Tendie, you offered a lot of kind words and advice when I was asking for prayers for my mother in law. My turn to repay the favor. I have found that when I think to much about the what ifs of something, I typically miss out on something much larger by not following my gut instinct. I try to do as much research as I can on the subject and prepare myself for what said decision will entail. This could be anything, stock purchases, buying something for my house, car, etc, making a decision on something I'm designing or building. I always go with my gut the direction I choose. Most times, I don't do things blindly, but sometimes we are forced to make decisions with little to no info. This is where I trust that God will lead me to make the right decision.
The one thing that the college I went to has taught me more than any math and science is damage management and how to weigh risks, rewards, pros, cons, and time commitment. And just looking at your conundrum, my initial instinct would be to get chickens. The risk is minimal, they don't cost much beyond the initial investment, the reward is you have eggs and chickens to eat is shit goes south, and you have fertilizer (chicken shit) for your garden. If anything we're to happen to them, at the end of the day, you have to look at them as they are, chickens. Nothing more, nothing less. You can't look at them as a pet or friend as they would essentially be a tool for your survival should things go south. I'm not saying don't care for them, but you can't be attached to them emotionally, or they will for survival purposes be useless to you. The only thing that would affect my decision is whether or not I had the time and the bandwidth to care for them day in and day out. Which is why I don't have chickens. I'm gone too much. Don't go making a mountain out of a molehill. Make an informed indecision, follow your instinct, and move forward. If you boil it down to that, it gets pretty cut and dry.
Hope this helps, and thanks for the MIL prayers. She's on the up n up now, still not out of the woods yet, but improving.
It's easy to get duped into building all the what ifs into this giant scary thing when you are looking miles ahead in the distance. It's easy to overlook the steps to getting there. One thing that always stuck with me, when I was in middle school I always remember walking past the math class for grade above me and immediately getting worried that I will never be able to do what they are doing, and that it was going to be too difficult for me to comprehend. And then through finishing the course I was in and starting the next course and getting to that point, I always remember thinking, huh, that wasn't so bad, I don't know what I was so worried about. Looking at and end result without looking at the steps to get there can really mess with my head and make me doubt myself and my decisions. The lesson here being that even your worst fear of the worse case scenario, there will be a lot of opportunities to right your ship before it gets that bad. The worst thing that can happen is you find out that chickens aren't for you and you're only out time and money and you get some chicken shit under your finger nails. Starting smaller is definitely a good idea. I have to remind my wife a lot, because she tends to let the world build up on her a lot, which causes a lot of anxiety and fear of making decisions, is to take things one at a time. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one decision at a time, etc... Once she starts doing that, she starts sorting out what is more or less important and acting on it. Make small moves, but keep making moves.
I'd say if it were me, I was always a fish aquarium guy, everyone is always champing at the bit to buy the fish first, when it's way better for the fish to buy the aquarium, set it up first, let the water cycle and get the right ph, nitrogen level, etc, and then get the fish. In this sense, if I were to go for the chickens, I would set everything else up first, coop, watering system, feed systems, enclosure or backyard, etc. And buy the actual chickens last. That way I thoroughly understood everything fully about what they need before any chicken was ever in the mix. Just my 2 cents.
Yup! Good luck with your future chicken endeavours! A few days ago they did a tracheotomy and are trying to ween her back off the vent. She's at least awake and alert now and they are going to start OT, PT, and speech therapy. I might get to see her next week if all goes well. Thanks for the prayers! She's been using em.
Tendie, you offered a lot of kind words and advice when I was asking for prayers for my mother in law. My turn to repay the favor. I have found that when I think to much about the what ifs of something, I typically miss out on something much larger by not following my gut instinct. I try to do as much research as I can on the subject and prepare myself for what said decision will entail. This could be anything, stock purchases, buying something for my house, car, etc, making a decision on something I'm designing or building. I always go with my gut the direction I choose. Most times, I don't do things blindly, but sometimes we are forced to make decisions with little to no info. This is where I trust that God will lead me to make the right decision.
The one thing that the college I went to has taught me more than any math and science is damage management and how to weigh risks, rewards, pros, cons, and time commitment. And just looking at your conundrum, my initial instinct would be to get chickens. The risk is minimal, they don't cost much beyond the initial investment, the reward is you have eggs and chickens to eat is shit goes south, and you have fertilizer (chicken shit) for your garden. If anything we're to happen to them, at the end of the day, you have to look at them as they are, chickens. Nothing more, nothing less. You can't look at them as a pet or friend as they would essentially be a tool for your survival should things go south. I'm not saying don't care for them, but you can't be attached to them emotionally, or they will for survival purposes be useless to you. The only thing that would affect my decision is whether or not I had the time and the bandwidth to care for them day in and day out. Which is why I don't have chickens. I'm gone too much. Don't go making a mountain out of a molehill. Make an informed indecision, follow your instinct, and move forward. If you boil it down to that, it gets pretty cut and dry.
Hope this helps, and thanks for the MIL prayers. She's on the up n up now, still not out of the woods yet, but improving.
Rusty
It's easy to get duped into building all the what ifs into this giant scary thing when you are looking miles ahead in the distance. It's easy to overlook the steps to getting there. One thing that always stuck with me, when I was in middle school I always remember walking past the math class for grade above me and immediately getting worried that I will never be able to do what they are doing, and that it was going to be too difficult for me to comprehend. And then through finishing the course I was in and starting the next course and getting to that point, I always remember thinking, huh, that wasn't so bad, I don't know what I was so worried about. Looking at and end result without looking at the steps to get there can really mess with my head and make me doubt myself and my decisions. The lesson here being that even your worst fear of the worse case scenario, there will be a lot of opportunities to right your ship before it gets that bad. The worst thing that can happen is you find out that chickens aren't for you and you're only out time and money and you get some chicken shit under your finger nails. Starting smaller is definitely a good idea. I have to remind my wife a lot, because she tends to let the world build up on her a lot, which causes a lot of anxiety and fear of making decisions, is to take things one at a time. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one decision at a time, etc... Once she starts doing that, she starts sorting out what is more or less important and acting on it. Make small moves, but keep making moves.
I'd say if it were me, I was always a fish aquarium guy, everyone is always champing at the bit to buy the fish first, when it's way better for the fish to buy the aquarium, set it up first, let the water cycle and get the right ph, nitrogen level, etc, and then get the fish. In this sense, if I were to go for the chickens, I would set everything else up first, coop, watering system, feed systems, enclosure or backyard, etc. And buy the actual chickens last. That way I thoroughly understood everything fully about what they need before any chicken was ever in the mix. Just my 2 cents.
Yup! Good luck with your future chicken endeavours! A few days ago they did a tracheotomy and are trying to ween her back off the vent. She's at least awake and alert now and they are going to start OT, PT, and speech therapy. I might get to see her next week if all goes well. Thanks for the prayers! She's been using em.