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New Duckie:
Some people put iffy eggs in a bowl of water if they are trying to figure out if the egg should be tossed. A live chick will struggle because the shell is permeable (water leaks into the egg drowning the chick), so the egg is then rescued, dried, and returned to the incubator. This is too harsh a test for me, so I opt for just leaving them in a few more days. I once left an egg in 7 days past the hatch of the last expected egg, and it finally hatched. The little guy was weak, though, and he expired about three days later. CBC is right. You can't know if the chick would have survived. The only thing you lose if you leave the eggs in longer is space, so letting them stay longer is okay, unless they start to stink. Toss the stinkers immediately. You don't want to breed bacteria.
A friend of mine drops iffy eggs onto a folded bath towel. She listens for a squeak or peep. If she hears something, the egg goes back into the incubator. If she doesn't, she opens a tiny hole in the big end, through the air sack and tries to see if the chick is moving. A bit of tape can cover the hole if the egg needs to go back into the incubator. For me, this seems traumatic too, so I don't dunk or drop. I just wait. After you've incubated about twenty more batches you'll develop some patience, or not. I usually lose sleep in the last three days. It's normal for new mommas to be anxious. You're doing okay. You're a curious person who learned an unhappy lesson. We all have.
Don't think I want to do that either. I would probably wait to long to see if it was struggling and then drown it anyway. I have considered a small hole but now I just can't get myself to look at them in case my bad mojo jynxes them...lol