I just walked out the back door to get something from my car and sitting on the back porch is a perfect blue Robin’s egg. 
Now, I was out there not more than an hour ago and it wasn’t there at that time. The porch is under cover and I can’t see a nest anywhere.
Is it possible that I can hatch this egg? Don’t laugh but the egg is currently nice and warm tucked inside my bra. 
I just hate that this poor little bird never got a chance at life. What do I do?
Honey
lucky egg! 
Yes! you can hatch it! grab a cheap-o incubator from the feed/pet store (you can find real cheap [pun intended!] styrofoam ones for chicken/quail eggs) and stick that little sucker in. jump on the net and find out what temp you need to keep it at and also how long it stays in. you will need to “candle” it at some point to see if it has a birdy growin’ or not. (it might not have been fertilized)
my crazy wife hatched out a honkin’ mess of quail and poultry in one of these contraptions and now we have more chickens and fowl than i care to even think about.
with that egg in your bra, do your guy-friends think you are really happy to see them, or that you just came out of the walk-in freezer?
<---- hehe that looks like a grinning robin’s egg.
Hee!
Actually, you can’t even see it. It’s hiding out in the underneath area. Thanks for the advice gatopescado.
Good luck, but if it hatchs, that is just the beginning of your problems. feeding and all that of a wild bird is tedious and often unsuccessful (but i don’t want to be a wet blanket), but you never know. it would make a wicked pet!
They are very delicate - even if they don’t crack, they can be ruined by being shaken. So be gentle. (Spoken by a guy that used to hatch chicken eggs, which I would imagine are heartier than robin’s eggs - though not a pretty.)
Not to mention a nice hefty fine and having the bird taken away from you. Migratory Bird Treaty Act and all that: robins, as migratory birds, are protected by international law. In order to have on in your posession, you need the proper permits an animal rehabilitator, or a some sort of educational/scientific purpose for having a wild animal in your posession. (Were I at my former job, I could tell you all the reasons. Alas, I switched to law, involuntarily.)
Also, the egg does need to be kept at a consistant temperature for proper development. Too warm or too cool and the embryo may die or just ‘not be right’.
In addition, should the egg hatch, there is not only the problem of constant care and feeding of it, but doing so without imprinting the bird on you. If the bird is imprinted on humans, it will not learn how to catch its own food, it will not socialize with other birds, and it will not be accepted by other birds as a “bird”.
It is a nice thought, but the reality is, its not likely going to hatch. If it does, providing the proper nutrition (cat food and wet bread does not make for strong bones as the li’l critter is gonna need) is only one of the major problem.
Especially at this time of year, a lot of rehabilitators have many animals brought to them for medical care (abandoned/orphaned at too early of an age, injured or just sick): people are always bringing them eggs to hatch out, but they (the rehabbers) are stretched physically and financially enough with the ones they have in their care without having to spend their energy constantly to mind an egg/s that is/are not likely going to survive.
Not all eggs hatch, plain and simple. Example: Kodak falcon cam (better viewed during EDT daylight hours) - if you look carefully, Mariah (mom) laid four eggs, but at this point, two chicks are half-grown and there are two eggs still in the nest. She sat on the other two eggs for about a week after the two hatched, but did finally abandon the eggs and started concentrating on the two chicks. It’s sad to us, but in nature, birdie parents do not provide compensatory care or spend their own energy on young that are not likely going to survive to propagate the species: she’s not going to spend time with something that is not going to hatch out, leaving her with less energy to care for the two that can pass on the lineage.
As to why the egg was on the porh: it’s possible the egg may have been left there by some predator such as a snake or raccoon (possible scenario: animal may have stolen it from a nest and was probably attacked by the parent/s, abandoning the egg). It may not have been viable from the time you found it.
But thanks for caring about the critter; unfortunately, the odds are against it.
screech-owl, aka another wet-blanket
(damn, I miss the Adirondacks!)
screech-owl
Thank you so much for the information. I know that I shouldn’t interfere with nature. An unhatched egg is unhatched for a reason. But oh it’s so hard sometimes. Thanks again.
Honey