Got myself into a pickle....re: bator got too hot? will they live?

[my4ladies]

Let me please give you the background so I don't sound like a *complete* fool:

We ordered 4 chicks, one was a silkie that was weak & died....so we've been looking to replace it. I found an ad on Craig's list. She wanted $10 per chick (which I thought was steep...4 wks old), but I was willing. She had three. Two white, one blue. I was hoping to get a white one a splash...she hadn't heard of 'splash', but thought maybe one of them was....so I went with a $20, hoping she'd have change (cuz we didn't). I go, she says she can't sell me just 2 (after I told her on the phone & via email I wanted 2) b/c the one would be alone. Ok...yes, I understand. So I'll take all 3 but all I have is a $20, she says no. So I either leave (w/ my daughter w/ me...bummed) or spend $20 on a chick. So I see that she has eggs in the coop (all silkies) with a rooster. I assume they are fertile (I know what they say about assuming), so I tell her I want those too....knowing my mom has a bator. I get home call my mom, and she sold it last year!!!!!!

So.....thank you for making it this far. I'm running off of very little sleep. I get home to unexpected company and don't get a chance to work on a make-shift incubator til 10pm. I was up til 5am adjusting the temp on the make-shift still-air bator. My husband said to forget about the whole thing w/out a real incubator, but I wanted to at least try. What did I have to lose? So I finally got the temp right (102 for still-air), but when I got up at 9am it was 110!! So, over a period of 4 hours it went up 8 degrees. Yes, I know it's really high, but b/c it wasn't that high for all 4 hours is there any chance they'll live or did I cook them? : (

Edited: 1. These are silkie eggs
2. the room temp. hadn't changed at all.

 

[chicmom]

Oh, sorry to hear that. I think the death temp is 105, so they are probably gonners.

 

[carrlr]

I wouldn't give up yet. If you can get the temp stable, I'd keep going until you can candle.

 

[Kedreeva]

Only way to find out is to try them. We had a temperature spike thread going (you can probably search for it) in which chicks have survived temps around that high. Don't know about that early in incubation though.

EDIT: 105 is not the 'death temp' unless you're incubating at 105 continuously for the entire hatch. I have had a spike of 107 for over 12 hours and have chicks hatch from it. It's NOT ideal by any means, but a brief spike is certainly not an instant death sentence.

 

[my4ladies]

oh, yes, some words of encouragement. THank goodness, and thank you! The chances of them making it anyway w/ my poor-man's contraption are slim, but even more slim if I cook them. I was just upset with myself for screwing it up already! I've been googling and have come across a couple of times where it has said to take them out for a few hours to cool them down. I did thnk about that, but didn't want to be fluctuating so much. So, I just took the cover off completley til it went down to the 100ish area so I could start tweaking again. Since 9:30 it's been at 102 exactly and hasn't moved at all. Hopefully it will remain stable. To be honest, I would have really been surprised if I got them to hatch (even before the accident), so I haven't gotten my hopes up. Like I said, it was more that I messed it up so early on. I have it stable now (hopefully) and will def. be holding out for a few days til I can candle them. I'll update this thread w/ pics...b/c I'll probably need help interpreting them anyway so early on, lol!

I'm going to look for that high-temp thread now. Thank you!!!

 

[Jarsheart]

My silkie hen abandoned her nest in the middle of incubation, I discovered this at night. The hen house temp was 77*F, and the eggs were cold to the touch. I FREAKED out, knowing that the 4 eggs were fertile. In desperation, I put them in a styrofoam cooler on a towel, with a $10 goose neck lamp. I had to keep adjusting the lamp, and the temp got up to 104*F at one point (maybe for 1/2 hr) while I was online looking for a place that could overnight a real incubator. The next day, my mother brought an incubator over, and ALL FOUR HATCHED !! I thought they were dead in shell, but they made it. So go ahead and try, you might get lucky. If not, you might be able to get more eggs from the same person in the future. Or, if you live in South Florida, I will GIVE you some silkie eggs. Good luck !

 

[my4ladies]

so I broke an egg b/c I was really curious to see if it had actually 'cooked'. I grabbed one from the outer area, furthest away from the thermometer & furthest from ventilation (it also felt hot to the touch). I stood on my porch and dropped it (about a 6 foot drop or more) and it bounced!!!! I almost laughed thinking "oh boy, yeah, this egg is OVERCOOKED!!" So I picked it up did it again w/ a little more force, & it broke open w/ runny insides. So...thick shells? lol

I really had no idea what to expect, if they can actually cook at that temp. THe lady I got them from was telling me a story about how she broke open an egg that was left outside in the heat on a hot day & it was a formed chick on the inside surrounded by cooked egg. So...like I said, I had no idea if that temp spike could actually cook or not. Hey, I'm learning as I go.

 

[NaomiSarah]

I cooked a whole batch last week. 110 for 2 hours. :-( So depressing!

 

[xxleandraxx]

Don't give up yet def persivere(sp)

xx

 

[my4ladies]

NaomiSarah~ do you mean cooked literally or figuratively? are they definitely goners now?