Lost Power for 1.5 Days on day 18

[Perrys Peeps]

I have researched how to incubate eggs for the past 2 months, printed notes, made more notes, kept doing more research, borrowed an incubator, bought everything for the chicks, bought a cool candler, I'm a bit obsessive at this point. I had started with 15 eggs from the hens to sit and see if they were fertile. Lost 2 to cracks, then only 7 ended up being fertile. They were doing great, i was candling about every 7 days. So day 18 comes, I'm stoked! I take the turner out, raise humidity, read up on hatching.....then we get hit with a TORNADO. We are okay, our house is okay, the chickens are okay, but we lost about 50 trees and our power went out. OUR POWER WENT OUT ON DAY 18....I cried y'all...anywho they kept giving us different times for power to come on. I wrapped the incubator in the biggest thickest blanket I could find. After waking up the second morning without power, I started reaching out for generators....I got the eggs plugged back in and once they were settled, I waiting till day 22 to candle them to see if they were still viable. I could tell they were delayed, but still have 5 for sure that were moving and alive. So I left the 7 in there and the next day I candled the 2 I couldn't see moving and still didn't see movement, so then I did the water test, and ultimately we opened them and confirmed they had died, most likely when we lost power. They were in the house so they may have gotten as cold as 63 degrees. So I have 5 in the incubator...today is day 24/25. Yesterday I saw one egg lightly shaking. I have left them alone, I'm trying so hard to not mess with them, even though all i want to do is candle them and make sure they are okay....I guess I'm looking for some positive similar experiences, someone to talk me down on touching them , and some advice on how long I should wait to candle them again. I appreciate any and all advice!

 

[AltonaAcres]

I AM ON THE SAME PAGE! Power was on and off all last night. i cried for the better part of it. SO hard.....................Exhausted this morning! I heard not to wrap the incubator, instead take the lid off so the eggs cool, and stop developing for a while as opposed to them struggling to grow in an environment not quite warm enough. Also, oxygen deprivation is more dangerous than cool temps. Good sign one is shaking! They may be a day or two late to hatch, becuase like I said, the embryos go dormant while conditions aren't right.

 

[Perrys Peeps]

I AM ON THE SAME PAGE! Power was on and off all last night. i cried for the better part of it. SO hard.....................Exhausted this morning! I heard not to wrap the incubator, instead take the lid off so the eggs cool, and stop developing for a while as opposed to them struggling to grow in an environment not quite warm enough. Good sign one is shaking! They may be a day or two late to hatch, becuase like I said, the embryos go dormant while conditions aren't right.

omg I feel ya! It's so emotional with all the hard work you put into them. I hope yours make it!!!! I'm hoping they are just delayed. i heard they can hatch as late as 27 days????

 

[AltonaAcres]

Yes, I've heard that too. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who starts sobbing when something happens to hatching eggs!! Thanks! I have eggs on day 17, 15, 6, and 7. So we'll see
Praying hard!!!

 

[AltonaAcres]

I put so much money in to buying these rare breeds, they were shipped to me, Already had to cull a bunch that didn't make the journey. I have been turning them 3+ times a day. Lots of time, effort, love, and excitement put in to them. I am already attached to the embryos Glad to find someone in the same boat

 

[AltonaAcres]

It's already such an emotional and scary time

 

[Perrys Peeps]

The ones on day 6/7 should be good. I read to leave them in 55 degrees and let them sit for 7 days before putting them in an incubator and turning them so those should be viable. The 17/15 hopefully are just delayed. Do you have a candler? I got one on amazon for like $18 and it's so much better than a flashlight

 

[AltonaAcres]

I use a high powered LED light. Very bright. I tried to order a candler but Amazon said it would take until late May w/ everything going on.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Crossing my fingers for both of you guyses eggs. Might I reccomend a backup battery? Like a car battery but not exactly that you get at home depot. You need an inverter with it. You charge it up when you have power and then if you lose power, depending which battery you got and what you are running with it, you have 12-36 hours of power available to you. They are often referred to as boat batteries or marine batteries. I have one for camping and emergencies. Works nice.

 

[Perrys Peeps]

Crossing my fingers for both of you guyses eggs. Might I reccomend a backup battery? Like a car battery but not exactly that you get at home depot. You need an inverter with it. You charge it up when you have power and then if you lose power, depending which battery you got and what you are running with it, you have 12-36 hours of power available to you. They are often referred to as boat batteries or marine batteries. I have one for camping and emergencies. Works nice.

Thank you, that's a good idea for next time! TBH I didn't even know it was still tornado season. We have never lost power like that before or had a tornado in our town. We learned how important a sump pump battery back up is too this has been quite a learning experience