How long can incubating eggs be cold and still survive?

[blusea23]

At some point in the last 12 hours, my kiddies knocked the power cord loose on our incubator! The eggs, about 9 days in, were cold. Any chance they will hatch??

 

[blusea23]

I candled one and there was movement!

 

[red horse ranch]

Give them a chance. If you saw movement it is a good sign. A hen will get off the nest every other day or so. I've seen them off for quite a while in the early days of incubation. There are also people who advocate for a cool down cycle during the incubation. So I think you still have a good chance of having live chicks.

 

[dekel18042]

Give them a chance. If you saw movement it is a good sign. A hen will get off the nest every other day or so. I've seen them off for quite a while in the early days of incubation. There are also people who advocate for a cool down cycle during the incubation. So I think you still have a good chance of having live chicks.

From day 8 through day 18 I and several others turn the incubator off for two hours a day and we all have excellent hatches. It imitates a mother hen getting off the nest. One time I forgot to turn it back on for several hours and still had an excellent hatch.
In another case a mother duck on a nest died during a storm and when someone going to work found the eggs the next day and they were cold. At work she put the eggs on a towel and put a regular light bulb over. Then after work she took them to a wildlife sanctuary. If I remember correctly three of four hatched within a day or two.

 

[annmarie33]

From experience hours! And with a broody hen I've had her acccidentally leave eggs out and they were cool to the touch- no telling how long they were like that and they hatched fine. Others go eat and dust bath for a few hours leaving their eggs and they are fine. I really think if it's a healthy embryo hours are ok

 

[blusea23]

Thanks everyone! This gives me a lot of hope, and makes it easier to forgive the kids

 

[NanaKat]

Thanks everyone! This gives me a lot of hope, and makes it easier to forgive the kids

How was your hatch?

 

[blusea23]

Thank you for asking! It went really well! Out of 18 eggs, we got 12 chicks. A mix of French Copper Marans and Easter Eggers. I was surprised at how long the hatching window turned out to be. The first pip showed up on Sunday evening, day 21, and the last chick hatched on Thursday. It was a fun process, but I felt like I was pretty consumed by the process, watching their progress, helping a couple that needed it. It was a relief to unplug the incubator and get the babies settled in the brooder! I'm so excited to add this breed to our flock!

 

[Chick-mama]

So happy I found this feed! My girl let her two duck eggs go cold and it's day 4.. I'm hoping they're fine.. I'll check tomorrow, I put them under another girl, who has yet to move, to get warm. I did not see movement unfortunately and I was able to move the duck around in the egg.. not sure I'd that's a good sign or not... fingercrossed everything goes well!!!