Accidentally overheated eggs

TheCluckyBunch

Hatching
May 30, 2023
2
1
9
Hi everybody!
Reaching out for some advice. I’m hoping I’ll at least have one egg hatch but it’s not looking good. I’ve only incubated once before and 2 of 3 hatched.
This time, I had 4 eggs in the incubator, day 21 came, 1 pip, chirpy as…hatching followed within 12 hours. Yay!
Once dried I put him in the brooder under the lamp. However, I moved the remaining eggs to the brooder so that when they hatched they weren’t jammed in the tiny incubator ( I had to go to work that day for 9 hours and couldn’t watch them).
My issue is, I stupidly set the lamp too high!! The eggs felt hot to touch and I’m so worried I’ve cooked the poor little things. :( I cooled slowly with a fan and back in the bator. Probably not right either but I didn’t know what to do.
Should I keep them and just candle in a day? They’re fully developed but I’m scared I’ve killed them. The wall mounted thermometer read at 39 Celsius an inch from the lamp. But I mean, the eggs felt very hot.
There’s been no chirping or pipping even before the incident.

Thanks for any advice :)
 
There's not much to do but wait and hope they make it. How far away from the lamp were they? If the temp was 39 degrees an inch away from the lamp it might not have been too hot at the bottom of the brooder. I would candle at day 22-23. Hopefully they are ok.
 
There's not much to do but wait and hope they make it. How far away from the lamp were they? If the temp was 39 degrees an inch away from the lamp it might not have been too hot at the bottom of the brooder. I would candle at day 22-23. Hopefully they are ok.
Thanks Chelseachook, I thought I was more prepared this time but think I panicked not being home for the hatch. It’s day 24 now and candled but no movement,sounds or internal pips.
Did an eggtopsy on one and indeed it had perished, the inside membrane looked very dark and dry.
I have one from a different batch that’s due in a few days so fingers crossed my 1 newborn has a friend.
Will be more careful next time, poor little things :(
 
Thanks Chelseachook, I thought I was more prepared this time but think I panicked not being home for the hatch. It’s day 24 now and candled but no movement,sounds or internal pips.
Did an eggtopsy on one and indeed it had perished, the inside membrane looked very dark and dry.
I have one from a different batch that’s due in a few days so fingers crossed my 1 newborn has a friend.
Will be more careful next time, poor little things :(
Oh no :hugs . Good luck with your next batch 💗
 
just to add, another 'rule' ive added to my personal incubating 101 book, is never move eggs to another location at pip time .. its not just the possibility of accident, the differing conditions however slight usually cause hatching problems ..
 
Incubator humidity needs to be increased during hatch so I don't know why you would think moving your unhatched eggs to a brooder was a good idea. Chicks don't need food for 24 hours after hatching so leaving them in the incubator for 9 isn't going to hurt them.
 

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