Who said you need to turn and control temperature + humidity?

[jpmoore]

First post on this site.
I have hatched duck, geese, and peafowl a few times starting about a year ago using a cooler with a heating element. I was pretty good about turning the eggs 3 times a day and keeping the temp and humidity in line and hatched dozens of birds.

However, this last hatch, my temperature sensor must have gone bad and I found that the real temperature inside the cooler was 125 degrees and were very warm to the touch about a week in to the incubation! I candled the eggs for the next several days, and no signs of life. So I just gave up on that batch, but never got around to putting them in the trash.

Fast forward 3 weeks, and I hear chirping coming from the cooler. I was very surprised, since I thought they were all dead and had not touched the cooler in that time. There are four ducks walking around in there, some of which looked to be at least a day old, and there are more on the way.

So, maybe these steps aren't super important after all?

 

[Cyprus]

Embryos can be surprisingly resistant. I've forgotten about eggs for 2 weeks straight and they still hatched just fine.

 

[aart]

temperature inside the cooler was 125 degrees

If your thermometer was accurate, I find it very hard to believe that they would survive 125°F temps.

 

[jpmoore]

If your thermometer was accurate, I find it very hard to believe that they would survive 125°F temps.

I think it was accurate (-ish), but I don't know how long the air temp was that high. The eggs have some thermal mass, and can resist high air temperatures for short periods of time.

 

[gtaus]

Welcome to the BYC forums. I tried incubating eggs many years ago, but it was a total failure. I faithfully monitored the temp and humidity for weeks, but in the end...nothing. I may try incubating eggs sometime in the future, but it sounds like you have the magic touch even when you don't try. Thanks for posting.

 

[Shadrach]

I guess nature got it all wrong then.