Also I've been thinking I might have to cancel my order of chicks. I haven't even told my parents I ordered them yet but I thought I would still have time to raise them and had it all worked out but now I'm not sure. They hatch October 11th but I'm going to 4 concerts that month (most are before or on hatch day though so not affected) and 5 in November (don't worry, most are either local bands or like mid level clubs, not huge expensive stadium shows or anything. Lol Though I admit it is a lot, i normally only go to a one or two every few months or sometimes every month but there's a ton of good tours this fall and I've been saving). ANYWAY. I got off topic but it adds up to about 1 or 2 a week and lots of days in between to monitor the chicks and by then they would be 3 or 4 weeks old and fairly self sufficient and it would be fine. BUT. The problem lies in the fact that now I am considering taking some classes at the local college and even though I'm not sure how many I'm taking yet (could be one, could be three, I don't know) and even though college isn't every day, I just think that A. That would be even less time to monitor the chicks, not only going to concerts every week but then classes on other days, and B. If I do end up taking classes, I would need to focus on homework, etc., and college is already stressful enough for me, it's why I left the last one and have taken so much time off, barely taking classes or not at all, without also having to worry about and take responsibility for raising baby animals. I think I might have a hard enough time taking care of my current 8 hens. I barely even spend time with them now and I have plenty of time. Which brings up another point, my hope was that I would spend WAY more time with these chicks than I did with my current chickens, and that they would be super friendly and I just don't think that that's feasible with the amount of time I would be spending away from the house. And then there's the fact that even though I now have excellent ideas for the feeders and waterers that won't tip over like they did with the last batch and I can male the chicks pretty self sufficient, they still need to be watched and monitored to make sure they don't kill themselves or anything. And also, if my family knew more about chickens or animals in general then I wouldn't feel bad about being gone so much and might still keep the order but they know really nothing and the chickens are mine. Even if I make tip proof food and water, there's just the close monitoring and I don't know, a certain touch or ability to care for them that I'm not sure I trust them with. And even if I did, no way they would ever even WANT to take care of them. It just doesn't really seem fair to me either to order them and then be gone all the time and expect them to just take care of them when I ordered them. I don't know, it's definitely crushing because I've wanted these breeds since last fall when I ordered my first birds but I just don't think it's possible. And the weird thing is that normally I wouldn't cancel probably because I'm very impulsive and I could find a way. Normally I probably wouldn't take the classes but some actually seem interesting. But I don't know, I feel that I should suck it up, put my feelings aside, think about what's best for myself, my family, and the baby chicks (a living breathing thing), and realize now might not be the best time. And I probably shouldn't have impulsively ordered them August 1st like I did... Is this what growing up is? LOL
