Bald Eagles Romeo & Juliet Welcome Peace to the Nest- Watch the Eaglet Hatch! (https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6E3NI_2mcms)<\/a><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat Happens if an Eagle Egg Doesn\u2019t Hatch?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It is fairly common for at least one egg in a clutch to be either infertile or nonviable, especially in a nest of 3 or more eggs. Sometimes the egg simply was not fertilized, while other times, the baby dies at some point during the developmental process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eagles incubate their eggs constantly to help the babies survive and develop. In the case of dead eggs, parents will often incubate the egg well past the typical time when it should hatch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAt some point though, the parents seem to realize the egg isn\u2019t going to hatch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the eggs are viable and healthy, the parents will begin to hear the baby moving or peeping inside the egg as it gets closer to hatching time. If the parents don\u2019t hear these sounds coming from an egg, they will begin to understand that the egg isn\u2019t going to hatch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When eagle parents realize that an egg isn\u2019t going to hatch, they stop incubating it. They may move it around the nest so it is out of the way, and eventually, it may become buried under sticks, debris, and leftover food. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSometimes, the egg may break apart and get mixed in with the other contents of the nest. On some occasions, the parents will eat the nonviable egg and its contents, or will feed it to any eaglets in the nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Long Will an Eagle Sit on a Dead Egg?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It depends. If the egg does not break apart or the baby dies late in the incubation period, the parents may not realize the egg is dead or may think there is still a chance that it will hatch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If none of the eggs hatch, the parents may incubate them for days, possibly even weeks, past the usual hatching date. Even if one or two of the eggs do hatch, the parents may continue to incubate any remaining eggs for a few additional days.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nParents typically incubate unhatched eggs the longest if none of the eggs have hatched. Eagles with one or more successful hatchlings are less likely to continue incubating any remaining eggs the longer they go unhatched because the eggs become an inconvenience–they make it harder for the parents to care for the hatchlings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do Eagles Eat Their Dead Babies?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Not always, but sometimes. Eagles appear to be unemotional about any eggs that don\u2019t hatch, especially if they have successful hatchlings to care for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it is clear to the eagle parents that an egg isn\u2019t going to hatch, they will first try to move it out of the way. Eventually, though, they may eat the egg or feed it to their young, especially during times of food shortage.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIf an eaglet hatches successfully but later dies, it may also be eaten or fed to its siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It is fairly common for eagles<\/a> to lay eggs that don\u2019t hatch. If an egg goes too far beyond the normal hatching date, the parents may continue to incubate it for days or weeks, but eventually they will attempt to move it out of the way, bury it under nest debris, or even eat it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you ever watched a live eagle cam? You may have seen parent eagles caring for newly hatched young while one or more eggs in the nest remain unhatched. Is this normal? What do eagles do with eggs that don\u2019t hatch? How long will they continue to incubate eggs before realizing they aren\u2019t going to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9600,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9587\/revisions\/9600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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