#big ol gap of not working on her which might be a disaster

[wavetapper]

SIGH here we go agaig

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

have 8 million things to do very soon and I can tell that I'm riiiiiight on the edge of a depression spiral (which is itself at least partly caused by being overwhelmed, dealing with it poorly and becoming more overwhelmed, and hating myself for dealing with it poorly) which is SUPER GREAT TIMING. so obviously I'm making a list, because sometimes that helps.

things I absolutely must do this weekend:

finish the hair repaint on my current Etsy order so I can mail it Monday or earlier

do anything I might need to do for the other outstanding order that the customer also wants in time for Christmas somehow, so that when the parts arrive on MONDAY I can put the thing together and mail it almost immediately (damn well better show up on Monday, which is itself irritating because the site said free 2-day shipping but nobody really means that when they ship to Alaska)

wrap and prepare any gifts I want to mail out because I should also send those no later than Monday, and in fact earlier would have been better, but for some reason every year I'm like "eh, it's fine, there's time" right up until there suddenly isn't

do...whatever I still need to do with Tumblr. import to Wordpress, back up the whole thing to my computer with one of several methods I've reblogged, try to find specific posts I want to save (original posts and anything tagged "fic ideas" will be tedious but at least easy to find; no idea about other stuff)

semi-related: add something to my Dreamwidth profile so it's not...blank

haul some more stuff to Value Village and other donation sites, because I’m about to pick up a bunch of shit that will take up too much space in my car (somewhat related: books, music, movies, and toys are 40% off today and tomorrow, which is unusual for them)

set up the damn tree, like even if we don't put ornaments on it I'd at least like to have the tree up (requires digging it out of the garage, which is a disaster and very much not my disaster)

do something with my dad and sister for my birthday (but first, figure out what and when, and like...I don’t have the mental energy for that)

try to get more birthday donations for SPLC (I went with Trevor Project last year and got several donations without doing much to promote it, so I don't know if this one's getting a lot less because it seems more political, or algorithms are hiding this and a lot of my other posts, or a lot of people have deliberately snoozed me because of my political posts, or...something else, idk)

transfer stuff into my new planner, because my current one is close enough to the end that it's not very useful anymore

other things that don't necessarily have to happen this weekend but should happen in the really near future, both because they need to get done and because they're contributing to my overall mental load that means everything is overwhelming:

figure out how to send in the claim for my car accident last year to my life-insurance-and-a-few-other-things company, because it's worth $50 (should probably also see if I can get something similar for the earthquake, because I think it did fuck up my neck a little more, and $50 is $50 when I'm paying them that much each month)

list other things on Etsy...now that it's too late to take advantage of holiday sales 😖

sign up for actual training with Hazy

also, bug the rescue group again about recent vet info to figure out whether she has any pre-existing conditions and when she needs a checkup (maybe soon, because she seems to scratch herself a LOT and sometimes she gets kind of wheezy)

also also, try to figure out ways to work on her separation anxiety and general hyperness, which I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO because it's all a gradual process that I don't really have time for, and I have yet to find a smart/puzzle toy or a good chew toy that really seems to occupy her attention so I guess I still need to try more, and apparently mental stimulation through training can be good for anxiety and hyperactivity both so I should really be working on extremely basic commands on my own probably??

shit that's right I also need to figure out if I want to get her on VCA Care Club and do research for pet insurance that might be better than the one we had for Scully

get myself back into a better Planet Fitness habit, because I didn't go at all this week and I've definitely dropped off in the last few weeks, which is partly because I've been busy with other things INCLUDING THE GIANT EARTHQUAKE but partly because the main reason I was good about it before was that I literally tricked myself into wanting to work out so I could listen to The Adventure Zone, and once I caught up on that, nothing else I've tried (MBMBAM, occasional TAZ updates, Night Vale) has quite filled the gap of "hilarious goofs + suspenseful long-form narrative" that makes me actually want to work out, so...either I need to figure out how make myself go without that motivation (mixed success so far or I wouldn't be talking about it or feeling guilty about it) or find another podcast I want to binge. and try to figure out if there's any point to asking them to stop playing so many news channels (especially Fox two or three times and fucking OAN once) at the TV bank for the cardio machines, because that is...honestly another thing that makes me not want to go

related: somehow find a way to make myself do my core exercises regularly, because slacking on those and slacking on Planet Fitness is probably part of the reason my headaches and neck and general constant exhaustion have maybe been worse lately, AND ALSO start regularly doing the exercises that are supposed to help with my newish hand/wrist pain, all of which sucks because a big ol' theme here is me having a hard time forming un-fun new long-term habits (exercise, going to bed earlier) that are crucial for improving basically every part of my life and not worsening the health problems i already have

TYPE UP MY DAMN NOTEBOOKS and organize everything so I actually know how much I have in my current WIPs; now that my computer is back there's no excuse for not doing this

also like...write. in general. now that I have a Christmas-related idea I'd kinda like to do and I also want to do a Yuletide treat, and maybe Avengers: Endgame isn't really a deadline for lots of other fics but also it kind of is

actually organize my backups so they're not a disaster and it's not a crisis next time I have computer problems (plus like, I'm going to need everything backed up when I upgrade)

research and buy a CPU, motherboard, SSD, and maybe new PSU, ideally without spending a horrendous amount of money

make more progress in SWTOR because there's no guarantee how long it's going to be around and tbh it's ridiculous I haven't finished all the class storylines despite having been a subscriber for like. SEVEN YEARS

unfuck my iTunes library YET AGAIN

find a therapist, because I've probably been needing one for a while but a huge theme in all of this is being overwhelmed because I have too much to do and don't know how to deal with it, and then getting into guilt and self-loathing because I dealt with it badly and it got worse, and I'm increasingly sure it's my not-really-diagnosed-or-treated ADHD starting this old, old cycle to begin with and that means it's even more important to find a therapist who will actually. do stuff. with the ADHD. instead of just kinda...dropping it.

slight problem though, adding yet another regular appointment means less time for...everything else and that doesn't exactly help with being overwhelmed, so it's like...a disincentive to pursue it

the only thing I really want to do:

sleep for about a year

[trashboiiz]

First Day Flirtations (Aleks x Reader)

(A/N: I am back from the dead!! By dead I mean school. So this is a very late secret santa gift for @einhd !! Sorry it took so long! I had the flu for a week and I haven’t been on tumblr much. Hope you like this long ass fic because I can’t write anything short.)

Today’s the day. The big ol’ day. The day I’ve been waiting for the whole summer and it’s finally here.

I feel like I’m going to vomit.

The night before I packed my backpack and made a lunch so I didn’t have to worry about getting anything ready today, because of course I’d pick out a CowChop shirt for my first day interning if I was rushing. And I don’t want to be that person.

So, I packed the usual phone chargers and lunch that I probably won’t eat since I’ll be too nervous. I also packed some extra clothes because I have no idea what’s going to happen when I get there, and a notebook in case I wanted to seem like an overachiever and take notes.  I have no idea what I’m supposed to bring but I’ll bring everything just in case. I’m ready for the disaster that is CowChop and myself.

“You excited, Y/N?” My roommate asks, walking out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

“Hm?” I shove a granola bar in my mouth as I google directions to the warehouse.

“For your internship, your first day dude”

“Oh” my roommate notices my nervousness and comes over to pat my back.

“You’ll do great man, I know you’ve been looking forward to this forever” I nod, “maybe you could show them the fanfic you’ve wr-“

“TAYLOR!” I throw on my backpack and spin around, “I’ll die before they find out about that”

She giggles and throws me my jackets that was on the bed.

“Y/N you have 30 minutes to get to the warehouse”

I check my phone and begin to panic as 9:30AM lights up on the screen.

“Have fun! Don’t worry too much!” Taylor yells as I run out the room.

“If I timed this right I would be 5 minutes early not 2” I mumble to myself, “maybe I’ll skip breakfast to save time”

It’s almost 10am, the time Brett told me to show up. If I hadn’t run I would’ve missed the bus and would’ve been late. I can’t be late on my first day, I’d have to quit immediately and never return.

After walking a few minutes from the bus stop I arrive at the feeble gate protecting the Cow Chop warehouse. Through the gaps I can see the familiar parking lot, filled with cars and set pieces that were destroyed; I wonder if I should’ve brought some bandaids.

“Y/N?” To my left I hear a crackle and see a small intercom.

“Y/N? Is that you?” I walk over and look into the tiny camera, awkwardly.

“Y-yeah! It’s Y/N, the new intern!” I stutter, trying my best to sound enthusiastic.

“Welcome to hell, kiddo”

The gate jolts open and I slowly walk inside, excited but terrified at the same time. Brett stands in the doorway, looking more muscular than in the videos but also less scary.

“Nice to meet you Y/N” He shakes my shaky hand with more force than I was expecting, “Thanks for being on time, fucking no one else takes this job seriously enough”.

I chuckle, unsure of what to say.

“Well we might as well get started” Brett holds the door as I walk inside, “I guess I can give you a tour and then we’ll talk about the other crap like rules and what not. Basically, point the camera at someone when they’re speaking and don’t burn the place down”

For the next 20 minutes or so, Brett gives me a tour of the warehouse; only 5 minutes involved showing me the office and the rest of the tour was sidetracked by Lindsey who wanted to meet me and wouldn’t stop talking.

“Here’s your desk” Brett walks over to one of the many plain black desks, “if you need anything, don’t ask me, I don’t edit shit”

He laughs to himself, “no, but really, ask Lindsey or Anna, they’re the most helpful here, obviously’

I set my stuff down and take a seat, getting ready for whatever they throw at me.

“Someone will come over and teach you about editing stuff, maybe Asher. I don’t know. Anyways, welcome again, you’ll do fine.”

As Brett walks away I glance around the office and see a handful of the Cow Chop crew: Anna, Lindsey, and James; I wasn’t surprised that Asher and Aleks were late. I spend the next hour watching the other trickle in and introduce themselves, although I already know who each of them are. Anna teaches me the Cow Chop style of editing and shares her expertise on what works for each video. Asher gives me some tips too but mainly jokes around, which helps alleviate some of my stress and take my mind off of my anxiety.

“Well look who finally decided to show up”

I look up from my desk and see Brett berating a tired Aleks.

“Maybe if you didn’t stream till 5am you’d show up on time and we could make videos for our fucking channel!” Aleks shrugs him off and goes to sit at his desk, but stops when he sees me.

“Who’s this?” Aleks looks at me confused, “Brett who’s this?”

“It’s Y/N, the new intern” Brett yells back, “Don’t you ever fucking pay attention?”

“I have ADHD Brett, don’t bully me”

Brett huffs and slams his office door behind him; I definitely won’t be asking him any questions anytime soon.

Aleks walks over to me and put his hand on my desk.

“So you’re the new intern,” he smirks, “I’m Aleks, but I assume you’re a fan because who would actually want to work here”

I smile back, feeling like I look like an idiot.

“If you need anything just let me know. I sit over there” He points to a desk a little in front of me, “I can’t really help with editing or anything but whatever”

Before he walks to his desk he squeezes me shoulder. I don’t know if that’s a softball coach squeeze or a guy having a crush on me squeeze. I try not to think about Aleks in a softball uniform and get to editing my first video.

I finally have time to eat my lunch after filming some content and editing the one video I was given. I still feel like a nervous wreck but now a more competent wreck. As I go through the video, cutting clips and adding effects, I eat my sad sandwich, which was a bit soggy because I made it the night before. Nevertheless, I continued eating it because I was too afraid to order anything to the warehouse; maybe in a few weeks I’ll have that confidence, or maybe never and I’ll just suffer.

“Y/N, what the fuck are you eating?”

I look up to see Aleks standing by his desk, a microwavable meal in one hand.

“Uh, it’s just a sandwich”

“That looks pretty shit,” Aleks says as I chuckle, “Do you want me to order you anything?”

“What? N-No, I’m fine, really”

“Well can I at least sit next to you while you edit so you don’t look so sad”

I look around to see if anyone else was here, but I guess everyone went out to lunch; I don’t know if I should be happy or nervous, maybe both.

“Yeah, sure”

Aleks pulls up a chair next to me and begins eating what seems to be leftover Chinese food.

“Oh I remember this” he says with his mouth full, “I was really bad at this game”

“Yeah” I giggle, “I can’t really see a way to edit it to make you look better”

“That’s my aesthetic though, terrible at games that aren’t FPSs”

I don’t say anything even though I know he’s lying; I’ve watched enough of his videos to know he’s not very good at any game.

As we eat we go through the video; I mark down parts to edit as Aleks suggests them. But after awhile we get distracted from the video and just…talk. It’s nice. For the first time in awhile I’m happy having a conversation with someone and I’m actually interested. I don’t know if it’s our mutual dislike of LA or that Aleks has pretty blonde hair and brown eyes that sparkle when he grins, but it’s nice.

“Y/N wait”

I stop laughing and freeze, worried I did something wrong, but Aleks leans over and brushes a strand of hair out of my face.

“Oh, thanks” I blush.

“No it’s, I-” Aleks stutters, “It was distracting. It’s just my ADHD, ya know.”

We sit in silence for a couple seconds, unsure of what to do.

“I, uh, I got to go do some work and stuff” Aleks mutters.

“Yeah, I should keep working on this video” I turn back to the monitor as Aleks stands up.

“We should do this again sometime, Y/N” Aleks puts his hand on my shoulder, “Welcome to Cow Chop, happy you’re here.”

Aleks eyes look soft, like his bleach blonde hair and his tired face. There’s a warmth to him, something that’s inviting and calming. I feel safe.

“Thanks Aleks. I’m happy I’m here too.”

[megsmuttsnstuff]

Cat Combos: When two homes become one

When my now-husband and I moved in together, we knew we were going to have some growing pains. It wasn’t only because of the normal complications of merging two separate lives into a shared experience, but rather because of our cats! At the time, Gabbie was already a senior with 16 years of life under her belt, and Val was only about 11 months old. We had quite the age gap to deal with, and to top it off, Gabbie’s historical hatred of other cats. Even before we started getting the girls adjusted to one another, we knew we were going to have some problems getting those two to share a home.

Slow Transitions and Sleep Over Parties

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the 17 years I’ve had a cat companion, it’s that you do things on their time, not yours. When it came time to move and form a multi-cat household, we had to start very, very slowly.  We started by introducing the cats before the official move-in. I would bring over Gabbie for overnight sleep overs at the now-hubs place a few nights a week, and he would bring Val over to my place on other nights. This was the best option for us since the thing that stressed our girls out the most was the absence of their people. That said, the back-and-forth was time-consuming and stressful for us humans, and it wasn’t great for the girls either. Even slow introductions ended in hissing and fleeing. But after many sleepless nights, things start to change. Slowly, the cats stopped hissing, came out of their hiding spots, and started to scope each other out. In hindsight, I would have done some things differently – we only had a few cat disasters, but I think better planning could have prevented a lot of pain and discomfort.

In hindsight, I wonder if doing it all in one swift move would have been easier than the situation we worked out. While there’s no one right way to merge two kitty households into one, there’s lots of options and techniques that you can use with your feline friends when tackling daunting household transitions.

Moving Kitties: The Basics

Whether you do lots of small visits when moving or one big move, helping your kitties feel secure and safe should be your number one priority during any household transition. Providing separation and slowly start letting your furry friends share spaces will help establish feelings of safety and kitty autonomy. For the kitty that already lives in the house (we’ll call this one Home Kitty), make sure they will have access to their favorite things during the introductory phase. There’s potential for friendship between your furry companions, but this potential will never be reached if your kitties don’t feel secure in their space. It’s important to ensure that Home Kitty has a well-established safety zone. Cats are very territorial animals, meaning they think of their world in terms of territory -  what spaces belong to them, and what spaces belong to other creatures. Your Home Kitty is vulnerable to feeling like their territory is being invaded when a new cat is introduced to their home. As such, it’s important to maintain the most important elements of Home Kitty’s space, and to keep initial introductions away from Home Kitty’s special/personal places in the home. When introducing the cats for the first time, decide what will be neutral territory in advance, and utilize that space for the first meet-and-greets.

For the kitty coming into the home (we’ll call them New Kitty), it will be important to help them establish ownership over their new space and feel secure before encountering Home Kitty. Set up a small area for them with litter box, favorite toys and/or cat furniture, and make sure to spend some extra cuddle or play time with New Kitty in their new space. You want New Kitty to feel like they have a personal territory and ownership in the new home. Building positive associations with the new space via positive reinforcements like treats, play time, and/or cuddles will be a crucial step for New Kitty. What functions as a reward varies from cat to cat, so utilize whatever form of reward works best for your feline.  Rewards and positivity in a new space can help New Kitty get comfortable more quickly, and will help them prepare them emotionally for meeting a new friend.

The Intros

When you’re ready to introduce your two cat companions, using a barrier between the two cats is an excellent technique to reduce the intensity of their first meeting. For the very first introduction, let your cats into the same room on opposite sides of a barrier, such as a baby gate, a screen door, or another type of room divider.  Letting the cats sniff or look at each other through a screen is less intimidating than a full-on, direct meet-and-greet, and barrier is helpful in preventing injuries if one or both of the cats react poorly.  Keep initial meetings short, under five minutes each, especially if your cats seem stressed by the interaction. Try offering treats of pieces of cat-healthy foods to both cats during the introduction. This technique builds positive associations between yummy food and their new kitty friend.  Once your cats seem fairly nonplussed by one another during the screened/partial meetings, you’re ready to remove the screen and let your cats meet more directly. Remember to limit these meetings to short, positive interactions if possible, using rewards of treats, pets, and/or toys to reinforce the presence of the other cat as a positive.

This process is mostly the same with two cats coming into a brand-new space for the first time. The biggest difference is that you’ll have to guess which spaces will work best for their personal areas. Try to make sure you are giving equal spaces and incentives to both spaces to prevent fighting over resources after the introductory period.

Final Thoughts

Household transitions are rarely easy, especially when introducing new animal family members. If you follow all the tips and tricks is it a guaranteed smooth ride? Absolutely not! Heck, there were days during our first move that felt like a complete disaster (more on that in a later article!). It takes patience, and lots of it, to get through some transitions, especially if one of your pets is not super responsive. If you’re experiencing a rough transition, and none of these tips have helped, reach out to a professional! Your local vet is always a great resource for tips and assistance for any transitional challenges your cats might have.

Do you have any kitty house stories you’d like to share? Talk to us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook! We’d love to hear your cat conundrums and adventures! Our next article is going to be a good ol’ romp through some of our funniest mishaps, and we’d love to hear some of yours too.

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another article on chickens from R. Ann Parris to The Prepper Journal. If you have information for Preppers that you would like to share then enter into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies!

Chickens are some of the most popular livestock worldwide, modern backyard enthusiasts to sustenance-level farms from China to the Balkans. There’s good reason. They’re economical, versatile on the table, and multi-function laborers. Most chickens have pretty short “working” lives, though, which means we need to replace them regularly.

(Full disclosure: I don’t actually like chickens, but they’re essential to my production capabilities and I respect them as such.)

Breeding capability builds our resilience against the personal and short-term disasters as well as the nation-shaking and world-altering crises. A good rooster and reliable broody hen are a gold mine in these days of ordering chicks.

Those broodies are worth identifying, especially. They can save us time, electricity, and effort, and even increase the efficiency of our other poultry. Watching for some key traits in our hens, both good and bad, can maximize our flock’s ease and success.

I’m specifically talking about chickens, but many factors also apply to other poultry, and the behavioral aspects apply to the other super-efficient, inexpensive, every-prepper, apartment to acreage meat source: rabbits.

*Not everybody who can/will shoot a person or a wild animal is capable of harvesting something they raised. Start small and make sure you can actually control the population before you go big or breed more.

Broodiness

Broodiness is basically when a hen is ready and willing to sit a nest. I have never successfully induced broodiness. If a hen doesn’t want kids right now, game over. Maybe somebody is managing, but don’t waste too much time trying on this one.

See, most of the suggestions miss a big factor: Successful mothers are usually older hens, 3+ years. The best are typically upper-echelon birds hitting 4-6 years old.

Because laying decreases significantly every year, a lot of people have already replaced hens by then, leaving mostly young birds. It’s expecting a toddler-teen to focus, earn, budget, and shop like a 30-40-year-old.

That said, do use breed reviews to help anticipate broodiness expectations.

If you want a laying flock to periodically reproduce or serve as surrogates, avoid breeds listed as “low” and “no/almost never” for broodiness.

If we want 3+ clutches annually, we might maintain a couple keepers from breeds listed as “high/yes, often broody”, but try to go with breeds that break off broodiness easier, not breeds listed as persistent (read: constantly, stubbornly broody).

For fewer over-broody frustrations but periodic clutches from our layers, choose a “moderate/occasionally broody” breed.

Laying Boxes

Most of us expect our hens to share laying boxes. That can be a problem for brooding. If a hen shows signs of being inclined but isn’t sitting the eggs we’ve left, see if she’s getting displaced by other hens.

If so, that box is too popular. You need more boxes, to try moving her and her clutch to a different box, or relocating her box and replacing it for the other hens.

*Bonus tidbit: You may need extra boxes even with only 6-12 birds in non-brooding daily layer life, although you should be able to have a minimum of 2-4 layers using each box. — If you’re having problems, check the placements but start watching for personality traits and your own habits. There’s usually a problem, and it’s usually our fault or a particular animal or two with unacceptable behavioral issues.

Insufficient boxes can also be responsible for full and partial-clutch abandonment (she started sitting, then abandoned her eggs).

Check the hen and flock for battle signs, although roosters are rough lovers. She’s a sitting target on the nest, so he may actually be the problem. If it’s not him, she’s fighting off other hens for her nest, and may eventually give up or lose.

*Bonus tidbit: Hens with “love torn” back feathers are actually the indicator for most-likely-fertilized eggs.

Mean Ol’ Bitty

A hen should not resist being nudged out of the box daily. Nor should you be pecked over every egg. That’s cause to assess how calm the coop is at collection time (checking for problematic human habits) and then send problem birds to the glass-jar coop in the pantry.

Since our birds are calm, cool, and cooperative, we can recognize a hen exhibiting broody behaviors: staring daggers as soon as you appear, racing from feed/calcium/water to occupy the box before you get there, becoming increasingly unwilling to leave the box while you collect, fanning out feathers, pecking your shoe, snatching your sleeve, trying to squeeze through the lift in back-access boxes to follow her egg(s), and-or trying to wedge into the collection basket or hovering over it.

*Bonus tidbit: Also watch for hens laying near their favorite box(es) but not in them. Sometimes they can’t get in to lay because a broody is defending it.

Those behaviors are – for this out-of-character, slow-ramping (3-8 days), and temporary behavioral change – acceptable.

So long as they’re not excessive.

We are not going to screw with this hen often, but we are likely to want in there.

We need to add, crayon (track), and candle (check the contents of) eggs. We may want to get our hands on the hen (briefly and noninvasively) to feel under-the-feather condition.

In some cases, we may need to relocate our hen and her clutch/box (extreme weather, coop companions, brooder or grow-out pens, changing conditions that affect nest safety).

We’re usually going to want to get our hands on the chicks somewhere through their “raptor” stage at least once or twice, even if we’re not sexing or weighing them and don’t handle/socialize our birds.

We need to be able to do this without the stress that excessive guarding creates within the flock and her clutch. Excessive guarding can also be contagious to the flock and chicks, and carry over to her post-clutch conduct.

We might let an over-aggressive bitty raise this clutch (be aware: the genetic inclination is there if it’s her chicks). We wouldn’t indulge her broodiness again, though, and she’s looking hard at the butcher-paper poncho.

(Apply that to rabbits and other livestock, too. There’s a line mothers need to walk between enough and excess.)

Successful Broody Traits

On top of her personality, a broody hen needs to check a few boxes successfully, and a few more if we’re not hand-rearing the chicks or she’s raising them inside a flock.

One, and it might seem obvious, but she needs to eat.

Two, she needs to be lickety-splickety, and then get back to the clutch.

(Psst … We usually need to feed her, not expect her to free-range forage.)

Some hens are easily distracted or not dedicated, and will leave a clutch too long. Flip side, some barely budge at all. We may need to provide her with some extra tidbits, or keep feed and water closer.

Good mothers of most species lose condition, but if she loses too much, it may be months before she recovers enough to lay again after her brood.

Also seemingly obvious: She needs to sit her nest for the 12-60 hours it takes all the eggs to hatch.

Flaky hens will sometimes only sit the first few chicks, then abandon the rest. It’s especially frustrating to find cool, wasted eggs that were abandoned half-cracked and chicks that have gone hypothermic. Check them frequently when hatching starts.

Some young hens are like any other new mother, and just don’t get it yet.

We may be able to finish the hatching this time, but if she leaves early a 2nd-3rd time, we need to not indulge her broodiness anymore (and weigh feed-productivity against a glass-jar coop).

Unless we’re taking the chicks away to raise and only wanted the non-electric incubator, our broody hen needs to walk another balanced line: showing her fluffy-fuzzies how to eat and drink, but keeping the late-cracking pips and wet peepers warm enough.

This is another one where a food-water station near the box can make a difference.

If she’s keeping her peepers, the bitty walks that narrow aggression line again: Being peck-happy enough to protect her chicks from other barnyard residents, but not being a feathered Terminator intent on keeping everything 50’ away from the shed.

*Chickens are brutal. Do let her keep other birds off the chicks.

I prefer flock-raised clutches, but it’s not always possible. Big-gap fencing, small hawks/big crows, free-range factors, and the broody spending too much time guarding can make it unfeasible.

*Watch for a particular bird harassing her/them; problem chickens get the Ziploc poncho.

Especially if we have a big, multiple-breed, or mixed flock, we’re likely to need a brooder pen. Usually multiple hens can share them, especially if the nests are within 2-4 weeks of each other.

Once they’re separated, we’re going to have to be careful with introductions/reintroduction’s to the flock.

Surrogates

While my preferred birds will raise guineafowl, quail, turkey, and waterfowl, I for-sure want hens that will incubate them.

Sometimes we can add 3-4 eggs at a time, so she has the 10-20 she can cover in just a couple days. Sometimes we can add a full dozen at once. Sometimes it has to be slower, adding 1-2 eggs at a time to the ones she’s laying.

Some will roll significantly different-sized eggs out of the nest. I don’t love it, but it’s not a glass-coop or never-again offense to me.

A workaround is swapping for her eggs. Sometimes we’re stuck with 1:1 egg replacement, but usually we can match the size/mass of what she had – 2-3 hen eggs for 3-6 quail eggs or 1-2 goose or turkey eggs.

*Hen size determines her max egg count. Chickens cannot fit over as many goose or turkey eggs/chicks as they would their own.

Some hens will take on not only foreign eggs, but live chicks. Some will accept even 7-10-day-old chicks into their clutch.

It’s a rarer hen that will let you add already-hatched other-species to her own chicks, but they’re out there. (Some bitties would happily sit a half-grown emu.)

If you’re going to lose a clutch anyway (power/heat light out, mother overwhelmed or killed), give it a shot but brace for carnage. The earlier you can add them, the better.

I love the surrogate trait, but I don’t want hens too crazy with their adoptions. Too-keen birds trying to steal eggs or chicks are too disruptive, especially in smaller flocks.

It can result in fights, serious injuries, production-stoppage (stress), broken eggs, and mangled, run-over chicks.

We spent 5+ weeks (minimum) doing without a layer’s production to get those young birds. Heaven forbid they be from slow-laying, low-production game birds. The problem hen heads to Camp Kettle.

Broody Birds

Reproducing our flocks takes some pre-planning and know-how, but it increases our resilience to everything from personal disasters to worldwide crisis.

Reliable, versatile broody hens further increase our capabilities, even beyond small (but devastating) crises like outages/gennie failure and burned-out incubators and brood lights. They improve the efficiency of all our poultry.

Older, slower-laying chickens can raise clutches for higher-yielding young hens, maximizing each’s strongpoints and minimalizing each’s inherent age weaknesses.

Chicken surrogates incubating slower-laying game bird eggs gets those hens back to laying faster, too.

They also give us a canny bird to raise clutches for species that are mortally stupid mothers.

However, excessive broodiness is a problem akin to clutch abandonment and fake broodiness, and there are other broody behaviors we want to remove from our bloodlines. It can be hard for some keepers, but it’ll give us a more peaceful and productive flock in the long run.

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Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know

Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know Get Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know right now!

LIFT Your Business to the Next Level with Enlightened / Empowered Legal, Insurance, Financial & Tax Decisions Made Without Worry, Doubt or Fear During this informative and entertaining presentation Truth-Telling Lawyer, Alexis Neely, will: Eliminate Your Anxiety, Doubt and Fear About Making the Right Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax (LIFT) Decisions For Your Business By Giving You the Tools, Guidance and Confidence You Need — Whether You Are Just Starting Out or Have Been At It For Years.

Guide you to Build a LIFT Foundation Strong Enough to Support Your 5, 6 or 7 Figure Business. (Alexis takes you behind the scenes into the nearly $1,000,000 worth of mistakes — yes, really — she made in her own businesses so you do not have to make them yourself.) Cover the Often Overlooked Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax Stuff You Need to Know to Make Great Business Decisions From a Place of Empowerment, Not Worry or Fear. (You’ll Leave With Actionable Guidance You Can Implement Immediately.)

Show You How to Save Thousands on Legal Fees, Insurance Premiums and Taxes By Doing What You Can Yourself and When You Really Must Hire a Lawyer, How Find the Right Kind and Type of Insurance and How to Strategize Smart With Your CPA. (You need a lawyer less often than you think when you have the right guidance, but when you do need to, you want to make sure you hire the right type — Alexis will fill you in.)

Want True FREEDOM in Your Life and Business? It All Begins with a Solid Foundation of Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax Systems… Yes, “That Stuff!”Can you relate to any of the following? Growing rapidly and know you need to get the right systems in place to smooth out so very many things, but you are not sure exactly where to start, so you just keep figuring it out as you go and are realizing you’ve started to make expensive mistakes (or you will soon). You know you need a proper business structure for tax and liability purposes, ironclad, yet totally heart-centered legal agreements for clients, partners and vendors, and a bookkeeping system to optimize taxes, but you don’t know what to look for, which parts you can do yourself, or who to hire. Clients paying late… or not at all, or even arguing over your invoices. Living payroll-to-payroll with your bills and expenses – where a month or two of slow revenue can have a serious impact on the well-being of your business (and your life) – even if you are bringing in good money! Earning 6-7 figures or more, but still have this nagging sense that it’s not enough – plus, you worry you aren’t investing your money where you should be, or putting the right protections in place. Feeling like you’re probably paying more in taxes than you should be (or want to be), but you don’t know what to do about it. A vague sense of unease that there are things you should be doing to protect your business and relationships (i.e. contracts, insurance, legal structure, intellectual property protection) – but you aren’t sure what they are, or where to begin. Frustrating conflict in the form of misunderstandings, customer complaints, boundary violations, or other similar disappointments. You wish there were some way to put the right systems in place – without having to read dozens of books, or hire expensive “experts” to do it for you.

I get it, because I’ve been there… In my first several years as a business owner, if you looked at my life from the outside, it appeared that I was thriving and excelling, big time. I was a serious player, having built my own law practice to over a million a year in revenue in just three years, and then entering the big leagues of the online business industry with millions more in sales, a bestselling book and the TV appearances to go along with it.

Behind the scenes though, I had my eyes squeezed shut to the things I didn’t want to see or deal with – the Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax (or LIFT) parts of my own life and business. In some areas, I simply didn’t know what I didn’t know. In other ways, I was naive… I thought I was “too small” I trusted the wrong advisors I didn’t want to spend the money “It’s fine,” I thought. “Nothing bad will happen.” What I didn’t want to admit (to myself or others) is that I was completely in the dark when it came to these parts of my business. I just felt really bad at all of it.

It was confusing. And hard. And NOT what I was good at. So I just brushed it under the rug, and kept focusing on what I DID know – how to get seen, get clients and get paid. Because it seemed like that’s what mattered. And the lesser-seen parts – the financial meetings, categorizing expenses for tax purposes, record-keeping, and protecting and reviewing of my numbers – just seemed, frankly, boring and unnecessary. I mean, none of that stuff applied to my lil’ ole business, right? At least that’s what one part of my mind certainly thought.

Maybe you can relate? But, here’s the real truth… No matter how much (or how little) money you make in your business, if you don’t have a solid Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax (LIFT) foundation, then all the work you are doing in the world is built on a house of cards – one issue away from disaster. For me it took going all the way to bankruptcy to wake up and see what I had been missing. (By the way, this would have been completely avoidable, IF I would have known what I had to learn the hard way – what I’m about to share with you here…)

Get other products by Alexis Neely right now!

Coming out the other side of that experience, I created an entirely new relationship with the Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax areas of my businesses. I restructured my life and businesses with my eyes wide open – and this time as my impact and income have grown, I have been able to sustain the growth. Now, I not only have more FREEDOM than ever before… to travel, work from anywhere, and enjoy a lot of time with my family… I also have the peace of mind (the ultimate internal emotional freedom, which is far more valuable than any external freedom ever could be) of knowing that the work I am doing will continue to thrive for the long-term. I’ve built businesses and income I can count on – and that (more than anything else) has moved me out of the scarcity thinking and fear that I had before – even when I was making great money! Please don’t wait to learn these lessons the hard way, like I did! I want to help you LIFT your business, with a solid foundation… so you too can enjoy the kind of clarity, freedom, lifestyle, income & impact you’ve always wanted. Are you ready?

LIFT Your Business with the Legal, Insurance, Financial + Tax Systems You Need to THRIVE I designed the LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit to help you rapidly and effectively fill the gaps in your foundation, so you will know to your core that you are deeply supported and thriving as you create and do your Great Work in the world. Imagine… Having clear legal agreements with all of your clients, contractors, employees, affiliates and partners – so both your business and your relationships are protected. Taking maximum advantage of legal tax planning strategies – saving you thousands (even tens of thousands!) of dollars in taxes each year. Feeling confident in taking calculated risks to help your business grow, because you know how to read your financial statements (and make decisions accordingly), get access to business credit (without putting your personal assets at risk), and get support from trusted advisors when you need it. Getting the right insurance policies in place – so you’re neither over-paying, nor missing anything important – to protect you, your family and your business. Knowing when to do it yourself, and when to hire it out – and exactly what questions to ask to make sure you get the right person to support you (this will save you time + money again and again!)

Get other products by Alexis Neely right now!

Plus These Bonus Gifts… BONUS GIFT #1 “LIFT Your Life & Business” Strategy Session ($500 Value) The LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit will help you get educated about what you don’t know, what you can do yourself, and when to turn to a trusted advisor for help. A Creative Business Lawyer® is specifically trained to be that kind of trusted advisor. In the “LIFT Your Life & Business” Strategy Session, you’ll go beyond what you learn in the program, to take your life and business to the next level. First you’ll complete a clarity questionnaire that will allow your Creative Business Lawyer® to get to know you – while supporting you to get to know yourself on a deeper level as well. Then, during the 1:1 Strategy Session, you’ll go through a thorough inquiry process to help you clarify where your business could be more efficient, effective, and ultimately enjoyable for you and your stakeholders (including team members, customers, clients and vendors).

BONUS GIFT #2 “Incorporate Your Business for Growth” Video Presentation ($500 Value) If you haven’t incorporated your business, or you think you might want to shift how your business is incorporated, this presentation will walk you through the best way to approach it so you can maximize your tax savings, protect your business, and keep on the right side of the IRS. You’ll Discover: The most common structure that works for most micro-business owners How to simultaneously minimize your tax bill and keep the IRS happy The tax structure that can save you 15% or more on your taxes How to determine whether incorporating out-of-state will work for you or against you Whether incorporating is right for you at all, based on your current situation

BONUS GIFT #3 Walk-Through of My Personal Tax Returns with Expert CPA Steve Spanola (Priceless!) Do you review your tax returns carefully before you sign them? Or do you feel overwhelmed just looking at them, so you just sign them quickly and hope that everything was done right? For years, I blindly trusted my CPA… that is, until I was audited by the IRS. If I had known what to look for sooner, I could easily have spotted the big red flags that were staring me in the face, and avoided a very drawn-out and difficult situation. I want to help you avoid making the same mistakes, which is why I’m revealing my actual tax returns in this video presentation. I’ve enlisted the help of one of the top CPAs in the country, Steve Spanola, to walk you through exactly what you should be looking for to avoid overpaying on taxes (or worse, getting audited!) – whether you’re filling yourself, or working with a professional CPA. The LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit Will Pay For Itself The Very First Time You… Enter into an agreement with a client, contractor, employee, affiliate or partner. Save money on your taxes by setting up the right legal entity and tax structures for you. Get a complaint letter, a request for a refund, or someone who wants out of your program. Know exactly what questions to ask to hire the right lawyer, bookkeeper, CPA, or tax advisor. Protect your intellectual property by putting a trademark or copyright on something you’ve created. Get the right type and amount of insurance to protect your business (not overpaying or underpaying). Protect your personal assets from any potential risk posed by your business activities. Get your merchant account set up right, so you always receive your funds in a timely manner. Feel confident and empowered, knowing your business is built on a truly solid foundation.

Get Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know right now!

Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know Free Download, LIFT Get in the Know Download, LIFT Get in the Know Groupbuy, LIFT Get in the Know Free, LIFT Get in the Know Torrent, LIFT Get in the Know Course Free, LIFT Get in the Know Course Download

Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know posted first on premiumwarezstore.blogspot.com

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Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know

Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know Get Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know right now!

LIFT Your Business to the Next Level with Enlightened / Empowered Legal, Insurance, Financial & Tax Decisions Made Without Worry, Doubt or Fear During this informative and entertaining presentation Truth-Telling Lawyer, Alexis Neely, will: Eliminate Your Anxiety, Doubt and Fear About Making the Right Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax (LIFT) Decisions For Your Business By Giving You the Tools, Guidance and Confidence You Need — Whether You Are Just Starting Out or Have Been At It For Years.

Guide you to Build a LIFT Foundation Strong Enough to Support Your 5, 6 or 7 Figure Business. (Alexis takes you behind the scenes into the nearly $1,000,000 worth of mistakes — yes, really — she made in her own businesses so you do not have to make them yourself.) Cover the Often Overlooked Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax Stuff You Need to Know to Make Great Business Decisions From a Place of Empowerment, Not Worry or Fear. (You’ll Leave With Actionable Guidance You Can Implement Immediately.)

Show You How to Save Thousands on Legal Fees, Insurance Premiums and Taxes By Doing What You Can Yourself and When You Really Must Hire a Lawyer, How Find the Right Kind and Type of Insurance and How to Strategize Smart With Your CPA. (You need a lawyer less often than you think when you have the right guidance, but when you do need to, you want to make sure you hire the right type — Alexis will fill you in.)

Want True FREEDOM in Your Life and Business? It All Begins with a Solid Foundation of Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax Systems… Yes, “That Stuff!”Can you relate to any of the following? Growing rapidly and know you need to get the right systems in place to smooth out so very many things, but you are not sure exactly where to start, so you just keep figuring it out as you go and are realizing you’ve started to make expensive mistakes (or you will soon). You know you need a proper business structure for tax and liability purposes, ironclad, yet totally heart-centered legal agreements for clients, partners and vendors, and a bookkeeping system to optimize taxes, but you don’t know what to look for, which parts you can do yourself, or who to hire. Clients paying late… or not at all, or even arguing over your invoices. Living payroll-to-payroll with your bills and expenses – where a month or two of slow revenue can have a serious impact on the well-being of your business (and your life) – even if you are bringing in good money! Earning 6-7 figures or more, but still have this nagging sense that it’s not enough – plus, you worry you aren’t investing your money where you should be, or putting the right protections in place. Feeling like you’re probably paying more in taxes than you should be (or want to be), but you don’t know what to do about it. A vague sense of unease that there are things you should be doing to protect your business and relationships (i.e. contracts, insurance, legal structure, intellectual property protection) – but you aren’t sure what they are, or where to begin. Frustrating conflict in the form of misunderstandings, customer complaints, boundary violations, or other similar disappointments. You wish there were some way to put the right systems in place – without having to read dozens of books, or hire expensive “experts” to do it for you.

I get it, because I’ve been there… In my first several years as a business owner, if you looked at my life from the outside, it appeared that I was thriving and excelling, big time. I was a serious player, having built my own law practice to over a million a year in revenue in just three years, and then entering the big leagues of the online business industry with millions more in sales, a bestselling book and the TV appearances to go along with it.

Behind the scenes though, I had my eyes squeezed shut to the things I didn’t want to see or deal with – the Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax (or LIFT) parts of my own life and business. In some areas, I simply didn’t know what I didn’t know. In other ways, I was naive… I thought I was “too small” I trusted the wrong advisors I didn’t want to spend the money “It’s fine,” I thought. “Nothing bad will happen.” What I didn’t want to admit (to myself or others) is that I was completely in the dark when it came to these parts of my business. I just felt really bad at all of it.

It was confusing. And hard. And NOT what I was good at. So I just brushed it under the rug, and kept focusing on what I DID know – how to get seen, get clients and get paid. Because it seemed like that’s what mattered. And the lesser-seen parts – the financial meetings, categorizing expenses for tax purposes, record-keeping, and protecting and reviewing of my numbers – just seemed, frankly, boring and unnecessary. I mean, none of that stuff applied to my lil’ ole business, right? At least that’s what one part of my mind certainly thought.

Maybe you can relate? But, here’s the real truth… No matter how much (or how little) money you make in your business, if you don’t have a solid Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax (LIFT) foundation, then all the work you are doing in the world is built on a house of cards – one issue away from disaster. For me it took going all the way to bankruptcy to wake up and see what I had been missing. (By the way, this would have been completely avoidable, IF I would have known what I had to learn the hard way – what I’m about to share with you here…)

Get other products by Alexis Neely right now!

Coming out the other side of that experience, I created an entirely new relationship with the Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax areas of my businesses. I restructured my life and businesses with my eyes wide open – and this time as my impact and income have grown, I have been able to sustain the growth. Now, I not only have more FREEDOM than ever before… to travel, work from anywhere, and enjoy a lot of time with my family… I also have the peace of mind (the ultimate internal emotional freedom, which is far more valuable than any external freedom ever could be) of knowing that the work I am doing will continue to thrive for the long-term. I’ve built businesses and income I can count on – and that (more than anything else) has moved me out of the scarcity thinking and fear that I had before – even when I was making great money! Please don’t wait to learn these lessons the hard way, like I did! I want to help you LIFT your business, with a solid foundation… so you too can enjoy the kind of clarity, freedom, lifestyle, income & impact you’ve always wanted. Are you ready?

LIFT Your Business with the Legal, Insurance, Financial + Tax Systems You Need to THRIVE I designed the LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit to help you rapidly and effectively fill the gaps in your foundation, so you will know to your core that you are deeply supported and thriving as you create and do your Great Work in the world. Imagine… Having clear legal agreements with all of your clients, contractors, employees, affiliates and partners – so both your business and your relationships are protected. Taking maximum advantage of legal tax planning strategies – saving you thousands (even tens of thousands!) of dollars in taxes each year. Feeling confident in taking calculated risks to help your business grow, because you know how to read your financial statements (and make decisions accordingly), get access to business credit (without putting your personal assets at risk), and get support from trusted advisors when you need it. Getting the right insurance policies in place – so you’re neither over-paying, nor missing anything important – to protect you, your family and your business. Knowing when to do it yourself, and when to hire it out – and exactly what questions to ask to make sure you get the right person to support you (this will save you time + money again and again!)

Get other products by Alexis Neely right now!

Plus These Bonus Gifts… BONUS GIFT #1 “LIFT Your Life & Business” Strategy Session ($500 Value) The LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit will help you get educated about what you don’t know, what you can do yourself, and when to turn to a trusted advisor for help. A Creative Business Lawyer® is specifically trained to be that kind of trusted advisor. In the “LIFT Your Life & Business” Strategy Session, you’ll go beyond what you learn in the program, to take your life and business to the next level. First you’ll complete a clarity questionnaire that will allow your Creative Business Lawyer® to get to know you – while supporting you to get to know yourself on a deeper level as well. Then, during the 1:1 Strategy Session, you’ll go through a thorough inquiry process to help you clarify where your business could be more efficient, effective, and ultimately enjoyable for you and your stakeholders (including team members, customers, clients and vendors).

BONUS GIFT #2 “Incorporate Your Business for Growth” Video Presentation ($500 Value) If you haven’t incorporated your business, or you think you might want to shift how your business is incorporated, this presentation will walk you through the best way to approach it so you can maximize your tax savings, protect your business, and keep on the right side of the IRS. You’ll Discover: The most common structure that works for most micro-business owners How to simultaneously minimize your tax bill and keep the IRS happy The tax structure that can save you 15% or more on your taxes How to determine whether incorporating out-of-state will work for you or against you Whether incorporating is right for you at all, based on your current situation

BONUS GIFT #3 Walk-Through of My Personal Tax Returns with Expert CPA Steve Spanola (Priceless!) Do you review your tax returns carefully before you sign them? Or do you feel overwhelmed just looking at them, so you just sign them quickly and hope that everything was done right? For years, I blindly trusted my CPA… that is, until I was audited by the IRS. If I had known what to look for sooner, I could easily have spotted the big red flags that were staring me in the face, and avoided a very drawn-out and difficult situation. I want to help you avoid making the same mistakes, which is why I’m revealing my actual tax returns in this video presentation. I’ve enlisted the help of one of the top CPAs in the country, Steve Spanola, to walk you through exactly what you should be looking for to avoid overpaying on taxes (or worse, getting audited!) – whether you’re filling yourself, or working with a professional CPA. The LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit Will Pay For Itself The Very First Time You… Enter into an agreement with a client, contractor, employee, affiliate or partner. Save money on your taxes by setting up the right legal entity and tax structures for you. Get a complaint letter, a request for a refund, or someone who wants out of your program. Know exactly what questions to ask to hire the right lawyer, bookkeeper, CPA, or tax advisor. Protect your intellectual property by putting a trademark or copyright on something you’ve created. Get the right type and amount of insurance to protect your business (not overpaying or underpaying). Protect your personal assets from any potential risk posed by your business activities. Get your merchant account set up right, so you always receive your funds in a timely manner. Feel confident and empowered, knowing your business is built on a truly solid foundation.

Get Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know right now!

Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know Free Download, LIFT Get in the Know Download, LIFT Get in the Know Groupbuy, LIFT Get in the Know Free, LIFT Get in the Know Torrent, LIFT Get in the Know Course Free, LIFT Get in the Know Course Download

Alexis Neely – LIFT Get in the Know published first on http://ift.tt/2qxBbOD