First time hatching - Help please

[Pikus1]

This is our first try at hatching our eggs and I'm a wreck! We put 8 eggs in the incubator on March 1, 2 and 3. We candled them on day 7 and day 15. We found that 5 were moving around, 1 was possible and 1 was a yoker, so it was removed. Hatch day was supposed to be on March 22, 23 or 24. However, 1 did hatch early on the 25th. The other eggs do not show any signs of moving or peeping. I'm very nervous that something has happened between the last candle and now. I moved the new chick to the brooder today and it's doing great - eating and drinking. Should I candle the remaining eggs again or wait a little longer? I will be so sad if they died!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Congratulations on the chick that hatched, sorry the rest of the eggs do not seem to be doing well. I would just give them a few more days in the incubator. Were you weighing the eggs or checking the air cells to keep track of weight loss? What about your temperature, late hatches are usually due to low incubation temperatures. You could candle or try the water test, but I only bother candling at this point if you want to consider assisted hatching if it looks like they are malpositioned or something similar is going on, not sure if you have seen it, the Learning Center has a great article on hatching that covers about everything, there are also links to guides on assisted hatching down the page. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[Pikus1]

Thank you so much for the response. I have candled them but can't see much of anything - they are brown eggs. I did a float test and one was a sinker. The air sac has gotten larger over the three weeks. The temp has remained pretty consistent. I will let them go for a little longer. Not holding out much hope now. It seems slim that they are alive. Makes me very sad. The one chick we did get has been very lonely. Today I went and picked up some friends for it because I was so sad for it.