Reviving the Raspberries

Today I dashed down to the allotment worried about what state I would find Pop in. Upon opening up the nest box, I found Pop had shuffled forward so she had her head and shoulders out of the box. I picked her up and put her outside near the food bowl so she could enjoy the fresh air. I watched closely to make sure the others didn’t pick on her. They walked around her, pecking at the food but weren’t having a go at Pop. I threw out some sunflower seeds and mealworms to keep the others happy.

I filled up the food bowl with chick crumb and a handful of sunflower seeds for Leia and the chicks. There were outside again which was great to see. The chicks are so much more confident now and are busy exploring anything and everything they can find. Including trying to sneak past Leia to get to the front of the queue for mealworms! On a few occasions, I even had to push a couple back into the coop because they kept trying to jump out of the coop! Poor Leia definitely has her hands full of trouble!

I stopped to have a chat with Sarah, Liz and Andy. They had Daisy with them so I spent a happy few minutes making a fuss of her. Leaving them to their weeding and Seaweed Sunday watering, I decided I would tackle the raspberry bed. For some reason, hardly any of our raspberries have grown this year. We have always been really successful with them before. I spent some time weeding around the canes and removing the old dead ones. I left some in, in the hope that they may suddenly burst into life. Somehow I doubt it but I am an eternal optimist! Yesterday we bought two new raspberry plants – a red one and a golden one. There is something about golden raspberries that taste so much more delicious than the red ones. Mind you, if we grew more red ones, more might make it home uneaten! I planted the new plants in the middle of the raspberry bed and with the forecast rain this evening, they will get a thorough watering.

Before I headed off home, I set up food and water for Pop in the nest box. I made sure to add a good dose of cider vinegar to her water which hopefully should help her stomach. I made sure she had a few sips of water and I spent a few minutes massaging her crop. Initially I thought it was empty, bit I found a small clump of corn in there. It seemed a little hard so I manipulated it until it was no longer all lumped together. Finally, I closed the lid and left her in peace.