Chester Zoo Greater Rhea Eggs

[Javan Rhino]

I am confused about the Greater Rhea at Chester. I have seen a nesting Rhea in the cloud forest paddock on my last several visits (ranging from December 2009 to July 2010), yet have never seen any chicks (and the nest has always been in the same place). I'm not sure if it is once or twice, but I've also seen eggs on the nest. What's seemingly more strange is that all of the Rhea went inside at the end of the day, leaving the nest completely abandoned.

Now, I assume that these eggs are not real for several obvious reasons (keepers sometimes remove eggs and replace them to incubate behind the scenes, the nest has been there for months etc). However, I haven't seen any chicks nor heard about any hatchings.
Can anybody shed any light as to whether there have been any chicks, or whether the eggs were infertile etc.

Thanks in advance

 

[Paulkarli08]

According to ISIS, Chester hold 1:2 with 2 unknown genders. The eggs may be dummy's however, Rhea are communal layers and will often lay all together in the same location (from my past experience with them) It may be that the male/s are simply not breeding with the females, and the females are laying anyway (infertile eggs)

I would presume any eggs hatched would be collected and hatched 'off show'

 

[Pygathrix]

I would presume any eggs hatched would be collected and hatched 'off show'

Not necessarily. Rheas are common and long-lived so they may not want to breed from them if there is not enough space to keep them and nowhere else to send them. They have definitely "scrambled" emu eggs in the past for this reason.

 

[Javan Rhino]

According to ISIS, Chester hold 1:2 with 2 unknown genders. The eggs may be dummy's however, Rhea are communal layers and will often lay all together in the same location (from my past experience with them) It may be that the male/s are simply not breeding with the females, and the females are laying anyway (infertile eggs)

I would presume any eggs hatched would be collected and hatched 'off show'

I thought that any fertile eggs were laid they'd be off-show (I've seen this on many zoo programmes, especially with Ostriches which are in the same family). Thanks for the info

 

[ZooLeopard]

I think, as Pygathrix has pointed out, they may have just removed them. Space is sometimes an issue and the eggs may be used for enrichment for other animals.