Un-fertile eggs??

Question
QUESTION: Hi Chris,
I wrote to you on New Year's day about my conure Mimi, who laid 3 eggs during the Christmas holiday.  I thought my golden capped conure, Kookoo, was the dad.  However, I have been waiting for the eggs to hatch and as of today (1/28) non have. (egg #1 was laid on 12/25) Mimi is a very good mom and rarely leaves the box, so I cannot really get at the eggs too often.  (Kookoo comes to attack me and Mimi tries to bite me too)  Now I want to know what to do.  I have a call into my vet, but he is unavailable until Monday.  From what I have read online, people have said that eventually the hen will abandon the nest and then I should take the eggs out.  How should I do this if she does not leave and abandon the nest?  Will she be tramatized if I take out the eggs before she is ready?  Is there a special time or date I should wait until to do this? (should I wait until all eggs are over 30 days old?)  THanks for all your help.  I have never had this happen before and I don't want to cause any undo stress on my birds.

ANSWER: Hi, Renee,

When your bird abandons her eggs, she will leave the nest.  She may toss the eggs out of the nesting box, she may break the eggs open, or she may just stop going into the nesting box.  It is then you should remove the eggs.  It's your choice if you want to remove them now, but I'm relaying to you my knowledge and experience with breeding birds.  If she laid 3 eggs and the first was laid on Xmas Day, then the 3d egg was laid most likely on/about 29 Dec.  They are way overdue to hatch.  To remove them too early may result in her laying again.  When she does abandon them, if you don't want any more eggs, remove the nesting box.  She may stress out for a couple days, but will soon get over it.  This just depends on the individual bird.   

You need to look inside the nesting box to see what is going on if you haven't already.  She may have already done something with her eggs or may have started another clutch.  You can shoo her out, cover the entrance hole, and look at what is going on inside the nesting box.

Chrys

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I did inspect the nesting box today.  She came out for the first time, while I was in the room, for about 1/2 hour.  She actually hung out with me like old times.  She still was jittery, looking at her nesting box, but did stay out of it for a while.  
She did not lay another clutch.  The eggs are still intact and I did candle one of them.  I didn't see anything in the egg.  I am going to leave her be and see if she continues to leave the nest for long periods of time.  Do you suggest I totally take out the nesting box and the eggs at the same time? (we have it anchored to the cage by a nesting doorway) THank you so much for all your help and expertise!
Renee
P.S. The last egg was laid on New Year's Eve.

Answer
Hi again, Renee,

Sounds like she's about to abandon the nest.  If she is back to her old self and staying out of the box for half an hour, she's about ready to give in.  She'll continue to worry about her eggs, it's only natural.  But she knows what's going on/not going on inside of them.

If you don't want her to lay more eggs, yes, when you remove the eggs also remove the nesting box.  If you leave the nesting box up, she'll go to nest again in a couple of weeks, if not sooner.  But if these eggs weren't fertile, then you may want to investigate why they may not have been fertile, such as diet, overall health, age, did she incubate properly, etc.

Chrys