NEW discovery in EGGOLOGY: Interrupted Incubation = Egg STILL Alive!

[Fitzgerald_M]

Hi there!

I registered here just to be able to let you in on an absolutely astounding discovery in poultry egg incubation, which is that even after a 24-hr period of interruption in the incubation process, the egg still has life beating in it! Based on all my readings and YT video-watching, I had gotten the impression that interrupted incubation that lasts for a few hours with ambient temperature being very low would definitely result in the death of the growing chick inside. I just proven wrong by my personal experience with a halted incubation. Right now, the egg which I have actually cracked open hours after I had discovered that the incubator was no longer working is STILL alive with a clearly visible heart beating inside the egg - the part with all the blood vessels and the eye and the heart remained stuck to the side of the shell, while most of the yolk and white was emptied like 12 hrs from now, and that blood system is still beating to this very moment - which when added to the hours before it was cracked open up to the moment the incubator stopped working amounts to 24+ hrs! I'd like corroboration of any such observations. What this means to me is that all the info I read was wrong, and so I've fixed the incubator and I'm continuing with the rest of the batch. I'll update when the 21st day arrives. Btw, the day that the interruption occurred was the 5th day since the start of the incubation process.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Yup. I just had four hatch that we're in a turned-off incubator for two days at around day 14. I have hatched others that were without heat for up to a day due to power outage or confused broody hens.

 

[BantyChooks]

Eggs definitely don't all die that quickly. Some have let them sit out for multiple days and still got hatches. I'm curious, where did you read that they were so fragile? It's been proven wrong multiple times.

Good luck!

 

[Pyxis]

Yep, twice this year I've hatched eggs that sat out for a day with no heat. Two were eggs I took from a nest without realizing that a broody was sitting there, candled them about 24 hour later and realized what happened, put them in my incubator, and they hatched.

One was an egg left behind after a broody had hatched one chick and got off the nest. Not sure how long that egg was left, at least a day, maybe more. Also popped it in my incubator and it also hatched fine.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Embryos are incredibly resilient.

I've had:
1) A nest of Old English bantam eggs left unattended and cold for approx 11 hours in 6 C temperatures. All hatched.

2) Twice I've forgotten my incubator open with lid off for approx. 12 hours each time. Still had a successful hatch.

3) Eggs left out in a pail in the sun and wind...eggs were left 12 hours before placing in an incubator. Majority of the eggs hatched.

4) Two embryos survived being set on for 5 days...left cold and stacked in a pail for 60 hours (2.5 days) They were candled and then incubated for the remaining time. One hatched and is fine and running around in my laundry room as I write this...lol. The other embryo made it alive to lock down.

5) I routinely hatch viable healthy chicks from eggs older than 2 weeks. Most of the time the eggs only get turned when I candled...so 3 times.

6) I've hatched 3 chicks from eggs that were at least 4 weeks 3 days old at the time they were set...and those eggs had not been turned or handled until they were set.
I still have all three chickens...one is my favorite.

Many people have found that eggs stay viable for amazingly long periods if they happen to cool down. I'm glad you've found this out too!

 

[Kiki]

 

[Ausdotte]

With our very first batch of eggs the power went out here for 18 hours, we tried to keep the incubator warm the best we could with hot water bottles and stuff, but I was sure everything had died anyway. Much to our surprise we still got 6 out of the 8 fertile eggs hatching