can low temps delay hatching

[oopie]

I've had a lot of trouble keeping the temp up. It stays around 95. You can see the chick inside the egg but no movement and you can still see some liquid. Its day 20 and I was wondering if it might take a few extra days to hatch

 

[Ridgerunner]

95 is pretty low. You may have a serious problem.

The average incubating temperature has a big effect on when they hatch. Several other things do to, like heredity, humidity, how and how long they are stored before starting incubation, but the average temperature is a big factor. If the average temperature is low, they can be several days late. Some people have reported as late as 25 days.

A little bit off on temperature is not too bad as far as success rate goes, but if the temperature is too low, the chicks tend to be soft and mushy. It’s harder for them to hatch or even pip, sometimes dying in the shell without even pipping. I don’t know if you calibrated your thermometer and have confidence in that reading or not. I don’t trust the ones that come with the incubators or even the “good” ones I buy until I calibrate them.

I’d continue with the hatch and give them extra time. Sometimes you’ll be surprised at how tough those chicks can be. And it is average incubating temperature, not an instantaneous reading. Spikes and valleys don’t matter much as long as they are not too long. But if your 95 degree reading is accurate for most of the hatch, I would not count on great success. Sorry I can’t bring better news.

 

[oopie]

It is day 20 now and when I candle it it looks like day 16 or 17. One day the temp got up to 120 for about 15 min. Would that kill it?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It depends on how hot the core temperature of the eggs got. It takes a while for the air temperature to transfer that heat to the egg so it depends on how long it stayed that hot. The chick will die if the interior temperature gets up to 104 or 105.

I don't know what kind of incubator you have or where you are trying to use it, but you really do need to stabilize those temperatures.

 

[bahamabanty]

Yes it will delay. I had temperature issues and on day 25 I was getting ready to toss everything, when an egg started peeping, in my hand, when I picked it up to throw away. I put it back immediately. It hatched overnight but shrink wrapped while I was asleep. But it did hatch and very late.
I tossed my styrobator and bought a Brinsea.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Can you see any movement at all? I would not have very high hopes after incubating at 95F and also after the spike; 120 is quite high. As the other posters said, it depends on the internal temp of the egg. if the inside of the egg got over 104F, that will kill it. so it depends on how long the incubator was hot; it takes time to warm the inside of the egg to that point.

Since you say it looks like day 16 or 17 development, I would guess the chick died around that time so sorry.
but you can keep it in the incubator just to be sure... especially if you do see movement.

keep candling every day and look for development. if nothing has changed by day 21-22-23 then you will know. you can also do the float test to be sure, before breaking it open. I do recommend breaking the egg open ("eggtopsy") once you are sure it is dead, so you can see at what day the chick might have died and backtrack to see what might have killed it (the spike? something else?)

 

[bahamabanty]

Yes do the float test. I forgot to mention that.

 

[oopie]

Ok I think I'll leave it for a few more days then go from there. This is the first time I've ever tried to hatch eggs but I guess its just trial and error.

 

[oopie]

Should I still be able to see liquid in the eggs at day 20

 

[Farmer Viola]

no, the egg should be solid black