appeared quite petite, only about half the size of Lucy’s palm.

As the chickens continued to gain weight and produce eggs, over the next ten days or so, the eggs would grow larger until they reached standard size.

Beyond these points, Oliver specifically instructed Lucy to pay attention to the shape and color of the droppings when cleaning the coop and to observe each chicken’s condition daily before letting them out to forage.

As the weather turned cooler, the chickens’ feed intake increased along with their size and egg production, making disease prevention particularly crucial.

After listening to the Lord describe several common illnesses, Lucy solemnly took notes: droppings should be tubular, coated with a white substance, and generally soft and moist. Droppings of other colors, watery in consistency, or containing blood were abnormal, and affected chickens needed to be identified promptly…

Among children her age, whether slaves or commoners, she was undoubtedly the one with the highest position and heaviest responsibilities.

She understood perfectly well that these chicks were of immense importance to the Lord.

The Lord had personally stated that they were crucial to Laina’s future.

Moreover, they were like “children” she had raised with her own hands, bit by bit, and they had rewarded her with the tremendous opportunity to rise from slavery to commoner status.

Without a doubt, she was the one most afraid of any mishap that might undo half a year of hard work.

To perform her duties better, even without parental pressure, and to avoid disappointing the Lord who entrusted her with great responsibility and the Cat God who granted her wisdom, Lucy worked much harder than those children who wept and resisted studying.

Fortunately, the first batch of caretakers had mostly learned the ropes and passed their assessments half a month ago, allowing them to share more of the workload and giving her more time to study and improve herself.

She was clever enough and diligent enough.

Given the opportunity to receive systematic, structured education like a commoner child and build a foundation, her progress was rapid.

Now, when listening to Oliver’s instructions, she no longer nervously tried to memorize everything by heart as before. Instead, she could take notes with paper and pen, just as Jonathan had once done.

Watching her diligently jotting things down, Oliver couldn’t help but smile and praise, “Little Lucy is amazing—your handwriting is quite good too.”

Although it was still a world away from the elegance of Baron Arte’s penmanship, which was widely admired… for a beginner, writing this neatly and clearly was already remarkable.

“Th-thank you, Your Highness.”

Lucy paused, blushing with a long-absent shyness, though unlike six months ago, she no longer felt constantly overwhelmed with trepidation.

Pressing her lips together, she spoke with earnest confidence, “I will definitely perform well for you at the competition at the end of the Autumn Market!”

Oliver couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t want this already exceptionally hardworking little girl to feel too pressured: “You don’t need to do it for me, just do it for yourself.”

Lucy seemed lost in thought, but nodded vigorously.

“Some hens always start laying too late or stop too early.” Oliver thought for a moment before continuing, “Over the next month, have your team observe carefully and mark those with smaller, shriveled combs and wattles, or pale coloring, yet with unusually smooth and glossy feathers, and either overweight or underweight bodies… any showing these characteristics should be selected and marked.”

Though unsure why His Highness wanted these particular chickens singled out, Lucy nodded seriously and replied without hesitation, “I understand, Your Highness.”

Oliver was genuinely craving chicken meat.

Though fish was readily available to him, eggs were plentiful every day, and his all-capable butler occasionally brought back game from the woods… nothing could replace the unique texture of chicken and pork.

He couldn’t bear to eat the laying hens or the good breeding chickens, but those low-producing hens that couldn’t create sufficient economic value – surely he could satisfy his cravings with those, especially since removing them would benefit the next generation of Lainan chickens.

Oliver felt he had endured long enough.

God only knew how much he missed chicken legs, wings, necks, breasts, kidneys, livers, hearts, and intestines – delicious whether fried, roasted, stir-fried, or boiled.

Of course, Oliver wouldn’t keep all the meat to himself.

Additionally, some of the culled low-producing hens could be selected as prizes to reward outstanding performers in the upcoming sports meet and final examinations.

The clucking chickens, completely unaware of Oliver’s dangerous thoughts, were still energetically scrambling for food.

After growing up, they no longer clung to Oliver as their mother hen like they did during their chick days.

However, when Oliver stood by the chicken coop, they would still gather around him affectionately, clucking enthusiastically.

But after waiting a while and seeing that Oliver had no intention of feeding them, they gradually dispersed.

This was actually considered quite affectionate behavior for them.

After all, the feeding troughs always contained food, with diligent workers like Lucy replenishing the feed 4-5 times daily, ensuring these crucial laying hens never went hungry.

After eating their fill, many hens – long accustomed to the presence of nearby caretakers – followed their instincts and began looking for nearby nesting boxes to lay eggs.

Lucy was fine, having been forced to get used to Oliver watching her work since the chick-rearing days, so she no longer felt nervous or anxious.

But for the other caretakers, being acutely aware that the Lord was watching their every move from nearby made their hands tremble with tension.

If not for Jonathan and Ziken understanding their feelings and paying special attention to their movements to rescue situations in time, they might have made some basic mistakes right in front of the Lord.

Oliver certainly didn’t need to do the work himself anymore.

He stood at the chicken coop entrance, looking inside through the windows, occasionally giving orders.

This is the benefit of teaching a man to fish.

Oliver sighed contentedly.

He didn’t have to do everything himself. Even though he had developed the habit of petting the chickens thoroughly to gain those experience points and extra production, he only needed to quickly go through the coop for a round of petting before Lucy and the others took them out to pasture.

The egg-laying that day proceeded as smoothly as planned.

He waited patiently for a while. As the sun slowly moved from behind the distant eastern mountains to a position halfway to its zenith—indicating around ten in the morning—most of the chickens had finished laying eggs. Shaking their fluffy dark yellow feathers, they proudly clucked “cluck-cluck” and emerged one after another from the nesting boxes.

Some of the more impatient ones began pecking at the movable wooden wall, which usually opened earlier, making a “tap-tap” sound.

Lucy couldn’t help but turn to look at Oliver.

He immediately smiled and nodded gently to her, indicating that the peak egg-laying period for the day had passed and it was time to let the chickens out.

Of course, the amount of food laying hens could obtain in the wild was only about 10-20% of their daily needs. They largely relied on supplemental feed to meet their normal requirements.

But pasturing itself wasn’t solely for obtaining food—it was also to increase their exposure to sunlight, and outdoor activity was beneficial for the chickens’ overall health.

As the flock surged out, the manservant Johan, who had been waiting nearby for a short while, approached Oliver.

He bowed respectfully and inquired, “Your Highness, the chicken merchant Hahn you requested has been brought to the castle and is waiting. Do you permit me to bring him here now?”

“Hmm.” Reminded by Johan, Oliver recalled Hahn and said, “Bring him directly here.”

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