Our resident Blue Tit has finished laying her eggs now, she has six! She has now settled in to a routine of sitting and turning them while she hopefully incubates her six little Blue Tit hatchlings. I think it’s less than 10 days to go…

I’ve read that they don’t start sitting until all the eggs are laid, this way the chicks don’t start developing properly until they are all laid and therefore will hatch at roughly the same time. Clever eh!

Every now and again she makes a series of shrill cheeps and the male visits her with a juicy worm (or something else equally appealing to Blue Tit taste buds) to keep her happy. Strangely, she isn’t sitting all the time though, she often pops out for a few minutes. I wonder what for? Perhaps the male isn’t picking the best caterpillars!

I’ll try and get a picture of the male feeding the female, but it’s tricky – it’s over in a flash and often you can’t really see what’s going on.

Six eggs!

Here she is sitting
(sorry about the camera angle, I'll fix it for next year)

Article Series - Nest Box '11

1. Frantic Nesting
2. Easter Eggs!
3. Egg Sitting
4. First Chick
5. They made it!
6. Blue Tit Update