how long is too long? Eggs have not hatched...

[JillM]

First time with finches (societies) and first time with eggs -- first egg laid 3/18, followed by 4 more, last one laid on 3/21...mom and pop have been diligently sitting on them and turning them, etc but nothing has hatched yet? Could they all be duds? Its been 3 weeks since last egg laid - should I pull them out?

[lovezebs]

JillM

I always recommend:
When in doubt, give it another week.
Or you could candle them

It all depends, when your birdlings started sitting tight, and sometimes our calculations can be off, or old eggs are tossed or consumed, with new eggs being laid in their stead.

If nothing has happened in another week's time, I would candle the eggs. If they are clear, I'd toss them.

Good luck.

[Sally]

Agree completely with lovezebs. Sometimes when we think the birds have started incubating, they aren't actually sitting tight enough to get that going, so our calculations are off. An extra week's wait never hurts, and candling can tell for sure.

[JillM]

*Update*. Sadly there will be no babies...the other day mom/pop abandoned the eggs and took up residence in the other bigger next with my two juries - for the past week all four had been squeezing in the tiny "egg nest" - again last night, no return to the nest - it seemed like on/off mama was still sitting but clearly no one wanted to sit overnight anymore or as consistently --

I pulled the nest this morning and was able to candle the eggs (well..flashlight on my cell phone...but it worked) and all eggs appeared "clear" and not viable - and we are over 3 weeks now... so no babies!

My male/poppa is young so guessing he was shooting blanks LOL sad I won't have babies this time around but also relieved a bit as 4 is enough right now!