Power outage, temp drop then spike...

[Bettacreek]

Alright, about an hour ago, I lost power. My bator temp started dropping, and I was going to let it go, but then it started dropping FAST, so I decided that I would put a heat pack in. I put the heat pack in, and it wasn't working even after 15 minutes, and the temp was still dropping. So, I put two baggies of HOT water in, then, don't you know it, the heat pack started working. The temp spiked to 103. Now, thankfully, my power is back on, and it's back to 99.7. The humidity was up at 83% because of the bags of water though. What are the chances that there was damage done? The spike wasn't a very long spike at all, maybe 10 minutes or so (it wouldn't have been that long, but the guys came to fix our door for us, so I was distracted), but the drop was pretty decent, probably below optimum temps for up to 45 minutes, but never going below 90.

What's worse, out of all of the newly hatched chicks, I lost two more. Last night sometime, the brooder bulb blew (I'm not sure if someone knocked it by accident or what, but that sucker was brand new and only in use for a few days), so the chicks were recovering from a cold night already, then the power went.

I'm hoping that I don't loose anymore. Hopefully the eggs hatch for me then, I just don't seem to be having very good luck.

 

[Bettacreek]

Oh, the incubator, it's a forced air, but with the power out, I moved the thermometer thingy to the top of the eggs, so the top of the eggs was at 103, but the hot water and heat pack were at the sides...

 

[monarc23]

I think you're fine.....just so you can get that humidity down

Im sorry about loosin the chickies tho!

 

[Bettacreek]

It's at 78 now. I keep lifting the lid quickly to let some humidity out, without loosing temp. So far, it's been keeping temp, but the humidity is taking forever to come down.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
herum!!! Well does it have those red pluggy things? If so if those aren't even letting the humidity out that's crazy. When I had my LG i'd just open it up for a bit until i saw the humidity go down, because if the temp goes down for a bit too as long as it goes back up to the incubation temp the eggs will be fine. I'd just hold it there until the humidity went down then i'd shut it when it looked a decient humidity then i'd just shut it up and let the temp raise back up

 

[ButtonQuailHeaven]

Are those Button chicks that you are losing? They are very sensitive to cold. I had someone give me a bunch because they lost power once and several were lost. They were two weeks old even. I hope you don't lose anymore! Glad you got your power back so quickly and good luck with the hatch!!

 

[Bettacreek]

The red pluggies weren't even in it, lol. I think one of the bags leaked a little into the bottom tray (thankfully I have my eggs in a carton and the water didn't touch the eggs). Anyways, I'm at work now, but the humidity was dropping when I left around 3:15, though the temp had gone down as far as 96.6.

Yes, button eggs and chickies. I lost the itsy bitsy runt and another average sized baby. I can't get ahold of hubby to ask if the rest are ok, but they had all seemed to be doing ok when I left. I've just been having such terrible and crummy luck lately!

 

[Bettacreek]

*Sigh* I did loose another baby while at work, and a few more aren't looking too great now. One of those is the sole white chick. How long until I can expect to stop loosing them?!

 

[ButtonQuailHeaven]

I am not sure on that one. How long were they cold for? Another thing is are you sure they are all eating and drinking? I would watch and see that they are. I never dunk beaks though as I have lost some to aspirating that way. I just watch them and if I see that they aren't I will corner them into the area of food and water with my hands until I see them do it. What temp do you have the brooder at? Like I said before they are very sensitive to cold. When are you supposed to give some away? I think I would wait until they are out of the woods as that could send some more over the edge.

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm not sure how long. They had been without a bulb for an unknown amount of time at night, then it was back on for a very short period of time, then the power went out. I'm not sure on temp, but I use a 100 watt bulb, and it's pretty toasty in there (but they have plenty of room to get away from it if they get too warm).
I was supposed to send them out this weekend, but my work schedule changed and I have to work both days this weekend. How long do you think I should wait before travelling? Keep in mind that they'll be in the car with me for 2.5 hours. Should I use a heat pack when I transport them?