Is it a death sentence?

[startingover]

I goofed.

On the 12th of January I fired up my incubator and lovingly placed 28 eggs in the egg turner then shut the lid. Every few hours I anxiously peeked in the window to monitor the humidity and temperature (a bit of overkill, I know). I checked on them as soon as I got up, right before I left for work and again when I got home.

Temperatures held steady and the humidity barely moved. Perfect right???

Jump to January 18th. I was sitting at work waiting to clock in daydreaming about all the pretty baby chickens that would be hatching and the prospect of fresh eggs this summer...and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I gasp, my jaw dropped and I immediately grabbed my phone to text home.

What could be so bad you ask? Well, when I gently placed the eggs in the turner I put them little end up!!!! For the love of God! I am such a ditz sometimes...okay, a lot of the time but seriously...this isn't my first rodeo.

The eggs got turned fat side up before I returned home from work. I candled them last weekend (21st/22nd) and saw that 17 of the eggs were fertile and growing. I love being able to see the babies moving around in their eggs. Three of the eggs had a blood ring and the rest were clear.

I didn't think the fertility rate was bad considering the girl I got them from has one rooster in with dozens of ladies - primarily for protection. (Her breeding roos are kept elsewhere.)

My concern is that the air pocket in the viable eggs looks smaller than I remember it being. Granted, I haven't hatched chicks since last spring but...I don't know.

Have I inadvertently killed the poor babies before they get the chance to hatch? Will they run out of oxygen before they are able to break through the shell?

We go into lock down this coming week. I feel so badly about the potential ramifications that I'm becoming a nervous wreck.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

 

[MetalSmitten]

if you're able to see movement when you candle, i'd assume that means they're doing fine. if the air sacs look small, that usually is indicative of the humidity being too high. i've never actually put eggs in "wrong side up" but i would definitely not think of it as a death sentence. just think happy thoughts maybe put your humidity a bit lower. i think the egg orientation matters most at hatch time - chicks form inside the egg to naturally face the side with the air sac, which would put them upsidedown at hatch time and make it harder to break free. up until that point though, they're basically just floating around in there, so it shouldn't matter if they're on their side or right side up or whatever.

 

[Wannabefree]

Yes, egg orientation matters most at hatch time, so you remembering likely saved them from any harm. Good job!

 

[pinkfox]

the way i see it is this...momma hen doesnt go round checking her eggs are pointy end down all the time now does she?! most of the eggs end up at most on their side since balancing eggs on the pointy end is a trick ive yet to see a hen do...

so...quite honestly, i woudlnt worry too much about it.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Only one way to find out. It will be interesting to find out. I goofed last year. Had too much to play with at one time and I forgot lockdown. I was up in the loft, working on the barn and the kids yelled at me,"Momma, we got chicks all over the incubator. They were fine, but I felt really dumb.

 

[Wannabefree]

Only one way to find out. It will be interesting to find out. I goofed last year. Had too much to play with at one time and I forgot lockdown. I was up in the loft, working on the barn and the kids yelled at me,"Momma, we got chicks all over the incubator. They were fine, but I felt really dumb.

boy have I done that 1 or 10 times LOL! Mad scrambles to shut the turner off...never had one harmed thankfully

 

[Bettacreek]

Heavens no! You'll be fine. Duck eggs are hard to figure out which is the "pointy" end sometimes, and I've had them upside down for much longer than just 6 days before flipping them over. Haven't had any issues with it.

 

[startingover]

Whew! I feel better.

I did reduce the humidity for a bit hoping to increase the size of the air sac and was going to check a few tonight to see if it helped at all. It's funny how we as humans make everything so complicated and try to be so precise whereas in nature the critters seem to loosely follow inherent guidelines with lots of variance and are successful.

Lockdown starts on Monday. I've told everyone in the house so I know SOMEONE will remember.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. I'll keep ya'll posted.

 

[Denim Deb]

And since we know, we can remind you. (As long as we remember.)