Anyone do a partial dry hatch before?

[Trinitydraco]

So where I live it's very humid this time of year. Even with the A/C on the humidity doesn't drop below 40% in the house. I discovered very quickly that ANY water in my incubator drove the humidity WAY past where it should be for those first 18 days. As one does, I went online for solutions fearing the worst if my humidity wasn't perfect at all times. Color me surprised when I came across "dry hatching". So on day 3 I took all the water out of my incubator and settled in to watch. It is now day 16 and as of yesterday the air cells look perfect! Now some people have urged me to do a total dry hatch stating things like "I had a perfect hatch with 38% humidity in lockdown" and others have said "Get your humidity up as high as you can during lockdown or your chicks will die!" So here I am contemplating the options. I "think" I am going to go with the dry incubator until day 18 and then crank the humidity right up. I have been assured that you can't drown chicks in lockdown and that it only happens if the eggs didn't loose enough moisture BEFORE lockdown. As my humidity has been right around 50% and the air cells look great I don't have much to worry about on that end. All 9 eggs have happy wiggly chicks inside and all have great air cells. I guess I just wanted to have some other chicken peeps weigh in before I make my final decision. Dry, moderate or high humidity?

 

[Pugsabi]

I don't know the answer, but please post pics of your new babies when they hatch! Good luck.

 

[Kiki]

I did!

I added zero water to my bator and then I only bumped up the humidity at the end to about 40 at hatch.

 

[RubyNala97]

I did!

I added zero water to my bator and then I only bumped up the humidity at the end to about 40 at hatch.

That’s interesting! So for hatch you stayed at 40% humidity and all went well? Are you in and out of the incubator at hatch? Or do you keep it closed the whole time?

 

[Kiki]

That’s interesting! So for hatch you stayed at 40% humidity and all went well? Are you in and out of the incubator at hatch? Or do you keep it closed the whole time?

My bator was closer to twenty percent the whole time and only bumped up at the last minute, literally.

Give me a few minutes and I'll show you how much I was in and out of the bator. I filmed it all. Woot.
I would not call 50 percent a dry run though. That seems high TO ME.

 

[RubyNala97]

My bator was closer to twenty percent the whole time and only bumped up at the last minute, literally.

Give me a few minutes and I'll show you how much I was in and out of the bator. I filmed it all. Woot.
I would not call 50 percent a dry run though. That seems high TO ME.

Ok! Also what breed are you hatching?

 

[Kiki]

Ok! Also what breed are you hatching?

I hatched out some mixed breed chicks.

If you scroll through the first pages of this thread you will come across the videos I mention above.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/kikis-horse-eggs-2-have-hatched-1-left-to-hatch.1248197/

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I run my bator pretty dry... living in the PNW, we stay pretty humid on the coast... often 60% in my house.

Depending on egg color... I have ran as low as 17% through day 18, then up to 65%.

In general I like to run around 35% and then up to 60-65% depending on how many eggs are going into lockdown. With a large hatch it can reach 100% in there, so I would go closer to 50%.

Most chicks could survive if you run 50% the whole time. Humidity isn't nearly as important as temperature. A few point one way or the other is no big deal. But temp a few degrees one way or the other is life or death to the embryo.

Thing is... not all eggs incubated under the same condition will lose the same amount of moisture.

Please note I do go with the 35% when incubating dark Marans and white eggs together. I usually have very acceptable and sometimes 100% hatches. I always move the eggs around to a new spot daily since temp and humidity can vary throughout the bator EVEN in forced air.... Get my best hatches in my still air bators, hand turning. But still use my forced air with auto turners... also!

Happy hatching!