Eggs didn't hatch

TheSmiths · Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:42 am

The ASY pair laid their first egg on 05/14. They ultimately laid 5 but 2 disappeared. Yesterday, 06/07/18, was incubation day 22 so it looks like there was some kind of problem. (I plan to eventually pull the eggs and examine them). Will this failure cause the pair to not return next year?

-=DKC=- · Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:20 pm

TheSmiths wrote:The ASY pair laid their first egg on 05/14. They ultimately laid 5 but 2 disappeared. Yesterday, 06/07/18, was incubation day 22 so it looks like there was some kind of problem. (I plan to eventually pull the eggs and examine them). Will this failure cause the pair to not return next year?

This year I had a SY bird lay her first egg on May 6. She laid 4 eggs but did not appear to be incubating. On May 19-23 she laid 3 more eggs. I thought there was no chance of the first batch hatching but surprisingly, by June 7 she had 5 babies. I was shocked.

I guess the moral of my story is maybe not to give up on those eggs unless some hatch and others don't or they show signs of rotting or something.

flyin-lowe · Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:08 pm

The eggs not hatching will not cause them to abandon a site. When I first started I was afraid to take out eggs that did not hatch as I feared they would think it was a predator attack, after the second year I started removing eggs that did not hatch. I usually wait a week or so to be sure, I just don't want them to deal with the mess of eggs getting broken in a nest as all the feeding activity ramps up.

-=DKC=- · Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:41 am

flyin-lowe wrote:The eggs not hatching will not cause them to abandon a site. When I first started I was afraid to take out eggs that did not hatch as I feared they would think it was a predator attack, after the second year I started removing eggs that did not hatch. I usually wait a week or so to be sure, I just don't want them to deal with the mess of eggs getting broken in a nest as all the feeding activity ramps up.

I also wait a week after the other eggs hatch to remove an unhatched egg. However, unless I'm reading it incorrectly, the OP has a cavity in which no eggs have hatched. So when do you decide to remove eggs when none have hatched?

My post above illustrates that eggs can remain viable without incubation long after I thought they would be bad.

flyin-lowe · Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:56 am

I misread the original post (was on my iPhone). I thought 5 eggs and two had not hatched. In that case I too am not certain how to handle those eggs.

taxidermy lady · Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:05 pm

I just took an egg out today! All the others were opening their eyes! I broke it and it was just liquid inside. Just don’t take them out to early! Good luck!

Spiderman · Wed Jun 13, 2018 1:12 pm

I had SY's in three nests this year that laid one to three eggs each. None of them hatched. When I broke the eggs there was no development of an embryo at all. The eggs just were not fertile.

They still hang around the site. Peaking in on other nestlings but not really causing any trouble.

They will do better next year!!!

TheSmiths · Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:37 am

Thank you for the responses.

Update: Unfortunately, the ASY pairs' eggs never hatched. Today they were down to two — one still in the nest and the other moved to the front compartment. I examined the one they moved. The shell seemed thinner than it should be and had what may have been hairline fractures. The embryo inside had died quite some time ago and was approximately 1/3 the size of the egg. I'm guessing calcium deficiency contributed to clutch failure though I'm curious what the other contributing factors may have been.

The SY pair in an adjacent compartment laid five eggs and four hatched. Today's check revealed only three nestlings. We presume one perished and was removed by an adult. I sure hope the remaining nestlings are healthy and make it to adulthood.