dry incubation

[emmaellis111]

so it might be fine? this is my 2nd attempt of hatching eggs,first batch drowned as I had massive humidity spikes in the first 17 days (I think anyway), and it was a bugger to try and keep the rigjt humidity,but with low humidity it is very stable that's y im trying the dry incubation method, hopefully this will work,! god I do hope it works i was gutted with when I lost the 1st batch, I saw the chick move and everything, this is gonna sound weird but I had a bond like feeling, so yeah I was VERY upset, HOPE THIS WORKS XX

 

[AmyLynn2374]

so it might be fine? this is my 2nd attempt of hatching eggs,first batch drowned as I had massive humidity spikes in the first 17 days (I think anyway), and it was a bugger to try and keep the rigjt humidity,but with low humidity it is very stable that's y im trying the dry incubation method, hopefully this will work,! god I do hope it works i was gutted with when I lost the 1st batch, I saw the chick move and everything, this is gonna sound weird but I had a bond like feeling, so yeah I was VERY upset, HOPE THIS WORKS XX

I totally know what you mean. My very first hatch I borrowed the incubator from my sister and had to buy a thermometer/hygrometer because she didn't have a working one. I never checked the thermometer for accuracy. I just stuck it in there. I had 17 eggs going into lockdown. They were lively and all moving. I was so excited. I thought they looked a little behind, but was hoping it was just inexperience. Day 21 came and went, so did 22, at the end of 23 I actually had a pip. Chick hatched day 24 and one other pipped and hatched day 25, but died. The rest were all DIS. So dissapopinted. Someone told me to check my thermometer, so I did. It was reading 6 degrees higher than it actually was so my bator was running 6 degrees low the entire time. That is a big part of why I try to help when I can. I know what it feels like to have that dissapointed hatch. Plus, I was using 60%+ for humidity because that's what the book said, so I'm sure if the temps didn't get them, the drowning did.
I gave it another try a few weeks later, this time with 3 thermometers that were accurate and after researching "dry" incubation. I haven't had a bad hatch since and actually had 100% on my last hatch last season.

 

[emmaellis111]

I bet u were devastated!, my incubator is a pain when it comes to adding water, you could grantee the alarm would go off 5am because the humidity had dropped again!, bare in mind i have 3 kids under the age of 4, god the **** things noisy so no sleep for me, but so far I haven't had to add any water and has kept a pretty consistent humidity at 30%
the lowest its dropped was to 27%, so hopefully the silly alarm won't go off,

, I am so so hoping that this batch works, so hopefully in a couple of weeks i'll have some baby d'uccles

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I bet u were devastated!, my incubator is a pain when it comes to adding water, you could grantee the alarm would go off 5am because the humidity had dropped again!, bare in mind i have 3 kids under the age of 4, god the **** things noisy so no sleep for me, but so far I haven't had to add any water and has kept a pretty consistent humidity at 30%
the lowest its dropped was to 27%, so hopefully the silly alarm won't go off,

, I am so so hoping that this batch works, so hopefully in a couple of weeks i'll have some baby d'uccles

Best of luck! Hope to hear good things.

 

[harrellkd]

I'm confused about the concept of dry incubation and increasing humidity. How do you increase humidity if it is truly dry?

 

[emmaellis111]

its only dry for the first 17-18 days, then the humidity has to go high so the chick doesn't get shrink wrapped

x

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm confused about the concept of dry incubation and increasing humidity. How do you increase humidity if it is truly dry?

The term "dry incubation" is very misleading. I use the term "low humidity incubation" because that is really what it is. You don't want no humidity, but a lot of the time you can run dry and still run at 25 or 30% humidity. More if you are in a humid climate. I only run truely dry if the bator will stay above 25% when it's dry. I don't like anything lower than that for any period of time. If it won't hold that dry I add a wet sponge to the bator and that usually holds it about 30%.

At hatch you need humidity. No matter what you do the first 17 days, those babies need moisture to hatch out. Most people increase to at least 60-65%. If you are a hands off hatcher that's fine. I hatch at 75% because I am so not a hands off hatcher.

Here's more about the concept: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

ETA: It's NOT recommended for high altitude hatching. Higher elevations need higher humidity.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Gotcha! I have never hatched before, so all of this is new to me! Trying to learn as much as I can!

Best way to do it!

 

[kuchchicks]

x2! I totally agree. My hatches have become way more successful when I switched to dry.

 

[emmaellis111]

well im in day 13, will let u all know how we get on, but so far all looking good

x