What day do I give up on overdue eggs?

[Juliechickens]

Hi I am in the middle of hatching several batches of eggs. My first batch's day 21 was on last Thursday,,,,when do I give up and remove the unhatched eggs? I'm so afraid that one still might hatch.....I can see something in it but it's not moving...the air cell is clearly visable but that's about it on brown eggs.
At what point do you KNOW these eggs are not going to hatch?? Day 24,26, 28?? I just need to be sure before I toss them! What is the latest date you've hatched eggs on ??? Please friends reply so I can have a peace about tossing the old ones. Waiting to hear some replies! Please!
Julie

 

[mudhen]

You can do a search of the threads, but some optimists have said you can wait until they start to stink...

If they were due Thursday though, it may be time to let them go..... JMHO

 

[Blisschick]

It's been my experience that if they're due to hatch on day 21, and it hasn't hatched in the next 24 to 36 hours after that, then it's not going to. It's probably already died in the egg. I crack open the eggs, and only once did I have one that was still alive, but the yolk had not been absorbed and the chick looked too thin, so it was probably going to die anyway. The others died at various stages during the incubation, some right before they were due to hatch. If they make it to term and don't pip, then they were too weak to survive. The only time I help a chick out is if I'm having problems with them getting too dry and sticking to shell when they're trying to get out.

My advice is that if you're still holding onto eggs that were due to hatch, and it's been a day or two after all the others have done so, do away with them.