A black-capped chickadee eating a seed

Black-capped Chickadees are fun, noisy and social birds, often foraging in flocks with mixed species in the late summer through early spring. Although they like black oil sunflower seeds in bird feeders, as do Northern Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees eat mostly insects, and so they are beneficial in reducing the numbers of pest insects, especially in gardens. These birds are not bothered at all by the presence of humans, and can be easily hand fed. In fact, Black-capped Chickadees have been known to exhibit remarkable curiosity about unfamiliar human behaviours that makes them a highly engaging backyard resident.

While in the wild, Black-capped Chickadees nest in rotted trees, these wild birds will readily nest in bird houses built to their specifications. The Chickadee bird houses should be placed no lower than four feet from the ground, and no higher than fifteen feet from the ground, and some wood chips should be placed in the bottom of the box. (The birds will not build their nest from wood chips, but the wood chips do somehow attract the birds to nest in the bird house.) Provide soft nesting materials for the birds to use to build their nests. Black-capped Chickadees may raise up to two broods in a season, and the young will typically leave the nest about two weeks after hatching. After the fledglings leave the nest, the parents will continue to feed them for a few days. Starting in late summer, Black-capped Chickadees will flock together, and stay that way until late winter, when again they will pair off and mate. They are permanent residents but may occasionally migrate if the weather is too cold. Chickadees can, in an emergency, enter a state of torpor where they will reduce their body temperature to keep from freezing.

At the feeder, only one bird will feed at a time, with the dominant birds feeding first, and after that observing a strict pecking order. Each bird will fly to the feeder, in order, take a single seed, and then take the seed back to a perch to eat it. Black-capped Chickadees will also store food: not only seeds, but insects, insect larvae, and eggs, and can remember the locations of their caches for up to one month.

Although the average lifespan of a Black-capped Chickadee is less than three years, some individuals have been recorded to live as long as eleven years.