Would these eggs be viable?

[cricket-cricket]

My mother is 86 and she's planning a visit the 15th - the 21 to see our little farmette - a 2000 mile trip!

In the 40's, she had a farm, but my parents had to give it up. She truly loved that chapter of her life, so my plan was to put a couple of eggs in the bator so they could hopefully hatch while she was here - or she could atleast candlet them - a trick she never experienced.

She was so excited when I told her!

I had to time this well, so I secured a couple of fertile chicken eggs on the 30th and planned to get them cooking by the first. Of course, our little bator kicked the bucket. All day, I couldn't get the temp up beyond 90 degrees (it's been hoverin around 86 - 87).

Since mom was so excited, I went ahead and bought another - Little Giant to be exact. The eggs in the old bator have been in 80 some degrees for 24 hours. Are they still viable do you believe? Do I have time to pull this off before she leaves on the evening of the 21st?

So, now equipped with a bator, I drove around this evening trying to find eggs. The only place I could get last minute eggI found a farm that had 300 hens, and 4 roos. They gave me two more eggs, what are the chances that they'd be fertile?

(lucky roos, eh?)

Thanks.

 

[tx_dane_mom]

1st where are you at? 2nd how many eggs are in the 1st batch? You'll know w/in the 1st 10 days if the embryos are dead from the heat fluctuation. My guys have been in a similar situation and it killed some...but not all...like 1/3 of them.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Hmmm... I wouldn't have thought that 80°F for a day would kill them, especially if they're fresh. I leave mine sitting at 70°F while collecting enough to incubate. As long as you don't chill them, then try to bring them back up to temp I would think that they would be fine. I would incubate them anyway - worst case is they don't make it. Sounds like you hedged your bets by adding some more eggs in there.... 50/50 chance they're roos.

That is so sweet... I bet she's excited!

 

[ChickNLittle]

Well I have two promising stories for you. I had two dozen eggs on the counter for 3 weeks and got very good hatch results. Actually better results than the "fresh" eggs. Also, in another instance, we had a power failure out here for about 12, hours and of course the temp went down in my bator, but I still got a great hatch out of those and it was really chilly that night.

Some people have even taken refrigerated eggs and put them in the bator to see what would happen and more than 50 % hatched. So go for it!

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I don't think the 80 degrees messed them up. Just think about it as they sat in the nest for 24 hours on a warm summer day.

They should be fine, go ahead and incubate them.

As for the eggs you bought most recently there is a pretty good chance they aren't going to be fertile. Incubate them anyway, you never know, those might just be some busy roosters. LOL

I think your fine, no worries.

-Kim

 

[cricket-cricket]

Oh good.

Now, let's hope they make a go of it and hatch by the 20th so Mom can enjoy the show.

So - does anyone have any experience, tips or suggestions with the Little Giant model? I do not have an egg turner, it is still air. I can turn myself, but gosh, doesn't that mean a bit of heat loss? How about humidity?? Will the water in the pool alone be enough? I suppose it should be, that's how it was designed, right?

And finally, the thermometer. I don't have much time here to putz with it - it's curtains time Are the thermometers fairly accurate?

Thanks. Fingers crossed!

 

[Mrs MIA]

The little thermometer that comes with the LG says right on it that it's accurate to ± 2°F... You really need a better one than that, but if you keep it between 99.5 and 100 you should be ok. The humidity depends on where you are and what your ambient humidity is. If you're in Hawaii and it's 75%, don't put any water in there. If you're like me, in AK, where the humidity in the house is 30% because of the heater, then you'll need to keep it full 24/7. Perhaps even add another small bowl of water.
The hen gets off the nest a couple of times a day to eat, poop, whatever, so the eggs will cool down some... just turn them quickly, check the water level, and get them back in the heat... you should be fine.