Incubator was off for a few hours

[usmanshahzada]

My son today turned off my incubator and when I came to know about it, there were atleast 5-7 hours passed by then. Today it was 6th day of the eggs. Will all eggs are now lost?

 

[The Golden Egg5]

While that could have killed the chicks inside, there is still a chance they are fine. I would continue incubating them until you know for sure if they are alive or not. I had a hen abandon her eggs on day 7 and half of them ended up making it to lockdown. Just remember that because of the cool down, they will most likely hatch later than most chicks. Good luck!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, sorry to hear it.

Do you know what temp they were at when it came back on? I know certain stages of development can handle heat spikes and others can take drops better though I don't now which is which.

I had an outage that made my eggs 78 degrees before I discovered it. I think it was mid incubation. The stage of incubation and how far it dropped can have varying effects but not always embryo death.

I had my worst hatch ever. I think only 5/15. 3 had bent toes and 1 undetectable genetic issues making it hard to connect with food so I culled instead of letting it starve. 1 looks pretty perfect. I don't have those deformities in my flock and they can be caused by temp fluctuations during incubation.

Only thing I can say is keep incubating. Candle maybe now and again at 10 days and discard any you can tell aren't developing any longer. Life seems to find a way pretty often!

Good luck!

 

[usmanshahzada]

Thanks
I candled them just yesterday and all eggs were fertile, thats why I am kinda sad right now

Temperature was down to 12 degree Celsius by the time I checked it

 

[feedman77]

It is still fairly early in the process. They got cool but they should be okay. Just let them keep incubating.

Re candle at 10 days and see what's still forming up.

 

[hillbillyreefer]

It happens, often times with no problem with the hatch rate. The eggs will be warmer than the surrounding air in the incubator, they have thermal mass, it’s doubtful the were anywhere near as cool inside as the ambient temp in the incubator.

I’ve had it happen several times at lots of different stages in the incubation, just keep them going and candle again in a week or so. Let us know how they make out.

 

[usmanshahzada]

Thank you guys! i will re candle them on 10th day to see any further progress in them!

 

[CarlaJeanchickenlady]

My incubator cut off due to my power switch flipping on an outlet! Still do not have any clue on how or why and it’s my second hatch! I about balled this morning! I’m on day 11 and temp was at 25 Celsius. Any thoughts?

 

[CarlaJeanchickenlady]

Did your chicks make it?

 

[Birdinhand]

eggs can generally handle a 12 hour break from incubation without major loss, they go into a dormant state. it's best not to try and keep them warm but to let them cool off and go dormant and it's best to go right back to the correct temp. it will delay the hatch by roughly the same amount of time. thats the short answer.

the longer answer is that the enzymes that govern development in the various tissue compartments stop functioning at different temps, so it's best to let them go to room temp and all stop simultaneously rather than have some parts continue developing at a different pace than others.