I confess I am not a hatching enthusiast. I hatch because my breeds never go broody. I don't hover. I make sure the temps and humidity are where they need to be, but I don't watch. It's just too painful and makes me feel ghoulish to watch them struggle like that. I never help. My last hatch the power went out for 6 hours on day 17 and I ended up with 2 pips and 1 chick out of 36 eggs. It happens, right? This time Saturday was day 20 and every egg pipped and quite a few had started zipping when disaster struck. The power went out for 12 hours. I was able to keep the humidity up but even a hot water bottle wasn't able to keep the temps up. At one point it dropped to 78. Out of everything, I've got 4 surviving chicks. One looks good, but he was out of the shell before the power kicked off. The next 2 were only zipped and are now dragging around their yokes, so they could easily go either way. The fourth one, now he's the heartbreaker. He survived but appears to have nerve damage. One leg shakes uncontrollably and the other doesn't appear to function at all. He's only been out of his shell for about an hour and he, too, still has his yoke attached. But maybe he'll fool me and actually make it. The rest died in their shells. Neither hatch was for me. I was hatching for a friend who wanted a flock of my Rocks for himself. All in all, a sad, sad day. Makes me want to pack it away and not try this again. Rusty
I am so very very sorry for what happend . My heart breaks for you. I just had my whole hatch die and Im still so sad. Even though it was only six eggs I feel like a monster . One thing you could do would be get 4 or 5 chickens that go broody , those breeds that are super broody and make them there own litte coop or seperate them somehow so youre rooster dosnt get them if thats an issue that way you would always have a incubator that couldnt have a power falure ?
Get a backup UPS used to keep computers running when the power goes out. They are electric but when the power fails batteries kick in and run the appliance plugged in. They will be able to keep your incubator running for several more hours and help prevent these types of disasters.
Yikes, I hate to hear that. I have some in the bator now that should hatch a week from Tuesday. Last Saturday, the power was out for 12 hours and the temp went down. I think I only lost one or two, though. I read somewhere that it was a good idea to have a marine deep cycle battery charged up if you're going to be running an incubator with a chance of the power going out. I'm going to be doing this now. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Good luck trying again!
I'm so sorry. I had troubles with my hatch and had to cull a chick (and I still have to cull at least one more) and it is very hard. Because your problems seem to have been the power, it is possible to get batteries for back up in such a situation.
The power out on hatch day shouldn't be causing nerve damage and unabsorbed yolks. I wonder if you got a different thermometer/hygrometer if you would have better hatches. Also, completely dismantling and sterilizing the bator between hatches has helped my hatch rate noticeably. It seemed like a big chore the first time I did it, but pretty soon you can get it done in a few minutes and it is no big deal, but I hatch more chicks because of it. Good luck, whichever way you decide to go.
If you're prone to power outages at your house, I'd invest in sometype of battery backup for your bator.
I am so sorry that happened, I know it's heartbreaking. I second what MP said for a long term solution.
As insurance against power outages, get a power inverter and a deep cycle battery. The inverter converts the electricity to AC for the incubator.
