Oh no!! Will any eggs survive???

[NaomiSarah]

I went to bed last night and everything was fine in my (homemade) incubators. I woke up this morning to find the temp at 110!!! I was just devastated, and I was an hour late for my appointment and it just wrecked my morning!! Will any of them survive, do you think? I candled, and the little babies inside are still visible but not moving. No obvious blood rings, either, but would that show up already? I've got another batch in another incubator, but only seven days from hatching this batch I'm BUMMED!!!

 

[pkw]

I have had a problem like this before. Only mine spiked up to 114 and after I moved my incubator to a different location I seldom have temp spikes anymore. When you candle again tap on the eggs to see if you see any movement then. Don't give up yet.

 

[NaomiSarah]

Did any of your chicks survive the temp spike?

 

[pkw]

I had 3 survive. I am so happy to have gotten that many though.

 

[NaomiSarah]

Update - I candled all the eggs this evening, and they were all dead with blood rings. :-( What a bummer!! Next batch due in fourteen days, provided I don't screw it up again!! Man, it just feels awful when they die.

 

[Bunnylady]

Yeah, it really stinks when you lose them, particularly if you think that it was somehow your fault. I mean, when it's a purchased 'bator, you can blame the manufacturer, but when it's your own design, who is there left to blame but yourself?

My homemade incubator is a real jury-rigged affair, but I have had some good hatches out of it (some really lousy ones, too!). Those temperature spikes are so disheartening. I've lost eggs when DD helped to turn/check the eggs, and wound up closing the viewing window that is the top vent. How do you impress a child with how important it is to keep that thing set just so, without making them feel wretched for having killed the eggs we were so carefully tending? Ah, motherhood!

 

[Jarsheart]

So sorry to hear of your loss. At least you know why. I have a Little Giant, put three fertile eggs that my broody hen left in the nest, and I think they might be dead in shell. And I don't know why. We get lots of thunderstorms here, thought that maybe a power fluctuation may have reset the thermostat (it does that with our A/C) but that is not the case. Regardless, it is devastating. I feel your pain.

 

[Debbi]

Do you have your bator plugged into a surge protector? Even the manufacturers of the incubators recommend this. If there is a surge in the power, from say a storm, where the power goes off for a bit and then jumps back on with a surge, that may explain your spike in temps. Just a thought..

 

[NaomiSarah]

Nope, I use seedling heat mats in fishtanks with vents. It actually works pretty well - but one of my mats wasn't working, so while I went to get another one I used a fishtank mat - thought I had it set low enough but apparently those run hotter than the seedling mats. No one's fault but my own - on to the next hatch. Thanks for all the support, guys, I needed it this morning

 

[burquechick]

You know what, I recently tried to hatch some eggs (only my 3rd try) and I forgot to put the thermometer on TOP of the eggs to set the temp. After a week, I remembered that the thermometer was supposed to be on top. I moved it on top of the eggs and the temperature was reading 104. I adjusted the temperature, and another week later, I still had 6 viable embryos (out of 11) that were doing just great, which was actually better than I expected considering that I had been collecting then for 2 weeks with no air conditioning in my house (went up to 95 in the house the first week). Then, on the 18th day, when I put them down for lockdown, I had the thermometer on top of the eggs for the first day to adjust the temp again. The next day, I went to take the thermometer out and bumped the darn lid! The following day, I decided to check on the temp again, and I had apparently bumped the thermostat up to 104 again! Crud! All but 1 chick died! I think the first week at 104 wasn't as important because the chicks aren't creating their own heat yet, but right at the end, yeah, it's seems really lethal. I'm surprised I even got 1!