Need help! 4 days left, and incubator dropped temp!!

[msiler]

Hi! I was gone for about 24 hours this weekend, but I had someone coming by to check on the incubator. When I got home tonight, my Brinsea Mini Advance 2 was setting off an alarm for low temp. It was showing 91.5°F. My guess is that it has been like that for at least 6 or 7 hours... dropping slowly. Humidity was Good, 45%. Will the chick inside be ok?!?! We are 4 days away from hatch and I wouldn't want to loose our first egg!!

 

[ChickNanny13]

I'm thinking the eggs should be ok ... If you're 4 days from hatch date, are you on day 17 of incubation? Lock down starts day 18, you'll need to raise the humidity to 70% and be patient. They may be delayed in hatching, give them time. Have you candled?

@Percheron chick @Pyxis @sylviethecochin @WVduckchick Your expertise is needed here. Thank you in advance

 

[Pyxis]

It should be fine - it wasn't a long time and it wasn't an extremely low temperature. This close to hatch they are also more resistant to temp drops.

 

[Fairview01]

Broody hens get off the nest all the time in all sorts of temperature extremes and they are successful. A couple hour dip won't be a problem

 

[msiler]

I'm thinking the eggs should be ok ... If you're 4 days from hatch date, are you on day 17 of incubation? Lock down starts day 18, you'll need to raise the humidity to 70% and be patient. They may be delayed in hatching, give them time. Have you candled?

@Percheron chick @Pyxis @sylviethecochin @WVduckchick Your expertise is needed here. Thank you in advance

Thank you all for the responses! It is very encouraging.
And yes, yesterday it showed 4 days left and now today 3, so we are on Day 18. I just turned off turning and increased th humidity this morning. I did one final candling and the chick has grown since day 14, but there is no movement... should I be concerned?

It should be fine - it wasn't a long time and it wasn't an extremely low temperature. This close to hatch they are also more resistant to temp drops.

Broody hens get off the nest all the time in all sorts of temperature extremes and they are successful. A couple hour dip won't be a problem

 

[lutherpug]

Thank you all for the responses! It is very encouraging.
And yes, yesterday it showed 4 days left and now today 3, so we are on Day 18. I just turned off turning and increased th humidity this morning. I did one final candling and the chick has grown since day 14, but there is no movement... should I be concerned?

I've only hatched a couple batches of eggs but I don't remember a ton of movement at 18 days-they're essentially a full size baby chick at that point and there isn't a lot of real estate in that egg. Have you looked at pictures of what candled eggs should look like at lockdown? That might be helpful for you to compare. Good luck on your hatch.

 

[Fairview01]

Thank you all for the responses! It is very encouraging.
And yes, yesterday it showed 4 days left and now today 3, so we are on Day 18. I just turned off turning and increased th humidity this morning. I did one final candling and the chick has grown since day 14, but there is no movement... should I be concerned?

By this time there isn't much room to move around inside the egg. They are pretty well stuffed in there. I've never seen movement in any of my eggs at this stage but then again I'm not looking for movement. I only candle 2x during incubation. Once at day 10 to remove clear eggs and day 19 to remove ones that are obvious dead ones to avoid a possible nasty mess during hatch.

 

[msiler]

I've only hatched a couple batches of eggs but I don't remember a ton of movement at 18 days-they're essentially a full size baby chick at that point and there isn't a lot of real estate in that egg. Have you looked at pictures of what candled eggs should look like at lockdown? That might be helpful for you to compare. Good luck on your hatch.

By this time there isn't much room to move around inside the egg. They are pretty well stuffed in there. I've never seen movement in any of my eggs at this stage but then again I'm not looking for movement. I only candle 2x during incubation. Once at day 10 to remove clear eggs and day 19 to remove ones that are obvious dead ones to avoid a possible nasty mess during hatch.

Thank you both I'm going to try to not panic any more than necessary now!

 

[lutherpug]

Thank you both I'm going to try to not panic any more than necessary now!

Good luck! Let us know what happens!

 

[ChickNanny13]