Hens seem to know when all the viable eggs have hatched, provided the hatch times are co-ordinated. Likely your silkie was just waiting for the one silkie egg to hatch before leaving the bad eggs behind. I incubated four Pilgrim goose eggs under one of my Speckled Sussex hens last year. Only one hatched, although there was another that was fully developed and dead inside the shell. The rest of this batch of eggs (about 16) were incubated by a pro in his best incubator... and not one hatched. It was so disappointing. You might be better off trying to find live goslings and raising them... and then next year they will produce the goslings for you. My two geese - last year's goslings - are raising seven of their own (mutts, unfortunately, since their late, unlamented papa was a mean Embdem cross) and two Pilgrims that I bought. I always prefer natural brooding of eggs if given a choice and I believe that young birds raised by their own species are usually better adjusted.

Hi, This may be too late to help, but I was wondering whether an umbrella tipped at just the right angle might work, wedged into the top of your fence. I mean by that, to angle the umbrella using its handle so that it covers the nest pretty high over it, but angled so that the mother bird doesn't feel like she is trapped by it or that she can't easily fly to her nest. Probably a child's umbrella would be just right. Or even better, a beach umbrella with the screw attachment for beach chair arms. If no umbrella is available any similar setup might work. I am sure that all this time the mom is covering her babies to keep them warm and safe. Robins nest the way they do because it works for them I guess. But if the rain is really heavy it will be hard for mama too. I don't blame you for trying to help. Good for you for having such a good heart - and good luck!

We had a robin build a nest under our deck one year. Same area (near the ceiling) where your robins built their nest! The 2 babies fledged and left in good shape. We took care not to approach or bother them. I would put mealworms out for them away from the nest. The parents would watch for me. Sometimes the father would trot up and look at me while I was watering the flowers. MORE MEALWORMS please! The parents did not return the following year. I think it was because raccoons and groundhogs started coming around for the bird food and worms. I used to store peanuts in a plastic garbage can out on the deck. One night a creature chewed a hole in the lid. I didn't know what kind of animal was doing this so I replaced it with a metal can/metal lid and wrapped a chain over it. The next day the ungrateful beast had urinated all over it! I stopped storing the peanuts (any food) on the deck. I also had to cut back on the number and type of bird feeders because they were climbing on these and knocking the food out. No more mealworms either as raccoons and groundhogs like these as well. We finally had to hire a trapper. The groundhogs were tunneling under our deck and I didn't like how bold the raccoons were becoming. The trapper advised us to seal all the open areas (lattice) around our deck to prevent future invasions. We trapped several raccoons and groundhogs, a skunk and a couple of squirrels and a rabbit. We released the squirrels and rabbit. I would like to mention that the trapper said trapped squirrels can be so desperate to get loose, that they will frequently break their necks trying to get out of these Havahart traps. The ones we had trapped didn't do this because we were checking the traps 3x a day and didn't give them a lot of time to worry themselves to death. Chipmunks were also a problem this year. Our neighbor said he had caught 15 of them this year alone. Did you know that chipmunks can weaken your foundation/sidewalks? Now I know why a section of our front sidewalk dropped.....:( I'm hoping the robins will try again next year.

Keep looking for rehabbers. They do not have to be in your area but can give you instructions by phone. My bet is that they will instruct you to take the baby back to the general area and watch to see if a parent responds to it's peeping. It needs parents for protection until it can fly. My only other thought is to keep it well fed until it can fly and release it in the same area when other Robins are present. Good luck and let us know how it goes.