Posted by Rachel Karner on May 17, 2008

Q: So, in my rose bush there is a robin's nest which has 3 robin's eggs in it. We have seen the mom in the nest, but this morning we found an adult robin dead in one of our gardens. One of the eggs was on the ground but it wasn't broken. so we put it back in the nest, but we are going to keep an eye on it to see if the mom is still a live. My question is if the mom is the robin that we found dead, how can we take care of the eggs? I'm a vet tech at a hospital but I don't think we could take care of them there. Is there any suggestios on how to take care of the eggs? I know there probabley not much we can do, but I at least want to try.

Habitat: suburban/yard

State: Maryland

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: I certainly like your attitude but I don't think I can help much. Incubating that egg(s) is really going to be a difficult process, if at all possible. First off I need to let you know that having any portion of a wild bird (feathers, nest, egg, etc) is illegal to possess based on the U.S. federal Migratory Bird Act. Having said that, this egg will need to be incubated at a wee bit under the Robin's normal body temp which is about 103-104F so egg incubation needs to be around 99-100F. Of course, it's not clear at this point whether the egg has already begun incubation or not. If it hasn't, then there's no hurry in getting it back up to temp - but you already know all this. Incubation is 12-14 days and only the female incubates. Are you sure the female is the one killed - could it have been the male? If the male was killed, not sure but maybe the female will continue incubation. This you should know soon, if not already, as I don't think she'll stay away long UNLESS she still has one more egg to lay to complete her clutch (4 eggs is a typical clutch). So, at this stage, it's not entirely clear whether the process has been ruined or not. Maybe the female will return, lay another egg and then proceed to incubate. Let's hope so.

Good luck to you and your Robins and thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( May 17, 2008)