I think I killed them..........

Rammy

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I have a dozen eggs in my LG. Nine are BR's, the other three are mutts.........temperature spiked to 104 while I was out mowing.
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I panicked and turned the temperature adjuster, not paying attention to the arrows indicating which was decrease, increase......spiked to 109.
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This temperature probably was this way for about two hours.
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I fired up the Hovabator and moved them over there as quickly as possible.
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I wasnt about to wait to see if the LG would cool off once I realized my mistake.
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I hope I didnt kill them.
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They are suppose to hatch starting tomorrow or Tuesday.
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I could just kick myself.
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Rammy
 
I have done dumb stuff too. I moved my turkey eggs to the hatcher four days to soon.
Candle them in a few days and see. How far along were they?
 
Since it wasn't that high for very long you could still be ok. I'd for sure wait a few days and candle. What day are they on? I got 22/24 with my first lg still air hatch, they can be touchy but as long as you keep an eye on them they can do a good job. Not a plug and play kind of incubator though, you have to keep an eye on them.
 
See........thats what I dont understand.......it had been staying steady 99 degrees all this time then it dipped to 95-96 yesterday. At first I thought that the power had gone out or something since the bulb for my chicks that hatched out Thursday was out. The bulb had just died. So I turned the adjuster just a little and went to go mow, came back in and it was 104. That had happened before and just had to adjust the temps just a little and it went back to 99. This time for some reason, I wasnt paying attention and turned it the wrong way. After I thought about it last nightl, I think they were only at that temp about maybe an hour. When I saw the spike I freaked and fired up the Hovabator I was planning on cleaning which I hadnt done yet and just moved them all in there hoping I wasnt shrink wrapping them or they are fried because of my stupidity. Yes, its a waiting game. They should hatch tomorrow. If any do, I'll be suprised.

Rammy
 
You might be surprised, though.

I have a LG still air incubator from TSC - I actually have two - and have had what I think are successful hatches for a few years now. The first batch this year yielded 18/28 chicks (some of the eggs just weren't fertile and 4 eggs just didn't hatch), then I got 10/15 ducklings out of the same batch and now I'm waiting for my second and third batches of chicks and ducklings - 46 chicks are due 4/27 and 16 ducklings on 5/13. So far 95% of chick eggs are viable - duck eggs are too soon to candle.

With the first batch of chicks and ducklings I put both types in together on the same date. During the first week I made a huge mistake and messed with the temp (that had been reading 99.5 for a day as I warmed it up) about 3 hours after I put the eggs in - so I spent the next few days getting it to regulate again.

About 2 1/2 wks in we also had a temp spike so I spent about 2 days fixing that. I was nervous, too, that I had lost most, if not all, due to the inconsistancies in temp, but ended up with a total of 28/43 eggs - 65%. I know it's not perfect, but it's better than my hens are doing. Of course, if you're striving for 100% then, yes, you should invest in a better incubator. Last year I only did two batches and got 68% the first batch and 77% the second; the year prior I was starting out and got 80% on the first and only batch. But when you're just trying to make the animals pay for their own feed that isn't bad.

Both my bators have been running with the second and third batches now for a week and I've had no issues with temp. If you think about it, hens don't sit on their eggs 24/7 - I've had several hens get up off their nest the entire day, leaving me to wonder if I should take the eggs and throw them out, but I left them in and a few weeks later several peeps could be heard from the hen house...

Good luck - I'm sure you'll end up with a few good ones!
 
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Is it possible that the lid was a little skewed and not on properly? I've had that happen in the a.m when I'm in a hurry and don't get the lid back on 100% right after turning the eggs. It doesn't take much to have the temp drop, it will even get low if I let the room temp get below 65 at night.
 
I dont think the lid wasnt on right. I usually make sure its closed right because if you dont the humidity falls like a rock. I have them in my Hovabator right now and keep watching for any pipping. I'll be a nervous wreck for the next day or so hoping I get a few. I just cant believe it. And it happened the day I went into lockdown!!
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Rammy
 
Mine did the same thing...don't worry about it. Mine was steady for 8+ hours then spiked all of a sudden to 105*F for at least a few hours.


Three days later, mine are now hatching!
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