Hi, DarkStar,
In brief.
Painted Turtle was laying eggs at like 7:00 p.m. The soil was clay and in a path and she didn't get them in very deep,, couple of inches. I called Heather who helps me for a couple of hours a week, is a fresh water biologist so i called her. She said they will be eaten in the morning. So at nine p.m, i took the car into the field, dug up the eggs very carefully with a spoon by headlights, put them in a little tupperware thingy, covered it with peaty soil, kept the whole thing on screened-in porch overnight. by next morning, after posting here, i learned Do Not Disturb the Eggs. Little turtle embryos could drown! Well, they were only a couple hours old when I moved them and didn't think the embryos could've drowned by then, so i found a place inside the netting of the lower pond where no quadrupeds or snakes or crows or anything could get them and carefully carefully laying them in same position relative to how they were placed in tupperware, i re-buried them. Supposed to hatch in September. I never saw disturbed soil and I kept hands off. So - I could have misplaced the spot, or the eggs were annoyed or i do not know.
you are now up to date.
Come spring, I may take a little spade to the area and see what happened. Any stillborn little turtles? or no trace? if they hatched and went directly into the pond I may not have noticed. Place yer bets, ladies and gentlemen.