Child Mishap....Will Eggs Survive? UPDATED!!

[Shogun99]

So here's the story. My baby sister started messing with the incubator on Day 15 (day after we candled) and the temp dropped to about 89' F. I think she also added water and the humidity was up to about 75%. I was able to catch it in the afternoon and after a couple of hours of playing with the temp again and adding and subtracting water, I was able to get things back to normal (101'F and 48% humidity).

Will it effect my hatch rate? Should I have dealt out a spankin or is my 5 year old sis need to just really needing some extra explanations on leaving the eggs alone? More importantly....are my chix gonna be ok?

 

[77horses]

They will more than likely be fine.

86 degrees F. isn't enough to harm them at that stage. and the hum. didn't go too high. I am pretty sure they will be normal!

No, DO NOT spank her!

She is just a youngster, curious about the eggs. That's all. Just talk with her and tell her why it's important not to get into the bator!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I had a similar thing happen with my son a few days ago. I would think as long as the temp wasn't that low for very long, they should be all right. And the humidity needs to be too high for a long time, I believe, before it will mess them up.
If you want to read mine, it is titled 'FREE TO GOOD HOME: 3 year old boy...'

 

[hinkjc]

Agree, I think your eggs will be just fine. Your sis just needs you to sit her down and explain that these are live babies growing in there and that she needs to leave it alone so they can grow right and hatch. You can make this fun for her and a great learning experience. Good luck with your hatch.

Jody

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts and think you'll be fine.

 

[SterlingAcres]

Your eggs might be delayed, but they should be fine. My kids have messed with my bator before.
I told my 3 year old if he messed with the bator while there were eggs in it, the 'chickies would die'. Now he steers clear of it, in hopes of seeing some fluffy butts hatching.

Good luck.

 

[Shogun99]

Hmmm....well as far as the update goes...I didn't swat her, but I DID talk to her about there being baby chickens in there and only to touch them when an adult was around.

She's going through a phase where she gets into everything that belongs to other people and hasn't been respecting boundaries. Its pretty difficult and embarrassing taking her out in public ha ha.

 

[silkiechicken]

Lower mishap is usually just fine. At worse slows the hatch a bit. Higher temp mishaps are the bad ones.

 

[Cason]

My beloved 3 y/o grandson turned the heat up on mine.. fried them all. So hopefully a lesser heat will survive!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

You didn't have an outage but, this info still will apply.

Info on power outages during Incubation.
From- A Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow

The more valuable your hatching eggs are, the more likely it is that the electricity will go out during incubation. If you have an uninterruptable power source (UPS) for your computer or other electronic equipment, consider disconnecting the usual equipment and using the UPS to power your incubator. If the outage comtinues beyond its capacity to keep your incubator running, or you don't have an UPS, open the incubator and let the eggs cool until the power goes back on.

Trying to keep the eggs warm is likely to cause abnormal embryo development. Furthermore, if you close the vents or wrap the incubator with blankets in your attempt to keep eggs warm, a greater danger than temperature loss is oxygen deprivation. Developing embryos use up oxygen rather rapidly, and the oxygen level may soon fall below that necessary to keep them alive.

As soon as the power goes back on, close the incubator and continue operating it as usual. The effect of the outage on your hatch will depend on how long the power was out and on how long the eggs had been incubated before the outage. A power failure of up to 12 hours may not significally affect the hatch (except to delay it somewhat), especially if the outage occurred during the early incubation, when cooled embryos naturally tend to go dormant. Embryos that are close to term generate enough heat to carry them through a short-term outage.