Dry Hatch Eggs Losing Too Much Weight

[lotrfan76]

Hi everyone! I'm a first time chicken owner and I decided to do the dry hatch method for incubating my eggs. I have a Brinsea Maxi 24 Advance incubator. The humidity in my incubator has averaged 36% and I am on day 11. I weighed my eggs before setting them, on day 7, and on day 10. Day 7 weights didn't look bad at all but when I weighed the eggs on Day 10, they had dropped a dramatic amount of weight and I am really concerned. I would have thought 36% was ok for dry hatching. The one thing I didn't do and wish I would have is mark the air sac on the shell during candling. The air sacs don't look large to me, though.
I have boosted the humidity to 50% as of last night but this seems to not be "dry hatching". All embryos look good and are moving around. Should I stop worrying and stop weighing the eggs or are my chicks truly in trouble?
Thank you so much in advance for any replies! <3

 

[lotrfan76]

bump

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Hi everyone! I'm a first time chicken owner and I decided to do the dry hatch method for incubating my eggs. I have a Brinsea Maxi 24 Advance incubator. The humidity in my incubator has averaged 36% and I am on day 11. I weighed my eggs before setting them, on day 7, and on day 10. Day 7 weights didn't look bad at all but when I weighed the eggs on Day 10, they had dropped a dramatic amount of weight and I am really concerned. I would have thought 36% was ok for dry hatching. The one thing I didn't do and wish I would have is mark the air sac on the shell during candling. The air sacs don't look large to me, though.
I have boosted the humidity to 50% as of last night but this seems to not be "dry hatching". All embryos look good and are moving around. Should I stop worrying and stop weighing the eggs or are my chicks truly in trouble?
Thank you so much in advance for any replies! <3

I weight and mark my air cells for this very reason
You can adjust humidity to correct the issue just like you did
Do you have a calibrated hygrometer inside the bator to be sure if the humidity
My bator ones lie so I go by calibrated ones

 

[lotrfan76]

I have 2 Govee thermometer/hygrometers in the incubator. Another rookie move, I didn't know to calibrate them. But they've been measuring about the same humidity as the temp/humidity monitor I have in the room. So it seems like the incubator has been keeping the same humidity as the room it is sitting in. Another thing I wondered about is the scale I'm using. It's a relatively new kitchen scale but maybe it is throwing things off.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I have 2 Govee thermometer/hygrometers in the incubator. Another rookie move, I didn't know to calibrate them. But they've been measuring about the same humidity as the temp/humidity monitor I have in the room. So it seems like the incubator has been keeping the same humidity as the room it is sitting in. Another thing I wondered about is the scale I'm using. It's a relatively new kitchen scale but maybe it is throwing things off.

You can mark the air cell today then check again in 2 days and see how’s its looking
The scale could be off or babies could have been turning

 

[lotrfan76]

I did notice the weight bouncing around a little bit on some of the eggs when measuring so I thought it might be the embryo moving. I definitely want to do everything I can to give these babes the best chance to hatch. I will mark the air sac tonight and then check it again in 2 days like you mentioned. I know it's supposed to be ~1/3 of the shell at time of hatch so if they look good, I think I'm going to toss my scale in the trash. Crossing my fingers.
Thank you for your responses. Nervous mama here.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I did notice the weight bouncing around a little bit on some of the eggs when measuring so I thought it might be the embryo moving. I definitely want to do everything I can to give these babes the best chance to hatch. I will mark the air sac tonight and then check it again in 2 days like you mentioned. I know it's supposed to be ~1/3 of the shell at time of hatch so if they look good, I think I'm going to toss my scale in the trash. Crossing my fingers.
Thank you for your responses. Nervous mama here.

No matter how many times I hatch I always get nervous
Keep us posted and I’ll cross my fingers and toes for these little ones

 

[lotrfan76]

Hi again! I candled my eggs last night to mark the air sacs. I don't think these air sacs look like eggs that have lost too much weight. But I'm a rookie so thought I'd share some of them to get your opinions.
*edited to add* These pics were taken last night (day 11).