overdue eggs, interrupted incubation, advice?

[Phoenixxx]

Hatch day was friday, may 30th. 14 had hatched by thursday evening. Last night, I candled the rest, put 2 back in and the rest that didn't look like anything was happening I left out to be discarded today. After searching the forum to try to decide about the 2 eggs I'd put back in, I came upon the float test. I decided to float-test all the remaining eggs. I had one sinker but the rest passed the test. So, I put them back in the incubator.

Since they all (besides the lone sinker) passed, can I expect them/some of them to still hatch? I could only see an actual chick in one egg but there was zero movement. At what point should I call it quits?

Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

How long was the interruption?

http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

I usually wait till at least day 24 unless they stink.

 

[Phoenixxx]

How long was the interruption?

http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

I usually wait till at least day 24 unless they stink.

I turned off the incubator at around suppertime to clean it up for my next batch. At around 9pm, hubby said not to give up just yet, may have late bloomers, at which point we candled. I put the two back in the incubator -so for them, the interruption was about 4 hours. The rest were left out overnight and went back in about an hour ago, so about 17-18 hours for them. Today is day 24.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The overnighters are goners. The 4 hour ones are a bit iffy.

In the link I sent to you it explains all issues. Lengthy cool downs are less a problem early in incubation but after the first week, lengthy cool downs are usually fatal.

 

[Phoenixxx]

The overnighters are goners. The 4 hour ones are a bit iffy.

In the link I sent to you it explains all issues. Lengthy cool downs are less a problem early in incubation but after the first week, lengthy cool downs are usually fatal.

I just finished reading the link, thanks!

So, the float test isn't 100% reliable, then? I really didn't have much hope for those eggs anyway, as they look unchanged from when I candled at 2 weeks. I was just surprised that they passed the float test and thought they just might still be good after all.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMHO, the float test will determine how much moisture has left the egg, not whether or not they're viable living embryos.

 

[Phoenixxx]

Well, I got impatient. Still no sounds nor movement so I broke into the air cells to see what's up. Sure enough, the one egg had stopped developing weeks ago as I had expected. The one containing the chick looked days away from being ready (from what I could see from the air cell side) so I figure it must've died about a week ago. 14 out of 22 not bad for a first hatch, though, I guess... onto the next one!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good job. We learn more each time.