thermometer screw up over heated eggs for first 7 days

[Mammabuckbuck]

I just realized that my thermometer went on the fritz and has been keeping the eggs at 102-103 degrees for the past 7 days....do I throw out the eggs and start over or is there a chance that they survived in this high heat....I figured out that my last two hatches have not been as successful probably because of this issue....29% and 50% hatch rates.....any opinion would be greatly appreciated

 

[Shadowgrass]

So sorry to hear that. Temperatures above 103 for any length of time is fairly lethal. If it stayed more toward 101-102 then I would say your odds would be better. The only way to know is to candle them at day 10 and again on day 14 and see if they are progressing. I would imagine you would probably lose those closest to the heating element and the ones furthest away may be fine. There is always a chance some survived, they did on other hatches that you had this unknown problem on. The decision is of course up to you, but i would give them a few days and see if they are indeed developing or not and weed out the ones that didn't make it. Catching it a this point may increase your rate, only time will tell.

I am sure you thought of this, as hind sight is always 20/20, but i always have a small cheap glass bulb thermometer as a backup to my digital. Sometimes those darn things just don't work right.

 

[dinomom]

I agree w/ Shadowgrass, my thermometer did the same thing and I just had my 1st baby hatch this morning, there's still hope!

 

[Mammabuckbuck]

on my first hatches i had the digital and a cheaper regular outdoor mercury one in both incubators.....seeing that my hatches where very good and temps good...i took out the mercury thermometers to keep an eye on the temp for my broody pens.....big freaking mistake.....one digital is now to high and the other not as bad but still not accurate....

When i sold the last of my chicks i washed the mercury thermometer and put it back it in the incubator with the 7 day set hatch and realized i was frying them....

hatching is stressful on the best of hatches......but knowing that the last two and this hatch is my fault is hard to take

I'll candle on the 10th day and cross my fingers.....hopefully things will go good from now on

 

[Shadowgrass]

Yes, it does make it a tough pill to swallow. But it wasn't YOUR fault, it was the thermometers fault

Also, what a lot of people don't realize is that the less expensive digital thermometers use a cheap sensor (thermistor) and can vary as much as 3-5 degrees to actual temp. So your 99.5-100 could actually be cooking at 102.5-105 and appear to be just fine on the digital read out. The only way to know for sure is to use several and get an average temp and then you know your variances from thermometer to thermometer.

We do all we can, and we have the best intentions. Don't be too hard on yourself, accidents happen, and correcting it and moving forward is all that we can do when we have a setback. Keep ur chin up and good luck.

 

[Mammabuckbuck]

I candled the eggs and there is nothing....all the eggs are dead.....bad thing is i can't reset the hatch all my hens have interbred.....

...I only hatch pure breed chicks

Oh well no free ranging for a while i guess must keep everyone penned until i can get some more eggs

 

[Shadowgrass]

Aw, that is terrible. Sorry to hear that, I was hoping that all was not lost. Live and learn I suppose, Lord knows I have done enough of that to last two life times. Learning experiences I like to call them, some more painful than others. Good luck on your future hatches!