Are my eggs dead?

Question

I'm in the midst of my first experience hatching chickens. I have been incubating my eggs for 6 days, and recently moved the incubator to a new room. I didn't realize that the outlet I plugged it into was attached to the light switch, so when I turned out the lights, I turned the incubator off. The eggs didn't have heat for an entire night, about 12 hours. Should I continue to incubate them and hope for the best, or are they dead? And how can I tell if they are dead when I candle them?

Answer 1

It is possible that they will be OK. You can candle them and will see a very small embryo. Candle them again in a few days and if they have grown you will know that they are alive. If they are not larger they will have started to deteriorate. You don't have to wait the entire hatching period to know that they are bad. The first experience hatching eggs, there are a dozen things that can go wrong, so don't feel to bad if you fail a couple of times. If you fail try again, it can be a wonderful experience. A day or two before the eggs are due to hatch hold an egg to a child's ear and watch the expression on their face when they hear the chick "peek-peek" while still in the egg. All of your failures will be worthwhile.

Answer 2

When candling an egg, an infertile one will be clear.  A chick will show up as a small dark spot that will grow increasingly larger as time goes along.  If your incubator is styrofoam, they'll hold the heat for quite some time and the more eggs you have, the longer it'll stay warm.  I'd be sure to plug the incubator back in and hope for the best.  At a week, you should be able to see small dark spots in the fertile eggs.  Any eggs entirely clear can be tossed.  Wait another4-7 days and see if the dark spots have gotten larger.  If not, then they're probably dead.  At 2 weeks, the dark spot should be very visable and take up a good portion of the egg's interior.

Answer 3

You should continue to incubate them and hope for the best. It is a 50/50 chance of survival...

You have to consider the temperature of the room also...

But Remember the hen doesn't sit on her eggs 24/7!