Hatching Begins!

11:35am and Lola is comfortably settled on her eggs.

Less than a minute later she dipped into the nest and produced half an egg shell which she then ate. By eating the shells she will be replacing the calcium she lost when she produced the eggs

This is the first view of chick 1.

Soon after 12pm a crack appeared on the second egg. You can just make it out near chick one's head.

Nearly two minutes later and the second chick is halfway out...

... six more minutes and it's fully out!

Lola brought the first food in. There was only one chick when she first left the box!

The food was taken by chick 1. Lola then ate the first half of the second shell.

Charlie's first visit since the eggs started to hatch. His offering was a little too big...

Chick 2 did eat it but seemed to struggle. Lola pulled it back out several times before the chick managed to get it down.

Another visit from Charlie. Again his offering was too big...

On his third attempt he stayed behind and watched Lola. As the food was too big for the chicks, she ate it herself.

Less than five minutes later and he arrived with something the right size. He passed it to Lola, who then gave it to chick 2.

At 2pm the third egg started to hatch...

Chick 3 wrestles with the bottom half of the shell while Lola eats the top half.

A fourth shell appeared fouteen minutes after the third egg hatched.

Charlie is back again and has a good look at his new babies.

Twenty minutes after the fourth chick hatched we get a clear view of all four new babies!

A pink mass. Four chicks, two eggs.

Food is coming quite quickly from Charlie. He hasn't yet fed the chicks himself. If he arrives at the box when Lola is away, he waits for her to return, passes the food to her and then leaves again.

Lola.

Four hungry yellow gapes.

At 6:45pm we still have four chicks and two eggs. Lola is sitting on the chicks to keep them warm while Charlie makes quick deliveries with the food.