Hatching chicks in school

[zrittner]

I recently rented an incubator from a local farm to raise baby chicks in my science class. I got 12 eggs and we monitored them over the 21 days of their development. We could see the chicks developing in the eggs using a candler. On day 20, I was not able to get into the building since the school is locked on Sundays. Evidently there was a power failure. None of the eggs hatched.

We are currently trying again and today is day 21. Again, I could see development earlier this week with the candler (I checked on Monday which would have been day 19). No movement, nothing is happening. I understand the eggs could still hatch on days 22 or 23, but isn't it weird that nothing is happening?

The incubator is styrofoam and has a simple on/off system for the heat. But we have kept the temperature stable at 100. The farm did not mention anything about monitoring humidity, although the cover of the incubator has two holes with tape. One hole was to be opened day 3 and the other day 18. Other than just waiting, any advice or insight? The entire school, let alone my class, is going to be devastated if none of the eggs hatch. Just looking to figure out what is going on. Thanks!

 

[IamRainey]

If the whole school is emotionally invested in this project how about putting in a request for a fully automatic incubator that could belong to the school and be available for future hatchings?

A fully automatic one will rotate the eggs and keep a monitored level of humidity that's right for the stage of the incubation period. It would operate reliably over weekends and holidays. It would cost in the neighborhood of $300 and incubate 7 hen's eggs with more positive results.

If you were comfortable with adding water yourself to keep adequate humidity, the cost drops dramatically to about half that.

Seems manageable for a school -- or even schools that could share it if your district purchased it -- but you know your school and your district best.