Hatching in 4 days...I have some questions

[Crazed Chicken Lass]

1. Should I leave the eggs on their sides or place them in egg cartons? I heard of someone doing this recently. Is it better?

2. We had a major power outage...they seem to be doing well (I have 33 eggs, I candled 7 of them last night and there was movement in allof them). Will the outage delay my hatch?

3. To increase my humidity, should I add a dish with water and marbles, or should I use a sponge? I read that with a sponge, I can add water, if needed, by removing one of the plugs and adding warm water through a straw.

4. Should I candle all of the eggs one more time? I am a little hesitant, since the outage. Perhaps I should just wait until hatch day and see what happens.

Any and all advice is welcome, as I am a new mother hen.

 

[the_eagle69]

1. i prefer to lay them on there side that gives the chick more room to move the egg if need be.
2. how long was the power out and how low did the temp get in your bator it may delay a day but i would proced normaly just in case it dont.
3. yes a sponge works well i used wet papre towles on my hatch going on now i have had to wet thelm twice today.
4. i would not candle thelm this close to hatch but i dont candle at all tho so some one else with more exp. on this may say its ok.

 

[Crazed Chicken Lass]

Leaving them on their sides (pointy end down) so the chicks can "rock" was what I had been planning to do. I just very recently heard of someone using egg cartons. It seemed a bit strange, but again, this is all new to me.

Wet paper towels? Layered in a pile, or spread out underneath the eggs?

The power was out for 16 hours, yesterday. It went out at 11pm, and I covered the incubator with heavy blankets for insulation. By 4am I was getting worried and anxious. Then I remembered this generator battery thing in my hubby's car that will take a plug. It was only about 40% charged, but I figured it was better than nothing. I pluged it in and it fired right up, so I removed the blankets (it was at about 80 degrees by that point). By 9:30am, the "low battery" alarm sounded. I decided to drive them in to town to the wine shop where I work, so I could plug them in.

I packed them in egg cartons, placed the cartons in the semi-warm incubator, wrapped the whole thing in a large, folded blanket and placed them in the warmed-up car with the heat blasting. The drive took about 25 minutes.

The power came back on around 3pm, and I picked up the eggs and brought them back around 6pm. I was very worried about them, so I candled 7 of them randomly, just for a minute at a time and I saw movement in all of them. A good sign.

 

[the_eagle69]

A very good sign i just diped thelm in warm water and laied thelm in the bator in a clump like. your hatch may be slowed a bit by the power being off so i would give thelm to day 23 or 24 to hatch. keep us posted on how it goes.