Robin's egg question. I know nothing :(

[3forfree]

neighbors had trouble with a furnace in their garage, and took off the exhaust pipe, and found a robin sitting on 5 eggs, they knew I had an incubator going so they brought them down and asked If I would try to hatch them. So I put them in my spare bator that had been on heat for acouple of days for a test. Don't know what to think of this, but will keep posting.

 

[Akane]

An egg on the ground is probably no good. It is illegal to even possess a blown out robin's egg or nest. All migratory birds are that way. Hatching one can definitely get you in trouble because you now have a pet illegal robin to take care of. Be sure you want to hand feed every couple hours for days and then have a pet robin for life unless you can find a wild life rehabber that will work on releasing it. You can't just set them outside one day and expect them to live.

If with all those warnings you do decide to try it I did nearly hatch one. A fast short storm came through and took out the tree the nest was in. Someone found it immediately and kept the egg warm. The egg was already on probably day 5. I put it in my still air at 101F with 60% humidity and it mostly hatched 5 days later. It had broken the end off the egg when I went to bed. The next morning it had it's beak tucked back in the bottom of the egg shell and was dead.

 

[blefky]

If you keep the egg long enough it should dry out - I used to raise cockatiels and would save nonviable eggs without problem. I've even decorated some. Takes quite a while for them to dry out though.