is day 25 the last day for any unhatched chicken eggs?

[Melissa77]

I was obviously not clear in my post I was never intending to help BEFORE. .... and Ive read the BYC step by step for helping AFTER certain they need help.
But thanks!!

No. You do not "help" it by manually pipping it if it's not due to hatch for a couple of days. The eggs will wiggle a day or more before hatching as the chick gets into position to hatch. If you try to get it to hatch before its time, you will kill it. 

 

[Ebaumgardner]

I have had a chick hatch on day 25. I had stopped adding water on the evening of day 23 and ment to clean the bator out on day 24 but got busy. On day 25, I pulled the electric plug, and was picking up eggs when I heard peeping. A quick candle showed the chick in the air cell. I filled the water and plugged the bator back in.

So make sure you candle before tossing, and I even tap the egg with my nail then hold it to my ear to "hear" if the chick answers me.

These may be old posts; but this happened to me today. I have 5 eggs not hatched and I’m day 25. I candled the first one because I had lost hope, and while I was candling she was actively trying to pip the shell from inside, I immediately put her back in the Bator and I’m hoping I didn’t mess her position up or anything.

 

[Abigrayl]

These may be old posts; but this happened to me today. I have 5 eggs not hatched and I’m day 25. I candled the first one because I had lost hope, and while I was candling she was actively trying to pip the shell from inside, I immediately put her back in the Bator and I’m hoping I didn’t mess her position up or anything.

This just happened to me as well. Except I was trying to throw out from under a broody hen. Did the chick make it?

 

[Sussex19]

This just happened to me as well. Except I was trying to throw out from under a broody hen. Did the chick make it?

I've candled eggs that were about to pip from under broody hens before, and it didn't seem to cause any problems.

 

[abenardini]

I didn't see anyone mention this but some of it is also human calculation. We think it's a day 23/day 24 but in reality, the first day of incubation doesn't count as a "day." Also, if hatching under a broody hen, it's possible the conditions aren't exactly the same as they would be in an incubator that is more controlled (I know many swear by natural methods of hatching - I personally don't like the live animal variables, so I incubate ).

Other factors are things like incubator temperature - - if you have lows or highs, that will influence hatch speed. I tend to incubate mine a little on the lower side 99-99.5 (sometimes a swing to 100 during the day when it warms up in the house). Mine generally don't all hatch until day 22/day 23 (counting the 2nd day as "day 1").