Barn Owls – Still waiting for chicks!
May 19, 2017
Unfortunately, the egg which looked damaged last week, was rejected by the female. It is quite typical to find unhatched eggs when the chicks have hatched, so this is nothing to worry about. It may be that it was infertile, or it could have been accidentally damaged by the pair when they have been moving about. Typically 4 -6 eggs are laid but only 3-4 actually hatch. It’s possible that this was the first egg she laid, as that was due to hatch on Monday 15th May and as of yet we are still to see any chicks.
We have 4 eggs still incubating, the next one was also due to hatch this week, the eggs will typically hatch 2-3 days apart and invariably in the same order they were laid, this is called “asynchronous hatching”.
Keep an eye on the nestcam as we hope to get eggs hatching every few days now, let us know on twitter (@SDNPA) if you see anything!