Temperature Concern on Incubator

[CBeckius]

Please offer your opinions. A group of teachers and I are incubating chicken eggs in our science classes. We have been checking temps three times/day. Last night at 4:00 p.m. everything was great on one of the incubators. This morning, it appears someone had unplugged the incubator overnight. Sadly, the cord was taped in the wall. The temp at 8:00 this morning was 72 degrees inside the incubator. Did we loose the hatch? We are on day 7 of the hatch.

 

[paddock36]

I would say no. Sometimes hens get off the nest for a little while too. It may cause a decrease in your hatch but all is not lost. I had the bulb burnout in my incubator two different times on a clutch of eggs one time and the temp dropped into the 70s. I still had numerous chicks hatch.

 

[CCourson05]

Nah. They will still hatch. It was semi-early in the hatch and it didn't drop too low. Good luck.

ETA: a temp too low is alright. A temp too high is much worse.

 

[loot4louie]

Should be ok. I post a Do NOt unplug- live chicks on my outlet at school. It seems to help. Sounds like a no brainer, but people are dumb sometimes GOOD LUCK!! My class loves this yearly process!!

 

[CBeckius]

Thanks for the responses. It confirmed my thoughts on the matter. Will candle on Friday, day 10, to check for development. Unfortunately, we do have signs up on the doors of our classrooms and by the incubators and someone still pulled the plug. This unit has become one of our students' favorites and many students from years pass stop by to check on the eggs. It is a lot of fun!