We
didn't leave the cameras on last night so the earliest picture we got was at
8am. However, the good news is that it looks as though two more of
Rosie's chicks have hatched out.
Will
is as attentive as ever. Elizabeth was worried that the fact that
there were only two chicks would mean that Will would get fed up with
bringing too much food and slow down. I don't think there is any sign
of that so far!However, the fact that two days after the first egg hatched, there are still 4 unhatched eggs is worrying. Has Will been firing blanks or has the cold weather made the development of the chick embryos slow and erratic?
He
is also still passing food to Rosie outside the box when possible. So
far Will has been a most reliable and energetic parent!
What
is this in Donna's box? It looks like a piece of eggshell to me.Donna started incubating a day or so later than Rosie, so it is relief to find her eggs have started to hatch. I hope the rest of them will hatch out more quickly and successfully than Rosie's did!
Two
minutes later, the other half of the eggshell appeared. Donna ate both
pieces of this eggshell.
At
last - a small glimpse of the chick.
After
a couple of minutes, Donna leaves the nest box and so we can get a good view
of her chick.One down and another 9 to go!
Over
in Box3, a fourth egg has hatched out. This picture shows four chicks
and four unhatched eggs.
As
I write, Rosie still has only 4 chicks and Donna one!Will is still looking after his family well.