When to give up on broody eggs

[Mary Walton]

One of our hens went broody on 5/9. We put 6 eggs under her on 5/10 (we have a rooster so we assumed some were fertile). She has been sitting on them since. Yesterday was day 21 but still no sign of chicks or pipping. At what point should we throw in the towel? BTW, we did not candle the eggs at any point.
Mary​

 

[Chickwhispere111]

Hi don’t panic, just check the eggs are warm and look for any cracking! If not don’t worry wait one more week as I had a chick hatch day 22 but the rest hatched a week later so always wait at least a week! If a chick hatches and none others do for a week or if the mother is prioritising the eggs over chick take the eggs away unless they are cracking as I made the fatal mistake of leaving them and the mother abandoned the chick entirely if you have a incubator you could always put them in their, you could possibly try ( if they look ready to hatch?) place a heat lamp low down near the eggs if it has been a few days? Sorry I’m not sure besides that really just hang out sometimes they are late arrivals! Tell us if they hatch good luck x