One egg didn't hatch. Will the siblings get fed? (1 Viewer)

[maxmom]

Cardinals built a nest in a fake tree on my patio and laid three eggs. Two of the eggs hatched yesterday or the day before.

My question is… Will the parents feed the two siblings or will they continue to sit on the nest waiting for the other egg to hatch? What happens if the egg never hatches?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Zheljko]

Yes, they will feed the chicks. When they see the chicks' open gape (which has a special color pattern for each species or at least a closely related group of species) their instinct tells them to bring food and stuff it inside the gape
The unhatched egg may remain in the nest unless it breaks, in which case the parents will remove the fragments. With only two young birds there is less chance that they will break the egg with their movements. The egg is designed to be easily broken from inside (by the very weak baby bird) but much tougher from the outside (I think some architecture designs use the egg design for arches in buildings).

 

[maxmom]

Thanks Z! Fascinating!