Any Bird Experts Out There?

You could try putting it back in the nest if it's not cracked but chances are it's been outside the nest too long anyway and may not hatch now. But it's worth a try.

I too,had been taught that once the human scent was on something in nature, it would be "disowned" - however, last summer I had a different experience - not with robins eggs but live baby robins! My husband was out cutting the lawn and called me to come out quick; a nest had blown down from the tree and there were 4 birds underneath it. Being comprised of hardened mud, two of the babies had died from the weight of it on top of them; of the other two alive, one was barely alive and the other was cheeping for it's mom. What a mother robin could do to help at this point I don't know. I had recalled hearing on a nature walk, that a birds scent is pretty poor and thus they cannot smell human scent, but I wasn't sure if I should believe that. I ran in the house and googled "what to do if you find a baby bird?" And they had great advice to use a plastic tupperware like mixing bowl and put what was left of the nest in in and stick it back in the tree, securely. So, my husband was out there on a ladder and nailed the bowl to the tree and put the fractured nest back in it. Then we picked up each of the two breathing baby birds as the article suggested and placed them back in the nest/bowl. It was already evening, so we waited and prayed that the parent birds had been watching and would begin to care for the babies by warming them and feeding them; I kept an eye on the nest but could not see what was going on till about one week later.....and peering slightly over the top of the bowl was one baby head!!! I figured the barely alive baby didn't make it when I saw a second baby head:) We were so happy. They remained around for probably another week when they had become quite big and could barely fit in the nest/bowl and one day, they were there in the morning and gone by lunch time. Now this year, as I see robins around this same big tree, I am certain it is our two birds back home.

Hi N. - not an expert,but have often called the Troy Nature Center to ask these questions. I predict they'll say to leave it outside the nest, that something must have tipped the mom off that it is not right. Have fun watching the other ones hatch! Beth

Good morning N..

I am no bird expert, we just went through this also. We have a covered back porch. I had left a flower pot on the electrical meter, a robin made a nest in the pot. We spend a consideralble amount of time on the porch. It has a bar and comfortable sitting area and overlooks our garden. It is our favorite summer spot. I did not want to do anything to the nest so we were staying clear of the porch. Everytime we opened out door wall she would fly off the nest and wait on the privacy fence for us to leave. We were having the whole family over on Mothers day and we were planning on spending that time on the porch and in the yard. I have a 3yr old neice and 2 18mo old nephews, I was worried she would "dive bomb" my guests. I called the Michigan State extension office in Mt Clemens. I was told she would not "dive bomb" until the babies were born. We had our party, my husband did pick up my neice and let her see the 3 eggs in the nest but we put up a barrier in front of the meters to keep people from getting too close. She stayed off the nest until evening. When I got up the next day she was back on the nest. The extension told me it was 2 weeks from when she laid her eggs that they would hatch and then 2 weeks before the babies could leave the nest and we could remove the nest. We were prepared to wait it out. However, I came home from work one day and one of the eggs was broken on the floor of the deck. The next day another was sitting on top of the meter, out of the nest, I too did not know if I should put it back. I did... the next day the last 2 eggs were out of the nest and she was gone. We waited a couple of days but she did not return to the nest so we took it down. She has since made a new nest in our silver maple tree so I expect she is trying again.

The Michigan State Extension office phone number is: ###-###-####. They can answer most every garden,plant and local wildlife question you can have, if they can't answer the question they will refer you to someone who can.

Good luck.
Pat

N. ~
The other thing is, a blue jay might have kicked it out of the nest. They tend to be sort of mean and like to take over other nests. I've always heard not to touch them also, but the people who posted who work with birds should know best.
good luck!
D.

If you touch a wild animals baby (or eggs), the mom won't go near it. At least that is what I was always taught. Sad news.

We had three eggs broken on a windy day a week or so ago.

S.

Hi N.,

I have worked for Veterinarians' since 1980. I currently work @ Woodland Veterinary Clinic. One of the Vets there is Dr. Ed Farnham, he specializes in birds (Avians). He would tell you that one of two things are a possibility. Either the "Mom" knows the egg is not fertilized & will not hatch, or it was accidently pushed out of the nest. Also, the old "wives tale" that if a baby or egg is touched by a human a mother will neglect it or not return to it is totally untrue. A mother loves all of her children, even those "touched by humans". So, if the egg looks unharmed by it's fall, I would put it back in it's nest where it's chances of hatching are best.

Leave it alone, I breed birds, and when an egg isnt good the mother will toss it out of the nest, she knows that it will not hatch so she gets rid of it. The old wives tale of not touching the egg is wrong, I handle eggs everyday it is perfectly fine to touch it, however the mom has already "disposed" of it because there is something wrong with it. Just remove it and let the nest be, nature knows what its doing.

M.

Yes, put the egg back into the nest. It is possible that the mother realized the egg wasn't viable and rejected it, but it's also possible that the recent windy weather caused the egg to fall out. You won't harm anything by putting the egg back in the nest, but there is potential harm in just leaving it out--some other animal will come around and eat it. Good luck!

Leave it alone.

1) As mentioned above it is already dead and mamma tossed it out.
2)It fell out due to some outside force. In which case it has probably been left 'to the elements' too long already and birdy is dead.
3) Most birds will reject any kind of human scent on their egg and wouldn't care for it anyway.

I found this online

If you found robins' eggs on the ground, there is very little chance that they are alive. Birds toss old eggs from the nest when they fail to hatch. Eggs also fall due to bad weather, poor nest construction, and during raids by predators. Embryos are fragile, and most cannot survive a fall.

Other birds nest right on the ground, and some do not build nests. Don't assume that eggs on the ground are abandoned - ever. Just leave them alone.

Good luck T.

Hello N., I have actually in the past rescued baby robins and kept them alive long enough for them to live on their own. But I'm no expert. If the egg is out of the nest the mom probably pushed it out because something is wrong with the embryo. You can put it back however. It probably won't hatch due to the lack of incubation, and she may push it back out. The lesson for your son is the real issue here, so do what ever works to teach him a moral about life. Good luck.

N.,
you could put on some plastic or latex gloves if you're thinking about any keen senses of smells. Or maybe a couple of paper towels; one to catch and one to roll it to the other and then gently return it to the nest.

It could be the case that it was pushed out, either by the mom, or Cuckoos are known to do that. They'll take over an unguarded nest, flick the resident eggs out and lay their own in it. so keep your eye on it and what birds come around.

Lotsa luck.