Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My finches laid 2 eggs 15-17 days ago, and neither have hatched. What could possibly have gone wrong? They have had babies before, and they mated roughly 5 times before any egg laying happened. Also, should I remove them at this point and allow them to try again?
Thanks for all your help!
-Briona

Okay, I looked up finches online and saw the eggs were way past the due date and removed them. Out of curiosity, I broke them open to see what was wrong, and one of them was nothing but a dried yolk in the bottom of the egg, and the other was still wet, but nearly 3 quarters empty (just some fluid at the bottom of the egg) what does this mean? Anyone know? please help!
THanks!
-Bri

Just finding yolk in the egg means it was infertile and never developed or stopped developing at so early a stage that a proper embryo hadn't yet formed . Did the other egg have darkish matter in it? That generally means it at least started developing a chick, then died early. I'm quite surprised that the eggs would be so dried up after only 17 days, though. Air humidity that's too low can cause this, but it'd have to be really low to generate the results you describe. Any possibility that the eggs were punctured by a parent bird's toenail? This sometimes happens, though rarely. By all means take the eggs away and let them try again, but with the next clutch have a try at candling the eggs--looking 'into' them by holding the eggs before a strong light--about a third of the way through incubation, at which point you should be able to easily see if an embryo has formed. You can also at the same time check the air cell, the air space within the egg. Monitoring the size of the cell inside an egg is one way to help determine whether one has humidity problems during incubation. It'll be way too large quite early on if the eggs are too dry. Hope that's a start at helping.

no, there was no dark matter in either of the eggs... also, I don't think the egg was 'punctured' however, I did hold one of the eggs after they laid, and maybe I clogged the pores enough that it couldn't breathe? I'm not sure. I would say that maybe the lamp I have on them is too much heat (just a 60w, someone suggested it a while back..) but then, wouldn't both have dried out?? or, maybe there was nothing in the egg BUT yolk and very little fluid, and that's why it died up... I'm not sure, but thanks again Biddy!
Boy, they were some mad when I took the eggs away though... very upsetting. The dug through the nest for half an hour looking for the eggs, yelling at each other... by the end of it all they were grooming each other on one of their perches asif silently discussing just trying again. They're sweet little guys, I really hope they give me some babies soon!!

Best!!
-Briona