Bluetit Diary    May 2014 (11)

 

 

Monday 19th May 2014

By my calculations, the chicks could fledge today as it is now 19 days since the first chick hatched out.

So far the chicks have shown little interest in the nest box hole - the way to the big wide world outside.

Except when a parent comes in with some food of course!

What's Mum found here?  It looks like a broken egg!

She seems to have found a piece of shell ...

... which she picks up ...

... and flies with it out of the nest box.

I don't remember seeing a broken egg in a nest box before.  Sometimes there have been as many as 6 unhatched eggs in the nest cup when the chicks have fledged but normally none of them appears to break.  Just as well as this would represent a significant health hazard.

This image was taken well after dark and shows all seven chicks fast asleep.

Surely they will fledge tomorrow?  We decide to leave the system running all night and set the timer to switch the lights on a 6am just in case!