Oh no! Incubator got down to 68*F on day 20

[happyhens]

Day 20 here, with 3 dozen mixed eggs in a Little Giant. They were moving, and one was pipped. Checked on them this morning and everything was still and silent, no movement or peeping. Looked at the thermometer- and it was at 68* F!!! Somehow the incubator had been unplugged. Are these chicks going to be ok? They could have been at a very low temperature up to about 12 hours. I replugged the bator and it is slowly climbing, it is now at about 88*. Anything else I can do? I am so sad, I really hope they are ok. One or 2 of them started peeping again as they warmed up, so I know at least a couple are still alive. Was that enough to kill them, or did it just slow things down a little?

 

[Josie]

Wow, I am glad to hear that some of them are peeping. At this point I don't think there is anything you can do but wait. I hope it goes well!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Not much to do but, wait.

Here is something I found a little while ago. The end will apply to you.
Info on power outages during Incubation.
From- A Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow

The more valuable your hatching eggs are, the more likely it is that the electricity will go out during incubation. If you have an uninterruptable power source (UPS) for your computer or other electronic equipment, consider disconnecting the usual equipment and using the UPS to power your incubator. If the outage comtinues beyond its capacity to keep your incubator running, or you don't have an UPS, open the incubator and let the eggs cool until the power goes back on.

Trying to keep the eggs warm is likely to cause abnormal embryo development. Furthermore, if you close the vents or wrap the incubator with blankets in your attempt to keep eggs warm, a greater danger than temperature loss is oxygen deprivation. Developing embryos use up oxygen rather rapidly, and the oxygen level may soon fall below that necessary to keep them alive.

As soon as the power goes back on, close the incubator and continue operating it as usual. The effect of the outage on your hatch will depend on how long the power was out and on how long the eggs had been incubated before the outage. A power failure of up to 12 hours may not significally affect the hatch (except to delay it somewhat), especially if the outage occurred during the early incubation, when cooled embryos naturally tend to go dormant. Embryos that are close to term generate enough heat to carry them through a short-term outage.

I hope they turn out for you.

 

[happyhens]

The one pipped egg is starting to come to life now, and another has pipped! There are a few others that I have noticed rocking to! But the second one pipped has pipped on the small end of the egg. Is that ok?

 

[ChickNLittle]

Hey Happy

For some reason, I and a lot of others have had the eggs pipping on the wrong side. Not sure what is causing it but I read a lot of post about it this last week and beyond. Mine were alright. I just kept an eye on the in case I needed to help so they wouldn't drown or something.