How long to wait before you call hatch a loss?

[Serina81]

My incubator has been really unreliable this year (maybe too old now). I had eggs set to hatch out on the 31 and still no chicks. When should I toss them?
Serina

 

[SilverPhoenix]

I personally wait until at least day twenty-five, and then candle before opening to make sure no one is moving around in there.

 

[chickeepoo]

What if you get to day 23-25 and open the air-cell end of the eggs, find some alive but not pecking their way out? Do you just paste egg membrane back over the hole and leave them, or leave the hole open and leave them alone, or what? And if the temp was too low, how long can they take to develop before you figure they just won't make it?

 

[tnchickenut]

I personally wait until day 24.... I candle them... I also will hold it up to my ear to listen for scratching noises. I have never broke one open to see... eeewww. If a chick isn't strong enough to make it out on it's own... that is nature's natural selection and it probrably will grow to be your sickliest chicken (if it gets that far). Laying them out (if you haven't) will help tell too... they roll a rock a bit when the chick is working on the inside.

Have you been candling all along? Do you know how many developed?

 

[greenfingers]

I had 4 eggs left in the nest when my broody hatched the other 6. A couple days later she was off the nest for a while with her new chicks and the eggs were cold, so I took them and started opening them at the large end of the egg. The first was a dud. The second the chick was still and under the membrane, and when I pulled on the membrane it was bloody, so I figure that one was dead, never pipped. The third one I pulled on the membrane and it started moving! I opened it all the way in a very warm water 'bath', which I think would be the ideal way of 'helping' a chick out, but the yolk sac had not absorbed, so there was nothing I could do. The 4th one I chipped off a small piece of shell on the large end. Good big air sac, and membrane intact. So, learning from the past ones, I just scotch taped the piece of shell back on and put it in my incubator that I use just for hatching (empty at the time). I didn't really think it would do anything, but a few days later I looked in and it was zipped! I did help it just a little, but out hatched a strong healthy chick! Who knew?!

 

[greenfingers]

Of course, I am a glutton for punishment, so I always open all the eggs that don't hatch to see if I can tell why.

 

[chickeepoo]

This is great information thanks for sharing. Day 23, no movement at all, so we picked the aircells of two off. One (which was questionable earlier on) looked like it had stopped developing, and the other (which looked quite full when we candled) was moving underneath the membrane! It just seems like it wasn't positioned to pip yet. We took the membrane from a regular egg and covered the hole we made, and set it back in there. So... I guess I just play the waiting game now

 

[abanjaf]

I hatched out the last two chicks from my last batch (they only had pipped a small hole each). Upon widening the pip hole, discovered that the chicks were literally "cemented" to the eggshell (waterwells had run dry overnight while at work). They would never have hatched. Had to give one of them a full bath to remove the eggshell pieces! Luckily for me, yolks had been fully absorbed and now I have two beautiful, healthy chicks that I otherwise would not have had. They are a week old now, only I can pick them out from the rest of the crowd, they are as healthy and active as the rest! Sometimes helping is not the worst idea.