For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 140
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If the mother bird was hovering over the eggs or fledglings in the nest, when its wings are touching the eggs or fledglings in the nest, one is obligated to send away the mother. When its wings are not touching the eggs or fledglings in the nest, one is exempt from sendingaway the mother. Even if there is only one fledgling or one egg, one is obligated to sendaway the mother, as it is stated:
“If a bird’s nest happens before you” (Deuteronomy 22:6), indicating that one is obligated to send away the mother bird from the nest in any case. If there were fledglings capable of flying, or unfertilized eggs from which a fledgling will not hatch, one is exempt from sending away the mother bird from the nest, as it is stated in the same verse: “And the mother is resting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs.”
From the juxtaposition of the fledglings and the eggs one derives: Just as the fledglings are living, so too, the eggs must be capable of producing living fledglings. This excludes unfertilized eggs, which cannot produce a living fledgling.
We explore the mitzvah from the Minchat Chinukh who discusses together the positive and negative commandments involved here, and at the beginning of his remarks clarifies their precise definitions.
If a person takes the mother bird but sends away the young, does he violate the prohibition of “you shall not take,” or does he merely fail to fulfill the positive commandment of “you shall surely send away”?
The Minchat Chinukh maintains that the plain meaning of the verse indicates that the prohibition applies only when one takes the mother together with the young.