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Eggs not hatching

13 years ago

Hi there. I do believe that I have a lost cause on my hands, but I want to get as many opinions as I can on this. I have Blues here all year round. A pair of them had completed a nest in my Bluebird box by the end of March. Then, nothing happened. No eggs. The female had disappeared from the yard. Then, another girl came along. She decided to stay with the male, and built another nest on top of the first wife's nest! She laid 4 pretty blue eggs. The first egg was in the nest on April 27th. If she laid one per day, they would have all been laid by the 30th. With a 12-14 day incubation, I would have expected hatching to occur by May 14th. The eggs have not hatched. The really odd thing is that the male and female are still out there guarding the box, and the female is often inside incubating. Do you think that the eggs are just sterile? You'd think that the female would give up incubating them at some point;that her instincts would tell her it was no use.I'm not sure what to do at this point. Thanks for help! :o)

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Comments (2)

allan_2009
13 years ago
"IF" she laid one a day- are you sure? Give her a little more time & keep us posted.
bandjzmom
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks allan. Yes, I did say "if" because I can't say for certain that she did. I think that is the "usual" way they lay, isn't it? I actually did keep written records, and I can say with assuredness that the first egg was laid on April 27th, and then there were 2 eggs on April 28th. The next time I checked the box was May 5th, and there were 4 eggs that day.
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The eggs were being turned and were warm. However, I just felt something was very wrong as they still hadn't hatched as of today. I tried candling them, and they are totally empty. I know how to candle eggs as I have pet birds, and these eggs were never fertilized. Zero growth and a huge air space. I certainly won't be getting three clutches this year. I know the parent birds will figure it out, so I'll just leave them for now. Mister Blue has been checking out a different box (the one they usually use for their second clutch) so hopefully they'll start over again soon. Bummer. I always love the first clutch as there are no worries about the HOWR yet.
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After watch a female bluebird sitting for 23 days of incubating 5 eggs (have a nest cam, too), a house wren pecked 2 of the eggs and threw them out of the box. I found one at the base of the box and it had a dead embryo in it. It had all its 'bird parts' but would not have hatched after all that time. I didn't find the 2nd one thrown out but I did take out the remaining 3. The dead embryo and the 3 eggs I took into the house stunk like dead fish! That's after I opened them, I don't know if you could smell that though the shells or not. The other 3 eggs were not developed past maybe 24-48 hours. I have no explanation as to why these eggs did not develop. If the parents don't mind, you could take the eggs out and smell them to see if they smell rotten. If they do, I'd take them out of there. The parents may be confused at first but it might be better to help them move on to the next brood. I left the nest in the box hoping that Mama Blue will be stimulated to try again. I'd leave the nest there if I were you. Good luck, I know your pain. Linda...
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It would be highly unusual for the eggs to hatch after a month. She is probably building a new nest over the old one and will more than likely re-lay. Can you take one of the eggs out and candle it? (shine a bright flashlight through it to see if there is anything in there). More than likely the eggs are infertile. If they are indeed infertile, I would remove the infertile eggs or else mark them in case she re-lays. Then you will be able to tell the old from the new and know which ones need removing. Sometimes the birds will remove the eggs themselves, but if they don't, you may need to help them out.
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If the eggs are sterile the mother will leave in due time. tj
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