Raising chickens pecks open the door to prosperity, and an eagle with a broken wing still soars
"A car accident left me with a disabled leg, but I use a prosthetic to challenge fate!" Zhu Junfeng, a disabled young man from Mashan Village, Qiaoshan Subdistrict Office, Huangling County, Shaanxi Province, relying on his own strong will, overcame difficulties and finally built an internal ecological organic circular small farm as he had wished - an ecological breeding estate.
In an interview with reporters, Zhu Junfeng said firmly yet with a look of comfort: "I am a disabled young man. I started out repairing home appliances, and now I have switched to developing an ecological breeding estate. At present, my annual net income has already reached 80,000 yuan." During the conversation, his optimistic yet stubborn expression shocked our hearts again and again.
Struggling youth is the most beautiful
Zhu Junfeng lost his right lower limb at the age of 9 because of a car accident. It was precisely because of his disability that after graduating from junior high school, Xiaozhu studied home appliance repair in Xi'an. He had originally thought that as long as he was hardworking and skillful, this livelihood could be held steadily until old age; unexpectedly, in recent years the home appliance repair industry has become increasingly depressed, and with inconvenient legs and feet, he ultimately had no choice but to close his shop. Family members, relatives, and friends all came one after another to comfort him, but Zhu Junfeng gritted his teeth and said: "I have a pair of healthy hands, and I can support myself."
Zhu Junfeng began to pay attention to shops and stalls along the roadside, seeing what kind of business would suit him. After a long period of investigation, Zhu Junfeng discovered that one thing sold every day, with no distinction between peak and off seasons, namely eggs and chicken meat. Therefore, he and his younger brother began to place their chips on free-range native chickens, and his target customer group was positioned as the working class, which is large in number, relatively stable, and constantly pursuing a higher quality of life.
Heaven does not fail the painstaking person
No sooner said than done. In 2014, Zhu Junfeng raised funds through multiple channels and began to contract 10 mu of mountain land next to his village to build a free-range native chicken breeding base. In order to save expenses, he and his younger brother did the work themselves, putting up fences and building chicken coops (using purchased second-hand materials), and the chicken farm was quickly completed. His first batch consisted of only 500 chicks purchased, but during the raising process many unexpected difficulties appeared. Because he lacked scientific knowledge of chicken raising and relied only on traditional breeding methods, blindly feeding feed and water, many chicks either ate too much or ate too little; in addition, there was feather pecking. Before feeding, the chicks were still coexisting peacefully, but after feeding, they began pecking each other's feathers, wings, and vents, causing large-scale injury, disability, and death among the chicks. This made him very anxious, and he felt that he had strength but could not use it. In less than a month, only 40 chicks remained, and the losses were severe. During most of 2015, Zhu Junfeng was almost unable to sleep every day: "One year of breeding practice was actually continuous trial and error. Through this year's practice, I identified the problems, and then in the second year I corrected them and tried again. With the help of the local disabled persons' federation, I finally found a breeding path suitable for myself."
Hard work pays off for the dedicated. Today, the ecological breeding estate is gradually getting on track. Zhu Junfeng skillfully collects eggs, sorts them, and packs them into boxes, busy and happy. With his diligence he proves his motto: "A car accident left me with a disabled leg, but I use a prosthetic to challenge fate!" Throughout the conversation, Zhu Junfeng always wore a smile. He said: "Mindset is crucial. Physical disability cannot become an excuse for giving in to despair. What I want to build is an internal ecological organic circular small farm. By then, you can come to my small farm again, bring the elderly and children together to pick fruit, feed chickens, and collect eggs, and together catch crickets in the beautiful mountain forest, sit in the grass watching the blue sky and white clouds, and listen to the singing of insects and birds..."