That's amazing! Brought tears to my eyes as if I was the proud Mama!! I love the "look" on his face. "Wow! This is cool...What do I do now?" Thanks for sharing your luck!

First of all don't put worms right by the nestbox...you will be attracting other birds and predators. If they come to your feeders put the worms there for them. Second if you don't have a baffle add one. Just because you didn't have a predator get your Blues last year doesn't mean something won't get the Dees this year. Wobbling stovepipe is cheap and easy to put up and will deter climbing predators. Chickadees lay one egg a day until the clutch is complete usually with 6-8 eggs. The eggs are usually covered up by a layer of fur (blanket) to hide the eggs. Once the clutch is complete the momma will start incubation which takes 12-13 days. From hatching fledging usually occurs around day 16. Never check on a nestbox in the morning if you think they may be laying eggs, you do not want to disturb her while she is laying. Some Dees will stay on the nest during monitoring, that is normal. Once you know how many eggs there are (usually during incubation you may be able to see if she leaves them uncovered) and estimate when they will hatch, then count the days and do not open the box after day 10/11 from hatching to prevent premature fledging. Good luck!

It's almost surreal that those little things are birds, much less chickadees. They started gaping very quickly and seem to be able to process the food the parent is shoving in the mouth. Is the mother still rotating the four remaining eggs? And do you think they'll hatch? Claire

I watched most of the video (my attention span is shortish) - it seems that incubating eggs (at least for chickadees) is not a matter of just plopping down on the eggs and dozing off. There's a lot of twitching and wriggling and rearranging the eggs and eating snacks brought by the male. I counted nine eggs during one of her times off the nest. I hope all goes well and we get to see hatching and fledging. Claire