New at Hatching and need some Tempature advice

[Wjeffgriggs]

I made a homemade still air incubator out of a Styrofoam cooler and 15 watt light bulb. I know now i did not wait long enough to test it before I put the eggs in. To excited I guess. The first 1 -3 days I had nothing but temp issues going from 97 to even 106 for short periods. I have finally got the temp to steady out at 101 with some 104 spikes.
Some people say this is to high and some say that this will be fine for a still air. I need real opinions. It is important that these eggs hatch. The rooster they came from was killed by a dog last Saturday. Also do you think I did much damage for the first 3 days trying to get the temperatures right? I should add also that I have had no issues with the humidity really staying 50-65%.

Any advice will be very helpful. Only have 5 eggs in it. The hen is a Silkie.

 

[crankster76]

I think you may have cooked them. ya want to get the temp stable at 99.5 to 101. anything more will do damage....GL

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Long term I think that a tempature of 103+ is definitaly going to harm the eggs. But just a short spike (assuming you have it under control now) is fine and you could continue with incubation. This also depends on what day you were on in the eggs development. If you decide to cancel this hatch, solve your incubator problem and you may still be able to get chicks that were sired by that rooster still. A hen will still lay fertile eggs for 2 weeks after being mated. Good luck!

 

[Wjeffgriggs]

after day 4 I had it under control. Today is day 6. Should I candle them? If so what should I look for?

 

[nickie]

If today is day 6 I would candle to see if you should continue. I have a link to a fantastic thread but I have to find it.

Found it: the pics have been enhanced to help show the detail on some of the earlier ones, but if you have a decent light you have an idea of what you are looking for.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

 

[AngelaPenny]

In my first few days with my homemade incubator I had some temperature issues. The worst being the fact that I left them near a window, and at one point the temp read 107.

I thought for sure I messed up bad.

I am on day 19 now, in lockdown, and the embryos continued to grow. By day 4 I had the temperature figured out and it varied from 99-102.

Try candling and if you see veins and a dark eye I wouldn't give up hope yet.

But, I'm just a newbie, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

[Wjeffgriggs]

Thanks AngelaPenny. I have been searching this forum with a lot of people having great success even though they had issues with temp control and spikes at the beginning. This raises my hope level

I would enjoy hearing more success stories with similar rocky starts.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

The egg has to get above 103 inside to kill it. That takes a long time.

 

[Wjeffgriggs]

My issue was I had the incubator in a small bathroom with the door closed to keep the eggs safe from the 3 cats roaming the house. At night my house heater runs more and in that small bathroom with the door closed it was getting very heated in there. Simply closing the vent in the bathroom solved all my problems.

 

[Wjeffgriggs]

AngelaPenny, I am dying to know how your hatch turned out.