kicking eggs

Question
hi!
i have a female that mated with a mate. they layed 3 eggs and 2 hatched. the last egg i think no chick is inside since it didnt hatch for a long time.the female and male keeps on pushing their beaks on the egg to the side. but a couple of minutes later,she would push it back under her. whi is she doing this? also the baby birds that hatched keeps on pooping on the eeg. it comes off but leaves a stain. will it harm the egg? is it ok?

Answer
Hi again, Katelyn.

She is most likely pushing the egg away because she knows nothing is inside the egg.  Maybe she forgets why she has previously pushed the egg aside and puts it back under her.  

If there is any bacteria or other contamination in the baby birds' feces, then, yes, the poop could affect the egg that hasn't hatched.  However, if the female is pushing the egg aside, and it's been more than 18 days since incubation started on the last egg, then it probably isn't gong to hatch to begin with.  You can candle the egg to see what's going on inside it.  I wouldn't know if the egg is OK or not...you'd have to candle it in order to find out what's going on inside the egg and/or have accurate dates as to when the egg was laid and incubation started in order to try to determine what's going on.  This is why it's important to keep very good records of everything that goes on when your birds are laying eggs/hatching babies.  

Chrys