I am going to try your method. There are many different ways of incubating and it is all on a personal opinion and way it works for you. This is a new incubator and getting it tweaked takes awhile. I sure hope this way works for me. The eggs are from my hens if that makes a differene in how they need to be dealt with. Thank you so much for the info.Girlie, we need a crew from the Bionic Woman to work you over and fix you up!!! That wrist looks like it hurts. So sorry.
I think there's just a fundamental difference in how folks incubate- I always had issues with shipped eggs not losing enough moisture over the course of incubation, and they had fluid still in there when they needed to pip- they drowned. I started experimenting with dry incubation and have used it ever since. I leave all the holes wide open, don't use any water at all until the first one pips, and I use a paper towel on the rack when that happens, so I can soak it and raise humidity immediately. It's in my signature below. Different methods work for different incubators, but that always worked for me and my styros. I think it also depends on whether your eggs are shipped or local- shipped eggs seem to need less humidity as they evaporate poorly.
It all comes down to experimenting with what does or doesn't succeed for you and your incubator. I know Danz and I have hatched thousands each and we have vastly different methods, so that shows how varied results can be.
I didnt like only having those 2 small chambers to hold water and that is why I plugged mine too. I just reopened them to see how it works that way. The ones that did not pip I opened them up and there was tons of fluid ont he inside, it had not even gotten thru to the air cell yet, but it was a fully developed chick.If you don't plug those holes you can't get the humidity up high enough. You need the additional area to add water. I never saw the purpose of the holes in the bottom because if it isn't sitting like on an open shelf air won't go through the bottom anyway. You should have vent holes on the top for bringing in and removing air and the fan also works in the air exchange. If they aren't there I'd make my own. I can only speak from using the little styros in the past.
Maidenwolf what do you mean by drowning exactly?
I was thinking the ventilation was an issue. I just went and reopened those holes on the bottom to see how this hatch goes.It sounds as though your problem is not enough ventilation. When you plugged the holes, did you create some new ones to compensate? Hatching chicks need a ton of oxygen, so an exchange of air is crucial to their successful hatch.
I would love to come and have dinner with you. I am busy with DD all day but I think I will be free by dinnertime. I'll call you....