Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[NanaKat]

We had a power outage Sunday night for about two hours. I covered the two incubators and hatcher with towels after putting hand warmers inside. The two incubators dropped to 90 but the hatcher dropped to 80. The electric came back on and the temps rose to normal.

I was keeping my fingers crossed for the hatcher which has my test eggs for the Columbian Wyandotte, Blue Columbian, two Cochin pens, a young Buckeye trio and 6 Delaware Bantam eggs. They were due to hatch tomorrow. I decided to candle and have babies jumping in the eggs. They may be delayed a day, but looks like these are vigorous in the shells. Only had to toss one Wyandotte egg that was an obvious quitter.
See my silly smiling face?

 

[Vamvakas]

I don't think 2 hours will kill the eggs.. I have had some crazy broody hens in the past that leave there nest longer then that and they still managed to have a good hatch rate but then again that was the middle of the summer.. But since you tried to keep the warm in the incubator I don't think it should effect much.

 

[warbirds]

There are many methods to achieve that goal, what really matters is knowing your line, knowing what birds produce what, and knowing your standard. I have had very good results in the past with what my mentor called Clan Breeding, and what Bob Blosl always wrote about and called Rotational Line Breeding, as far as maintaining consistency across your flock. Stud/Pair mating is the way to make the most progress the fastest in my experience.

Bob's writing on the Rotational Line Breeding can be found here, for those new to this part of the topic:
http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id60.html
Some might want to consider saving this to hard drives for future reference. We've learned the hard way we can lose a treasure at any moment...............

Stay Warm!
Doc

 

[ronott1]

I don't think 2 hours will kill the eggs.. I have had some crazy broody hens in the past that leave there nest longer then that and they still managed to have a good hatch rate but then again that was the middle of the summer.. But since you tried to keep the warm in the incubator I don't think it should effect much.

2 hours will not hurt the eggs and they will hatch on time. The new Brinsea has a cool down cycle and chicken eggs are cooled down for two hours per day from day 8 to 18. I ran that cycle during my last hatch and they hatched exactly on day 21.

 

[Vamvakas]

2 hours will not hurt the eggs and they will hatch on time. The new Brinsea has a cool down cycle and chicken eggs are cooled down for two hours per day from day 8 to 18. I ran that cycle during my last hatch and they hatched exactly on day 21.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying 2 hours is no big deal..

 

[ronott1]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying 2 hours is no big deal..

I know!

Agreeing with you and giving support to the person hatching. Also wanted to let them know to expect them on time.

If they do hatch late, then the temp was too low for the entire hatch.

 

[gjensen]

I have lost power on the incubator twice. Once when I was candling, and I did not flip the power switch when I was done. It was left off overnight. That hatch was a little late, and it was around 75%. The hatch was a little more drug out than usual.

Then one more where we lost power for 12-14 hours. I do not remember what the hatch ended up being, but was better than I had expected. It was a little late and it drug out a bit.

These two experiences taught me that these things are pretty tough. Both times I was concerned about what the results would be. Neither had hatched like I was getting before and after, but both were better than I could have asked for considering.

I think there are some factors that would contribute to the outcome. One is how cool did the eggs get themselves. Another could be when at what stage did the unfortunate happen.

There is certainly more room for error on the cool side than on the hot side. I lost two complete hatches when a front came through, the pressure dropped, and the house warmed up. These hatches were in still air incubators with wafer thermostats. Both got a bit too hot for a short period of time, and both were a complete loss. Afterwards, I bought a better incubator.

 

[thedragonlady]

I have lost power on the incubator twice. Once when I was candling, and I did not flip the power switch when I was done. It was left off overnight. That hatch was a little late, and it was around 75%. The hatch was a little more drug out than usual.

Then one more where we lost power for 12-14 hours. I do not remember what the hatch ended up being, but was better than I had expected. It was a little late and it drug out a bit.

These two experiences taught me that these things are pretty tough. Both times I was concerned about what the results would be. Neither had hatched like I was getting before and after, but both were better than I could have asked for considering.

I think there are some factors that would contribute to the outcome. One is how cool did the eggs get themselves. Another could be when at what stage did the unfortunate happen.

There is certainly more room for error on the cool side than on the hot side. I lost two complete hatches when a front came through, the pressure dropped, and the house warmed up. These hatches were in still air incubators with wafer thermostats. Both got a bit too hot for a short period of time, and both were a complete loss. Afterwards, I bought a better incubator.

I hope nobody in the South lost power last night with incubators full. 4 inches of ice and snow here this morning.It is not going anywhere for a few days either.

 

[RedRidge]

No power here still. I have all the incubators covered with blankets. 2 degrees outside and 4" of snow.
Nothing to do but hope for the best.

 

[brahmabreeder]

We've had our power flicker three times and I really hope it doesn't go out. We used to never have power outages but in the last three years we've been having them more often

. One time the lightning hit the power line pole and it caused us and only us to lose power

. Took them all night before they got out to our house.