day 21 but no hatching yet

[skeeter11]

I have 17 eggs in my incubator- 2 I am pretty sure are not fertilized- when I candeled I didn't see anything, but the lady from the hatchery said to keep them in since this is my first time.

I have turned, kept my temp, humidity, etc. Today is day 21 and nothing-- sometimes I think I see some of the eggs moving, but nothing yet. What should I do? Wait? The humidity was getting low ( I have kept it totally closed for the past 3 days) so I did open it and add some warm water, and the humidity went back up. when we candeled at day 8 and 11 we could see the embryos clearly in most of the eggs ( some are brown) and air pockets in all but the 2 I mentioned. The rest of the eggs looked like something was going on- they weren't clear- it just seemed that as we turned the egg, the dark area moved away from us, or the brown shells were too hard to see through. But there were at least 7 eggs that I could clearly see the embryo and 3 brown ones ( that's 10) plus the 2 that I think are no good (12)- which left us with 5 unknowns.

Thoughts?

 

[Razadia]

It can take up to 26 to 28 for them to hatch if the temp was low during incubation. I would wait it out and see what happens. Just remember that if any start to ooze you need to get them out of there fast.

 

[Razadia]

Oh and

 

[skeeter11]

OK, thanks- I will try not to worry. It's weird how maternal I feel for them already! Should I take the 2 out that I have thought from the beginning were not fertilized?

 

[Razadia]

I wouldn't suggest opening the bator right now. But if you know they're clear an you can do it without a huge shift in humidity, you could go ahead and take them out.

 

[skeeter11]

UPDATE: 1 chick hatched this am and appears to be doing fine. a second egg has major cracks, but the membrane is still intact and not much has happened in several hours. I can't see much else. The top of my incubator is plastic and it gives a kind of warped view. My humidity is low.

QUESTIONS

1. Can I open the incubator to add water?
2. Should I/can I do anything about the egg with the cracks? I have seen UTube video of people holding eggs for chicks to peck open
3. At what point do I decide that the other eggs are no good?- there are children observing the hatch, so I don't want them to see anything nasty if they don't have to