Incubator off all night! Eggs cold! Are they ok?? Yes!! My story to help others

[HenHoneyGirl]

Thank you for this story! I haven't experienced anything like this yet, I'm just trying to hatch my very first batch of eggs!!! But now if something like this comes up which it probably will, I plan on hatching a lot of eggs, I won't worry too much! And I did ineptly won't worry to much about our eggs getting cool when we candle them!

 

[TxFlowers]

I'm so happy I've seen your post. My incubator turned off for just over an hour and I was so upset at the thought I may lose my chicks!! It's back on now, I just hope they'll make it

I highly doubt an hour would cause any harm. Think about the hen getting off the next to eat and drink. She does this daily and she could easily end up off nest an hour. At least your eggs were still in the incubator so their cooling was slowed down even more than if they were in a nest that the hen got off of. I know it's scary until you've seen for yourself all still ends up just fine but after what I have experienced, I wouldn't worry about an hour at all.

 

[brightpennies]

I know this is an older thread, but thank you TxFlowers... my duck momma got 7 of the original 13 eggs all the way through to day 25, and then decided she was done. I rushed out and bought an incubator, thinking it was probably stupid of me given that the eggs were pretty much cold by then. They have been in the nest until now, so I don't know how long they've been out, but it gives me hope to know that this might be survivable for at least some of my poor babies!

 

[flyer314]

Thank you for giving me hope, you all. I have only 1 egg, just three days from hatching and sound my incubator turned off. I'm sick about it. But maybe there's hope?!? I'll let y'all know in a few.

 

[brightpennies]

Flyer, after being stone cold for most of a day, the only egg I lost was one that pipped from the wrong end. If you can get the humidity up a little higher than usual I'd do that. I hope your little one makes it. Let us know!

 

[Noah King]

Any tips for taking an incubator on a 45 minute to 1 hour long car ride? Will they eggs be fine at 70 degrees for this long? I would have to do this twice a week. I know it seems stupid but believe me the circumstances call for it. Is there any way to keep the incubator on? I don't have a. Gernerator or a wall outlet in my car...

 

[ChirpnBern]

Is there a way you can buy another incubator and set up at other location? Then you can just put the eggs in something (like egg cartons?) inside an insulated bag for transport and pop them into the other incubator when you get there. I have done this in the past. Probably wouldn`t be needed, but just had the thought that you could put one or two of those hand warmer thingies in the transport container. I`d just want to be sure the warmer(s) aren`t too close to the eggs in case they get TOO warm.

Edit to add: From the info in this thread, it sounds like warmth during transport won`t be much of an issue. I`d be more concerned about the eggs surviving repeated transport unscrambled.

 

[texasfarm]

This has really blessed me! Thank you
My power has been out for six hours and now I'm at a gas station with my eggs lol. I hope they survive like yours did.

 

[authHeirlooms]

We can also confirm that cold eggs can still make it, runner ducks in our experience!

A friend had two duck hens sitting on eggs and they were killed by a predator overnight. The eggs were chilled, but it was summertime and around 60 that night, and she packed them in pine shavings and drove them up to us. The 7 eggs were all at different stages of development, and all 7 eventually hatched into healthy ducklings!

On our next duckling hatch a spring blizzard knocked out power for more than 16 hours. We put a quilt over it at first but when it was clear that the power wasn't coming back on anytime soon, and the incubator temperature was approaching 70 degrees, we took the whole incubator downstairs by the woodstove but could only keep it at about 80 degrees without risking hot spots. We still got a really good hatch rate, especially considering those were shipped eggs.

We also lost power while chickens were hatching during a flood and had the eggs cool while we were dealing with the generator, only a few eggs in that batch but one made it out.

It's such an awful feeling to realize you have cold eggs, but definitely worth plugging it back in and candling a few days later!

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Thank you ALL SO MUCH for this post and the comments! Very hopeful and helpful and wow I'm so excited to hatch my first batch! (Or Is it clutch? Lol)