Day 21! The Power May Go Out! What Do I Do?

[boykin2010]

It is day 21 in my incubation and it is raining really badly and there is a tornado watch! The power may go out and i dont want my incubator temps to lower and my chicks die. So far i have 2 little pips and the rest are about to hatch.
What do i do if the power goes out?

Also, how long does a chick need to stay in the incubator to get dried off.
And is it normal for chicks to be chirping from inside their eggs. I am listening to them right now.

 

[mrslb333]

As long as you keep the lid shut they should be fine for a while they are old enough to hold their own heat for a while in the egg

Good luck hopefully it won't happen

 

[mrslb333]

Oh and yes chirps are normal and a very good sign so are the little tapping sounds. They can live for 3 days on their yolk store so you can wait till they are all hatched and dry before moving to the brooder

 

[LC orps]

have a lot of towels too wrap bator to help keep it warm

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I have done two things when power went out. If I know it will be out for more than 3-4 hours than I drive them to a place that has power and will let me keep them until my power goes back on.

I do wrap them in towels for the drive. If you can't do that and you know that the eggs will be getting cold, then I would get the hottest tap water you can run, fill up a hot water bottle or two (or even empty plastic soda bottles) and pop them in the incubator and shut it up fast.

I would only do the latter if I had no other option because once the eggs pip, it isn't a good idea to open the lid. It goofs up the humidity which then messes with the membranes of the eggs and causes them to stick in there.

Good luck, let us know how it goes. Typically 12 hours to start zipping after pipping although it varies.

 

[boykin2010]

Do i wrap the towel around the edge of the bator? Or just all around it? The storm has gotten worse and fingers are crossed the power wont go out. I am going to try to find a water bottle we dont have many plastic bottles. I think we have some mini water bottles.
I have already opened the lid once really quickly because i am hatching turkey eggs also in the same incubator and they are day 21 and hatch on day 28. So i had to turn them. I did it quickly so i hope i didnt mess anything up. I knew i wasnt supposed to do a hatch like this but the lady who gave me the eggs told me she did it all the time and i needed to do it. She has never had a problem.

I also just noticed 2 eggs wiggling!

 

[boykin2010]

Oh and i also read somewhere on the internet that bantam eggs hatch first? Is this true? Obviously not for me because i have 9 bantam eggs that havent pipped yet.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

When the power went out here, I waited two hours and then I completely wrapped the incubator in a couple heavy towels and drove to our office and plugged it in there.

The temp was about 86 in there still and I had no issues.

I know that some people will tell you it is ok to open the incubator but it is something you will have to learn on your own. Some people don't have a problem but here in dry Idaho we do.

Even if the humidity spikes high in the incubator due to alot of chicks hatching. If it lowers too quickly when one is pipped, there are occasions that the chick gets super glued in. Sometimes only by a feather or two but enough that it can't turn properly to zip out.

I hope everything goes well for you and you don't have any trouble. Sometimes bantam eggs hatch early but then again it depends on the incubator temperature. If it is high, chicks usually hatch early. If it is low then they hatch late.

And they will vary. Wiggling eggs are a great sign. Try not to bother the eggs and if the chicks are zipping well, don't open the incubator to turn the turkey eggs. Soon the turkey eggs will get turned by all the chicks running around in there.