power outage

[lazy gardener]

Hi all. Looking for feedback from experienced hatchers. I set my very first batch of test eggs in a home made incubator last night. After 12 hours of incubation, we lost power for about 3 hours. At this early stage, has my viability been damaged? And a follow up question: How long (assuming that it's inevitable, given murphy's law, that I'll loose power again during an incubation) can eggs remain viable? (with the temp outside of bator staying high 60's to mid 70's) I assume that the further along they are, the more at risk they are.

 

[(sub)UrbanCoop]

It is more damaging the longer the egg has been incubating.
You should be okay.
Next time I'd say keep a quilt nearby and wrap that baby up to hold the heat in.

I lost heat on my 18th day for 2 hours. My temps dropped down to about 94. I wrapped up the incubator and still had a 75% hatch rate the following day.

Best of luck!

 

[lazy gardener]

It is more damaging the longer the egg has been incubating.
You should be okay.
Next time I'd say keep a quilt nearby and wrap that baby up to hold the heat in.

I lost heat on my 18th day for 2 hours. My temps dropped down to about 94. I wrapped up the incubator and still had a 75% hatch rate the following day.

Best of luck!

I did immediately wrap it in towels. I don't know how cold it got in there, but the wood stove was cranking last night and it was about 75 degrees in the house. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[sumi]

It takes awhile for the core temperature of the eggs to drop and they can withstand cold for a few hours. I've read stories of member's here who's incubators got turned off/unplugged and undiscovered for hours. Their chicks hatched o.k. If the eggs cool down during incubation it may cause them to hatch later than expected though. Depending on how long they were cold and how much they cooled down. Good luck with your hatch!