Incubator temp not right, will thay hatch?

[Billy7871]

Today is day 18 and I just decided to check last night to see if my digital thermometer was correct and it was not. It is 3 degrees off. It has been 96 degrees the whole time. I candle them and they look fine but some look small or not developed enough. what do you think?

ETA: Since this is my second hatch and the first one was fine it did not occur to me to check the temp as it was ok before. Could the humidity be wrong too??? UGHHHH

 

[Cherlyn]

Definitely need to get that temp up. If you see them developing still, then you will almost certainly have a late hatch - do not give up on them until day 25!

~Cherlyn

 

[walkswithdog]

They will be late if they finish developing at all. They will be slow to hatch if they hatch.

Expect some to be too weak to hatch and if you want them you're going to have to know how to help them out. READ the helping thread.

Expect some foot or beak deformities, cool incubating causes birth defects. Read the threads on Culling methods.

Do not intervene until 24/25 days now that you've run it so cool. After that it's a matter of practice, that you unfortunately don't get until you've done it, so mistakes will be made.

If you just let it go naturally and do not help, at three degrees off, expect few or none.

 

[Billy7871]

I would like to add that I just hatched chicks in this same incubator with the same thermometer 5 weeks ago. All those chicks are okay. What would have happened to the thermometer? How do you recaliberate if you even can?

 

[walkswithdog]

You can't adjust the thermometer but as long as you know it's off you subtract or add the amount it's off from what you see.

I recalibrate the thermometers I have every couple of hatches since I hatch with some... frequency.

Almost anything can degrade a thermometer's accuracy, including just time.

You just have to keep on top of retesting your equipment. I wish there was a thermometer you could actually adjust the readout for when it's gone bad. But that's not happening. Same with hygrometers, welcome to screwed. You just manage with what you have.

I've got one hygrometer that is 25% off LOL. Still use it because I KNOW what it is off. So it still "works."

Buying new ones aren't much guarantee so I just manage.

Even the uber calibrated higher priced ones can be damaged in shipping or ruined by humidity or just go bad. You have to CHECK, no matter what you paid for it.

So best of luck, perhaps it only just went bad...

 

[mulia24]

they will if they're strong, temp and humid that fluctuate much will of course affect the result of hatch, but, the stronger the embryo the higher possibility (s)he will make it. so, if temp and humidity has fluctuate much and you only get (for example only) 3 from 10 eggs, and the 3 hatch show good chicks at a week, then, they're the strongest chicks from 10 eggs although 7 other develop but they can't defend against temp and humidity fluctuation. although losing 7 embryos but you have 3 strong chicks, and if they're just as normal chicks, they will be good in immunity and ability to withstand disease or other problem since they've been *tested* when they were embryos.

and i hope your eggs will make it.