Incubating challenge help needed!

[Savvymamma]

I am at day 21 and no pipping. I started with 24 eggs, @ day 15, I candled them and removed 16. The 8 left looked good. Today (day 21) I candled the eggs again and 6 look like they are supposed to. What do I do! I just found out I should not have opened the incubator. Do I give them another day or 2 or have I lost them????? I have another dozen coming (mail), but think I am going to use some of my own flock eggs to see if this will make a difference. Please advise as I would LOVE to have some chicks, but need advice.
Rhonda

 

[Ridgerunner]

Definitely give them another couple of days. If your incubator is running a little cool, they can be two or three days late. That is not at all unusual.

Opening the incubator releases the humidity which can shrink wrap them. The membrane dries out and wraps around them. The key work is can. It does not automatically happen. Yours may be in trouble or they may be fine. It can work either way. I opened the incubator once and that srhink-wrapped one. Several others were OK. No one can tell you exactly what happened to yours. Opening the incubator was not a good thing to do, but it was not necessarily fatal.

Good luck!