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Partially hatched egg question...

18 years ago

I have been watching (via webcam) the bluebirds in one of my nestboxes and 4 of the 5 eggs hatched yesterday. The 5th egg started hatching this morning and has a large hole on one side but after 3 hours it still hasn't completely hatched. You can see the chick inside moving it's beak so it's still alive. The mother pecks at the egg shell from time to time but she's not helping it out. This seems like a survival of the fittest type thing going on. I don't know why the mother doesn't completely help it out. Any ideas?

Judy

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Comments (2)

janie_may
18 years ago
Judy, no ideas here. The thing about in-box camera is that these days we can actually see things that have always happened in the past but that we were never privy to before the days of in-box cams.

I am on a pet "lovebird" forum and when this happens to a breeders birds, they do assist in the hatch. Then again, that is pet birds. I would think you momma blue could get that chick out of that egg if she thought it was the best option. Maybe she knows something, her instincts are telling her, that we will never understand.
judyg53
Original Author
18 years ago
**** UPDATE **** The 5th egg finally hatched at 8:15PM which was 12 hours after it first started. I truly thought the little guy was going to die and wondered how and/or when the parents would take the dead bird out of the nest. However, I continued to watch and sure enough I saw the little guy give it super effort and he started cracking the shell. When the mother bird came into the nest it appeared as though she was actually surprised. She pecked one of the other hatchlings to get him out of the way. In a way it was pretty amusing watching this mother try to get 4 rowdy kids settled down so the 5th one could actually raise his weak little head.

In just one day of eating non-stop those other 4 look huge compared to this little guy. Hopefully he will be able to get his share of the food as it comes in.

What a happy day!!!
Judy
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