The amount of time she spends brooding the young gradu- ally decreases but doesn't stop completely until the nestlings are about 12 days old. The male does most of the feeding of the young, but after the female ceases brooding, she and her mate feed equally. At 16 days the young fledge. They continue to be fed by the parents for two to four weeks after they leave the nest, although they can feed themselves after 10 days. Black-capped Chickadees have one brood per season.
Double broods are rare.
Females, however, will attempt a replacement brood if the first nest attempts fail. They do not reuse old nest sites. These sponta- neous movements are apparently a juvenile dispersal mechanism, because individuals moving in irruptions tend to be birds less than a year old. But, much more needs to be learned about juvenile dispersal. What prompts irruption, how far the young disperse, and whether the sexes disperse differently are all unknown.