Hi all. I went in to check the eggs yesterday and I left my incubator off for about 19 hours by accident. Lowest temp overnight was probably 72. Are my eggs toast?
Totally new breeder here so any (kind & respectful) input is much appreciated.
Thank you
The saying goes ‘incubate until there’s no debate’
How long have they been incubating?
That is pretty low, but if you got the incubator back to the proper temp after you realized it, there’s still maybe a bit of a chance. It would have taken a bit to dip down on the air temps. The incubation media would also cool down slower than the air temps.
Obviously if they really start to change color or mold then it’s over.
I got a govee thermometer and humidity gauge that I dropped into an egg box just to make it easier to check on the temps in my incubator. It’s super handy because of the graphs showing daily or weekly temp flux from my phone.
You can also set it to warn your phone if the temp gets too crazy, though sometimes that feature is delayed for mem
Thanks. I’ll look into the Govee one. I think I have a couple older ones laying around actually. The incubator itself has a temperature warning feature, but of course not if the whole thing is powered off…
As for how long they’ve been incubating, there are several clutches in there. The oldest one was laid May 29 and the newest one June 23. Does how far along they are have an impact on their chances of survival?
It’s possible that some of the ones around the development stages may see some issues. So do keep an eye out with any that were put in recently.
Say eggs that are 1-3 weeks old.
If they do hatch you may see some spinal or eye development issues as the most common ones.
Thats a good one. Better to give them a chance then to pull the plug. I think thats the hardest part of breeding. Seeing tragedy and having to deal with it.