Help! 103.5 Are They Done For?

[chicksgalore]

I am very frustrated! I can't keep a stable temp or humidity in my bator. I put in about 1/4 cup of warm water and the humidity shoots to 70% while the temp. drops to 95 and it takes FOREVER to get back up to 100. Meanwhile, till it gets up there, the humidity's back down to in the 30's. Anyway, last night I checked the bator and the temp. had gone to 103.5. I don't know how long it was like this. When I had checked it previously about 8 hours before, it was around 98. My eggs were on their second day--are they finished??

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

They are most likely not finished....

1 - What type of incubator is it?
2 - What type of thermostat are you using?
3 - Is it forced air or not?
4 - If homemade bator, show us a picture of your set up. How close is the thermostat to the heat source.
5 - Do you have a water wiggler in there to simulate egg temp?

What is critical is the temp of the egg. If the bator swings from 98 to 102 or 103 but only for a short time that may be fine because the temperature of the egg does not change that fast. My rule of thumb is when you make an adjustment, wait at least 30 minute before you do anything else. The bator needs time to stabalize.

Give us this information adn then we can go from there.

 

[chicksgalore]

I am using a Little Giant still air with no turner. I have the humidistat sitting upright at the edge of the bator so it's not right over top of the water. Temperature sensor is level with the eggs closer to the middle of the bator. I'm filling only the middle well with water--once a day so far.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I don't have experience with an LG - Hopefully someone will be along soon who does and can help you out.

But don't panic - I think you are eggs are still good.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I had an internal egg temp the other day of 104.6 an there still alive so dont get to worried.

 

[teddiliza]

I SO love this forum! It's like an online support group

I freaked out when I woke up in the middle of the night and checked the incubator to find 98.8 degrees on the digital thermometer, and 96 on the dial thermometer. EEEK! I had arranged the eggs in the turner to be directly under the heat coil from the get go, so hopefully since they were closer to the warmer zones, they'll be okay? So now I'm browsing the forums while I wait a few minutes to check the temp again after tweaking it. It was nice to see a few reassuring posts about temp fluctuations.

Tomorrow it will be time to turn off the turner, candle and load up the eggs in a carton. After reading all the other posts, it seems like a good way to lessen the mess. Whether it's more successful for hatching seems to be hotly debated, but with my inexperience, I didn't want drowned chicks. This is my first attempt at incubating and I am crossing my fingers and hoping all goes well in the next few days.

Hopefully in 4 days I will have healthy happy chicks. It is my first hatch from my own birds, so I am interested to see how they turn out. LG Still air with turner.

 

[jay1995]

A little giant still air is usally kept hotter anyway (around 102.5) so I would say no harm done, but Im no pro. I hope your eggs will be fine, Goodluck with your hatch, -Jay