One of my broodies last hatches needed help. I think it was due to the heat that the shells were dried out and some of the chicks had a problem getting out. Once they pipped I very carefully pulled small pieces of shell away from their heads so they could get their heads out of the shell. You need to be careful and stop when you see blood. Check the eggs often and help them pull back some of the inside membrane if it is dried out. I would leave them with the broodies and keep an eye on them and help them some. Good Luck!

The bluebirds would not now that their eggs are not viable. Sometimes they sit on them until long after they should have hatched. Several other birds steal eggs. The tiny house wren (HOWR) sneaks in quietly and steals one egg (or young hatchling) at a time, and will drop it a distance from the nestbox. The English House Sparrow (HOSP) will steal eggs or young, and drop them right outside the nestbox, or simply break them right in the nest, or kill the young. Starlings, bluejays, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, snakes will take eggs or young. There are many predators; some can be prevented, and some cannot. http://www.sialis.org/predatorid.htm Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.sialis.org/predatorid.htm

It sounds like something may have happened to your female. If you know for a fact that she is gone, I would remove the nest. If a new female comes along she will want to build her own nest. As far as the egg being missing, hard to say, if you have the male blues and a new female around it could have been one of them too. Hopefully not a wren! I doubt it was a HOSP as they would have destroyed all the eggs. Definately add baffles to those boxes and if you do get another Blue nest as soon as that first egg is laid put up a sparrow spooker to keep them safe from the HOSP. Good luck! Donna Here is a link that might be useful: sparrow spooker

What mlkbskt said is correct. A nestbox should never be mounted on a fence/tree or post of any kind unless it can be baffled. Conduit works best for mounting nestboxes on and stovepipe baffles are cheap and easy to put up. Nestboxes should also be put up at least 15 feet away from any trees. With just one egg gone I would think either House wren (are they in Texas?) or House Sparrow. The House Sparrow will usually just go in and smash the eggs and or kill babies and adults that may be in the box, however it could have gotten interrupted by the Bluebirds too. That is why a sparrow spooker is very important to put up after the first egg is laid. Sparrow spookers are easily accepted by Bluebirds. Wren guards are a little trickier though but do help if wrens are in the area. It is best to put them up during egg laying though to make sure they are accepted. The whiter end and ring on the egg is normal, I have seen it before too. A mockingbird would not be able to get into the nestbox so it would not have taken the egg. Is the hole on your nestbox the 1 1/2 inches that is standard for the Bluebird nestboxes? It shouldn't be larger to prevent Starlings or Red Bellied Woodpeckers from reaching in and grabbing eggs or babies. As far as the heat, I know it can kill nestlings if it gets too hot but not sure about affecting hatching, normally the Momma just wouldn't need to incubate as much. Day 15 is not out of the norm, I have heard of eggs going up to 20 days and still hatching. So the eggs can still be good, but if something got one chances are it could come back and get the rest. Raccoons love to reach into nestboxes and pull out babies/eggs and incubating female but they usually do it at night so the momma would be gone/eaten and probably all the eggs if it were a raccoon. Raccoons are everywhere even if you don't see them, they are there! I would keep a close eye on the Blues and see what they are doing. Are they still going to the box or not? Usually they will not give up on the nest if an egg is taken like that, so the nesting should still be ok and also they can sit on eggs a long time before they give up on them. Good luck, hopefully you can get this nestbox safe and can have a successful second nesting. Don't let the first nesting fool you since it was successful, an improperly mounted nestbox is a failure just waiting to happen. Read up at sialis like you said you were, there is tons of great info on there! Donna