Five chicks!

The first time I checked our camera nest box yesterday evening was about 21:00, and our female blue tit was sat in the nest cup settling down for the night. After about 10 minutes of watching, she shuffled around and revealed a tiny chick underneath her! So at least one of the eggs had hatched yesterday while I wasn't watching. Whether there was only one at this stage, I didn't know. As she was preparing to roost for the night, she didn't move off the nest cup, so it was difficult to see exactly what was going on underneath her, especially given that I was watching under the Infra Red light, rather than normal daylight.

By this morning, three chicks could be seen. I recorded the first few feeds to the three tiny chicks. The male is feeding the chicks very frequently, and most of the feeds seem to be caterpillars- which is good news. I know its only day two but Its promising to see that there doesn't seem to be a shortage of insect food to feed the chicks.

The video below shows one of the first feeds from the blue tit male, at around 06:30. My alarm went off at about 06:00 for school, and the male was feeding between then, and when this clip was recorded...

Most of the food that Mr blue tit brought in was passed to Mrs blue tit, who was sitting in the nest cup for much of the day. She then passed on the food to the chicks beneath her. At times, Mr blue tit seemed as if he wanted to feed the chicks directly, without feeding it to the female first.

The clip below just shows the male blue tit coming in to feed the chicks, at about 06:45. He was beginning to get used to feeding the chicks when the female was out finding food for herself. He also removes the faecal sack from one of the chicks as he leaves.

The fourth chick hatched just as I was leaving to go to school, so I didn't have time to record it. However, when I got home, it was clear that five chicks had hatched, leaving two unhatched. The female is mostly still sat on the nest cup, keeping the chicks warm and incubating the remaining two eggs. Now and then, she will pop out to find some food for herself and the chicks. Throughout the day, she has eaten away at the bits of empty egg shell which should provide her with the Calcium she used up in the egg-laying process.

The clip below shows Mr blue tit coming in to feed one of the five chicks that have now hatched.

Our female blue tit is currently roosting for the night on her five chicks- the other two should hatch later tonight or tomorrow. This is getting really exciting now... I will keep you posted on what happens next. Fingers crossed, our blue tit family will do well :-)