Well, I've got a few years of chickens behind me now, so I will venture an explanation. This is my take on the subject, not textbook information. The hen sets until the first eggs hatch and since the chicks do not need food or water for a couple of days, she will continue to set for awhile longer. Unless the eggs are at various stages of development (i.e. the other hens have added eggs days later) the remaining viable eggs will be close to hatching. Chicks in the shell communicate with mom and with each other by peeping. So the hen has a pretty good idea of what's going on and she clucks to the eggs to encourage them. When there are no eggs still peeping, mom considers the hatch complete and goes into caregiver role... takes the chicks for their first walk, shows them how to eat and drink etc. Occasionally there will be an egg that hatches after she leaves the nest, but after a certain point the mother hen has to put the needs of the hatched chicks ahead of the needs of a latecomer. If this happens and I find the late chick still alive, I take it into the house and put it under a lamp to dry off, give it a bit of sugar water and return it to mom using the "2 for 1" trick. "2 for 1" is simple and has always worked for me. I chicknap one of the babies and it hollers to its momma to save it. Momma gets indignant, then upset, then furious. When she is all worked up and the chick is screaming, I return the chick to her... and also the newcomer. Momma is pacified by the return of her baby and never realizes she got extra as well. Isn't it handy that hens can't count? As to why you had one dead chick, chances are pretty good that mom stepped on the egg, forcing the premature hatch and the chick was too injured or too weak to survive.

dianne, Yes I have thought of other breeds, but as I've stated before, I have to hatch the chicks that will sell at the place I swap chicks for feed. The most requested chicks for this local farming area have been the Rhodes Island Red. I occasionally will pick up a different breed to toy with the egg coloring but I have to basically stay with the RIR due to the request. They are not my favorite bird as I find them as scrappy fighters and there's always a commotion in the hen house. I prefer the Plymouth Barred Rock or the Orpington as they are the most docile. SJN, Where did you find those two round meters that fit into the egg holders? Those two meters look way cool. I presume one is for temperature and the other for humidity. I have the white rectangular one on the right side of your incubator picture. Lou

Ok so I am very new to the details of bluebirding. I am really worried that I may have chased my bluebirds away! I am learning daily more of what I should and should not do. I just put up a mealworm feeding dish for my bluebirds (that have already had and fledged one brood so far). I placed it near the nest at a place on my fenceline where they like to perch. I have seen them eating them. Yesterday, I saw them rebuilding a nest in their birdhouse, as I had cleaned out the old one. I did check on their progress this morning around 9:30am to see if they had laid any eggs and then proceeded to put out a new batch of mealworms for them. I did not take long doing any of this. I did not see them at all today and it did not seem that (other than a Chameleon who ate one of the worms when I was watching) they ate any of these mealworms as they are still in the feeder. I feel badly as I know now I should not have checked the nest this morning and waited until the afternoon. Is it likely they are gone? Is is common at all to not see them for a day or so? I so hope they will be back as they were with us last year as well. I so appreciate any input as I am so concerned...I don't want them to be gone. ):

I enjoyed reading this tonight after a very busy weekend and want to thank you so much for sharing this. Your birding experiences are so interesting. I loved seeing the little bluebird finally make the leap in the movie and all of your photos are so incredible. Poor little mama bluebird with the hurt leg. I sure hope it heals correctly enough for her to get use from it. She is very unique in appearance and I wonder if any of her babies will look like her. Please keep us posted if you see any resemblance. The high winds have been so hard on our little birds this year.