First Time Incubator....Got too hot 1st day :(

[Huny]

Hello everyone, I am hoping you can all help me out, if not help, give me hope. This is the first time I have ever incubated (well, since I was a teenager and my mom mostly did it). I set it up, calabrated it all week until it held at 100 for a couple of days. On Saturday morning I put in all the room temperature eggs (32 of them, silkies, Rosecomb, New Hamps and Colombian Rock Bantys). After I placed them all in, and marked them all the screen popped up and one rolled into another and "dented" one silkie egg. I didn't have the heart to give it up, so I kept it in.

Well, after 4 or 5 hours I came back and it was only at 80 degrees so I cranked the thing up (not thinking it might take a while to get the eggs all the way up to the correct temperature, and basically, beginner's naivety). It was around 99 and I had to leave the house. When I got home that night, it was at 106! I quickly opened it up cooled down eggs and worked on getting it back to normal. I got it stabilized pretty quick and it is now doing great for almost 2 days. So, I know everything I read says that if you have it too hot or too cold when you first set them you loose a lot of eggs then. Do you think that I fried these babies there on the first day? It might of been that hot for a couple of hours, I don't know. So they started at room temp (70) the incubator after 5 hours was only at (80), then 5 hours later it was at 106, then back down to 100 where I have had it stable.

Let me know what you think....

 

[Crazed Chicken Lass]

I would probably candle them on day 3 or 4 and see if there are any spider-like veins developing. I am a beginner too, but this is what I have read. Good luck to you!

Amy in the 'burg

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

maybe wait until day 6-7 so you will really have something to look at...they wouldn't go bad in that time so it's easier to see the growth after a few more days...u can't change the past so just keep going and hope that some will be ok! Sometimes they prove to be tough little buggers!

 

[Echoes]

Same thing happened to me. This is my first time doing this too. I am on day 9 right now, well technically 1 hour into day 10. But that exact same thing happened to me, and not only on day 1. It happened a few more times between day 2 and 5. But when I candled on day 7 they looked PERFECT. I could see veins, and a little dark dot forming (which I think is the beak), and they were moving around.
So from my experience I would definetly move forward with the incubating.

...But who knows, that may have messed them up in some way in the long run. Guess we'll find out when they hatch.

.....Good luck!

 

[Chicken Woman]

you can melt some wax on the silkie egg so no bacteria can enter the egg. I would candle on day 7 so you have something to see.

 

[Huny]

I candled, and I must say that is an art I need to learn. I have a few with veins though! So maybe a few aren't baked! A few have dark yokes and they don't move around. Does that mean it's sticking? A few have nothing at all. I need to know what a blood ring looks like, I saw a few weird things. Wow this is a BIG learning process!

 

[LilDucky85]

My first time I acquired a few unexpected eggs, and had no clue what to do with them. It was a homemade incubator so I did the best I could with temp. and humidity. After being gone most of day 2 I came home to find the incubator at 111 degrees! I figured they were dead for sure. I didn't give up just yet though and let them sit a few days longer. When I candled the egg I saw the veins forming and confused it with a blood ring. I cracked open the egg, and was horrified to find a little heartbeat in the center of the forming veins. I threw it down the toilet and felt so horrible. The remaining egg that I had left lived for two weeks until I think I fried it with my candler.

I don't think you fried them that quickly. I'm sure they will be fine!

 

[SaraLuvsChickns]

You have given me hope. We set some yesterday that were supposed to hatch on my son's birthday. However, my dad turned it up before he went to bed. Got up to 108 at some point through the night... grrr.. So upset this morning. He got it back down to 101. Not sure why he moved it because it was fine. I hope ours turn out.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

i got a free incubator and 18 free fertilized eggs yesterday. Mine got to 109 today while i took my kids to the sprinkler park, hopefully they'll be okay. I can't wait to candle them. My 6 year old son is so excited to see inside the eggs!

 

[Julshernandez]

Thank you!!!

You all have made me feel so much better. Today was day one, and I have been diligently watching the temperature. I left for less than an hour to go and get coffee, and when I came back the temp was 106; I immediatly took off the lid, and now it is back at 99...but I think part of the issue was how the thermomter was sitting in the incubator!

Whew!