Preparing myself emotionallY?

[Heckel's Hens]

This may seem incredibly silly, but I am about to receive my first set of eggs to incubate and I am scared sick. What if none of them hatch? How do you explainto kids, 3 & 5, if no chicks come out or if they die afterwards?

I have been SUPER lucky with my baby chicks, and all 24 arrived perfectly healthy and no problems.

Am I obssessing too much before even starting to incubate? (Major nail biting...)

AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[7L Farm]

Think positive thoughts & you will get positive results. Thats what I keep telling myself.

 

[kelseygirl707]

We all feel that way about incubating the first time, that's why it is soo surprising that even when we end up making rookie mistakes, we still get fluffy babies! My first try I thought I would ruin everything and ended up with a 100% hatch rate! Never gotten a hatch rate that good since

Just enjoy the experiance, I'm sure you will have fluffy babies to cuddle in a few weeks

 

[wegotchickens]

I wouldn't tell the kids much about incubating to begin with, lest they mess with the bator. It's happened to a lot of folks on here, where a small child tampered where they shouldn't and the hatch failed. Let it be a surprise, and bring them in on it to see the actual hatch.

Also, the older child should be able to 'get' the 'Circle of Life' message, that sometimes living things are fragile and they die. That you just love them and do your best for all living things while they're in your care. Because someday you will lose a chicken. It's just inevitable.

 

[Heckel's Hens]

Quote:
Sniffle.

At almost 30, I'm pretty sure *I* am not prepared to lose a chicken. I love them already.

 

[hannakat]

I hear ya! Setting mine up for the first hatch too but it'll be a few weeks yet. I've already gone bonkers over the incubator that just arrived yesterday, but thanks to this site, I now know it's okay and so am I!!

Oh, to actually turn it on and put the eggs in ... OH my! It's gonna be soooooo exciting! I bet you do fine and your kids are going to be so thrilled by this new experience.

Send those lil' fluffies-to-be positive thoughts!

~^..^~

 

[elizabethbinary]

aww I think you SHOULD explain it to the children before it all happens. Maybe I was just a super curious child but I would have LOVED the one on one time where someone told me all about how to hatch babies and how some wouldn't make it. I'd have made sooky faces and asked if we could give mouth to mouth to the egg, I'm sure.

 

[easttxchick]

Heckel's Hens :

Quote:
Sniffle.

At almost 30, I'm pretty sure *I* am not prepared to lose a chicken. I love them already.

It's very difficult not to get attached to the little feathered monsters, isn't it?
You'll do fine with your hatch-I've had massive successes and massive fails, but have learned from every one of them.
Besides, you have BYC to help you with just about anything that happens. Believe me, if it happens to you, it's probably happened to someone on here as well and maybe we can guide you through it!​

 

[Hottchick]

I've got my first batch of hatching eggs in my incubator right now. I have prayed over my eggs. I'm excited and nervous and it's all good. I was more nervous to go ahead and get them in there. Now, we're on day 5 and so far so good. My two older kids (15 and 12) fight over turning the eggs and whose "babies" they are. (It's my son's science fair project to hatch them)

I hope you, and I, are successful. Luckily my kids are old enough to understand that they might not all hatch or might not hatch at all. We are just hoping for the best.

We had to rehome 4 roosters that were supposed to be pullets and lost 2 pullets to our dog. It is heartbreaking but we have to keep going on.

 

[wegotchickens]

Heckel's Hens :

Quote:
Sniffle.

At almost 30, I'm pretty sure *I* am not prepared to lose a chicken. I love them already.

I was pretty upset over the first few that failed. Shipped eggs are harder to hatch.

Then DD was into science when we hatched the next year, so we opened the 'fail' eggs and examined them to see what might've gone wrong.

Now I am only disappointed when I have to pull the 'fails' but it doesn't break my heart.


On losing birds? It's always the favorites. It always hurts. If it didn't, THAT would be a problem.
Years ago I asked DD if she'd choose not to have a pet, knowing that she'd outlive them. She decided it was worth the love you get now, to endure the pain of losing them later.