Bluetit Diary    May 2001 (5)

It is now clear that some of the eggs are not going to hatch.  We believe that there may be 7 chicks and 2 unhatched eggs, but the chicks never stay in a position to make counting easy, so it's a bit of a guess.  They all appear lively and most of the time appear eager for food and that's the main thing.  They are getting stronger as time goes by and you can often see 5 or 6 gaping mouths when food is brought in

We are not sure what will happen to the unhatched eggs.  The hen still regularly goes ferreting around at the bottom of the nest, behaviour that we associated with egg turning before any of them hatched.  Certainly there is no sign yet of the eggs being buried.  

The hen makes regular visits to the mealworm feeder, mainly to feed herself, although she sometimes ends her own feeding by taking some mealworm bits back for her chicks.  For some reason, the male does not visit the feeder at all.  Unfortunately, most of the mealworms are taken by an enterprising great tit from the next door but one garden, who in spite of its greater size, appears to live in great fear of our hen bluetit.  She once caught it inside the feeder cage and it was desperate to get out, so much so that it unsuccessfully tried to escape through one of the square holes rather than the larger round holes intended for access.  

The last two days have been busy ones for our birds.  They have been running a shuttle service for most of that time bringing food for the chicks.  The hen has cottoned on to the fact that the mealworm feeder often provides a ready supply of food for them.  It may need to be chopped up a bit but that is much easier than getting caterpillars from the oak trees nearby.  The cock appears to ignore the feeder entirely.  The only time I have seen him go to it, he took a mealworm for himself but did not bring it to the nest for the chicks.

We also think we may have been overly optimistic about the number of chicks.  Six mouths can frequently be seen, but never seven.  The eggs appear to be sinking lower into the nest as time passes and have not been visible for most of the day.  The hen still regularly goes diving into the bottom of the nest.  Is she cleaning it or does she think the remaining eggs still need turning?  She does not appear to remove anything as a result of these expeditions and they are normally followed by a period of sitting on the nest, usually staying there until the cock reappears with some food.  This she takes and uses to feed the chicks, after which she leaves the nest to go foraging herself.