Dry Incubation Help

[Kris01]

UPDATE: These are Olandsk Dwarf Chicken eggs.

Hello I just tried my first dry incubation and only 1 out of the 6 eggs hatched. I am using a styrofoam incubator with a fan inside, if I have 0 water the humidity would be 20-25% which I read was too low. So I added a little water to 1 of the channels for the 1st 18 days and kept the humidity about 30%. The air pockets looked great the entire time, candling day 18 looked great, for lockdown I had the humidity between 50-55% which was all channels filled with water. Day 21 I saw the eggs moving, only 1 hatched out, when candling the other eggs you see a perfect chicken inside but it never broke through to the air cell. I see no movement out of the chickens as well, it appears they died on day 21 without going into the air cell. Any ideas what I did wrong? Was the humidity too low for the lockdown period?

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

It has a fan inside to circulate the air so they should all be the same.

Mine has a fan
There are cool and warmer spots even with fans

 

[Ridgerunner]

Was the humidity too low for the lockdown period?

I'll include these links, you might see something to help. But low humidity during lockdown will not stop them from internal pipping. It might cause shrink-wrapping but it didn't.

Incubation Troubleshooting - Incubation and Embryology - University of Illinois Extension

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)

Common Incubation Problems: Causes and Remedies (ucanr.edu)

I think where Nuthatched is headed is that they may still be good, just not ready to hatch. I think it is a good point but will leave that to him.

 

[Kris01]

Did you calibrate s hygrometer separate from the incubator one ?

I did

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I haven’t hatched chicks but do ducklings
I have had them hatch days apart till I learned the one side of my bator is cooler then the other
Now I move my eggs all around so nobody is staying on the Warmer or cooler side
If you didn’t move the eggs around this could by why you have a delay in hatch

 

[mcdze]

ive had humidity all over the place with chicken eggs, mostly, i dont think about it just keep alittle water in the bator and i dont think humidity has 'ever' caused me a bad hatch... from experience, i would think somethings up with the temp .. just for an example scenario the dangly probe on the bator isnt at 'egg level' so its reading 2 degrees from actual, AND its location isnt in a middle of the temp variation range throughout the bator which makes it another degree out for 75% of the area, AND the bator fluctuates due to ambient temp and maybe a draft from an air vent overnight, AND not to mention its calibration is likely a couple degrees out from actual ... so. that equals 'most likely' a cooked bunch of eggs .. or chilled ... of course this is all conjecture .. id be sure to have about 4 digital temp gauges throughout a good sized bator at egg level and monitor it every couple of hours for several days to see whats going on ..but humidity .. doubt it ..

 

[nuthatched]

Sorry, Olandsk Dwarf chickens, I’ll try to update the original post.

I'm sorry, I mean what was the date that you set?

 

[Kris01]

I haven’t hatched chicks but do ducklings
I have had them hatch days apart till I learned the one side of my bator is cooler then the other
Now I move my eggs all around so nobody is staying on the Warmer or cooler side
If you didn’t move the eggs around this could by why you have a delay in hatch

It has a fan inside to circulate the air so they should all be the same.

 

[SpringValleyAcres]

UPDATE: These are Olandsk Dwarf Chicken eggs.

Hello I just tried my first dry incubation and only 1 out of the 6 eggs hatched. I am using a styrofoam incubator with a fan inside, if I have 0 water the humidity would be 20-25% which I read was too low. So I added a little water to 1 of the channels for the 1st 18 days and kept the humidity about 30%. The air pockets looked great the entire time, candling day 18 looked great, for lockdown I had the humidity between 50-55% which was all channels filled with water. Day 21 I saw the eggs moving, only 1 hatched out, when candling the other eggs you see a perfect chicken inside but it never broke through to the air cell. I see no movement out of the chickens as well, it appears they died on day 21 without going into the air cell. Any ideas what I did wrong? Was the humidity too low for the lockdown period?

I am new to this but have you heard about the fact that it can essentially "shrink wrap" the chicks if you open the incubator too soon? Also, I rescued 2 eggs that were abandoned on day 18. 1 hatched on day 21. I really wanted there to be at least 2 so I waited a long time before giving up. The second one hatched on day 23.

 

[nuthatched]

What day did you set?