Shhh- Top Secret!

[Chic_girl]

And..... Power is back! Thank goodness. Incubator heated back up in less than 10 minutes- to 99.6 F after remaining at 60-something for four hours.
Had lots of suggestions from my engineering friends for getting the incubator going again-
-Plug it into a car adaptor (had none),
-Charge up a car battery to keep it going for a bit (Might have worked if needed)
-Use some solar panels that are laying about (Too bad it was snowy!)
- Place them in the steam plant's basement (Plausible- its gotta be at least 100 degrees in there!)

In the end, I borrowed heat packs from a friend- those hand-warmer type things that are used for injuries, and kept the incubator all packed up in the cooler. My human-thermometer said it stayed around 83 degrees in there, so warm enough to keep the embryos alive for a little while. I kept two eggs with me at a time, and switched them out every 15 minutes- hope it helped! I think they will be fine, but I'll candle again on Friday to be sure.

Whew!

 

[topdycke]

Oh heck and I was all caught up in my drama with the Brinsea non-delivery-without sig-take-the-day-off-work-shipper. Do they have any generated power on campus? Find a grad student doing a science grant study. I would be heading to whatever place that is and begging a favor from a grad student.

 

[Chic_girl]

Yep- that was an extra stress I didn't need!The university library got power first- three hours before most dorms did, and way before my dorm. (which is on the furthest part of campus...) I was going to pack the incubator up, and go hang out at the library if I had to...
I read that a power outage may delay the hatch at this point in the incubation period, but I shouldn't have too drastic of losses..... hopefully.

Did you ever get your Brinsea? Sign for it and set it up?? Once you have a good incubator- then you can hatch MORE chicks!

 

[topdycke]

Nope haven't go the Brinsea. They emailed and said their online store only sells with sig required and they were going to charge me for shipping...not the most customer friendly approach. I work a 50 hour week and our UPS guy does not deliver past 4 (will point out that this lacks customer service too but whatever...) In any case I am pretty far along to change course and so will go forward and hope it works out.

I would think the drop may delay your hatch a half day or so but not be bad. Does that mess you up with break and all? That would be funny to try to smuggle them in and out of the library... as long as it wasn't a book they would probably not even have an issue.

I have the mini Brinsea like yours. I could just get a smaller number and give it a try if I have a bad hatch.

 

[Chic_girl]

Well, darn! That is so frustrating! I'm sorry you've had such a terrible time with them. *Shakes fist in Brinsea's direction*
Is the LG holding steady for you, or are you still getting some wild temperature swings?

It is day 14 for me, and so I will candle! Check for live embryos, and to make sure that the power outage didn't kill any right away. If they hatch a few hours late, I can stay overnight in the dorm, then take them home the next day!

 

[topdycke]

The LG is holding steady bless its inexpensive styrofoam cover! I have been checking out the LG users thread and they said it was more about the average temps than a spot on number with that incubator. It responds to the temperature changes in the house because it isn't very thick. If I toss a light jacket over it at night when it is cooler it holds fine. It makes sense as it has more airspace inside and it would take longer to go to a 'normal' range if it was way off one way or the other for a longer time. I haven't had any observed big shifts. I have also been doing more of a dry hatch with both plugs out keeping a humidity in the 20-30%

Went to the feed store and picked up a brooder lamp and a package of med chick feed. I am going to start getting a brooding space set up Getting excited to see some chicks next weekend!

 

[Chic_girl]

I can't tell which I'm looking forward to more- hatch day or spring break? (Answer- HATCH DAY!)

I candled today- Its getting dark in those eggs, so pretty hard to distinguish, but all of the embryos moved for me, so I think they are still alive! Some of the air cells don't seem like they are large enough for day 14- so I think the humidity has been far to high during the last few weeks! I hope they've lost some weight.... The good news is that some of the eggs kind of 'fixed' their oddly shaped air cells, so they are less oddly shaped!

Man, these eggs have definitely been though some trials and tribulations and had an inept foster 'broody'.

 

[topdycke]

Oh! I hope I get to see one move when I candle - that would be so cool! I am going to do that tomorrow.
I was checking the breeder's FB page and she has some really pretty new chicks from her projects.

 

[topdycke]

I had 4 which light passed through readily and the others were pretty black inside which I would take to mean there is something in them. I didn't look for details as the drop light gets hot and I wanted to keep it moving and get them back in the bator. I marked the four that I thought were no-go -2 columbian / 2 slw and put them at one end of the bator. I also weighed and they are within a half percent again of perfect. By weight I am a half day ahead. I can't tell about air cells. I am so excited! I will try and keep the humidity up in the mid 30s until Friday and then kick it up.

How are you going to move the bator if the hatch isn't complete when you have to go for break? You will have chicks hatching in the car!

 

[Chic_girl]

Guess what's tomorrow! Lockdown day! We are getting so close, soo close.... Tomorrow morning I'll candle for the last time, then up the humidity and try to ignore the incubator until Friday- key word try.
We are technically supposed to be out of the dorms by 7 p.m. on Friday, but if you have transportation issues you can stay until Saturday night- so I will just spend the day enjoying the empty campus, and going to my favorite state park and hiking while I wait for any stragglers to hatch.
After that, I'll just hop in my car with my incubator, and fish, and speed home! Hopefully I won't get pulled over....

"Excuse me officer, I was just speeding so I could get these eggs home...hey look! A baby chicken! Now how about that?"