once the hen has mated, she produces fertile eggs which have chicks growing inside them. she lays the eggs in the nest. there might be just one egg or a number of them, called a clutch. emus might lay as many as fifteen huge dark green eggs in a clutch. after the eggs are laid, they are incubated, or kept warm so the chicks form inside. most birds stay together for the whole nesting season, and one advantage is that the work is shared. many birds take turns sitting on the eggs, so that each adult can feed.