Incubator went out, are my eggs dead?

[RussianChickens]

My incubator went out some time in the early morning before I woke up. When I woke up it was only 87* I got it running again. Now back how it should be. Idk how long the Temps were low.

I did just find out that there was an arc in our electrical system and it fried the lights, surge protector for my Bator, and a few other things. Apparently it was also arcing all day when I was gone. So idk how long it may not have been running also! Our power could have been on and off for the last 8 hours.

Are my eggs dead now? :/

 

[QueenMisha]

What kind of incubator do you have? I've found it can depend a lot on how long the incubator can retain heat after losing power. I've had chicks survive up to 6 hours without power, but that's in my Brinsea and it can retain its heat at 90+ degrees for a couple hours. On the other hand, my friend's styrobator once lost power for 2-3 hours, and it killed 90% of her hatch.

Usually, 2-3 hours with no heat at all seems to be the point that kills them.

 

[Wilebaum]

I'd keep the incubator on, do your thing, and hope for the best. Investigative candling maybe, as they continue to develop. Let us know your outcomes. I've incubated 3 times, and each I've been surpised with both better or worse outcomes than I'd of guessed.

 

[MeepBeep]

If it only fell to 87° for a short period I doubt you will see any adverse effects, if it was that high the incubator was clearly holding temp, and the internal egg temp was probably still in the 90°s... Wild birds will regularly leave the nest for hour(s) at a time to go forage for food and water and the eggs in a nest outside cool off much faster... I have a mallard nest next to my pool this year, and have noticed she leaves that nest for more time then I would ever expect her to during the day...

There was one story I read about a hatchery that took some eggs out to sell for balut and accidentally left a case of eggs on the counter overnight when the customer failed to show, they returned them to the incubator the next morning and still had a successful hatch...

 

[RussianChickens]

I'll keep hoping for the best then! I have a farm innovators Styrofoam Bator. Right now the temp reads high 10. No idea why that would be because I haven't touched the temp in days. And even today haven't touched the Bator.

We are still having brown outs every 5 minutes. They last a minute or two and power comes back. These shut off the Bator but leave the Turner running.

No clue how long it was out. Maybe just a half hour maybe more.

My eggs are all brown so I can't candle and see a heart like the white ones. I have 3 older eggs and it looked like I had a couple live internal pips. I don't want to open the Bator again tonight to check incase we lose power completely.

 

[MeepBeep]

If you are depending on the built in thermometer you might as well close your eyes and guess at the temp, they are horribly inaccurate...

Also the cheap incubators like this will creep up and down in temp, they need babysitting and very careful adjusting... Every adjustment should be closely monitored for a few hours to make sure it doesn't spike high...

If it is truly +10° aka about 110° for any length of time you likely toasted the eggs... But, if that is based on the built in thermometer it's anyone's guess what the real temp is...

 

[RussianChickens]

If you are depending on the built in thermometer you might as well close your eyes and guess at the temp, they are horribly inaccurate...

Also the cheap incubators like this will creep up and down in temp, they need babysitting and very careful adjusting... Every adjustment should be closely monitored for a few hours to make sure it doesn't spike high...

If it is truly +10° aka about 110° for any length of time you likely toasted the eggs... But, if that is based on the built in thermometer it's anyone's guess what the real temp is...

oops! I meant to type 101.keyboard is awful on my phone.

About 10 minutes later it climbed to 105. I opened it and fanned it out and moved the dial back to its original mark. Surprisingly this incubator has been incredibly stable at holding Temps until this hatch. And I think we just found out why.
Our brown outs today we're due to a bad outdoor circuit breaker. Since we had it replaced this evening the Bator has been setting at 99.5 ever since. I think it wasn't getting power. I wonder if this is what was wrong with my first hatch. If the power was going wonky during the day and nigh causing tempt to plummet and soar.

I use a normal thermometer that I set on top of the eggs.

 

[RussianChickens]

For this hatch I had to turn the thermometer way up. And still it wasn't consistent. Immediately after the breaker replacement Temps went way up. I moved the dial back to my red mark of 99.5 and still there now.

I think the weak voltage coupled with on and off pump and refrigerator /appliances may have messed up my Temps.

Will see how it does going into night and morning.