Incubator broke day 7 - what can I do?

[Glory to His name]

I just have a cheapy Chinese incubator that’s giving out on day 7 - my husband thinks faulty wiring. Amazon is sending a replacement but it won’t be here for four days.

Is there anything I can do for these eggs? I’d be happy to let a hen sit on them but don’t have any broodies.

 

[mcdze]

keep them in a warm place like out in the garage .. if you have a big plastic tote with a lid and an old lamp or drop light with an incandecent bulb you can rig a makeshift incubator, ive hatched eggs that way .. put some water in the bottom, some folded wire for a standoff, a shallow box lined with grass/hay to place the eggs, and a temp guage with them .. hang the light (40-60w incandecent) in one end and adjust how much of the top is covered with the lid until you get temps in range, dont put the lid directly over the light, heat rises it may melt, or let the bulb co tact anything ... needs to be in a non drafty area .. and you need to flip eggs over 2-3 times a day ...

 

[Glory to His name]

keep them in a warm place like out in the garage .. if you have a big plastic tote with a lid and an old lamp or drop light with an incandecent bulb you can rig a makeshift incubator, ive hatched eggs that way .. put some water in the bottom, some folded wire for a standoff, a shallow box lined with grass/hay to place the eggs, and a temp guage with them .. hang the light (40-60w incandecent) in one end and adjust how much of the top is covered with the lid until you get temps in range, dont put the lid directly over the light, heat rises it may melt, or let the bulb co tact anything ... needs to be in a non drafty area .. and you need to flip eggs over 2-3 times a day ...

I will give it a shot! Thank you!

 

[Glory to His name]

Constructed a very rudimentary temporary incubator until the new one gets here (and ordered a second additional one as a backup for the future).
Temp is currently maintaining right at 100°, haven’t gotten the humidity dialed in but not as concerned about that.
The eggs spent probably 4-5 hours in a 90-95° environment. Will wait and candle when the new incubator comes and hope for the best!

 

[Glory to His name]

Candled the eggs today, of the 12 only one wasn’t developing. My daughter also dropped one.
So we’ve got 10 eggs in the homemade incubator going strong.

 

[Glory to His name]

First of the 10 remaining eggs just pipped, day 21 in the homemade incubator!

 

[LuciferRoo]

First of the 10 remaining eggs just pipped, day 21 in the homemade incubator!

They are still in the homemade incubator?
And you're getting them to pip?
Wow. Congratulations!!

What happened to the replacement incubator from Amazon?

 

[Glory to His name]

They are still in the homemade incubator?
And you're getting them to pip?
Wow. Congratulations!!

What happened to the replacement incubator from Amazon?

Whoops, I meant to come back to update and never did.. thanks for the reminder!

So, I decided to continue with the homemade incubator because they were continuing to develop. We had just lost our rooster and I was trying to hatch as many eggs as possible before egg fertility dropped, so I started another dozen in the Amazon incubator.

Three eggs ended up hatching from the homemade incubator! I believe more would have, but unfortunately we had random temp fluctuations around day 18. I believe they overheated. There were another 3 or 4 eggs that had fully developed chicks inside
I was concerned one hatchling had splayed leg early on, but either I was mistaken or it corrected itself quickly. All three chicks are thriving and healthy!

Here’s Turbo, the first to hatch.

 

[LuciferRoo]

Whoops, I meant to come back to update and never did.. thanks for the reminder!

So, I decided to continue with the homemade incubator because they were continuing to develop. We had just lost our rooster and I was trying to hatch as many eggs as possible before egg fertility dropped, so I started another dozen in the Amazon incubator.

Three eggs ended up hatching from the homemade incubator! I believe more would have, but unfortunately we had random temp fluctuations around day 18. I believe they overheated. There were another 3 or 4 eggs that had fully developed chicks inside
I was concerned one hatchling had splayed leg early on, but either I was mistaken or it corrected itself quickly. All three chicks are thriving and healthy!

View attachment 3902358
Here’s Turbo, the first to hatch.

Thanks for the update. I love when I can read the entire story.
Too many times people post questions and then never update the thread.
Too bad the homemade incubator fritzed out but congratulation on getting at least 3 of the eggs hatched.