At last Meg's eggs in Box1 are starting to hatch. There were two chicks visible when we switched on this morning.
I mustn't temp Providence, but so far all three boxes are going well!
Over an hour later and there are still only two chicks.
Paul brings in some food ...
... which Meg takes ...
... and feeds to the chicks.
Another egg must have hatched. Meg is eating the egg shell.
Nearly all gone now!
The three chicks in Box1 ...
... and at least 11 in Box2. There are so many chicks in Box2 that it is even more difficult than normal to count them. There were originally about 18 eggs so either there are more chicks hidden away somewhere, or some eggs did not hatch - or even it is possible that some chicks died and were removed from the nest box early in the morning.
If a chick dies at this stage, its body is small enough for the female to be able to dispose of it by carrying it out of the nest box. When a chick dies when it is older, it is sometimes too big to do this. Such a dead body is normally carried to the side of the box and left there.
Unfortunately in Box3, there is a big feather which is getting in the way of the camera pictures. This is making it difficult to see how many chicks there are here. However, this looks like 6 chicks to me.