Turkey soup and tummy aches

I had good intentions when I made turkey soup for our dogs and cats.  We were cooking the white tom turkey that came from our Bourbon red turkeys for Christmas.  I took the neck, giblets, tail and some turkey wings frozen from a previous turkey meal and put them in the crockpot where they cooked as our turkey roasted.  I added a box of stuffing mix to the pot to soak up the broth in the evening and everyone got some.  We gave each dog their own little paper bowl so there wouldn’t be any fighting.  They loved it of course but we regretted it later in the night when Sadie got a tummy ache. 

Sadie is an old, small Jack Russel that sleeps with us.  She has had tummy problems before - she gets gas I think.  She shakes and her ears are up on alert and she can’t stay still.  The only thing that helps is for me to pat her back like you do a colicky baby. I don’t know why that soothes colic but it does. If I start drifting off to sleep and the patting slows down she scratches at me.  I tried just putting her off the bed but then she paces around the floor and I can hear her nails tip tapping, click, click, click and she goes under the bed and scratches at the floor.  

It took hours last night before she settled down to sleep. I patted and patted and patted. No more soup for her.  We are actually making some more today from the carcass of the turkey but she will get something else.  All of the other dogs and cats were happy though and the other dogs were quite content last night.

We have a light dusting of snow on the ground and more on the way.  I have kept the birds locked in the last few days so the coop stays warmer but they aren’t too happy about that.  One of the ducks is starting to lay again but I have news for her, the eggs will be cooked and fed to the cats if the egg eater doesn’t get them first.  I am picking up the frizzle eggs too and cooking them for the cats.  No chicks or ducklings are wanted until its warmer.

I had to separate the big male ducks.  They were doing a lot of fighting and chasing and keeping everyone stirred up.  I moved the younger one into the chicken side of the coop.  He spends all his time in front of a ventilation opening between the coops that has netting over it.  The old drake parks himself on the other side of the net and they fight through the fence.   But at least they aren’t chasing each other wildly and fighting beak to beak. 

The two little frizzle roosters that were running free separated themselves.  One of them moved into the side with the ducks.  Two Ameraucana hens live there and he went to live with them.  The other little rooster is a real meanie and he has stayed in the front of the barn.  One or two big hens are always out there with him. They run by me when I open the coop door to feed and I let them hang around in the front of the barn.  They like to lay in the tub of hay I put out for the cats to sleep in.

I have cooked and baked so much in the last few days we are only going to eat leftovers for a few days.  Went and got feed this morning and Pepsi for me and we are ready for the snowstorm.