In the last two days we've lost three turkey poults (two bourbon reds and one broad breasted bronze), and one Easter Egger pullet. I'm not sure what's going on. They're literally being raised in the same conditions as the chicks we got from the same hatchery two weeks before. I'm going to attempt to put the older chicks out into the brooder in the barn this weekend. We should be having highs in the 60's and lows n the 40's, which is up from 50's and 30's respectively that we've been seeing lately. Still too cold for little chicks, but these ones are starting to have full feathers - or at least on their wings. They need more space than the small indoor brooder can provide, and with two heat sources outside. it does seem to keep the brooder right around 70-80 degrees (during the day when I was checking anyway). It's going to be a bit of a gamble. I think I'll start with just the biggest chicks and see how they do first.
This week #5 had his kindergarten screening. He's excited to go to school this fall and keeps asking "how many more days until I can go to school?" I hope he's still as excited when he has to get up at 6am and has a whole new set of rules he will need to follow while there. This fall will be the first time ever that I will be home alone without a child during school. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also anxious about it. I'm sure I'll end up blogging about it, so I guess, stay tuned!
I continue to escalate with my pain levels every time I eat. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat or what supplements or probiotics or digestive aids I take. Some foods are far worse than others, but now there are no safe foods that I can eat without pain. Despite being on a rather restrictive diet, I'm not shedding pounds like I'd expected. My insurance, unfortunately, has such a high deductible that there's no help for me at this point. Tony is trying to get us back on MA for a while so I can get this addressed, since we otherwise cannot afford it. I hate falling back to needing help, but I'm glad it's there when we need it for temporary coverage.
My suspicion is that my surgery four years ago caused some scar tissue to attach part of my intestines (which have no pain nerves) to the inner wall of my lower belly where the incision was. In this manner, whenever I digest food, the motion of the intestine pulls on the tissues inside my belly, which is causing the pain. I have no idea how I'd go about proving this, and it's unlikely they'd ever admit that's what it is for fear of admitting guilt or opening themselves up to a lawsuit. Of course, I'm not interested in wrongdoing or lawsuits - I just want it fixed so I can lead a normal life again.
As of bedtime, still just the one kitten. I think it's a girl. Still more kittens in her belly, so maybe by morning we will have more. I'm not sure what to do with barn kittens. This is a foreign concept to me, as these are our first barn cats and we figured with no males around this wouldn't be an issue... Guess we learned otherwise. #3 is hoping for a little ginger (orange) kitten, but I'm not sure how that would work from a genetics standpoint unless the father is also an orange cat. Whatever they turn up looking like, I'm just hoping we can find them all homes in a timely manner.