Nest Tension

How long does it take for baby birds to hatch?

As we are hosting a mama robin right by our front door, I am starting to wonder.  Since Mother's Day, she has devoted most of each day to sitting on her nest of eggs.  She is so nestled into the cozy home she's built that we barely see her--unless of course, we scare her and she flies away.  And we are really trying not to scare her.  Yet once or twice a day, one of us forgets to open the door quietly and off the mama bird flies, all spooked!  I would hate to see her abandon the nest because of us.  When I mentioned that I was worried about this, Grace remarked that if the mama left, it would be really fun to scramble up some blue robin's eggs!!  (Now seriously, how do these girls get so sassy?)  I think I'd rather meet the babies.  But didn't mama bird realize this was a busy place when she chose to build her nest here?  I suppose some of our nest tension would be alleviated if I just went ahead and oiled the screen door --something that has needed doing for longer than I care to say.  Or we could use the side door, which would be a perfectly good option that we can't seem to remember.

I haven't even mentioned yet that there are two other active nests on the garden gates...that I use every day.  So not only do I have a mother bird by our front door, but I am also trying to be careful around nests that mark the only two ways into my fenced garden area.  The only explanation for this "nest event" is that God has a really funny sense of humor.  And it's all because I didn't go ahead and get the chickens this Spring as planned.  Here I realize my limitations and follow the chicken intervention of my friends, and a robin comes along and decides to give me baby birds after all.