Always 21 days?

[Riven]

Do they always take 21 days? I can see a day or two difference but is it possible for chicken eggs to take say... 25 days?

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I have read on here that alot of hatchers wait until day 25 before they chuck duds...but also that if they are going to take that long, you may not WANT them to hatch, because there may be things wrong with them, or if you breed them, you pass that on...have you candled them?

 

[Riven]

In another thread I have about checking if eggs are/were fertile after 7 days someone said that even after 7 days if there is a little meat and very few "veins" ( like two strands ) that they egg was good.

But if that is so according to the development chart I have showing photos of embryos day by day, the two eggs that were like that we progressed less than 3 days worth even after 7 days of incubation. Others showed no signs of fertility assuming that eggs that had been incubated show fertility like eggs that have not. A couple had broken yolks, so I'm assuming the shipping was rough on them.

And that is why I'm asking, lol. Usually I wait until the next candling before taking out anything I'm not sure on, but I was feeling frisky tonight, I've never cracked any open before either but the five I pulled out showed no signs of any progress after seven days. So I guess the question was to help figure out for my own knowledge if these guys were quitters or still alive as I took the post to say they were. If so I don't understand why they were so much less developed than the others.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

And for this very reason, I have given up on shipped eggs, at least for now...with my shipped eggs I have experienced MANY that will develop for a couple of days, and then quit, MANY that are just clear, and MANY more with detached air cells...that's just shipping for ya...which is why I will NEVER spend any more money on shipped eggs than I can afford to lose. It really puts solid meaning into "don't count your chicks before they hatch"!

 

[Riven]

I agree on that!

 

[ipf]

I had one clutch take 27 days. . . the broody hen wan't rthe best of mums.

 

[vkp23]

Being fertile does not nessisarilly mean that it will develope. Take human birth control. SOME birth controll pills work by changing the lining of the uterus so that a FERTILIZED egg will not attatch. The egg would be fertile but would not develope into a baby because it wouldn't attach. Chicks can sort of be looked at the same way. Though the egg may be fertile and considered "good" does not mean it will turn to a chick. For what ever reason (be it shipping, defect, or what ever) They just quit or abort. Kinda like if a human has a miscarrage. some times it just happens.

P.S.
To any one who has had a miscarrage please don't be offended. I have lost a baby once too. That was just the best example I could come up with.

 

[Riven]

vkp - I don't think your post was offensive, what you're saying is that nature is in control sometimes.

The temp is always good in the incubator, when I candle I pull out the eggs I need to candle and shut the door, on non-shipped eggs ( and some shipped!) I've got 75%+ hatch/development rate.