Eggs "rocking" for days...HELP!

[MelissaBA]

I have 12 eggs in the incubator and they were due to hatch Friday...only 2 of them are "rocking" and have been for days. Since they are 2 days late should I assist in their hatch???

 

[TheBeardie]

Don't assist!! The hatch date is just a base line only time you assist is when it pips the wrong end, the membrane drys up and the chicks start to suffocate or is has two chicks in it and can't pip right. Have they piped the air sack yet? Or the outside yet?

 

[3riverschick]

See : Sally Sunshine's Guide to Assisted Hatching. I think it is up on the BYC "articles" page.
Really helped me with a hatch this season. Chicks can hatch even 4 days after their "due" date.
Best,
Karen

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

Here is the link if you need it. I would give it a good read first though it's really good. Totally agree with 3riverschick they can hatch well after the 21 days.

 

[MelissaBA]

There is no pipping at all but one of the eggs is rocking and rolling pretty good. The other isn't moving quite as much.

 

[TheBeardie]

You candle the eggs right? Can you here a "Peck Peck Peck" sound when you put the egg near your ear?

 

[MelissaBA]

I candled last on day 18 when I stopped turning. Eggs are still rocking...???

 

[TheBeardie]

Since you haven't candled you don't know if they have piped internally but one way to know is if you here them peeping. that means they have air and should start externally piping soon. Then they start ziping that can take up to 24 hours and over.

 

[MelissaBA]

OK, I put a stethoscope to one since my hearing is not that great and heard a peck...the other didn't hear anything...so do I still wait?

 

[appps]

I just had a little one hatch on day 24, it pipped late day 23 and was out by morning. That was under a broody and incubators can have even later hatches than broody's because they are trying to imitate Mother Nature and it's hard to get it perfect. Worried too I googled, day 25-26 is quite normal even if exceedingly frustrating lol

To be perfectly honest the minute you start helping their chances of survival drops dramatically, I would sit on my hands, be pleased they are still alive because you have movement and reevaluate in a couple of days. It just like humans and suggesting we induce every pregnant woman that is a day overdue. Nature isn't that exact

If it was me I would sit tight and give it a couple of days. Going in and assisting without any experience would not be an early option for me.