robin eggs\babies

[RECE*2C*]

(first im sorry if it in the wrong category im really bad at picking where to put my questions.)

on April 19 a robin layed 4 eggs in my sun porch and on may 5th one hatched and today (the 7th) one had a hole in the middle of the egg. i can see the bird moving so i think its okay but it has turned it self around and now the foot is popping in and out of the hole not the beak.

my questions are:

is the pip in the wrong spot?

if so will it be able to get out on it own?

are they hatching so far apart because the mother isn't siting on them like she should be because of her being scared of people going in and out?

 

[ranchhand]

Honestly, the best thing you can do is leave the bird and nest alone. Nature will take it's course. Just observing the nest too closelycan run the parent birds off. Can you perhaps watch through a window instead of being close enough to see what's happening? I use binoculars for watching, they get too nervous when I am in and out a lot.

Sounds like a great situation for a remote camera next time!

 

[chicmom]

Robins have been laying eggs and raising babies without human intervention for a very long time.....

I would just watch and enjoy, but don't get too close, so as to disturb mama robin. Many a years ago, when I was a young girl living at home with my parents, a pair of robins would make a nest in a bush right in front of our front porch. I could peek into it and see the babies from the porch. It was fascinating to look at those first eggs, and then see the little pink babies grow into fledglings....

Mom always said, "Look but don't touch," and we listened.......

 

[Justuschicks]

Trust me, you do not want to raise wild birds. They need round the clock attn and liquid food. If you touch the babies the mother will likely abandon them. I have a blue bird nest filled w/ eggs in a birdhouse and my darn barn cat killed both the parents. Knowledge is knowing your limitations. Let nature take its course. I know it is hard but it is probably best.

 

[desertdarlene]

It's possible that it pipped on the wrong end or the wrong spot but I would leave it be. I'm not sure about robins, but a lot of altricial birds hatch at different times because the mom sits on the nest even before the last egg is laid. This is different than precocial birds, like ducks and chickens, that begin to sit after the last egg is laid so that all her chicks hatch at the same time.

I would watch from a distance and limit checking on the nest to only a few times a week at most and only for a few seconds at a time. When you approach the nest area, make a wide loop in your path rather than going there and back. Otherwise predators will follow your scent to that tree and wonder what's up there.

 

[RECE*2C*]

I get what your all say about not toughing the babies and all that and i dont by any means want to raise these babies or run the parents off but the nest is not in a tree, it is in my house. over the winter we had a bad wind storm and it broke the window to the sun porch door and they decided to make there nest in there. we have learned to be quiet when leaving when she is in there to try not to scare her off and she will just look around but if there's to much noise then she flies out but she never leaves our yard. i am not actually getting up close to the nest im using a camera to take zoomed in pics from a distance every few days. i felt really bad when i found the eggs in the nest because i thought she wasn't going to keep them warm enough and they weren't even going to hatch.

the reason why i thought they weren't hatching right is because i found the nest on the 17th and didn't see any birds coming in and out and there were no eggs so i thought it was abandon but i left it to show my boyfriend so on the 19th i went to take it down and there were 2 egg in it so i started to take the pics and i finally started to see the robin coming in and on the 21st she layed 2 more so i thought that 2 would hatch on one day and 2 would hatch 2 days later bet because they didnt i started to think that the development got messed up because they were sat on regularly or that the other to didn't make it.

I dont know i just feel like it would be my fault if they didn't make because i didn't take the nest down sooner and now she cant keep them warm because she doesn't feel safe when we go outside.

 

[Justuschicks]

Oh gosh, I didn't realize it was actually in your house. Thats a tuffy. Many birds like to return to nesting spots so hopefully she will find a new spot next year. How long has it been since she was at the nest?

 

[desertdarlene]

Oh wow, I remembered you said something about a porch, but I didn't know they were actually inside the house.

 

[RECE*2C*]

yeah the nest is in side. they are in there a lot, they just leave to get food or if they get scared out they wait until the cost is clear then they come back in and they never leave the yard.

the reason i say they today and she before is because i didn't know for sure if the dad was coming in to help to but i was watching throw the window and we saw one feeding the babies and the other one flew in to sit on them so he is helping.