Hi. New breeder here, with only 4 hatched clutches under our belt. At the last St. Louis NARBC, we decided to splurge and get a true icubator by Nature’s Spirit (we used a diy cooler before.)
We let it run for several weeks on a thermostat and it held amazingly, holding 89-90 degrees. Our first clutch of the season died within 2 weeks, we chalked it up to mom being a first timer. We dont measure our vermiculite perfectly, but it clumped and i did not have any drips when i set up that box. I use the thermostat to measure how hot the icubator is as well as a seperate digital thermometer just to be double sure.
Clutch #2 just dropped 3 days ago, i have 5 great looking eggs and one who was iffy from the start + a slug. I set it up the same, this time i took more precaution by baking the vermiculite first. I added water the same and used egg crate to keep the eggs off it. Sealed with cling wrap.
Things have been great until i got off work today and saw my thermostat had shut off. My eggs were at 70 degrees. I quickly got changed and reset, it took them a couple hours but we are back at 88-89 again. I noticed during the warm up they keep sweating I’ve wiped them off again and again. Its not condensation from the bin because my lid is dry and Ive been using a paper towel to catch drips. The cling wrap has been taken off for now. Is this harmful? What do i need to do?
Are they okay? I know its too early to tell what that power cut may have done and I’m prepared for that, i just didnt know if theres anymore i can do. I know the icubator was running last night, so at the VERY MOST i think it was 12hrs before discovery.