22 day old egg still hasn't hatched, all other eggs have already hatched.

[SunriseHills]

Hello! We had 23 fertile and developed eggs in our incubator as of last Friday (lockdown). It is currently day 22 and 22 of the eggs hatched on Sunday and Monday, however, 1 of the eggs still hasn't hatched. The last egg doesn't have any external pips. We are not sure if we should assist it or leave it be for a few more days. Any thoughts? (The photos are all of the same egg and were taken yesterday.)

 

[Debbie292d]

Can you candle it to see if there's any movement? Or maybe hear it peeping?

Out of hundreds I've hatched, I've only had a couple that took 2-3 days longer to hatch, but was shocked when they did.

 

[SunriseHills]

Can you candle it to see if there's any movement? Or maybe hear it peeping?

Out of hundreds I've hatched, I've only had a couple that took 2-3 days longer to hatch, but was shocked when they did.

When we candled it yesterday, we did not notice any movement and so far, we haven't heard it peeping either.

 

[Debbie292d]

When we candled it yesterday, we did not notice any movement and so far, we haven't heard it peeping either.

Well, not sure if you'd want to wait until morning to check again, as it's really only one day late at this point.

In your pictures, the one looks like nothing's in there and a couple others don't look like it was due to hatch as it should nearly fill the entire egg up except for the air cell on the top.

I'm thinking from my perspective, it died about a week ago, but I could be totally wrong as the pictures are hard to tell.

Here's a great member article on assisted hatching, in case you want to break in and see.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[SunriseHills]

Well, not sure if you'd want to wait until morning to check again, as it's really only one day late at this point.

In your pictures, the one looks like nothing's in there and a couple others don't look like it was due to hatch as it should nearly fill the entire egg up except for the air cell on the top.

I'm thinking from my perspective, it died about a week ago, but I could be totally wrong as the pictures are hard to tell.

Here's a great member article on assisted hatching, in case you want to break in and see.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

Ok, I'll candle it again and get some more pictures tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[LaFleche]

Hello! We had 23 fertile and developed eggs in our incubator as of last Friday (lockdown). It is currently day 22 and 22 of the eggs hatched on Sunday and Monday, however, 1 of the eggs still hasn't hatched. The last egg doesn't have any external pips. We are not sure if we should assist it or leave it be for a few more days. Any thoughts? (The photos are all of the same egg and were taken yesterday.)

To me your egg looks as if the chick has already died a couple of days ago.

A 'full term' egg ready to hatch would be completely black but for the air cell.

 

[SunriseHills]

We candled the egg again and the chick does appear to be dead. Thank you all again for your replies.

 

[Chickychickenchickchick]

Can you candle it to see if there's any movement? Or maybe hear it peeping?

Out of hundreds I've hatched, I've only had a couple that took 2-3 days longer to hatch, but was shocked when they did.

Sorry to jump on but, I’ve had 5 eggs in the incubator, 4 hatched between midnight 03/04/25 and 5am 04/04/25, there is one left in there now (04/04/25 4.30pm) and I hear chirping but it’s not made an external pip. Humidity is 68-70% which is what it was when the others hatched. What should I do? Should I wait? It’s officially 20 days, 23 hours right now so… what do I do?! I’m so worried about it being so long after the others?!