Temp drop to 78...need reassurance please!! :(

[UrbanMama]

If these babies make it, it will be a miracle!

First my 2yo opened it and we lost 2 eggs. Just now, I had a breaker trip while I was outside and the temp dropped to 78-80 degrees.
I don't know how long it was off....I'm soooo upset right now!

This is my first time incubating and my first try raising chickens. I so badly wanted this to go smoothly...

It's going to be a long 12 days

 

[KellyHM]

I don't think that's cool enough to kill them, especially if only for a little while. It might delay the hatch a little, but they should be fine!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Your fine....

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Last december our power went out for over 8 hours. Temp dropped to 68F and thought there was no chance. 12 out of 14 eggs made it and the 2 that did not make it where just extras

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

You have to remember that the contents of the egg remains warm well after the electricity went out. They dont immediately turn cold. As long as it wasn't for an extended period of time, you're fine...

And if you dont believe that explanation, think about what eggs do in nature when the hen has to drink/eat/poop... She'll get off of them for a couple minutes at a time, and they are fine!

 

[Msbear]

No Problemo, man. My broody left the nest overnight and it got down in the low 60's. The next morning I got the egg (only one left) warmed it in my hands then hatched in an incubator...You're fine. sometimes broodys get off the next for a half hour to an hour and your incubator will hold it's temp a lot more than an open nest

 

[UrbanMama]

Oh thank you all so much! I have 13 BO's due on Halloween and 2 BR 2 Polish due the week after....it's going to be a loooonnnnggg wait

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

BO's is what I was hatching last Dec when the power went out. They are strong little buggers.

 

[kayjuggler]

Hey, you need to read my miracle hatching story. 18 hours without power. Only my second attempt at hatching. (the first was a complete bust). They are still doing great, by the way, haven't lost a single one now at 3.5 weeks. Here's the link to my post. Hope this works. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=95152

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Info on power outages during Incubation.
From- A Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow

The more valuable your hatching eggs are, the more likely it is that the electricity will go out during incubation. If you have an uninterruptable power source (UPS) for your computer or other electronic equipment, consider disconnecting the usual equipment and using the UPS to power your incubator. If the outage comtinues beyond its capacity to keep your incubator running, or you don't have an UPS, open the incubator and let the eggs cool until the power goes back on.

Trying to keep the eggs warm is likely to cause abnormal embryo development. Furthermore, if you close the vents or wrap the incubator with blankets in your attempt to keep eggs warm, a greater danger than temperature loss is oxygen deprivation. Developing embryos use up oxygen rather rapidly, and the oxygen level may soon fall below that necessary to keep them alive.

As soon as the power goes back on, close the incubator and continue operating it as usual. The effect of the outage on your hatch will depend on how long the power was out and on how long the eggs had been incubated before the outage. A power failure of up to 12 hours may not significally affect the hatch (except to delay it somewhat), especially if the outage occurred during the early incubation, when cooled embryos naturally tend to go dormant. Embryos that are close to term generate enough heat to carry them through a short-term outage.