Emotional rollercoaster of temp spikes and culled eggs

[kmpcfp]

**Edited** Updated on last post. Some are alive!


The last 4 hours have been extremely upsetting to me. This is my first time hatching eggs/having chickens. I am using a Styrofoam incubator that takes a lot of tinkering. I ordered a thermostat for it, but it has not come in yet. I have it in my closet and have a humidifier in my closet running as I am having problems with humidity (16%), I have been able to get it to 40% using the humidifier. However, sometime between 10 PM last night and 4 AM this morning, the humidifier ran out of water and the incubator got drier and hotter, up to 108. I sat with the thing for an hour making sure the temp stabilized. Of course I was freaking out about that.

Then I decided to go ahead and cull the clears/blood rings just now. For some reason I was worried over exploding eggs. First one was definitely clear. The second one was a blood ring. This one must have recently died, it looked like it was on the 6th day; however, it was pale and there was a blood ring. The third I thought was a clear before I opened it. When I opened it, I saw the embryo, and thought it was an early quitter, it was tiny, 1/3 the size of the other one, and didn't develop eyes yet. Then while looking closer, I saw that its heart was still beating. I just sentenced it to death. I was mortified and broke into uncontrollable sobbing. I am so horrified with myself.

I thought for sure the 108 degrees would have killed everything in there.

I thought that making an incubator and hatching out eggs would be really fun, way more fun that just buying the 4 chicks that I wanted.

Instead this is just making me a miserable, paranoid, embryo killer.

Hopefully the other 11 are okay.

 

[blucoondawg]

Did you have the incubator running steady before placing the eggs in in? If that one egg was alive you likely have others that lived as well. Do you live in a desert area that you are having trouble keeping humidity?

 

[kmpcfp]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I had the incubator running steady for a good 3 days before the eggs were put in (99-100). I am home almost all of the time, so I wasn't initially concerned with temperature fluctuations, especially since I had it running pretty well. I also put in 3 full sealed mason jars of water to act as heat sinks.The 2nd day the eggs were in the incubator, it got warm in the whole house (and the incubator as well), but I was home and able to adjust it using a vent that I can crack like a door to keep it pretty stable. I turned on the air conditioner after that and ordered the thermostat.

I was initially going to do the dry incubation method until lockdown, because I am in Maryland where it is generally at least moderately humid this time of year. I guess because the incubator is so warm, it just sucks the humidity out of the air. I have a water reservoir in the incubator, but I was having to add water all of the time and humidity would get to maybe 22%, so that is when I put the humidifier in my closet. But that cooled down the incubator/closet so I had to close one of the vents a bit. I had it running fine for at least 36 hours with no adjustments, until the humidifier ran out of water.


I do hope the others are okay, I would feel even worse if that was the only live one.

 

[rubyredder]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chookschicks-incubation-cheat-sheet

I had this memorized back before I bought my Brinseas. If you haven't checked it out yet, there's a lot of great info to be successful with the styrofoam incubators! Incubating and hatching can be stressful, but just take that as a learning experience and better yourself for next time. Best of luck with the remaining clutch!

 

[kmpcfp]

I have seen that article before. Thanks for pulling it up for me again. It is helpful. That is actually where I first read about dry incubation and air cell method. However, I do have a fan in there and a 40 watt bulb, and I think that is why the air is so dry. The air cells were too large even at day 3, hence upping humidity.

I have to keep reminding myself that hens hatch out chicks all of the time in all sorts of weather.

Hopefully once that thermostat comes in (tomorrow hopefully), I can almost forget about it until turning time.

 

[kmpcfp]

Luckily, the thermostat came Saturday morning, and it has been working EXCELLENTLY. It cuts off at 101(ish), and turns back on at 98(ish). The Accurite thermometer shows low of 99 and high of 101. The humidity has been around 35-40%.

I candled the 9 day old eggs this morning searching for any survivors. Good news is that I did see 3 embryos clearly moving. I saw a few more with veins, and of course some that I can't see into clear enough to make out anything distinctive

I did find 2, maybe 3 with blood rings. I have a hard time getting rid of these, though. Especially with what happened last time.

Eggs exploding can't be that common, right?

Should I toss this one at least?









This is a wheaten marans egg, I can't get a clear view, so I am going to leave this one in:




This is an ameraucana egg, I realize I shouldn't have set this one, as it is very porous, but I believe it is developing, wacky air cell and all. I would doubt this one would make it, but it's possible right?










This is another Ameraucana egg with a saddle air cell, the albumen is really clear on the one side, and there is clear veining on the back side. I saw movement, but the development seems kind of strange (to me, but I am clearly not an expert).