Eggs not hatching

[David sh]

Here is a question for the pros. We have several nests that are well past due to hatch. We had a cold spell to blame a few weeks ago. Will the martins decide to lay another clutch with these eggs still in the nest or will they continue to wait unless they are removed? Remove eggs or let them decide when they are ready? I'm worried if I remove them that they may believe a predator did it and possibly move elsewhere.

Thanks
David

[James Rieman]

FWIW I had two clutches hatch one week after they were due to hatch this year. Both hatched 21 days after the second to last egg was laid. I wouldn't give up on them too soon.

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

David:

I would not remove the eggs. I have had eggs hatch five days past the due date. Put a small "x" with a felt pen on the current eggs in the nest. If she lays a second clutch of eggs, you will know which eggs to remove from the nest at a later date.

Tim

[chickadee]

leave the eggs alone.

[starling shooter]

Break one egg and see. If it's rotten, throw them all out. If there is a dead embryo, throw them out.

I did that several years ago when the females quit incubating and went into survival mode. They quickly renested.

[Scully]

The problem I have is that I often cannot tell an failed egg from a good egg, especially after new eggs begin to appear. I usually leave them all in place for the martins to sort out.

[Louise Chambers]

I would not break an egg to determine its status - what if you break a perfectly good egg? Let the martins sort them out, and discard unhatched eggs when nestlings are a week old.

[Leandortree]

If you would like to know the status of a martin egg ,put it in a plastic spoon, take it into a dark place, and carefully put a penlight to it. If it is clear inside it will not hatch. If you see a dark embryo inside leave it be for a few days then check again. It is not good to touch a bird egg with your hands, it can clog the eggs pores. If eggs are in a nest tray, take the nest tray into a dark place, just hold the penlight against the eggs

[Guest]

Leandortree,

We had two sets of bluebirds this year...and both laid 5 eggs. One egg was apparently removed by a predator in one nest box. But they sat there for about 3 weeks or more after they should have hatched. We had not seen the adults in all that time. Before that, they were very good "parents-in-waiting." Perhaps it was the cold spring weather we had in April/May that made the parents leave their nests.

Would that technique you mentioned work with BB eggs? After almost a month of both nests being abandoned by the adults, I finally removed the nests. Eggs are still in them, but I'm sure they wouldn't hatch without the female there.

[Leandortree]

Pat N,
You can see into any egg, try it with a chicken egg, you will need a flashlight in that case, and it must be dark, a dark place, the darker the better! yes you can see into a bluebird egg. When you do a nest check, you can easily see if the martin, or blue bird egg is fertile or not after about 5 days of incubation!

[Louise Chambers]

Not trying to be a party pooper, but please use caution here. It's not legal for landlords to remove eggs from nests, even in order to candle them and return. It's not necessary, the martins know when to discard eggs and can take care of all that themselves. Handling eggs is also risky - they could get cracked, broken, etc, and the oil on human hands is not good for eggs, can clog the pores that the embryo 'breathes' through.

[Patrick W. Dusek]

I've had eggs this year go four to five days past due date to hatch.(because of the weather) So let them be, the martins will take care of the eggs after time.

Later, Patrick

[starling shooter]

incubating eggs is very hard on the females. Ever pick up a chicken after 21 days..or a turkey after 28 days....nothing but feathers.