Unable to extricate himself from falling in love with raising chickens, Shen Zhixuan, a man of science and technology, resigned for a hen and opened another door in life.

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"in order to concentrate on her, I quit my job." Shen Zhixuan, who has a background in industrial design, calmly arranges the balcony, which grows all kinds of vegetables and overlooks neighboring buildings and communities. The "she" in Shen Zhixuan's mouth is a chicken living on the balcony, burying her head in a broken eggshell.

Except Yu chicken (photo _ Lin Yijun) can't afford to eat grazing eggs, so he might as well raise his own chicken.

When I came to the building near Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, I took the elevator to the seventh floor. As soon as I opened the door, I heard a chicken crow, "Yu Chicken is welcoming the guests!" Shen Zhixuan smiled and explained that opening the floor-to-ceiling window of the balcony, you could see an energetic hen taking a sand bath.

The full name of this hen is "except Yu Chicken", which means the chicken that deals with food waste. Shen Zhixuan usually nicknamed it "Yu Chicken". The fate between him and Yu Chicken began more than two years ago, "I don't want to eat any more washed eggs, but I can't afford to eat herding eggs." After Shen Zhixuan came into contact with the concept of friendly land and agricultural products, he hoped to make a change in his life, but the economic conditions were still unaffordable.

"A grazing egg costs more than 15 yuan. One egg a day costs 450 yuan a month." Shen Zhixuan had an idea after calculating: "is it possible to be self-sufficient?" The idea of raising chickens also sprouted here, and he began to take classes everywhere, from food farmers' education courses at community colleges to Pumen sustainable design courses, as well as exchanges among many urban chicken farmers.

The balcony, which used to grow vegetables, began to raise chickens two years ago. Shen Zhixuan designed the balcony with the concept of sustainability of Pumen (photography _ Lin Yijun), designed with the concept of sustainability of Pumen, and let the environment cycle by itself.

It is not easy to raise chickens in high-rise buildings. "We must first create a living environment suitable for chickens." With the concept of Pumen sustainable design, Shen Zhixuan moved space on the balcony, put sand and fallen leaves, and set up delivery rooms and rest areas. "this is not a final decision, the environmental layout has been improved many times, and all the changes are based on the consideration of sustainability and circulation."

Shen Zhixuan began to explain the design principle, "any design should take sustainability as a consideration." He explains that considering the living environment of chickens, the environment is modelled on forests, laying sand with good drainage and non-sticky texture, and placing large stones. "insects and other creatures will perch in the crevices next to the big rocks, so that chickens can find worms to eat every day, so that they won't be bored all day."

The fallen leaves on the sand are transported by Shen Zhixuan to parks and other places every week to make the chickens more comfortable and to fertilize the soil. "then I want to plant other plants, which is more like the natural environment." He said that after planting the plant, there will be natural fallen leaves, and then there will be insects around the plant, which can reduce human movement and make the overall environment more self-recycling.

Considering chicken dung and drinking water, raising chickens on the balcony and growing vegetables

Shen Zhixuan's construction materials for fences, delivery rooms and rest areas are all taken from waste materials. For example, fences are made of bamboo poles. The stacking height design of the delivery room and rest area takes into account the egg-laying habits of chickens and the convenience of Shen Zhixuan in picking up eggs. "chickens like to lay eggs at high places, and at the same time, they need high concealment. It is also convenient for me to hold eggs near the fence, so it will not disturb it."

Another advantage of stacking the egg laying area is that it can solve the problem of chicken manure. Shen Zhixuan explained that the laying room is stacked high and the laying area is separated from the ground, which allows the remaining chickens to lay eggs and the chicken manure falls on the ground. In this way, the laying room can be kept clean, and when the chicken manure returns to the ground, it can fertilize the land and achieve the benefit of recycling.

There is also a small fish tank in the balcony. "Yu chicken can drink water, and the big-bellied fish inside can eat wigglers." Shen Zhixuan said while adding the mashed eggshell to the chicken feed bucket, which is pink and green. The pink bucket is filled with dry food, such as eggshell and chicken feed, and the green bucket is filled with wet food, such as daily leftovers.

Shen Zhixuan's self-sufficiency is not only eggs, but also all the plants on the balcony are edible vegetables. "this is sweet fennel. Scrambled eggs are delicious." He explained the way harvested crops are cooked and said he still needs to buy ingredients such as large leafy vegetables and tomatoes before planning to rent a piece of land to grow more crops.

In addition to the rest of the chicken eating eggshell, the red bucket only contains dry food and feed (photo _ Lin Yijun) for the egg self-made production and marketing resume, suitable for both gifts and self-use.

At present, Yu Chicken lays eggs one egg a day, but he will rest one day a week. "if he lays eggs every day, the burden on Yu Chicken is too great." Shen Zhixuan said that Yu chickens are laying hens, and laying eggs too often is not good for their health and will lose their lifespan. In the first year of breeding, when Yu chickens first started laying eggs, the frequency and number of eggs laid were very unstable, and the situation has gradually stabilized recently. Come to one a day.

Shen Zhixuan picked up the eggs laid by Yu Chicken yesterday and carefully placed them on the scale. "I will record every egg of Yu Chicken." this time the scale is 62 grams, which falls in the L grade, which is a little smaller than that of a few days ago. "the latest eggs are all above L, sometimes to LL, but L is actually enough for me to eat. If it is too big, it will consume the lifespan of the remaining chicken."