The parents have left the nest, and the eggs are just sitting there! How long can the parents not incubate the eggs without damage to the developing embryos?
A. With two eggs in the nest, and probably at least one if not two more to come, the parents will do what we call “partial incubation”, meaning they don’t sit constantly, and not much is going on inside the egg. This helps the chicks hatch close together, since there are 48-72 hours between laying eggs, if they started “hard incubating” the first egg, the last could be up to a week+ younger than the oldest. Even when “hard incubation” has started, eggs can stand considerable chilling.
With two eggs in the nest, and probably at least one if not two more to come, the parents will do what we call “partial incubation”, meaning they don’t sit constantly, and not much is going on inside the egg. This helps the chicks hatch close together, since there are 48-72 hours between laying eggs, if they started “hard incubating” the first egg, the last could be up to a week+ younger than the oldest. Even when “hard incubation” has started, eggs can stand considerable chilling.
Related Questions
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