Hi, sometimes a female determines that her eggs are not viable she will remove them from the nest. Sometimes the "bad" eggs just get buried in the nest material. This sounds to me like maybe another female took over the box and is building a new nest. In any case, even if it is the original female, she has decided that the eggs are not going to hatch. I would probably wait and see if she completes a nest on top of the old one, and then maybe remove the old one from underneath since it's unlikely that they are being incubated if they are buried. Do you know how long it's been since the eggs have been buried?

It was just one day that they were covered up. I thought about another female might be trying to build a nest over my original female's nest but I'm not sure. Is there any way to tell if the eggs are any good and would she know if the eggs aren't viable? Today is day 12 that they all were layed. How long should I give them to hatch?

Go to the nestbox just before dark and see if the mother bird is sitting on the nest. If there is no female incubating then the eggs will not hatch. As far as I know the mother bird is always on the nest at night when the eggs are being incubated. My eggs have always hatched on the 14th day but there is some variation that occurs. If a female isn't incubating them, there is no way to save them. Rehabbers won't take eggs, so I would say just let it be and see if she finishes building.

I would get a little spoon and scoop an egg out then candle with a flashlight. You can go to www.sialis.org and look up "candeling" pretty much just shining the flashlight through the egg to see if there is any development. If not toss them, if there is put them back to see what happens, prolly wont hatch but good to be sure.