wet unhatched chicks

[sueandthe6]

friend had a broody girl so I gave her some of my fertilized eggs...3 cochin eggs and 3 cochin/orpington or cochin/brahma. she sat and on day 21 like clockwork one hatched. on day 23 friend pulled rest of eggs assuming none were viable. we opened them for learning since I am totally new to all of this and all three cochin eggs were duds...but the other two larger ones were fully formed chicks but very "wet" inside. I tapped them with a spoon to break and maybe 3 or 4 ccs of liquid ran out. Is this normal? Should she have left them longer?

 

[WalnutHill]

Were they extra large eggs? I've found oversize eggs to be extra wet eggs.

 

[sueandthe6]

no- not over large...regular sized for my girls. my leghorns lay a lot of double yolkers but these were just normal sized. I know 21 days is the magic number.. but how long does one leave the unhatched till they really are considered unhatched?

 

[appps]

Were they dead? Im guessing if they didnt move when you opened them they were already dead so leaving longer wouldnt have made any difference.

That said my last chick hatched on day 26 under a broody. I think day 28 is the latest ive heard of one hatching.

 

[Scottish-Hen]

We had 3 that were day 2xday 23 & 1 dayx24 - assisted hatched that one.

I guess if they weren't rocking in their eggs in your palm and they didn't move when you opened the shell they were dead