Eggs Not Hatched - What to do?

[Guest]

Hello,

We have one nest and the first egg was laid June 22. Four others were added up to and including the 26th of June. To date they have not hatched, although we have been keeping an eye on them. We know this is well past the hatching time of 15-17 days, but we have had inclement and cold weather for several of those weeks here.

There was a flurry of activity at the nest yesterday, but yesterday it appears that the martins may have abandoned the nest as it has been very quiet all day.

I have seen posts that state you should just keep the eggs as the martins know what to do with them, and there may have been renesting without our knowledge (although I'm sure we would have seen the discarded eggs under the nest) Then there are other posts say we should remove the eggs and hope for a renest.

Either way, I think we may have waited too long to do something as I wasn't sure if we should go pulling the house down during the critical hatching period.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[rtolliver]

Kasha, you can lower the rack during hatching, it's not a good idea to after the young are about 14 days old, as it may cause the young to jump to early. i have removed eggs in the past, but only when i am certain that they will not hatch. Watch for activity in the nest. If you have any doubt, leave them. According to your first egg lay date, it's very unlikely that these eggs will hatch.

[Bob Buskas]

Kasha, hatching is late this year due to the cold wet summer. But these eggs from what you have told us are not going to hatch. I have a colony of 90 + pair and this year I have about 100 eggs that will not hatch. You can see if they are no good by holding the eggs up to the sun. If they are transparent they are no good, if the shells are very white and not trans parent they can still hatch, also feel them for temperature, if they are cold they are no longer being incubated. Email me [email protected] I can add you to my email list of PM pepole in western Canada for any pm related updates if you wish.

[Guest]

OK, thanks very much for the responses. I will check the eggs for transparency and then post back, but I think these will not hatch also. Perhaps I will move them to an adjoining compartment so hopefully the pair will lay some new eggs in the same compartment.

[Bob Buskas]

It is too late for them to lay new eggs now. What you have is what you have for this year.

[rehab]

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