I forgot to set the incubator to 37.2 at the start of hatching?

[lawschicks10]

I did everything correctly but I forgot to dial the incubator down to 37.2 and have only now done that on day 20, have I ruined the hatch?

 

[sourland]

If you have candled, and the eggs were viable and developing they should hatch. If temperature was excessive, they will not have developed.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I did everything correctly but I forgot to dial the incubator down to 37.2 and have only now done that on day 20, have I ruined the hatch?

so the temp was what before now? 37.5? Or higher?
Your hatch will be fine I'm sure. Generally people only reduce the incubators temp slightly at lockdown when doing huge batches of eggs and it doesnt need to be that high. A lot of people dont bother with it, and it goes fine.

 

[lawschicks10]

If you have candled, and the eggs were viable and developing they should hatch. If temperature was excessive, they will not have developed.I

 

[lawschicks10]

I candled them and they all still have veins and there is movement. Temp was at 37.7 and I have now today brought it down to 37.2

 

[lawschicks10]

so the temp was what before now? 37.5? Or higher?
Your hatch will be fine I'm sure. Generally people only reduce the incubators temp slightly at lockdown when doing huge batches of eggs and it doesnt need to be that high. A lot of people dont bother with it, and it goes fine.

Thank you I have 9 eggs in there and the incubator was at 37.7 and now there still seems to be veins. Just thought I would be seeing peep holes by now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I did everything correctly but I forgot to dial the incubator down to 37.2 and have only now done that on day 20, have I ruined the hatch?

If you did everything correctly that means the temperature was correct. Go get some fruit and prepare it, put it on some vanilla ice cream, eat it, and chill. You are OK, you've done well if you did everything else correctly.

Many and probably most of us do not drop the temperature at lockdown. Where that comes from is that the embryos are producing heat themselves late in incubation. If you have a lot of eggs, like you might in a cabinet incubator, the heat generated in the middle may not be picked up by your thermostat so it can get high. So if you have a cabinet incubator crammed full of eggs it may be a concern. Those should have a fan to cool the eggs anyway. Think more on the commercial operations that may hatch 60,000 eggs at a time, not the comparatively small number we hatch. But if you have a cabinet incubator full of eggs dropping the temperature might be good. It will not hurt in the incubators most of us use bit is certainly not necessary.

If your thermostat is working properly and you set it at 37 C the entire incubation you'd still get a good hatch from the temperature, it would likely be a bit late. If you incubate at 38 C the entire period you'd get a good hatch, it would probably be early. You want to be as close to correct as you can reasonably get in case your thermostat is off a bit but I see nothing for you to worry about.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thank you I have 9 eggs in there and the incubator was at 37.7 and now there still seems to be veins. Just thought I would be seeing peep holes by now.

For different reasons, not just temperature, it is normal for eggs to hatch a day or even two days early or late. I get that with broody hens, not just in my incubator. Not all thermometers read correctly. Did you calibrate yours to know that it is reading correctly? It's possible that your actual incubating temperature was a bit low which would mean a late hatch, but on day 20 you have nothing to worry about because you haven't seen a pip.
Are you counting the days correctly? That's a real common mistake on here that leads to a lot of needless worry. An egg does not have a full day's worth of development the instant you put it in the incubator. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development so you say "one" the day after you start them. An easy way to check your counting is that the day of the week you start the eggs is the day of the week the 21 days are up. If you started them on a Sunday, the 21 days are up on a Sunday. I'm not going to say they should hatch on a Sunday because they often don't hatch when those 21 days are up. This mistaken counting often causes people to lock down a day early. Hatching is so imprecise that usually doesn't matter. They still get great hatches.

I understand your concern. Hatching is so imprecise that it can be frustrating, aggravating, and especially worrying. That never totally goes away, no matter how many times you hatch. But you learn to live with it.

 

[lawschicks10]

For different reasons, not just temperature, it is normal for eggs to hatch a day or even two days early or late. I get that with broody hens, not just in my incubator. Not all thermometers read correctly. Did you calibrate yours to know that it is reading correctly? It's possible that your actual incubating temperature was a bit low which would mean a late hatch, but on day 20 you have nothing to worry about because you haven't seen a pip.
Are you counting the days correctly? That's a real common mistake on here that leads to a lot of needless worry. An egg does not have a full day's worth of development the instant you put it in the incubator. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development so you say "one" the day after you start them. An easy way to check your counting is that the day of the week you start the eggs is the day of the week the 21 days are up. If you started them on a Sunday, the 21 days are up on a Sunday. I'm not going to say they should hatch on a Sunday because they often don't hatch when those 21 days are up. This mistaken counting often causes people to lock down a day early. Hatching is so imprecise that usually doesn't matter. They still get great hatches.

I understand your concern. Hatching is so imprecise that it can be frustrating, aggravating, and especially worrying. That never totally goes away, no matter how many times you hatch. But you learn to live with it.

Thank you for advice I am never far away from worrying but I will just keep an eye out and hope for the best and learn to be as patient as I can maybe there are a few chores I can do to keep myself occupied

 

[lawschicks10]

Thank you for advice I am never far away from worrying but I will just keep an eye out and hope for the best and learn to be as patient as I can maybe there are a few chores I can do to keep myself occupied

…I started incubating on Monday 4th July so that would be Monday 25th July