Temp too high first 24 hours

[Reneescoop]

Hi! I borrowed a friend's incubator and started incubating to eggs from my flock. Two days ago I stopped at a farm near by my house and got a dozen fertilized eggs from the woman and she also generously gave me her old incubater she no longer needed. So i set it up, let it run for 6 hours. All seemed good. Put the 12 eggs in at about 10 pm. Got home from work at 1 the next day and both thermometers read different readings and we're both over 101 degrees. So i quickly removed the eggs from that incudater and put them in the other one i had going with my first two eggs. Do you think they are ruined? Id feel awful if i cooked them!

 

[Maddison]

I'd doubt that they'd be ruined, since they were so early in development. for the first few days of my first incubation my humidty and temp was out of wack massively, dangerously low and high. but all my eggs developed fine, I now have 3 healthy chicks and 12 more in lockdown. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Reneescoop]

I'd doubt that they'd be ruined, since they were so early in development. for the first few days of my first incubation my humidty and temp was out of wack massively, dangerously low and high. but all my eggs developed fine, I now have 3 healthy chicks and 12 more in lockdown. I wouldn't worry about it.

Oh good! I was nervous! Thank you!

 

[junebuggena]

Fingers crossed everything is fine. Get a couple of small thermometers (easily found in most pet supply stores with a reptile section) for inside the incubators so you can double check the thermostat readings. Also pick up some secondary humidity gauges.
You should know if the eggs are okay or not in about 4 days.

 

[lazy gardener]

No matter what thermometer you buy or use, it is totally useless unless it is calibrated to an accepted accurate thermometer. I calibrate ALL of my thermometers to 100*F before each incubation, even if they were all calibrated the previous season. For my gold standard, I use a good medical grade thermometer. The digital ones are guaranteed to be accurate to (+/-) .2*F. I also have 2 old fashioned mercury thermometers that have proven very accurate.

IMO, calibrating to 32* is a useless piece of information. While a thermometer may be accurate at 32*, that's not going to help a bit when you need that accuracy at 99 - 102*.

Before committing eggs to the incubator, I calibrate the thermometers, check for any high/low temp areas and either correct those by altering air flow, or make note of them so I can shift eggs through the high/low spots. I run the bator for a few days using filled water bottles to approximate the volume of the eggs. I can have as many as 5, and no less than 3 thermometers in my bator to help me track the temps. (a bit OCD???!!!)

So i set it up, let it run for 6 hours. All seemed good. Put the 12 eggs in at about 10 pm. Got home from work at 1 the next day and both thermometers read different readings and we're both over 101 degrees.

Did the bator have a fan? The standard is 99.5 for forced air, and for still air, it is 102*!
So, if your thermometer was accurately calibrated, you should be fine.

I strongly advise all folks who are committing to hatching eggs, (either with a broody or an incubator) to read the entirety of "hatching eggs 101" in the learning center. I always review this excellent reference every season before I plug in my bator!

 

[Birdinhand]

they should be fine (102ish+ is where I've seen problems), and keep in mind that changes in humidity will result in temp fluctuations, so keep the humidity stable. if you let the water run out, you will see a temp spike.

 

[Reneescoop]

You guys are awesome! Thank you!

So i candled tonight to see if i could see anything to put my mind at ease... they ALL look great and definitely developing. However, there are 3 that seem to be on a super development, much more advanced then the others. All the others are were they should be in development but these 3 seem to look like they have decome 1 or 2 days ahead of the otheres development wise. I read that to high of temps can result in early hatching.. do you think these 3 eggs are affected and will possibly hatch sooner than the rest?

Also, ive got a double yoker that is developing. I know its a rare event that it will hatch but have you ever had experience with these?

 

[Birdinhand]

I'd just keep moving the eggs around in the bator periodically to even out any temp variations and see what happens. high temps can cause some tissue compartments to develop faster while hindering others but it sounded like your spike was for a relatively short time so who knows. I don't worry as much about the folks that get worked up about temp issues, it's the folks who don't even bother to notice the temp being out, those are the one's that worry me :~). my guess is you'll have a decent hatch. good luck!