Lost power, temp drop to 96*

[RWise]

Like the title, a few days ago, we had a wind storm and lost power for several hours. (Now I am worried)As soon as it went off I rounded up a 12 volt battery, a 3000 watt inverter, (a bit much for the job but it is here) wiring and tractor next to the house to charge the battery, started hooking it up in the house. By the time I had it making power the temp at the egg level had dropped to 96*. I hope this is going to be ok, we did not open the battor while the power was off or when it came back on. Whats your thoughts?

hovabator with fan, and turner, digital therm/hydr, temp has been stable, humidity another story, it has been on the high side (50 - 63%) only using tray 1 with water. However I do keep a pot of water on the wood stove for added humidity inside (currently 55%). IF tray 1 runs out of water the humidity drops fast to about 11%, at this point I added warm water to the tray, now I have learned that just before the tray runs out humidity drops just bellow 50%, I now add warm water here. After reading on hatching, I am leaning toward not putting additional water in tray 2, again whats your thoughts?

Going to lock down today! I know we4 have lost, it sploded,,,,,,,

Richard

 

[Quyen Le]

Nothing to worry about. They will all be fine.

 

[RWise]

That is what I hope, after all the hen will go out for about half an hour!
Thanx, I needed that!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree, I would not worry about that temperature drop. The core temperature inside the eggs does not drop nearly as fast as the air temperature in the incubator. If you are going into lockdown, they are old enough to generate some heat on their own. That temperature drop should not be a problem.

I'd add water to the second tray myself. I know different people use different humidities but I'm just more comfortable with really high humidities during hatch, especially after they pip. I use this to add water through a vent so I don't have to open the incubator during lockdown.

 

[namastemama]

No worries, I had a hatch last year that got unplugged twice! Dropped to the 70's both times and it turned out to be my most sucessfull hatch to date.

 

[RWise]

41 eggs left went to lock down, water added to try 2, temp dialed in fingers crossed! I have read that removing the turner affects the temp about 2*, and it did on mine as well. But I just dont see how removing the turner would change the thermostat setting! I am taking notes with this thing as to what I dont like about it and what I can improve on when I build my own.

Thanx for the incouragement!
I think if I get a 50% hatch I will be pleased, most of the eggs came from my birds, my sister brought me 8 of her's. 3 long slinder green eggs and 5 jumbo+++ brown eggs. I ask her what the browns are from and she did not know which hen is laying them! So big they did not set in the turner well, in fact they would only fit in the tray next to the moter leaned to the open side, i was afraid they would fall out of the turner tray!

Richard

 

[DraigAthar]

There is a fascinating article on cooling of eggs during incubation that I read a while ago, let me find you the link:

http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

 

[Sphinx]

DraigAther beat me to the article. Brinsea has started automatically putting cooling periods in their incubators, and has found that it actually helps the hatch rate. I bet your babies will be fine.

As far as humidity, I usually go with very low humidity during incubation- around 35% or so, and then crank it up really high at the end.

 

[RWise]

So far so good! First one hatched yesterday about 1:00 (RIR/red Ameraucana), another last night (bared rock/buff Orpington), several more have pips. The first one to start the breaking out has not emerged yet, but has a nice window, if I watch i can see it move. This morning we have pips on eggs from all hens but 1 of my sisters, still early though,,,

leave them alone,,, leave them alone,,,,,,,,

 

[SilkieSensation]

Need pix!!!!