Overworrying about Chicks?

[Joonsgirl81]

This. Its human nature to suffer anxiety over something so new. I like to call it ‘The firsts syndrome’ and it can apply to anything that represents a significant departure from the norm, ie. first child, new city, college, loss of significant others. The anxiety will wane as you gain experience and get past all of those first time stressors or milestones. and you learn adaptive/coping behaviors. good luck to you

Thank you!

 

[Joonsgirl81]

so normal! first timer here… I too had the “phantom peeps” during the first week! it’s all so new and coming at you at once. the reality that these were little creatures totally reliant on my care and I had full responsibility to do right by them…. but also had no experience, was a great reminder for me of the bewildering experience of bringing home human babies the first time, and I had twins. I wasn’t even sure about the right way to hold a chick, what the peeps meant, and what was going wrong that I was of course not yet aware of.

the internet is awesome and also anxiety inducing, such is the modern ailment a lot of us suffer. byc is a great resource. learn a ton but also don’t overdo it! each week as you spend time with them and learn, you will feel more confident! as others said, I can see how the second time and onward would be a lot different! good luck to you and enjoy them!

That's exactly it. I do find myself getting better as I go into the 3rd week. I've forced myself not to check on them every few minutes, and I try not to over-analyze every sound or little thing they do. I'm still so nervous about holding them. I make my husband catch them when its time to take them out to play in the grass and then bring them back. I was lucky not to have an pasty butt, but I have had get some out to wash some poopy feet.

 

[FluffyButtClub]

I’ve seen my grandparents and my folks raise chickens all my life. Never phased them. They didn’t worry because there was nothing to really worry about except the occasional racoon or fox snooping around at night. We could see the tracks. They didn’t have a lot of the threats we do these days though. Like mean kids throwing rocks and controlling HOA’s. I find myself occasionally worrying but it’s usually warranted. Woops, forgot to fill the feeder. Gotta relax and enjoy the chickens. They each have their own personality so they can become extended family if you let them. With that comes nervousness and anxiety. I guess I adopted my families more laid back attitude because I don’t check on them much at all. There’s really nothing to do but feed, water, play and wait. In the mean time it’s fairly warm out today. Guess I’ll crack a beer and watch the chickens. Beats the hell out of the news!!

 

[ck_in_mn]

First timer here also. I've been like a totally paranoid overprotective dad. We started by buying books from TSC before we even ordered the chicks. From the day they arrived I've been checking them constantly, making sure temps were right, cleaning wood shavings out their food and water, obsessing over everything from the brooder to the coop. I've never streamed before, but I figured out how to stream live through YouTube so I could keep an eye on them while I was at work. I'd be crushed if anything happened to our girls, and I figure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So far so good.