A clever wife raises chickens with dedication and embarks on the road to increasing income and prosperity

She volunteered to serve as cooperative president; Ouyu Jiao, a poor household in Qiandui Village, Qiongzhong, escaped poverty through hard work

At noon on December 14, Ouyu Jiao, a villager from Wandao Village, Qiandui Village Committee, Heping Town, Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, rode her motorcycle back from the "Qiandui Village Poultry Breeding Base" on the mountain. "It rained, so I went to the base to see whether the chicks had returned to the coop and to make sure they were properly kept warm," Ouyu Jiao said with a smile to the reporter as she wiped her rain-soaked hair.

This clever wife born in the 1980s voluntarily took on the role of "president of the Qiandui Village Poultry Professional Cooperative" in February this year, carefully tending 1,500 mountain chickens of the cooperative all by herself and riding her motorcycle back and forth between the base and home every day. "Although the base is a bit far from home, there is spring water on the mountain. The chickens of our Qiandui Village grow up drinking mountain spring water," Ouyu Jiao said.

Qiandui Village is a resettlement village for the Niulouling Reservoir, and transportation is relatively inaccessible. Ouyu Jiao's family has many siblings, little land, and two children who need to go to school. On ordinary days, they could only barely make a living by planting a small amount of areca nut and rubber. In recent years, Ouyu Jiao's husband had been working odd jobs at nearby construction sites to supplement the household income.

As rubber purchase prices remained persistently low, when could the family finally take off the "poverty hat"? So Ouyu Jiao went to Shi Leguang, who had been sent by the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee to serve as first secretary of the Party branch in Qiandui Village, hoping to join the village's poultry professional cooperative.

Because she had no breeding experience, after joining the cooperative, Ouyu Jiao first tried raising 150 mountain chickens. Determined to raise the chickens well, Ouyu Jiao studied breeding knowledge earnestly. Questions she did not understand during the day at training classes, she looked up answers for at night using Baidu on her mobile phone.

"We were all surprised. Under Ouyu Jiao's care, 143 of the first batch of mountain chickens survived. She runs to the base three times a day and carries 7 to 8 buckets of mountain spring water every day to feed the chicks. She is very responsible," Shi Leguang said. After two months of training, Ouyu Jiao became a well-known skilled breeder in the village.

It is understood that the Qiandui Village Poultry Professional Cooperative has taken in 10 poor households as members. When the government-supported chicks were distributed, a most suitable person had to be chosen to manage the cooperative, and Ouyu Jiao volunteered. "Feed costs about 300 yuan per day, which adds up to nearly 10,000 yuan a month. The mountain chickens cannot get sick, otherwise the losses would be severe," Ouyu Jiao said.

In August this year, Ouyu Jiao began worrying about sales channels for the mountain chickens. "At first, because I was thin-skinned, I did not dare set up a stall in the market to sell them. But if this batch of chickens is sold, the other poor households can get dividends, so I still had to find a way." She summoned her courage and went to restaurants in the county town to promote the mountain chickens, and finally succeeded in signing a long-term supply agreement with a restaurant owner.

As the breeding scale continued to expand, Ouyu Jiao, with the help of the village-stationed poverty alleviation team, also opened a WeChat online store called "Qiandui Farmhouse Shop." Now, through WeChat alone, she can sell nearly 2,000 eggs each month.

"If you want to live well, how can you do it without being diligent?" Ouyu Jiao said this when talking about her months of breeding experience. Now, under Ouyu Jiao's careful care, the 1,500 mountain chickens are thriving, and the cooperative is expected to make a profit of about 100,000 yuan each year. "The village encourages the wealth-creation concept of 'large households driving small households.' The cooperative has just started, and for skilled breeders like Ouyu Jiao, the dividend is at least 60 percent or more," Shi Leguang said.

Through her own efforts, Ouyu Jiao has fulfilled her wish and taken off the "poverty hat." Speaking about the future development of the cooperative, Ouyu Jiao said: "The government's policy support is strong, and the cooperative can continue to expand its scale. I also have higher requirements for myself. Only when the mountain chickens are of top quality can they sell for a good price. I hope 'Qiandui mountain chickens' will have broader sales channels."