Are they going to hatch?

[DavidKerk]

Keep posted.

Well, I'm at day 22 with no pips. All hope gone?

 

[bobbi-j]

I would give it another few days. I've had chicks hatch as late as day 24. How were your temps? If they ran a little low, the hatch will be delayed.

 

[MsHumble12]

Would it be bad if I put a little hole in the eggs to help them out?

Yes. If they're going to hatch, they'll do so when they're ready. If they've been delayed for some reason, you'll kill them if you rush them. The 21 days is a guideline - not a rule.

I'm going to try and think of it this way, "a guideline, not a rule!"

 

[bugglesmommy]

If they're not in the water, they won't drown. Walk away from the incubator. Go to bed, and check on them in the morning. (I do know how hard that is - I've been known to sit up all night, just to watch them hatch!)

X2!!! Excellent advice. Go to bed, read a good book... anything besides fret. I know how tense and stressful hatches can be. I've been around the bend enough times now to know that the best thing to do is just back off and relax. Come whatever may. If they are healthy they will hatch. If they died you can't change anything.

 

[xiamenmom]

My hen has been sitting on eggs for 26 or 27 days - tomorrow will be 4 weeks. Yesterday, I had given up on the eggs hatching and pulled them from beneath her. Out of curiousity of where each had stopped in development, I wanted to crack them and see the state the embyo was in. Imagine my dismay to find a fully developed chick who was moving around, but quickly died I threw the eggs under her ASAP, and today, one has peeps coming from it, and I can feel movement in another! Hoping for a few chicks tomorrow. Moral of the story - give the eggs at least an extra week before giving up on those eggs!

 

[poultrypharmer]

This is coming just in time for me! We are using an incubator and decided to try 6 chicken eggs instead of our typical duck eggs. We were thrilled when our first 4 hatched wonderfully on days 21 & 22, but I am a little worried as now we are approaching day 25 with 2 left to go. We have been able to hear chirping out of 1 egg but not the other. The strange thing is the egg that is chirping was the one I thought would hatch first? Anyone have any advice as to how much longer I should wait, unfortunately there are no sounds or movement coming from the final egg.:/

 

[DavidKerk]

I'm going to try and think of it this way, "a guideline, not a rule!"

I know! I'm going to have a heart attack if I don't start thinking that way!

 

[DavidKerk]

I just saw a pip almost the size of a dime! I am leaving until tomorrow at about 1:30 (then I'll be leaving again until Monday at noon.) Will the chick be okay in the incubator until Monday( or at least tomorrow)?

 

[bobbi-j]

It should be fine. It has absorbed the yolk, and that gives it enough nutrition for about 72 hours. That's how hatchery chicks manage to survive 2 days in transit from the time they're hatched, and packed in a box until arrival at their destination.

 

[JohnnyxRex]

Well how'd it go?