How long do I leave unhatched eggs in the nest?

[oregonmuggle]

I put fertilized eggs under my broody hen and the first one hatched on June 2nd, 2nd hatched on the 3rd and the 3rd egg starting hatching yesterday and was out of its shell by this morning, June 5th. There are 4 unhatched eggs still in the nest. I brought each of these up to my ear and listened for any movement or pipping and there is none. This is my first time doing this so I am completely lost when it comes to candling eggs, even ater watching many videos. I am so nervous about making a mistake.
Question... How long so I leave the eggs in the nest before giving up on them?
Any feedback or advice is welcome. Thank you! I am one nervous first-time hatcher.

 

[Peppercorngal]

I can understand your reluctance to "give up" on those other eggs! Did you candle them or just put them to your ear? If you candle them you will be able to tell if there is a chick in there almost ready or if they are not fertile at all! On BYC home page is a great reference about candling called "Development of an Embryo Day by Day". Take a loot at that, candle your eggs and you will be able to tell what is going on. Good luck! You can do this!

 

[oregonmuggle]

Thank you!

 

[oregonmuggle]

Okay... with your encouragement, I sucked it up and canceled them. It was much easier than I thought it would be, especially after reading the tutorial you suggested. Three of the eggs were sloshy and definitely not viable. The fourth one looked like it started to develop, but stopped. No clear beak and most of it you could see right through it. No matter, I have three chicks and I am happy with that. Now pray they are all females so I don’t have to rehome them. Thanks again for your help!

 

[oregonmuggle]

*and candled them, not cancelled. Nature already did that.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Okay... with your encouragement, I sucked it up and canceled them. It was much easier than I thought it would be, especially after reading the tutorial you suggested. Three of the eggs were sloshy and definitely not viable. The fourth one looked like it started to develop, but stopped. No clear beak and most of it you could see right through it. No matter, I have three chicks and I am happy with that. Now pray they are all females so I don’t have to rehome them. Thanks again for your help!

Good for you! Yes, I also truly hope that you have all girls, although you know mathematically it's a 50% chance of roosters! It's been my experience that (so far) I've gotten EXACTLY 50% roosters from my hatches! I hope it's different for you!

 

[oakhavenmama]

Okay... with your encouragement, I sucked it up and canceled them. It was much easier than I thought it would be, especially after reading the tutorial you suggested. Three of the eggs were sloshy and definitely not viable. The fourth one looked like it started to develop, but stopped. No clear beak and most of it you could see right through it. No matter, I have three chicks and I am happy with that. Now pray they are all females so I don’t have to rehome them. Thanks again for your help!

Hi I am going through similar thing. There is one egg left in the nest and five chicks hatched from two days ago. I have another broody hen sitting on eggs that were started a few days after the first batch and wondering if an egg got mixed up from the later batch. I candled the remaining egg today and it wasn’t clear but also didn’t look the same as the developed eggs when I candled them a few weeks ago. I did not see an air sac. If there is a chick in there I probably killed it anyway because I wasn’t as gentle as I should have been with the egg.
Not even sure what my question is. Feeling very stressed. Thanks for listening!

 

[oakhavenmama]

PS. How did it work out with the sexes? How many roosters?