I'm incubating - what do I do if the power goes out? - Page 2

Very useful -thank you Mom/ Grandma/boss
 

I have had 2 power outages on one batch in the incubator and one on a second batch. All were fine. With the first one we were out for 4 days. We hooked up a generator and covered the incubator with wool blankets. I have read that you can use candles but that does not seem super safe.

Super funny that my hubby raced home from work to turn on the generator and got up every 4 hours to add gas but we had a %100 hatch rate!

Good stuff to know!

I have three sets of eggs coming in the mail this week. Being temps are in the 90 s, should I put them directly int the incubator instead of letting them set the recommended 12 hrs? This is my first time incubating. From your article, it sounds as though development begins in the mid 80 s. Thanks!

Very informative! Thanks for posting this! 

Well done on 100% hatch !  Really dedicated
 

Early in September 2012 I had 30 chicken eggs incubating in my little, foam, still air, “Little Giant”, incubator. About 10 days into incubation the Kansas City Light And Power Company shut the electricity off to do “scheduled maintenance” without telling us beforehand.  The electricity went off at about 1:00 AM and did not come back on until 8:00 AM the next morning (7 hours). When I checked the temperature in the incubator the next morning the temperature was 50 degrees F. I thought for sure that my eggs would never hatch or if any did hatch there would be only one or two hatch. Well, one day before they were supposed to hatch we had 19 little baby chickens hatch. 2 died while hatching and one was hatched with crippled legs which were bowed so bad it couldn’t walk. We were very surprised and very thankful to Jesus that any chicks at all hatched out but we ended up with 16 healthy little chicks. Thank you Jesus. The moral of this story is, If the electricity goes off to your incubator, for 7 hours, don't throw away the eggs but say a prayer and keep on incubating.

We had this happen and kept the incubator going without a generator! The trick is to get one of those ashtray lighter converters, that will convert to a regular plug. I think I got it at Menards. We just ran a really long extension cord from our van to the incubator in the basement. This does drain the battery of the car though, so just make sure to start it up every once in a while or have someone to give you a jump if needed!

I just happened across this thread and thought I would add my 2 cents.

I might have to look into this. We had the power go out once while I had a hatch in progress...MUCH more crucial to maintain heat on still-wet ducklings than on unopened eggs!