how long to keep eggs in incubator after day 21...

[chicksnducks]

Ok so I hatched out 8 adorable little chickies. there are still 11 chicken eggs and one duck egg left. i am hand turning the duck egg for the rest of the week until day 25...but what do I do about the other chicken eggs...I dont' want any to burst and make incubator yukky....how long should I give them?

 

[Juliechickens]

Hey, on my last hatch I gave my chicken eggs till day 26. I know that's a bit long but I just wanted to give them every chance. I think most people let them try till day 25 but I could be wrong. Not sure on the duckey egg

Good luck, Julie

 

[Poison Ivy]

I pull at day 25 and candle before I toss.

 

[speckledhen]

You'll find different philosophies on this. Mine is that I don't let them go past Day 22. Late hatching is hereditary, from what I've read, and I dont want mine to keep having these long drawn-out hatches. Also, I find that most have died if I wait too long. In fact, I pipped a shell at the end of Day 21 recently and found a chick who had just then expired, probably because it was too large to turn to pip and ran out of air-nothing wrong with the chick at all. So I myself don't allow them to go that long, but others have had late hatches due to low incubation temps, etc. If I had had low temp problems, then I would allow for that and perhaps wait a teeny bit longer.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I've had healthy chicks hatch on day 25....never go over that tho...I always candle....

 

[chicksnducks]

I candled 9 remaining...still have one viable duck and one chicken that went into bator a week later than the rest.
I candled the others and there was no movement and some were starting to smell funny. I gently made a pip and there was no movement. cracked them. there were 2 slushy one and 7 had dead chicks all with big yolk sack attached. any idea at what stage they expired and what this was from...since this is my first time, I want to learn to do it better next time!

 

[JudyMcKinn]

My guess on one of your causes of the low hatch is that it sounds like you were opening the bator a lot--candling, and turning your duck egg, etc. EVery time you open the bator, you lose your humidity. It is said you shouldn't open the bator at all, if possible, during the last 3 days of hatch. I didn't know this on my first hatch, and about 3 or 4 hatched, and I opened the bator to take them out, etc, and no more hatched. When I gave up on them, I opened the eggs, and most of them were fully developed, dead chicks. I feel sure it was that I opened the bator and lost my humidity. Just my thoughts. Good Luck!

 

[chicksnducks]

I didn't open the bator except for once a day to remove the chicks and that was for two days...I wasn't turning the duck egg during day 18, 19 20 and 21....but I am happy with what I did hatch. They are little sweeties. just wanted to know if there was a major issue that I missed.
thanks

 

[kimreynolds]

Day 23 and 12 chicks have hatched one died in egg.still movement in some off the eggs but not sure if they can hatch as all other chicks hatched round bout same timetime.plus when we opened the dead chick it was on the large side.what do we do with the eggs persevere or try hatch ourselves?

 

[schubert]

What's candle mean ?