incubating

I have never had this happen and
would like to know if anyone else has
had this.
Hatch date was March 8th qty 36 eggs in incubator
March 9th 3 chicks hatch then nothing candled again
to check and tossed out 7 then on the 10th
with no more hatching or even pipping I took one
egg and cracked it. Fully developed alive chick
yoke sack large so maybe needed a few more days.
Unfortunatly that chick died. No hatching still
so did the same thing on the 12 and again full developed
live chick which again died as it was not fully ready.

So how long do I wait until I call it quites and toss
the remaining eggs before they explode in the incubator?

Low temperatures can extend hatching dates. Check your count again. Smaller eggs sometimes will hatch a bit quicker, but 4 days is a long time.
I would leave them in and see what happens, but I would be surprised if anything hatches. Keep us posted on the outcome.

Are you sure your counting is not off by 1 week? What was the date you set the eggs? What has the temperature been thought incubation?

I cannot tell you why this happened. Sorry. But I have a few questions and pointers that might help you in the future.

If I have eggs that have not hatched, there are a few things I do before I decide they are toast.

1) in a quiet place, hold the egg to your ear. If you hear scratching or tapping noises, put the egg back. Tap the egg with your finger, sometimes this will make the chick squeak. If you hear anything, put the egg back in the bator.

2) candle the egg. Shine your light into the fat end. There will be a dark, solid mass below and your light will fill the air space in the fat end. Tap the egg. Watch to see if there is any movement in the fat end, a bumping around. If you see movement, even with no noise, put the egg back.

3) if you candle the egg and the fat end is hazy looking, there is a good chance that chick pipped and drowned. Liquid in the fat end looks hazy and the line between dark and light, the line between above and below the airsac looks mirky and not sharply defined, this usually means too much liquid and a dead egg. This is also a very good clue all throughout the hatch when you candle. The line between air sac and egg contents (yolk, white, chick) should be sharp, well defined and very distinct. When that line gets hazy and smudgey, that egg is dead.

4) when I open a suspect egg that should have hatched, I do it in a very specific way. I make a tiny hole in the FAT END. I enlarge the hole carefully to get my finger in. You should see a white membrane (dry looking) with the lump of a chick below. Reach in and give the chick a poke. If it wiggles, or feels soft and giving, put the egg back in the bator. If it feels hard and there is no wiggling, the chick is dead. I have had chicks hatch from eggs I have opened at the fat end. They are at higher risk for drying onto their shells, so you will have to be vigilant and make sure they don't stick...but sticking is a risk with slow chicks anyway. But if you just crack the shell like you are going to fry the egg, then the chick has no chance.

My number one reason for chicks that hatch late is too low temps. My number one reason for chicks who make it 21 days and die at the finish line is too much humidity and they drown in their shells. You should never toss ANY egg without looking in it. If you crack and find lots of dead chicks that are surrounded by thick slime, there is too much humidity in your bator. Chicks should be moist, not slimey.

You said you cracked eggs and found live chicks. Were they moving? I have found that with the yolk sacs, it's the work of hatching that seems to draw the yolk sack into their bodies over the last several hours. I have removed chicks from eggs but if that yolk sac is mostly out, they rarely survive. The longer a chick boots his way out of his own egg, the better off he is. So I will half hatch some, and leave their bottom half in the egg to kick their own way out. Also, if you attempt to rescue a chick and there is bleeding from the membrane, STOP and apply a little (gentle) direct pressure to the bleeder. A chick will bleed to death through its membrane. A membrane that is still rich with blood tells you the chick is NOT ready to hatch! WHen it is ready, that blood has been drawn into the body. A blood filled membrane is a premature chick.

Sorry about this. Hatching is hit and miss for some of us. I hope it goes better next time.

The eggs were set Feb 16 late evening.

uno some good idea's especially opening
from the large end will remember that.

I do hold the eggs up to my ear and tap
to see if I get any reply.

I also candle my eggs but I don't tap them
when doing so will give that a try also.

Thanks for the good info will print this off
and put with my other hatching info.
Will let you know what happens.
Oh as for temperature I did have a spike up to about 106 half way through when a storm came through.
And I quickly adjusted it but I have my suspicions about
that.

Uno posted good info! Could your incubator have cooler spots so that some eggs are slower? Hope you get some more healthy peepers

I am eperiencing the same thing right now. Chicks due on the 11th, still hatching today. at least you can rest assured that a fully formed chick will not eplode.

I had temperature problems at the start of the hatch. Could this be why I am having so many stargazers, floppers, crooked toes and outstreched legs? I have had to put down 3 so far and there are 2 more I may have to do in.

What I do is use a very powerful flash light and I shin into the egg at the top where the air sack is and If you do it right you should see movement after a bit , then you know that the chick is still alive and it's just a matter of waiting .Now you really need a small powerful flashlight , mine is a 6 Watt that Princess Auto sells and believe me it's very bright ( Cree Bulb )! The LED lights just don't cut it ,I can look into a Dark brown egg ( Maran egg ) with out to much problem and see what stage the development is at .I also mark each egg with the date that I put it in so I can sort of keep track as well that way

Last year hubby was reading through one
of our books and found a statment that
said berometic pressure can cause your
incubator to vary in temperature.
I forgot that until mine spiked the day
the storm came through. If I had remembered
sooner it may not have spiked. And I am
not sure on how long it spiked but I do
hand turn eggs three time a day so it was
between turn.

This is a good thread. I came down to check my call duck eggs this morning and the temp was 104! I was freaking sprayed them down and adjusted the temp again. They are almost 3 weeks along and I could see movement last night so I am hoping they are not fried!

You have to remember that a spike in bator temp does not mean an instant spike in egg temp. It takes a while for an egg to come up one degree of temperature, or to fall. It does happen, but certainly not in 20 minutes. Wish I knew how long it took...all I know is it isn't instant.

As for keeping bator temps constant, I found the biggest influence was the temperature of the room the bator was in. (I use a styrofoam Hovabator or one I built myself, this might be different if using a bigger, higher end bator) The bator had a hard time keeping coolish air warm enough. When our house cools off at night, the bator struggles. Now I keep the bator in the guest room with the baseboard heater set at a low, constant temp and I have way better luck with having the temp stay right where I want it. Also a good excuse to tell overnight guests, gee, sorry, the guest room is full right now. Yeah, full of eggs.

Well just cracked from the large end the
last 7 eggs.
5 looked fully developed but dead
1 liquid not nice stuff
1 started to develop a bit
One of the worst hatches I have ever had.