Expert: Jonathan Wright - 5/20/2005

Question
My husband, children and I have anxiously been watching a busy robin this spring build four nests on the latter steps that are suspended from our garage, choosing one and then laying four eggs in it.  We were very careful not to invade her private space too much, we would occasionally sneak over to see if the eggs had hatched (we have no idea how long it takes).  One evening my husband asked me if I've seen the mother robin; and just having cut the grass that day I realized that I didn't.  We've been looking for her for several days now and no luck, even during the night.  
A robin wouldn't just abandon her eggs, would she? My husband said that the babies would be dead within 24 hours if mom wasn't sitting on them; he saw that 'why don't we bring the eggs in so they don't get cold' look on my face.  Are the babies that haven't hatched dead?  If not, could they survive still without mom?  Should I bring them to the aviary?  I hate to leave them there if there is something I could do.  

Answer
Dear Katherine

Thanks for your question and for your caring attitude towards the robins. I have looked up various sites about how to care for robin eggs and baby robins. I don't know what types of robins you have – the European and American robins are different species, but I think that the same rules will apply, although legal considerations differ in Europe and America.

Basically, there is a good chance that the eggs have been abandoned, because they are infertile or are otherwise unable to hatch. There is nothing you can do in this situation. If the eggs were infertile, there were no baby robins inside, so no babies died. If the eggs do hatch, it is very difficult for a person to look after the young chicks properly, although it may be worthwhile for you to contact a wildlife rehabilitator or an organisation, such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They will be able to provide useful advice and let you know if you will be breaking the law if you remove the eggs or chicks.

Please note that I have left most of the information of the websites as originally written and that the views expressed are those of the author. Having read them,they do seem to make sense, even if the whole issue is rather depressing. I have talked to people who have used stones to crush the heads of baby birds, which had no chance of survival. While I can understand that a person may need to "be cruel to be kind", it is not something I would want to do and, judging from your letter, I don't think you'd be prepared to kill a baby bird either.
  
http://kathyskritters.com/tales/robins/ concerns a baby robin and the problems with feeding it with worms. The writer contacted a wildlife rehabilitator (the site has an attachment so you can contact one).

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/FAQNestsEggs.html says that "if you move a robin's nest the parents will most likely abandon the nest, eggs and/or young. Nest-site fidelity grows during the nesting season - the more time and energy the birds invest in it, the less likely they are to abandon it when disturbed. Moving the nest is not merely a disturbance; it makes the entire nest environment different.

Birds may abandon a nest that appears to have been discovered by a predator. Moving the nest makes it appear like a different nest. As the mother builds, she is memorizing all the features around the nest. When those features are gone, she may simply not even recognize her nest anymore. Thus, the birds' fidelity is to the whole setting. A robin may settle on one site and just lay eggs in that nest, or else just incubate eggs in that nest after laying, say, one egg in one nest and two in the other. She will probably not lay two complete sets of eggs and try to incubate both of them.

"Robins only abandon their eggs when something happens that tells the robins they will have a poor chance of success. This may be because another female has laid her eggs in the nest, so there are two many eggs there for the robins to care for.

"It is best to leave an egg. There is a big chance that there may not even be a baby in there. This may be an egg that wasn't fertilized, or didn't develop properly. After the other babies are a day or two old, the parents get rid of unhatched eggs just in case one of the growing babies accidentally crushes it.

"If there was a healthy baby inside the egg, a predator may have carried off the egg, and dropped it in a panic as the angry parents dive-bombed it. Although the egg looks fine on the outside, the baby inside may have been badly shaken during the flight and especially when it was dropped. If so, the baby inside may already be dead or may soon die, and if it does survive to hatch, there is a strong possibility that it will be badly deformed, making its short life unendurably painful.

"It seems unlikely that humans can have better success. The site says it is sad to see the eggs and want to save the tiny babies inside. But it's just as heartbreaking to watch the babies start out healthy, with their egg sac to provide some nutrition for a couple of days, and then wither and die at our hands.

"Even if the egg were perfectly healthy, the chance of a human successfully incubating the egg and then successfully raising the baby from a hatchling is VERY remote. Robin eggs require high humidity, gentle daily turning, and level heat. You'd need a high-quality incubator to do it properly. Then once the babies hatch, parent robins feed them regurgitated worms and insects for the first three or four days--something humans just can't do!. Newly hatched robins are weak and helpless, and their parents are designed precisely and have the exact right instincts for taking care of them. Our human hands are clumsy, and we have too many other concerns in our daily lives to devote every waking moment to a baby robin, as its real parents would do naturally.

"People tend to both under- AND over-estimate the amount of food baby robins need, giving them too much in single feedings and not enough over an entire day. The real parents spend literally every waking hour searching for food for them, returning to the nest every few minutes all day long, from sunrise to sunset. Can you do this consistently for several weeks? It's also very difficult to make a baby bird diet exactly balanced. Robins feed their young worms, insects, spiders, and some fruits. Outdoors, the nest is shaded enough to protect from sun but gets a few rays of sun each day, which the baby requires for manufacturing Vitamin D-3. Indoors, you need to provide this vitamin, but it's very difficult to make the precise balance of calories and vitamins and minerals that natural robin parents provide.

"It is against state and federal laws in the US to raise wild baby birds. Death at the hands of well-meaning people who aren't feeding a robin nestling the proper diet can be painful for the baby. Far, far better to just allow the egg to cool. If a baby is still alive in there, it will simply stop developing within the egg, before it develops any awareness of pain".

http://www.howpeg.com/robinblog2005/ gives a long and detailed diary account of the development of eggs and chicks of the American robin.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/warobin.asp states that robins begin nesting in April. "They lay, on average, three to four bright blue eggs. After about two weeks the eggs hatch, delivering blind and featherless young into the world. They totally depend on their parents for food and warmth. In another two weeks or so, the young birds will be fully feathered and will begin to try to fly out of the nest.

"Often, young robins fly out of the nest before they are able to fly back! Their parents will continue to feed them and they will get the strength they need to fly back within a day or two. If you find a young bird in your yard that appears abandoned, think twice before "rescuing" it. If you can find and reach the nest, it's okay to put the bird back. Its parents will not abandon it. The old myth that birds will abandon their young because of human smell is a myth. Robins, and most birds, have a very poor sense of smell. If you can't find or reach the nest, check the health of the bird. A baby bird that is completely covered with feathers and can hop away from you does not need your help. It is much better off in the wild than it will be in your house. Sometimes other animals eat these young birds. This is a natural process and is in no way unusual or cruel. Often, humans "rescuing" baby birds cause them to suffer much more than if they had been left where found.
I hope this helps. Please note that usually the best animals to look after the babies are the parents. Robins and other birds will not abandon their eggs unless there is a very good reason. This may be due to predation or because the robins are ill, have died or have laid another clutch of eggs elsewhere, in a safer situation. Please note that some conservationists remove eggs from a nest and incubate them. The female will lay another clutch of eggs, so that more babies are raised in a season than will be raised normally".

I don't know what has happened in this situation, but I hope that you will continue your interest in wildlife.

All the best

Jonathan