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Crazy happenings today. Both the male and female are back (after being gone a week) in and out of the box and have buried the eggs pretty much.
I was just about to clean out the box to see if they would come back and start the process over, but now I don’t know what to do. Would she lay eggs in an existing nest without the build process? Maybe it’s a new couple, and if so I’m thinking I should clean it out?
I think if it was a raccoon it would have been back for the eggs. Put permanent marker dots on the sides of the eggs that are up and see if they are turned in a couple of days. You never want to just get rid of eggs because you are guessing that the Mom is gone. It needs to be pretty definite. Sometimes they are just sneaky. And yes, the eggs would be cold to the touch right now because if she isn’t finished laying then she isn’t incubating yet. Don’t rush in taking those eggs out. It does sound like something might have happened to the momma, but please make sure.
The raccoon could have tried again, but the baffle was up.
It is possible if it was a raccoon that the mom was eaten if she was in the box when it came by. That would be my guess if the female is missing now and the nest was a mess. Not positive but that is what it sounds like to me.
Hopefully your male finds a new female and can start over. Put up a stovepipe baffle so this won’t happen again. “If” it was a raccoon, it will not forget where it got a meal and might be back. As far as the nest I would wait a bit yet and see what happens.
Good luck.
Highly doubt she was in the box at night, she had never been to this point, and she probably wasn’t done laying eggs. Baffle is already up.
