Day 7 & Day 5, was attempting a dry hatch... what should I do now?

[chellebyerly]

Thank you happy chick. I was really interested in the dry hatch, it seems to work well in humid areas. but I just cant get it to go that low again. LOL



R@ndy- its a method where you use a much lower humidity than the normal hatch. I am guess its 'dry' because there is less liqued in the air.

 

[chellebyerly]

Courtshep- LOL, I might should do that! LOL
and Thank you

I need to update it. I used to be good about it, but I have gotten lazy..

 

[AHappychick]

I alway thought it was 'dry" cause you let it go at the humidity of what ever it was in your air, usually in the 40's with out additional water but what do I know. either way your humidity is just fine you should have a good hatch, dont worry about the spike to 60 should not effect it. Good luck

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I'm in Florida too I do the dry hatch as well. I never put much water in it stays around 40-44% I don't have a cabinet yet but I only add 1/2 cup of hot water fwhen it gets down to 25%. Then on day 18 when I take the turner out I up it to 60%. When I had a few eggs that were put in later than most, I just followed the routine for the majority. I had 7 that wer 3 days behind. The increase in humidity did not hurt them nor did taking the turner out as they were not turned any more either. I had 5 of the 7 hatch the othr 2 didn't develop.

 

[chellebyerly]

Thats what I will do next time. Keep it in the 20's. I thought my goal was low to mid 40's. It was doing great, until the leak and the wood swelled and everything.


I am just scared now that its been right at 50% for over a week to go back to dry hatch. They are developing. I think.. LOL

I am on day 10 with most of them, so we will know in a few days.

and I am glad to hear that you were able to have a sucessful hatch with the staggerd hatch dates!

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Yes, I would take the water out now and put it back in at the first pip. Only add a very small container of water at first pip. Don't worry about the humidity being on the lower side during incubation. The eggs need to lose a certain amount of water and when the humidity is too high, they can't. This causes chicks to drown.

Yes, I think 50% is way too high and I would NEVER bump it to 70%. Mine never goes above 50-55% after the first pip and during hatching and I've had no problems. On rare occasions you'll get a chick that will pip and then take forever...24-36 hours to zip and hatch. I watch those closely for too much drying of the membrane.

 

[chellebyerly]

okay, if you dont think it will hurt for them to have been at high humidity for a week and going down to low I will take out the water.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

No, I don't think it will hurt them. Just remember that you only have 2 more weeks to make sure they lose enough fluid, so be certain the humidity doesn't go above 35% or so...if you can help it! If it's more than that with absolutely no water in it, then don't worry about it. There's really nothing more you can do.

I applaude you for trying the dry incubation method. I lost a bunch of chicks to drowning before I quit looking at my humidity at all...then I started having high hatch rates.

I have noticed that when the humidity outside is really low and our a/c is on, the humidity in the bator will go below 25%. That's when I add just a very, very small cup of warm water. Seriously, not more than 2 - 2 1/2 inches across...underneath the light if possible. That should raise it up to around 30-35%. If it goes higher, use a smaller container. It's the surface area of the container that will cause the humidity to be higher or lower...as you likely already know

 

[chellebyerly]

Thank you

After I researched it, I thought that maybe the differnce in sucess in dry vs wet was the area. And it seemed that more southerners had better hatchrates wtih dry.

I would love to see a controlled study about this. I think it would be VERY interesting.