# Please help need bird - people asap



## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

hi my freind found a birds egg on the path beside a tree, and told me about it. the egg is whole, not even a crack in it. and knowing there is a fox family nearby i took it in my hands to keep it warm and brought it home. i know it's probably dead, but a fox was going for it and i had to do something. the egg is now wraped up in tissue and socks in a small cardboard box on the mantlepeice. it is about two inches tall and one inch wide. it is white all over - what do you think it could be? and most importantly, what should i do with it?:frown:


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

bump- please help me


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## poohdog (May 16, 2010)

Sounds like a pigeon egg...even though not cracked it is probably infertile.There is nothing you can do with it without specialist equipment...Don't worry the bird will lay plenty more to make up for any losses.


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

oh. i looked at a bird egg identification thing and it looked like a robins, are you sure its dead?


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

Bump..... ....................................


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## poohdog (May 16, 2010)

Two inches by one inch egg....would be a heck of a big robin...


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

Crack it over a frying pan?

But seriously, there isn't much you can do, best just to put it in the bin. You can't return it to a nest and it would be unfair of you to try and hatch the egg and raise any chick ... that's if it's even fertile. It has probably been kicked from the nest because it's not.

Good of you to try though 

Actually there might be one other explanation, and one that would be brilliant for you to experience if it is ... it could be that a cuckoo has laid in another birds nest, and the cuckoo chick is now kicking eggs out. Now that would be an awesome thing to witness! Might be worth going back to have a look in a week or so, and see if you can see a small brown bird feeding a humongous grey fluffy looking bird  If you do, and you do see this, please take some pictures!


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

poohdog said:


> Two inches by one inch egg....would be a heck of a big robin...


i was panicking and got the measurements wrong. its actually 3cm long bu 4cm high. it may have some other markings on it but it's covered in dirt so i can't see and didn't want to touch it.


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## Paul Dunham (Apr 1, 2010)

Sounds like a Starlings egg or if it has a few small spots on it then it could be a Song Thrushes.


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

rang RSPB - they confirmed it was dead


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

Chin up, that's for the best all round. That's the way nature works sometimes.


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## Rupertsmum (May 25, 2010)

Unfortunatly once they are away from the warmth of the hen they do die.
Thats why chickens eggs are fine to eat, because they are taken away without ever being sat on, so no chick ever gets the chance to form inside - even if the egg was fertilised.


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## Paul Dunham (Apr 1, 2010)

serpentseye said:


> rang RSPB - they confirmed it was dead


How did they confirm it to be dead? If the egg was freshly laid then it would be very much alive. Only if the incubation process had started & the chick has begun to form, then it would die if left to go cold. I've kept freshly laid eggs up to two weeks before I've popped them in the incubator and they successfully hatched.
There are some startling exceptions. I've seen a Moorhens nest completely flooded and later the Moorhen still managed to hatched her eggs. It would be interesting to find out more about this. Is it common amongst waterbirds?


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

really? well, the RSPB said if it had been there for more than 10mins it would be ded.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

serpentseye said:


> really? well, the RSPB said if it had been there for more than 10mins it would be ded.


Really. If you buy quail eggs from asda and put them in an incubator some will hatch.


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## Rupertsmum (May 25, 2010)

hawksport said:


> Really. If you buy quail eggs from asda and put them in an incubator some will hatch.


I never knew that, we have 18 Chinese Painted Quails, they seem to hatch quite well when the parents do it, but Ive never tried hatching any of the older eggs that we take out daily - how interesting


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## Paul Dunham (Apr 1, 2010)

serpentseye said:


> really? well, the RSPB said if it had been there for more than 10mins it would be ded.


I have a lot of respect for the RSPB. However I have no respect whatsoever for the RSPCA.

The RSPB person probably just assumed the incubation process had already started.


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## serpentseye (Feb 20, 2010)

so should i try to hatch it? i don't want it to die. what will i need?


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## Rupertsmum (May 25, 2010)

I would say no unless you know what to do and how to raise it when/if it hatches, because dont forget this bird will not have a parent, you will be that parent, plus its very hard without an incubator to even get it to hatch.
Someone else might say different.


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

No, it's not fair on any potential chick. I doubt very much that it would be viable anyway. Just dispose of it the same way nature did hon.


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## Paul Dunham (Apr 1, 2010)

serpentseye said:


> so should i try to hatch it? i don't want it to die. what will i need?


To be honest if you don't have the equipment; incubator/brooder and then the time for a solid 10 days feeding them initially ever 40 minutes from 6am-10pm then it's not worth it.


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## poohdog (May 16, 2010)

The best laid plans go wrong sometimes...Mother Nature can't always hatch every egg that gets laid.One of my quail knows that...some eggs just aren't meant to hatch.


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