Other (not chicken) eggs and foster parents???

[Mulemom]

I was wondering if anyone know how long wild trurkeys and bluebird eggs take to hatch as we have nests of both on our property.
One set of bluebirds built a nest in our horse trailer and had laid three eggs by the time we found it. Not moving the horse/mule trailer was not an option, so my husband took the eggs and put them in an empty nest that another bluebird couple had built. They promply laid 5 eggs of thier own and the mamma has been sitting all eight eggs since the 4th of May. Here is another question....Although both pairs of birds are blue birds, they appear to be different kinds of bluebirds because the original three eggs are quite a bit smaller then the other five eggs. Are the parents/foster parents going to be able to feed all eight babies? Is there anything I can do to help them out? THanks!

 

[RoyalHillsLLC]

I am just an amateur birder, but my guess would be that no mama will be able to support 8 babies. Usually with birds the dominant chicks will get all the food and push the others away. Do you have Eastern Bluebirds? Where do you live?Size can vary somewhat within a species.

 

[justusnak]

mulemom.....one thing you can do to help, is every day, put out a tray with meal worms on it. This will minimise the distance the parents need to go to get food...and might be able to feed them all. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Mulemom]

Ok...I found out bluebirds take 14 days to hatch, so they are due to hatch in two days. Most of the advice I'm getting says I should remove the three smaller eggs from the nest. I just hate to do it, but I would also hate to watch baby birds starve to death. I can't do the meal worm thing because we are going to be away for four days. Is there anyone in the Grass Valley, CA area that would want to take the eggs and try to raise the babies?

 

[Mulemom]

The bluebirds have hatched! We got five of them. Two of the three "foster eggs" did not hatch, and one of the natural parents eggs did not hatch so we have five and the parents are feeding all of them quite well. Thanks for the interest!