The next morning, after breakfast, the first thing Zhang Ran did was to run to the new house next to him and check the situation of the kang.

I touched the green bricks that were still warm, looked around the kang carefully, and found that most of the mud between the gaps in the blue bricks had been dried.

Zhang Ran estimated that at this level, the kang was almost ready to be put into use.

With the kang, the most basic conditions for manual hatching are already met. The next step is to test whether the kang hatching method in Zhang Ran’s impression is effective or not.

Zhang Ran asked Sankui for help, first laying a layer of mat on the kang, then finding some dry thatch to lay on it, and finally moving out the eggs bought from Xinfeng.

According to the memory of previous life, the first step to hatching chicks is to select qualified eggs. The eggs used must first be fertilized eggs. Unfertilized eggs cannot hatch chicks, so they can only be used for extra meals.

If it is placed in modern society two thousand years later, the method of selecting eggs is actually very simple. Just use a flashlight or a professional egg lamp to shine. If there are obvious black spots in the egg, it means that the embryo in the egg is a fertilized egg. If it is transparent throughout the body, it means that it is an unfertilized egg.

Unfortunately, there is no flashlight in this era. Zhang Ran could only wait until noon, when the sun was hottest, put the eggs under the sun and roughly distinguished them.

After choosing the eggs, Zhang Ran put neatly on the thatch that he thought was qualified, and then covered it with a thick layer of thatch to prevent the heat from overflowing.

After all these preparations were done, when Zhang Ran was about to start formally incubating with a kang, he suddenly remembered a problem. He was still missing a very critical thing, that is, the thermometer!

And this era seems like there is no thermometer!

"Damn, how can you control the temperature of the kang without a thermometer? I remember that manual incubation must be kept at a constant temperature and must be kept at around 37.5 degrees Celsius..."

During the artificial hatching of eggs, controlling the temperature is definitely one of the most important factors. Because only by strictly and accurately controlling the temperature during hatching of eggs can we imitate the process of hens holding their nests to the greatest extent, and only by trying to keep the constant temperature during the hatching process can we use artificial intervention to hatch chicks in unnatural circumstances.

What's more, Zhang Ran's method of hatching chickens by burning kangs is to hatch chickens by burning kangs. It is difficult to control the temperature. Now there is a lack of a thermometer for measuring the temperature, so the temperature is even more difficult to control...

If the temperature cannot be controlled, then any manual hatching is just nonsense... Even the most basic temperature cannot be controlled, so why do you still hatch chicks?

"What should I do? What should I do? Do I have to make a thermometer before hatching the chicks?"

Zhang Ran only knows how to make a thermometer, and he only knows that it is made of glass and mercury, and he has a rough understanding of its basic principles. However, Zhang Ran does not know much about how to make a thermometer and has never made it by himself.

Moreover, if glass can be made, wouldn’t it be over if Zhang Ran sells glass directly to make money? How could there be any manual incubation?

Seeing Zhang Ran frowning and keep paced around the house, but without any other moves, Sankui on the side couldn't help but say curiously: "Brother Ran, didn't you say you wanted to use this kang to hatch chicks? Why did you choose the chicken but don't burn the fire?"

"What kind of fire is burning! Don't make noise, let me think about how to control the temperature..." Zhang Ran glared at Sankui in anger, frowned and continued to think...

"The key element of artificial incubation is constant temperature..., 37.5℃... Well? I remember that the body temperature of a person seems to be 37.5℃, right?"

Suddenly, Zhang Ran remembered that the body temperature of a person is also constant, and under normal circumstances it is 37.5℃, which is almost not much different from the temperature required for hatching chicks.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ran slapped his forehead and laughed: "Haha... there is no thermometer, it's okay to use body temperature as a reference!"

......

"Damn, it's still not possible!"

Zhang Ran originally thought he had found a solution to temperature control, but when he applied it in practice, he found that using body temperature as a reference is not very reliable.

After all, Zhang Ran is just a human, not a machine. When measuring the temperature of the outside world with the human body sense, there will be great errors. It is impossible to accurately reach every degree, and can only measure the approximate temperature.

"Forget it, let's do it alive!"

Although all the conditions for possession are limited, half of the matter has been done. Zhang Ran felt that he could not give up halfway, so he still wanted to continue trying it.

If it succeeds and comes up with a method of artificial hatching, it will make a lot of money. If it fails unfortunately, it will at most lose some eggs, which is still affordable.

With the mentality of betting, Zhang Ran gritted his teeth and asked Sankui to go to the kitchen next door to burn the stove. He himself stayed in this "incubation room" and always paid attention to the temperature changes of the kang.

Sankui's movements were very quick. Not long after he went to the kitchen, wisps of blue smoke rose from the kitchen. As the rolling smoke entered the flue, the temperature of the kang in the "incubation room" gradually began to rise.

Zhang Ran touched the mat on the kang with his hand and found that the touch was warm and felt that the temperature should be almost 37 degrees.

But without a thermometer, this is just an estimate, and the exact temperature cannot be determined. And Zhang Ran knows that there is a huge error in measuring temperature by touching hands. Therefore, if you want to measure temperature more accurately, it is not possible to use your hands alone.

In fact, the most reliable method is also the part that can accurately measure the temperature of the human body, which should be the mouth and armpits.

However, the locations of these two places are a bit awkward, and it's okay to touch them yourself. If you use them to measure the temperature outside, it seems a bit difficult...

"There's nothing, let's go!"

In order to measure the temperature of the kang to the greatest extent under limited conditions, Zhang Ran gritted his teeth and directly lifted a corner of the thatch and pushed it up with his forehead...

With his forehead pressed against the mat on the kang, Zhang Ran clearly felt the hot feeling coming from the mat.

"I remember that if the external temperature is lower than the body temperature, it will feel cool. If the external temperature is similar to the body temperature, it should feel warm. If the external temperature is slightly higher than the body temperature, it should feel hot... Now it feels a little hot, then..."

Zhang Ran suddenly stood up, rushed out of the door, headed straight to the kitchen, and shouted loudly: "Sankui, put out the fire soon, put down the insulation board, the temperature is enough now!"

After rushing to the kitchen, Zhang Ran and Sankui, who was a little confused, quickly put down the bluestone slab between the stove and the flue, then used a stick to pick out the burning firewood in the stove, and then drained it with water.

After a while of rushing, Zhang Ran finally lowered the temperature of the kang a little, and maintained it almost the same as the body temperature.

The attempt to artificial incubate is not as simple as Zhang Ran thought at first. During the attempt, various small problems always arise.

But relying on his own knowledge reserves, Zhang Ran still found a way to deal with it one by one and solved the problem.

The hatching period of chicks must last at least twenty days, and the temperature of the kang must be kept at around 37.5 degrees Celsius. This process is very painful.

A person's energy is limited, and Zhang Ran cannot stay in the incubation room at all times, so Zhang Ran asked Sankui for help, and the two of them took turns to take care of the hatching eggs.
Chapter completed!