Help! Incubator disaster!

[wornoutmomto3]

My incubator has been all kinds of crazy this hatch. It is the third hatch for this homemade bator. The first two hatches were beautiful successes. First chicks, the ducks.
This third hatch was chicks, pricey hatching eggs plus a few mutts from a neighbor. The incubator was cleaned and stabilized for three days before setting the eggs. Everything was great up until the last week. Temps kept spiking and dropping. Once to 109*F! I was able to stabilize and maintain temp and humidity for 48 hours leading up to lock down. Everything seemed ok so I felt good about going out of town for a day and a half. Unbeknownst to me the AC/heat was turned off and a cold front moved in. I got back and no hatched/pipped/peeping/wiggling chicks or eggs and the temp reading 90*F humidity 27%! It took several hours to get the temp back up, and I have no idea how long the temp was that low. I am concerned that all the chicks might have died.
Hatch was set for Nov. 1st. Still no signs of hatching. Can't even candle the eggs. They are dark maran eggs.

 

[red horse ranch]

That is very upsetting I'm sure. But don't give up on them yet. Most of us have had power failures at the worst possible time for our eggs.
The hatch may be delayed, possibly for several days. And they may not all make it. But I don't think you will lose them all. So just try to keep the temp and humidity steady and (hardest of all!) Wait!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

X2 with red horse ranch. Don't give up on them yet your hatch may just be delayed.

I know it's hard but try not worry and be patient you have done all you can to give them a chance

 

[Blooie]

My incubator has been all kinds of crazy this hatch. It is the third hatch for this homemade bator. The first two hatches were beautiful successes. First chicks, the ducks.
This third hatch was chicks, pricey hatching eggs plus a few mutts from a neighbor. The incubator was cleaned and stabilized for three days before setting the eggs. Everything was great up until the last week. Temps kept spiking and dropping. Once to 109*F! I was able to stabilize and maintain temp and humidity for 48 hours leading up to lock down. Everything seemed ok so I felt good about going out of town for a day and a half. Unbeknownst to me the AC/heat was turned off and a cold front moved in. I got back and no hatched/pipped/peeping/wiggling chicks or eggs and the temp reading 90*F humidity 27%! It took several hours to get the temp back up, and I have no idea how long the temp was that low. I am concerned that all the chicks might have died.
Hatch was set for Nov. 1st. Still no signs of hatching. Can't even candle the eggs. They are dark maran eggs.

You could perhaps water candle them if you want. Works well for eggs you can't see through. There's a video of how to do it if you Google "water candling eggs." That's what I did when I figured all of my eggs were beyond help - and they were.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

You could perhaps water candle them if you want.  Works well for eggs you can't see through.  There's a video of how to do it if you Google "water candling eggs."  That's what I did when I figured all of my eggs were beyond help - and they were.

We are two days past hatch. I already tossed one. I had a feeling it has been gone for some time, it was. Upon inspection it quit about day 10. I will try the water candling to see if any are still kicking.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Went to water candle the four eggs. One was pipped externally so did not candle that one! Yeah! Two eggs floated and wiggled a bit. One egg sank but still wiggled. All the eggs are safely back in the incubator and water added to bring the humidity up a bit.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Pleased to hear you have some action taking place, keep us posted

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Will do. The pipped egg is a French Black Copper Maran, according to the breeder I got it from.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Went to water candle the four eggs. One was pipped externally so did not candle that one! Yeah! Two eggs floated and wiggled a bit. One egg sank but still wiggled. All the eggs are safely back in the incubator and water added to bring the humidity up a bit.

Just a quick note: there are three more eggs(neighbor mutts) for a total of seven. Those three are light shelled and can be candled normally so I didn't water candle them. Two showed movement while the third looked concerning. The veins are there and dark but didn't see movement. Hoping it is sleeping. I may go back and water candle that one anyway.
I love mixes. You never know what is going to come out of the shell. It is always a surprise. I really want all these chicks to hatch.

 

[Blooie]

Waiting to see how this comes out....