Sad Egg Day. Incubator Lid Was Left off for an Hour..

[farmgirrl]

I had a really sad egg day today... Everything was going great. I had put 28 pekin bantam eggs in my incubator and have been candling them regularly (the last time was yesterday) and every single one was looking sooo good! Then today I took the incubator lid off, as always, to allow them too cool down for ten minutes and forgot to put it on. I found them an hour later and they were all pretty cold. I am devastated, I was soo looking forward to having some baby chicks and only had 6 more days to wait... do you think they might still survive?? I would be so grateful for any advice!

 

[bex46]

Oh thats so sad. Hope youve put the lid back on, fingers crossed.
By the way, i dont no who told you to let them cool for 10 mins, but this is not nessassary.

 

[tygrysek75]

Do not worry to much the hatch day may be a little off but they still should do well.This is not the end of the world.They have a huge chance to survive this without to much trouble,stay positiveThey can survive much longer without any heat so do not be too sad

 

[farmgirrl]

ohhh good! this is exactly what I wanted to hear! Thank you for your help. I will keep them nice and cosy with the lid on from now on

 

[chrismahon]

If it was over 12 hours I would be concerned Farmgirl. Lots of people on the forum have tales of power cuts and broodies in the wrong nest box (us included) where the eggs have gone stone cold after 4 hours and still hatched on time. Two I have heard go 12 hours and they were just a day late hatching. Look forward to the photographs!

 

[dorinda]

Don't worry, it was only an hour, I would start to get worried after about 5 or 6 hours, your chicks might hatch a bit late and sporadically - but there is no reason why they shouldn't hatch -

 

[Chuck]

Only an hour !!! Shouldn't make any difference except they may be a bit late hatching. I've had power cuts up to 8 hours, eggs cold but they still hatched but nearly two days late.