ACH! Power outage

[mediazeal]

I woke up this morning to the flashing alarm clock at 12:00AM
bummer, I have 26 eggs in the incubator.
Not sure how long it was out in the night, it's been popping on and off for less than a minute at a time all day. Was off for 35 minutes at one point and I covered the incubator with a down quilt to keep the heat in. Got down to about 93 degrees in there by the time the power came back on.
I'm on day 3
What do you guys think?
Storm is not over yet.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'm no expert (1st time hatching here) but momma hens get off their eggs to eat/drink/poop, so the eggs must cool down a bit then, right? I bet they will be fine.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

They need air more than they need heat. My incubator is outside an we had an outage that lasted around 24 hours last winter. Other than hatching a day late, I couldn't tell any change in hatch rates from my normal. I think it was in the 50s that day.

 

[mediazeal]

Quote:
Wow, that is very hopeful.
I had multiple outages today, some lasting an hour or so. The temps got down to 84 inside the incubators. And it happened several times. I will candle next weekend and see if anyone made it. Well, I'll candle the ameraucana eggs at least
I cant' see a thing ever in the black copper maran eggs.
I'm worried I will have high losses.
thanks for your encouraging experience!

 

[gumpsgirl]

If they are only 3 days along, they will be just fine. Depending on how long the power was out for (which I doubt it was for very long if you didn't notice it until you woke up) your hatch might be a little late, but that's it.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Their fine.

 

[Akane]

An outdoor incubator though won't lose temp as quickly because it's much better insulated. If the incubator got down to 93 without being opened then the eggs probably got close to that. Chicks will continue to grow down to 96F though so low 90s shouldn't kill them. If you don't have lots of eggs in the incubator run some hot water into something like an extra water bottle or empty bottled water containers and lay them in the incubator. Also even when the power is out if your water will run your hot water heater should continue to hold hot water for quite awhile. You can refill containers with hot water. I started doing that after I found out I can get my hova over 100F in minutes without even plugging it in by filling 2 bottled water containers with the hottest water that will come out of my kitchen sink. I had a broody killed and needed to keep eggs warm and get my incubator to temp immediately.

 

[mulia24]

kerosene lamp.

 

[mediazeal]

thanks guys
all excellent ideas
appreciate the help!

 

[ChanceRider]

As I was just getting ready to hit "send" on my reply, our power went out, and has been out ever since!

Hope all is well with your eggs and the young chicks. I've had the steady hum of our generator running for the past 23 hours.

~E