How long does it take for small wild bird eggs to gestate & hatch?

Question

I live in a rural area of southeastern Tx, & a very small wild bird (possibly a sparrow) has built a nest & laid eggs (2 & 3 at a time over 10 days, now total 9) under the hood of my 250 gal outdoor propane tank. My husband 1st discoverded it while checking our fuel consumption guage more than a month ago. We know that the mother is in & out of the nest every day. The ? is, how long should it normally take for the eggs to hatch, & how can 1 tell whether eggs are even viable (gestating into living birds)??? Also, should we EVER attempt to tamper w/, move or destroy the nest &/or the eggs (if not viable) as long as the mother still comes & goes? A few yrs ago, we had a tiny blue bird build it's nest & lay her eggs in a large planter on our porch, & it only took about 2 wks for 5 of 6 eggs to hatch into baby birds that flew away within a few weeks! If anyone has any helpful advise or info, it would b very much appreciated!!

Answer 1

Have mercy on the bird & take the nest out & block the opening in the dome with chicken wire. The eggs are cooked because of the refractory heat generated on the tank by the sun. I see this every day...

If you take out the nest it will prevent corrosion of that area, plus it will allow the mother to go build elsewhere & lay another batch this season.

Answer 2

Okay...I am thinking it is something much bigger than a sparrow...sparrows lay around 4 eggs...5 at most, no sparrow lays 9 eggs! And they lay 1 egg daily..so I am thinking if this is a small bird like you are saying....it must be a parasitized nest. A bird called the Brown-headed Cowbird lays it's eggs in other birds nests and this is what must be happening if more than 1 egg a day showed up in the nest. It depends on the species how long the eggs will take to hatch. Most sparrows...about 12-15 days average. If there are cowbird eggs in there, they will hatch at about 8-9 days...that is their strategy, their babies hatch first and get the advantage of being bigger and more developed by the time the host chicks hatch, making the host chicks survival rate go down. You should not tamper with the nest or destroy it....if the parents are still going to it leave it alone.. the chicks should fledge the nest at about 12-14 days after they are hatched. Most birds are protected by the migratory bird act and you can be fined or even jailed for interfering with nesting. Hope this helps. Oh, also....if the eggs are unviable..the parents will figure it out eventually and abandon the nest.

Answer 3

Gestates

Answer 4

i would say if its the size of a chicken egg 21-30 days if its the size of a penguin egg 65-91 daz