This is how I add water to the incubator without opening it. I got the syringe at
Tractor Supply. The straws are the accordion straws. I go in through a vent hole. I know it is hard to do right now with your first hatch, but try to relax. You’ll be OK. Many of us have been through the first hatch and survived.
Yes at 14 days that eggs is no good. The others sound like they are as they should be. Looks like you are well on your way to getting chicks. You can take those eggs out if you wish but it is not critical. The reason eggs go bad and explode is that bacteria gets inside them and multiplies. It doesn’t matter if the egg is fertile or not or if a chick is developing in there. If bacteria gets inside it will multiply. You can normally tell by smell. That rotten egg smell is pretty powerful. But if bacteria does not get inside it will not go bad and explode. I normally candle at 18 days just before lockdown and remove any eggs that look like that just to give more room in the incubator. I don’t bother to candle if the eggs are under a broody hen.
It won’t hurt if the temperature and humidity temporarily drop in the incubator when you open it during incubation. Instantaneous air temperature and humidity are not going to have an effect on an egg before it pips. It’s average incubating temperature and average humidity that are important. The egg is too dense to instantly cool off and the shell does not allow it to instantly dry out. Late in incubation the chick is generating a lot of heat anyway. The problem in the commercial incubators where they might have 60,000 eggs at a time is getting the excess heat out late in incubation so they don’t cook themselves. In warm weather a broody hen may leave her nest for over an hour at a time without any bad effects on the eggs. In cold weather that may only be 15 minutes, but the point is that you don’t have to be in a hurry. The eggs can take it.
It is possible after an egg external pips that you can shrink wrap a chick by opening the incubator and letting the humidity out. But just because it is possible does not mean it will happen each and every time. Most of the time you can open the incubator without any bad effects, even after the egg has pipped. If I need to open the incubator after an egg has pipped to take care of an emergency I will, but it is good practice to not open the incubator unless you ae a good reason.
As an aside, don’t get too hung up on the 21 day thing. That’s a target but in reality a lot of eggs hatch early or late, sometimes two or more days early or late. There are a lot of different reasons for that. The hatch may be over within 24 hours of the first chick pipping. The hatch may be spread out over more than 2 full days. The chicks absorb the yolk so they can live for three days or more without food or water after hatch so don’t get in a panic in getting them out.
Another thing. Make sure you are counting your days correctly. The target is 21 days of development. That means Day 1 of development is complete 24 hours after you put the eggs in the incubator. An easy way to check your counting is that the day of the week you started the egg sis the day of the week the 21 days is up. If you started them on a Monday, they should hatch on a Monday. That is a real common mistake on this forum.
Sounds like you are doing OK. Good luck!
