bamabluebird
Well-known member
i was reading my books on bluebirds concerning the time involved from laying eggs to fledging. it mentions 6 days of brooding. what exactly is brooding? the book doesn't explain it.
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terminology question... (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bamabluebird
- Start date
KnockerNorton
Well-known member
Brooding is when the female (usually, sometimes the male too) sits on the young chicks to keep them warm, similar to when they're incubating the eggs. Brooding usually stops once the young start developing their own feathers, and need more food as they grow.
bamabluebird
Well-known member
that's kind of what i thought it meant but i just wanted to be sure. i've got 5 bluebird eggs that should be hatching any day now. actually i think they should have already hatched. the first one was layed around march 27th. we've had some days where the temps dropped, especially at night. will that slow down the incubation time? mama bluebird seems to have pretty attentive to the eggs. so i'm assuming everything is ok.
KnockerNorton
Well-known member
cold weather wont slow down incubation, I don't think, as they need to be kept at a fairly constant temperature, so the external temperature outside shouldn't affect them.
bamabluebird
Well-known member
so if mama did her job right, then they should be hatching soon. i read in my little book that incubation is 12-14 days and it's been about 18 days since the first egg as layed. should i be worried yet?
