No air cell day 21 or 26? Egg dark but light pink normally. Staggered hatch!

[Henora]

Hi! My hen has been incubating for 25 days. She originally had 8 eggs, and after 2 wks, there were 5 more. A chick from a different hen (under her though) hatched on time (from when she first incubated/sat) on day 21, and one of hers hatched yesterday on day 25. Today, day 26, the hens were stacking on her and eachother so I took all the eggs to the incubator. She is a special hen and I want her to rest and recover. I candled the eggs bc all were warm but some were freshly laid or dead and a few were alive. 1 has no clear air cell, but it is heavy, and a little bit of light shines through light parts of the egg. These are light pink Orpington eggs, and I have never candled past day 17 so I don't know what to expect. Is this dark egg about to hatch? Or is it dead with NO air cell? Thank you for your help!

 

[citymeetscountry]

Pics would help

 

[Henora]

This is the egg on candler.

 

[chickfused]

That looks fertile to me, with a small air cell. It could be maybe a week to 10 days in. Anyone else add eggs while you weren't looking maybe?

 

[Henora]

Yes, my other hens have been sneaking eggs in to the nest. This is the only egg I've ever candled that I couldn't see through as unfertilized, or as dark with an obvious air cell. Could a hen just randomly lay a really dark egg?

 

[chickfused]

Chances are there's a baby in there, and that's why you can't see in.