I hope I did not cook my eggs!

[Papaw-John]

I have a homemade incubator and I switched the type of heat light. I have always just used a small 25 watt appliance bulb which worked fine. I decided to use a 75 watt ceramic heat bulb. I did not notice for a day, but it was overheating! When the thermostat (temp-zilla) would turn the heat bulb off it would stay hot for a while because of the thermal mass. So, it continued to heat up my incubator. I believe it pushed the temps up to 102. I have several types of eggs incubating together. I am incubating at 99.5 which in the range for all the eggs,
Do you think they will be ok. I guess time will tell.
All comments are welcome (I have thick skin)

 

[RodNTN]

How long did the temp stay at 102*? I am no expert, so I can't give you a definite answer on whether or not you 'cooked' them. My eggs are always fine if the temp stays above 96* and below 100*. If it didn't stay too hot for too long, my guess is that they'll be fine.
@WVduckchick

 

[CapricornFarm]

I expect they should be fine. My have hit higher temperatures than that and survived.

 

[WVduckchick]

102 is actually a fine temp if you don't have a fan to circulate the air. Even if you have a fan, 102 won't kill them. Might speed things up a bit, and you may have some early hatchers. (oh, wait... is that a fan I see on the left side above the water?)

I am more concerned about the sterilization of your Styrofoam. Is it just stained?

 

[Papaw-John]

I don't think it was high more than 6 to 8 hours. And yes, that is a computer fan that circulates the air. I power it with a plug from an old cell phone. The Styrofoam is stained, but I set the eggs on a towel. Thanks for the replies. I did not know if 102 meant instant death. We will continue to turn them with crossed fingers.

 

[WVduckchick]

I don't think it was high more than 6 to 8 hours. And yes, that is a computer fan that circulates the air. I power it with a plug from an old cell phone. The Styrofoam is stained, but I set the eggs on a towel. Thanks for the replies. I did not know if 102 meant instant death. We will continue to turn them with crossed fingers.

6-8 hours at 106+ would probably be disastrous, but it takes a while for the internal temp to change, so I'm betting your eggs are just fine.