decreased temps in the night

[erin0415]

My eggs are now on day 19. My incubator has temps that vary about .5 to .7 degree from one side to the other. When I left for work last night the temp was 99.9 on one side and 99.4 on the other. When I got home this am my temp was 99.4 on one side and 97.6 on the other!!! I don't know how long it was this low, probably sometime in the middle of the night because it turned pretty cool out last night. It took a little while to get it regulated back again. Is this going to mess up my hatch??? When I candled at 18 days 10 of 11 were full sized and moving, the other one looked like there was some movement, but didn't take up the whole shell. I'm freaking out!! My temps and humidity have stayed pretty stable until now. Also, my humidity is finally up, but it is now about 61%. Is this too high??

 

[Mrs MIA]

Neither should hurt the hatch.

 

[ginbart]

You should be fine.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Should be ok but I have seen that in still airs some hatch on different days because the lower the temps the slower the baby grows. You may find that the one that looks smaller may hatch later than the others. Give it a few extra days if it doesn't hatch with the others.

 

[erin0415]

I hope not. I'm so nervous now. Its my first hatch and I keep reading everyone's stories of full term chicks dieing before they hatch or while pipping. I am driving my entire family crazy. They are not nearly as fond of my chickens or my eggs as I am. My husband says I 'm acting like I'm birthing them myself, but I would be devastated if none hatched. I'm afraid to set up the brooder just in case, so everything is there ready, but not assembled.

 

[Mrs MIA]

That stuff might happen anyway, so no sense worrying about it now.

All you can do is keep the temps/humidity in range as much as possible and hope for the best.

 

[erin0415]

I didn't think about the temps affecting the growth rate of that chick. That is something to hope for. I had kinda written it off in my mind but was going to give it a chance. BTW...I do have a fan that I added before I set them, but the temps still had some variance

 

[Mrs MIA]

The fan will help.

This is why people use a water wiggler with an indoor/outdoor thermometer. The temperature inside the wiggler simulates the inside of the eggs, and that temperature is usually pretty stable. But if your air temps are oscillating beween 97 and 102F, you should be ok.

 

[erin0415]

I looked for water wiggles locally but couldn't find any. i just recently read how to make a homemade one, so I may try that next time.

 

[Akane]

My still air varies by 3-4F from the center to the bottom of the edge. It's never really caused a problem. I just try to keep the thermometer stuck to the side above 96 and the thermometer in the middle on the eggs below 102. Between that the eggs will survive. Then if I fill it full or use large eggs I rotate them every time I turn so the row on one end goes to the other end and all the rows move up. Eventually all the eggs get equal time in the middle and edges so they all develop the same.