Everyone has their own methods, but this is what I do:
If I find a clear on day 7, I recandle it again sometime between day 10-14. Still clear, I toss it in the trash. I'm too nervous to feed it to the dogs because at best it was infertile, but it could also have been infected with bacteria.
If I get an obvious quitter (only 5-8 days of growth) I usually toss them on day 18. By then, I am sure that it's dead. Anything bigger, but smaller than rest, I allow to stay until after the hatch.... just in case. I used to not toss any eggs, but I once had an egg "explode" on day 20 just as my chicks were pipping. I had to quickly clean out the goo & stench & put the good eggs back. I ended up getting only 40% hatch rate due to all the shrink wrapped chicks.
After everything is hatched, if I have eggs remaining, I will crack them open to see how far they made it. I cracked open my last 2 yesterday. One was nickel sized & the other absorbed all the yolk but never pipped. It looked upside down.
I have 4 eggs I just put into the hatcher last night. One was "smaller." Hope to see some pips on Sunday!
If I find a clear on day 7, I recandle it again sometime between day 10-14. Still clear, I toss it in the trash. I'm too nervous to feed it to the dogs because at best it was infertile, but it could also have been infected with bacteria.
If I get an obvious quitter (only 5-8 days of growth) I usually toss them on day 18. By then, I am sure that it's dead. Anything bigger, but smaller than rest, I allow to stay until after the hatch.... just in case. I used to not toss any eggs, but I once had an egg "explode" on day 20 just as my chicks were pipping. I had to quickly clean out the goo & stench & put the good eggs back. I ended up getting only 40% hatch rate due to all the shrink wrapped chicks.
After everything is hatched, if I have eggs remaining, I will crack them open to see how far they made it. I cracked open my last 2 yesterday. One was nickel sized & the other absorbed all the yolk but never pipped. It looked upside down.
I have 4 eggs I just put into the hatcher last night. One was "smaller." Hope to see some pips on Sunday!