Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 4/22/2007

Question
Hi, there have been 2 mourning dove caring for their eggs on a windowsill next to my son's jungle gym for about two weeks. They have been following a regular schedule of switching to sit on the eggs. Today I had a barbeque and my daughter noticed that the bird had been leaving its eggs constantly and coming back after about five minutes. Then the intervals of it coming back started getting longer and finally the bird hadn't returned for about one and a half hours. My daughter insisted that we save the two eggs since it was already night time and it was getting cold. I figured that since it's been two hours and it was about 65 degrees outside that they would die without their mother's heat and we could at least provide them with that. I put them on a towel which is in a container and put a light towel on top of them and put a mini heater next to the container (since i dont have a lamp that I can put over it).
My questions are that would it have been better to wait another hour for the mother? Why would the bird leave and return and then not return? Is there any hope for the mother or father returning and we could just put the eggs back into the nest in the morning? Will my incubater work? I feel horrible about taking the eggs out of the nest with the chance of the parents returning but my daughter convinced me that even if the parents returned in the next hour it would be too late.
Sorry this was so long, but I would hate to see something that was cared for for so long to just disappear.

Answer
Hi, Kristina.

The birds may have left their nest if they were disturbed as a result of the BBQ you had in your yard, especially if this is something new since they laid their eggs.  Your daughter is right in that if the eggs cooled down, their hatchability would be affected.  However, with it being 65 degrees outside, the eggs might have been OK for a couple of hours, depending on the ambient temperature inside the nest.  If these eggs haven't been kept at 98 degrees F constantly since you pulled them, the embryos have likely died inside their eggs.  The eggs also have to be turned at least every 12 hours.  

I recommend putting the eggs back in the nest and just see what happens.  The eggs likely won't hatch and I can't say for sure the parents will return to that nesting site.  The birds likely left due to being disturbed, they came back to check their eggs, but left again for the same reason(s) they left to begin with and your incubator will not work as is (not warm enough).

If this situation comes up again, just leave the eggs in the nest.  Your daughter is right about the eggs cooling off, but if you can't provide the proper incubation setup and have the knowledge of how to care for babies if they were to hatch, just leave the eggs in the nest.

Chrys