Is Dry Incubation for Me?

[lizberry81]

My first hatch was abysmal.

Started with 31 eggs, 17 made it to final lock down. 11 ayam cemanis from Cackle and 7 assorted from MPC.

7 of the cemanis hatched but 2 died
6 of the MPC hatched but 2 died

Giving me a grand total of 9 living chicks from 31 eggs (incubator: Farm Innovators 4250).

I asked a very successful hatcher her success and she said she does dry incubation. No water until lockdown.

My next batch of eggs are on the way: do I try dry incubation? I also have access to a Nuture Right 360. Do I go all out and dry incubate the whole batch? Or split them between the 2 incubators and dry incubate half? Is there much difference between vertical and horizontal setting?

Lay that wisdom on me... thank you!

 

[Nef003]

I have done dry incubation with auto egg turner with an eBay 12 egg incubator I got for 30$ - no water until lockdown and I have had very high hatch rate. I love it. I set it and forget it.

 

[CNJ]

My back yard fertile egg hatch rate is about 90% to 100%, and my mail order hatch rate range from zero to 60%. I never did a dry hatch, I always bring my humidity up to 60%. However, when ever I check, it can be as low as 40%, so my humidity goes up and down.

The biggest problem with mail order eggs is air displacement, your results sound normal to me. I am pretty sure your hatch rate would go up if you got them from your own flock.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@MGG has always been super helpful throughout my hatching journey. I can't remember her dry incubation results though. Honestly I believe there are multiple factors that will make dry incubation results vary from person to person. Here in NC, our summers tend to leave us with higher relative humidity. I don't run any type of humidifier/dehumidifier in my home unless the air is super dry and that's only during the winter, when I'm not incubating. So the relative humidity in my home is already a bit high during the times that I incubate. For me, leaving the incubator water ports empty is oftentimes necessary. Also, doing a dry incubation doesn't necessarily mean running the machine dry, at least not in every instance. I understand that's what you're looking at here though. Are you incubating chicken eggs again? Either way, I wish you the very best with high hatch rates!