Texas Polar Vortex Casualties

[DallasChickyMomma]

I know this is silly, but I know y'all will understand. I had 6 eggs in my incubator: 2 cayugas @ 15 days, 2 pekins at 5 days and 2 lavender orpingtons at 2 days. Our power went out, as we are supposed to be having rolling black outs. No problem... until I realized our power was going to be out for quite a while. It only just came back on, it's been off basically since 2 am. As the temps in the incubator continued to plummet despite all of the precautionary measures I tried to take, I had to choose who to try to save. The cayugas went into my bra, along with our bearded dragon.

When the power finally came on, I went to check on them, and they all had the red ring of death. The temperature in the incubator was 66 degrees. These 4 were the first to go in the incubator out of my home grown babies, so my heart is hurting a little. Sigh.

The cayugas got put back into the incubator, they were still moving around when I put them in, so hopefully they make it.

Oh, and the Beardie is big mad but happy to be back in her home with her lamps now.

 

[DallasChickyMomma]

Pretty much the moment I posted this earlier today, the electricity went out. We've been without power ever since, and the duck eggs are still moving but getting weaker. They are tucked back in my shirt for now, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to keep them going.

If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

[Offshoreorca]

I’m so sorry You can keep doing what you’re doing and hope for the best. If you have any other way to make heat you can try to warm something up to the right temperature as well.

I keep a charged battery pack as I am worried this will happen to me one today. Hopefully they pull through for you or that someone might have more useful suggestions!

 

[DallasChickyMomma]

Well. They are still alive. I'm experimenting with a styrofoam and candle setup, it's sitting at about 98 degrees right now. The temp. of the eggs has been bouncing between 80F - whatever my body temperature is through most of the day.

 

[DallasChickyMomma]

It's been a wild ride, I tried the styrofoam ice chest method, do not recommend. Ended up wearing them a lot, and finally I had to choose between the eggs and dealing with the other madness going on in our house due to the power outages and water crisis. I put the eggs in the incubator, and prayed for them. I noted that it was 66F in the incubator, and there was nothing I could do about that. They spend half a day like that. Then the rolling black outs started (funny when you start praying for rolling blackouts, we were out of power for ~36 hours).

We have had constant power finally for about 24 hours now. I finally got up the nerve to candle them late last night... and they were moving. It looks like there may be some vascular damage though, I hope I am wrong. I am also hoping that there is minimal to no deformities if they make it through. They went in Jan 31, I am hoping for hatch, fingers crossed, on March 2 to account for the non growth that may have happened due to the cold.

 

[Aunt Angus]

It's been a wild ride, I tried the styrofoam ice chest method, do not recommend. Ended up wearing them a lot, and finally I had to choose between the eggs and dealing with the other madness going on in our house due to the power outages and water crisis. I put the eggs in the incubator, and prayed for them. I noted that it was 66F in the incubator, and there was nothing I could do about that. They spend half a day like that. Then the rolling black outs started (funny when you start praying for rolling blackouts, we were out of power for ~36 hours).

We have had constant power finally for about 24 hours now. I finally got up the nerve to candle them late last night... and they were moving. It looks like there may be some vascular damage though, I hope I am wrong. I am also hoping that there is minimal to no deformities if they make it through. They went in Jan 31, I am hoping for hatch, fingers crossed, on March 2 to account for the non growth that may have happened due to the cold.

I am so sorry! I feel for you folks out there dealing with the crazy weather. I sure hope they make it...

Fingers crossed!

 

[theoldchick]

So sorry.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Don't give up on your eggs, they can be with out heat up to 12 hrs.

 

[Littlefrenchyinbigtexas]

I hope they all make it. We were in the same boat here, and I placed the incubator in my car...

 

[TexasTurkeyMama]

I am sorry this happened to you. You may be surprised at the resilience of ducklings so don't give up hope.