Did your power go out? Don't chuck those eggs yet!

[OldChurchEggery1]

I set eggs back on the 20th and our power went out during the series of tornadoes over the weekend. The electricity went out around 8 PM on Saturday. It still had not been restored by 1 PM Sunday, so we packed up and went to a relative's home to escape the 102 degree heat. Sometime that afternoon our power came back on. The incubator had been completely non-functional for at least 17 hours (8 PM - 1 PM), but was likely out for closer to 20 hours because my neighbor texted my husband around 4 in the afternoon saying the power was back. Well, I was prepared to toss the whole lot when I decided to check one that I knew the be developing on schedule before throwing them all out. I cracked the shell and out come a live (not for long) 10-11 day old embryo! It wriggled around and blinked its eyes, so it was definitely alive despite the outage.

The moral of the story is: those embryos are a lot tougher than you'd think. If you don't open the incubator, keep it in a draft-free place, and the temperature in your house stays relatively constant, there's a chance you'll still have success even in the face of a power failure. We completely opened up the house overnight Saturday because it was so hot, and our house got down into the 70s. My incubator is a Brinsea Octagon Eco (the 20 series) and is kept in my closet on the floor. The hatch is due next Wednesday, but might be off a bit due to the cooling. I'll re-post with results.

 

[ForeverSunshine]

This is really useful! I'm glad I went to this post. I want to incubate a few eggs, as my ducks aren't seeming to catch on just yet, so I'm looking for all the tips I can get. Do you know of any small incubators that'll fit around 4 eggs? Perhaps something under $20, if at all possible?

 

[Nsampsel]

This is really useful! I'm glad I went to this post. I want to incubate a few eggs, as my ducks aren't seeming to catch on just yet, so I'm looking for all the tips I can get. Do you know of any small incubators that'll fit around 4 eggs? Perhaps something under $20, if at all possible?

There are several on e-day, but honestly I would spend the other $20 & get a bigger one that tends to be a more stable model. The Sunny Side-Up incubator for $20.95 on e-bay is VERY unreliable & either cooks or free2es your eggs as do several of the other small, cheap models.

 

[Nsampsel]

I set eggs back on the 20th and our power went out during the series of tornadoes over the weekend. The electricity went out around 8 PM on Saturday. It still had not been restored by 1 PM Sunday, so we packed up and went to a relative's home to escape the 102 degree heat. Sometime that afternoon our power came back on. The incubator had been completely non-functional for at least 17 hours (8 PM - 1 PM), but was likely out for closer to 20 hours because my neighbor texted my husband around 4 in the afternoon saying the power was back. Well, I was prepared to toss the whole lot when I decided to check one that I knew the be developing on schedule before throwing them all out. I cracked the shell and out come a live (not for long) 10-11 day old embryo! It wriggled around and blinked its eyes, so it was definitely alive despite the outage.

The moral of the story is: those embryos are a lot tougher than you'd think. If you don't open the incubator, keep it in a draft-free place, and the temperature in your house stays relatively constant, there's a chance you'll still have success even in the face of a power failure. We completely opened up the house overnight Saturday because it was so hot, and our house got down into the 70s. My incubator is a Brinsea Octagon Eco (the 20 series) and is kept in my closet on the floor. The hatch is due next Wednesday, but might be off a bit due to the cooling. I'll re-post with results.

My power was out for over 48 hours this weekend from the storms & I had about 50 babies in active hatch when it went. Lost all but the 3 who were already out & dry over the next 3 days. Had some other quitters as well. Most were ones near lockdown. The rest are still doing well. I candled everything night before last, 24 hrs after power came back on & eggtopsied any that were bad. None of the ones that looked bad before eggtopsy showed good when I opened them. No movement, blood not flowing. You could tell many of them had died recently as they really had not begun to deteriorate much other than becoming watery & discolored inside the membrane & blood in the veins looking brown instead of red.

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

What a bummer. That is one of the downsides of artificial incubation- you're at the mercy of electricity. I'm trying to raise a good "crop" of replacement layers to start early next year as a good portion of my flock is now 3 years old. I wonder if there's a window in which a decreased temperature is tolerated. Perhaps those closer to term and very early in incubation are more susceptible to environmental fluctuations. I won't know for sure how things pan out until next week. I'll be candling this weekend prior to moving eggs to the hatcher and I may find then that I've got a whole batch of duds. I hope that's not the case, but I'll soon know!

 

[ForeverSunshine]

There are several on e-day, but honestly I would spend the other $20 & get a bigger one that tends to be a more stable model. The Sunny Side-Up incubator for $20.95 on e-bay is VERY unreliable & either cooks or free2es your eggs as do several of the other small, cheap models.

Ah, okay! Thanks. I was going to buy one with my last $20 spending money, but I suppose it'll have to wait. Perhaps my ducks will mature enough that they can do it on their own soon, or I'll find one with a budget friendly price that actually works. I guess I'll be able to buy that One Direction DVD after all.

 

[Kedreeva]

Ah, okay! Thanks. I was going to buy one with my last $20 spending money, but I suppose it'll have to wait. Perhaps my ducks will mature enough that they can do it on their own soon, or I'll find one with a budget friendly price that actually works. I guess I'll be able to buy that One Direction DVD after all.

haha just save that $20 and wait til you get another $20 to go with it... it's worth it.

 

[Nsampsel]

haha just save that $20 and wait til you get another $20 to go with it... it's worth it.

X 2...well worth the wait, or find a used model on e-bay & bid on it...just don't forget to figure in shipping when you bid!!!

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

I won't know for sure how things pan out until next week.

Today's the day- due to the power outage I didn't figure on any chicks hatching exactly on time, but I was wrong. I heard peeping in the incubator before bed last night and woke up to one chick and a good number of pips. A total of twelve eggs made it to the hatcher. At the time the power went out, I had 14 eggs that had developed to a degree. I'll have final results by tomorrow morning when all hatching should be finished.

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Here's a picture of the final results. 10 of the 12 pipped and hatched successfully. Hooray! The two remaining eggs had no pips as of this morning and I believe that they chicks inside did not make it. All of the chicks here are EEs.