Will a few days of lower temps delay hatch day?

[emorems0]

First time incubating eggs and despite having my incubator set up and stable for a full week before putting the eggs in, I've had a terrible time with the temp after the putting the eggs in. I think part of the problem is the way the thermometer is wedged in the turner, the bulb edge is down at the bottom of the eggs - before the eggs went in it was consistently reading 99.5 degrees, after the eggs went in it dropped to around 95. I gave it a few hours/half a day to stabilize before trying to figure out how to turn up the heat (I hadn't had to adjust it prior to this point, the incubator is borrowed and seemed to be set perfectly when we first plugged it in). I started turning it up a tiny amount and giving it several hours to stabilize before adjusting again. Then I was worried about just reading the temp at the bottom of the eggs, so I started using my digital thermometer (like, for checking my kids' temperatures) and sticking the skinny end through a hole in the Styrofoam that put the end right around the middle of the eggs. It was still reading low, 95-96 degrees so I continued turning it up little by little, afraid that the temp would jump up and cook the eggs while I slept or something.

It took several days, but I now appear to have the temp back up to a stable 99-100 degrees (measured at the middle of the eggs with my digital thermometer... the mercury thermometer at the bottom of the eggs is still reading around 96-97). There is a little computer fan rigged into the top of the incubator so I would have expected the temp to be more consistent from top to bottom, but it doesn't seem to be (I get readings around 102-103 when I stick my digital thermometer through one of the top vent holes, tip is about a half inch above the top of the eggs).

I'm on day 14 now and I candled at day 10, tossed a few dead eggs (clear or with a blood ring - most of the eggs were shipped, so I expected to be tossing several). I had 12 eggs that were definitely developing, good veins, could see movement inside, etc. and about 4 more that had shells too dark to see anything (RIRs). The prolonged low temps were primarily before candling on day 10 so I know the cooler temps didn't kill the eggs, but could it have slowed development and delayed hatch day?

I think I am more anxious than my kids for hatch day and they are the ones who wanted to hatch from eggs vs. just buying chicks!

Edited to add: I ended up having to turn the heat adjuster a full revolution to get it back to 99 degrees mid-egg so I am guessing that one of my kids messed with it in the excitement of getting the eggs in the incubator and I didn't notice because it looked like it was in the same position.

 

[calichicken]

Yes, the lower temps can delay hatching date...but not always. Whenever I have trouble with stable temps, I buy a new thermometer before I start changing settings...especially if it the temp doesn't seem stable once your eggs are in and settled. I had the same issue and someone suggested it to me...seemed like such a simple idea but never occurred to me my thermometer might need replacing!

 

[emorems0]

Thank you... part of the reason that the temp was low for so long was that I was hesitant to mess with the settings before checking with a different thermometer. I found my regular digital thermometer to be more accurate and allow me to take the reading from mid-egg level instead of from the bottom. I've been taking readings several times a day and it's been stable, just low. I really think one of my kids was probably trying to 'help' and turned the adjuster all the way around because it took a full revolution of adjusting it up to get it back to 99 degrees (I can't think of any other reason it would drop so much after putting the eggs in).

When I candle again in a few days (day 18, before lockdown) is there any way to get an idea of development (as in, 'yes, these DO look like 18-day eggs' or 'no, these look more like 14-day eggs, I should expect hatch day to be a few days later').

 

[calichicken]

I'm not a real pro at candling eggs, but if you look it up on this forum they have a lot of pictures that can help with it. With mine, I just kinda waited it out. Some of my eggs hatched on time and some a few days later. You can hear them in there cheeping and pecking when they are getting ready to hatch

and they wiggle!!! Just make sure your water in the base is full and you keep the incubator closed. Good luck with your hatch and keep me updated! And of course we need some pictures of your babies when they hatch!!!

 

[emorems0]

will definitely need to figure out how to post pictures here, one week to go and we are so excited for our first hatch (especially after the difficulty we had getting the eggs in the first place)! I considered trying to post some candling pictures on day 18 to ask opinions, but I only have 2 hands (one to hold the egg and one to hold the candler)... how is it that people are able to take photos of candling? I can't figure out the logistics unless they have a second person to help them??? lol.