Anything I can do now?

[QChickieMama]

My batch of chicken eggs in the incubator was due to hatch yesterday, Th. Four hatched Wed and surprised us, 4 more came on Th. Now I have a bunch (18) still in there doing nothing. Temp at 99-100, about 70% humidity. Should I leave them another day or so? Should I water test them? Or will that be bad if indeed they're still alive? Should I just quit on this batch and start again on a new batch later?

I'd love to figure where this batch went wrong. 8 out of 26 is pretty bad. I'm trying to be happy about the 8 we have...

 

[Quyen Le]

Give them couple more days.

 

[cochins1088]

I've had chicks hatch as late as 5 days before. I've also had batches that were really spread out, some hatching on the first day, and kept on hacthing one at a time untill the 5th. I'm still not sure what caused it, but all chicks were very healthy. You can try the water test, but I haven't thinking that if they are in lockdown, then you probably shouldn't be ducking them in water. You could also try candling, I look for beaks that have broken through the air sac or any movement, and if I have decided to give up after day 5 or so then I locate the air sac and carefully break away so if something is alive, I will know and can stop. So I would just give it time, but if your worried, feel free to candle, or do the water test, I don't believe either would hurt them.