Egg dark and solid when candled but a little late to hatch?

[Zayame]

So one of the eggs hatched 1-2ish days early and the other is due to hatch today but there are no signs it has pipped yet (small crack or peeping) but when candled it looks like it should for day 21 (solid dark except for the air bubble) which is why we were confident it would hatch. Is it normal for them to hatch late? Should we try to assist after it's been in there an extra day or so?

Note: They were sat on by hen up until about 3 days before hatch but were removed and incubated for remaining days since mom attacked first hatched chick

 

[Yardmom]

Trying to help a chick hatch because it is late would do more harm than good. Sometimes a chick just takes an extra day. What color egg shell? In a very dark room candle the egg and look for veins, chick movement or shadowing in the air cell. If things are jiggly the chick is not likely to be alive. Please read the assisted hatch article before helping a hatching chick. The very first thing and possibly the most important is not to make a safety hole before the chick internally pips.

 

[Yardmom]

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

 

[Zayame]

Trying to help a chick hatch because it is late would do more harm than good. Sometimes a chick just takes an extra day. What color egg shell? In a very dark room candle the egg and look for veins, chick movement or shadowing in the air cell. If things are jiggly the chick is not likely to be alive. Please read the assisted hatch article before helping a hatching chick. The very first thing and possibly the most important is not to make a safety hole before the chick internally pips.

It's a lighter brown egg and you can see inside them to candle pretty easily. Seems nice and solid nothing loose or jiggly which is why I thought it should be ok

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is it normal for them to hatch late? Should we try to assist after it's been in there an extra day or so?

It is pretty normal for eggs to hatch a couple of days early or late for several different reasons, whether incubated by a hen or in an incubator. Often they will all be early or all will be late but occasionally they can get really spread out. Under a broody and in an incubator I've have all eggs that hatched hatch within 16 hours of each other, I've had some hatch more than two full days (48 hours) apart. The worst I recall was the first was hatched late on a Monday and the hen brought them all off early Friday morning, about 80 hours after the first one but that was rare. Most are less than 48 hours apart. I'm not exactly sure when the last one hatched.

A healthy baby chick should be able to survive at least 72 hours off of the yolk that was absorbed before hatch, so there should not be any emergency. There is nothing wrong with the chick eating and drinking well before 72 hours, most will, but it is not an emergency. No reason to panic for a while. But you might want to start checking it out 72 hours after he first one hatched if you don't see something.

 

[Zayame]

It is pretty normal for eggs to hatch a couple of days early or late for several different reasons, whether incubated by a hen or in an incubator. Often they will all be early or all will be late but occasionally they can get really spread out. Under a broody and in an incubator I've have all eggs that hatched hatch within 16 hours of each other, I've had some hatch more than two full days (48 hours) apart. The worst I recall was the first was hatched late on a Monday and the hen brought them all off early Friday morning, about 80 hours after the first one but that was rare. Most are less than 48 hours apart. I'm not exactly sure when the last one hatched.

A healthy baby chick should be able to survive at least 72 hours off of the yolk that was absorbed before hatch, so there should not be any emergency. There is nothing wrong with the chick eating and drinking well before 72 hours, most will, but it is not an emergency. No reason to panic for a while. But you might want to start checking it out 72 hours after he first one hatched if you don't see something.

Hey there, a day after day 21 now and still no internal pip. It does seem like the air cell appears smaller than I've seen before others have hatched so I'm wondering if that's a contributing factor. From what I'm reading people say to only assist if it internally pips but can't externally pip (break a hole in the shell) and it's been over a certain amount of time. Should we assist eventually even if it doesn't internally pip? It's just odd because other than a smaller looking air cell it's dark like it should be before hatch but I don't feel much movement or see any shadowing but it is hard to see in the egg. Im just wondering if its still alive or just died before hatch. Thanks in advance