My finch had two eggs on Thursday, today is Saturday. The eggs were buried in the buttom, so I took the nest out and put the eggs on top. Now the mom doesn't want anything to do with the nest. What do I do now?
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When any bird lays eggs, don't touch them or move them from where they are buried. A bird can smell human on the eggs and won't sit on them to hatch them.
Birds can't smell human. Their sense of smell is poor.
However, their eyesight is better than ours. The birds know exactly where those eggs were and they saw that they were moved.
I'd suggest removing the nest and dumping everything in it. The eggs are no longer alive. Put it back and put fresh nesting materials into the cage. They'll probably start over.
Best answer, huh? One might want to research birds sense of smell. Past and ongoing research has shown some birds have a highly developed sense of smell. Extensive research into bird senses has shown that vultures, seabirds, kiwis and parrots have well developed olfactory glands, giving them some sense of smell and taste. And it is believed the sense of smell in other birds is more than rudimentary.
Birds do have a strong sense of exactly how their nest should look. While birds can't count, they do rely on visual queues to know when they have laid the proper number of eggs. As with the domesticated hen, studies have shown that the removal of one egg a day from the nests of many small birds will cause them to continue laying eggs, possibly as many as 20 or more in an effort to get the nest to look as it should before starting to brood the eggs.
I don't know by what means it was determined the eggs were no longer alive, particularly after just two days. It is highly possible that an experienced breeder could have taken the eggs and incubated them to the point of hatching. That is, assuming the eggs were fertile. It was not indicated that there was a male present, nor that mating was observed.
As it was not indicated whether a male was present, it is important to know that many of these small caged hen birds will periodically lay eggs without the presence of a male. The hen senses that these eggs are defective and usually does little or nothing to brood them.
If no male was present, the eggs could have been very much alive, just not fertile. In which case they should have been removed as no amount of incubation, natural or otherwise would cause the eggs to hatch.
There are too many unknowns here to give a good answer. Did the hen build the nest? Was there a male present? Was mating observed. The eggs were buried in the bottom of what? Did the hen attempt to brood the eggs? etc?
There may be validity in Thumpergirl's statement about birds smelling Humans. In years past it was said that when eggs were to be removed from a nest for whatever reason, do so with a spoon, not your hand, as birds could detect the scent of a Human. For now, I don't think there is enough concrete evidence either way.
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