Do YOU reccomend Dry Hatching?

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

I think you mean dry incubating? I have done this almost from the get go, as my ambient humidity is high. Mine runs between 30-40%, and I have never had problems with "wet" chicks. You can run as low as 20-25%, but I believe you do not want to dip lower than 20%. Your plan sounds good. You will find out if you need adjusting as you go along. Keep an eye on your aircell size. Good luck!

Ah, yes!! Dry incubating, that's what I meant haha. I've got all my candling equipment cleaned and ready to go, I'm a bit ahead of the game
I dropped a bit of water In the water trays a little while ago. It dropped to 19% but has since gone back up to 26%. I'm so anxious already! Thank you!

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

@FuzzyOwlFeet you can candle at day 7 but I usually wait until day 10. Buy day 10 you will know for sure who has quit and who hasn’t. I found that at day seven there will be some that are a bit harder too tell. But I’m always candling darker eggs.

Hey, any and all tips help. Thank you for sharing that with me! All my eggs are fairly pale, but it has been a long while since I've hatched eggs so it wouldn't hurt to hold off longer just to be certain. I'd hate to throw out a viable one, or leave a rotten one in for it to explode later and kill the rest.

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

I did my first dry hatch and had my first 100% hatch rate. So I'm sold on it's superiority. As I understand it you should not let your humidity drop below 30%. Dry hatching is also not for every climate, what is your ambient humidity? I live on the coast with a minimum humidity of 80% so my incubator (NurtureRight 360) has only dropped below 30% on one occasion, it's currently running at 51%. For the last 3 days I brought it up to 60% and it rose to 74% as the first two chicks hatched. It was a VERY clean hatch, I was very surprised at the difference there, there was no "egg smell" either throughout the whole incubation.

Ours changes a lot, it's usually 50% and higher. I'm trying my best to keep the incubator as stable as possible, but yes I will flat out admit its dropped below 30 and stayed for a while. I'm actually considering using a humidifier in the room. The incubator is in the heated garage, not my house.

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

Personally i dont, dry hatching seems to take longer, but it is possible to hatch them with dry hatching. I hatched mine with humitity and it seems to be a lot quicker and better. But dont worry! Hatching it dry is easy, dont add water and if they seem to take long just add a bit, candle it every now and then and you shouls be good! Tell me if you have more questions, ive hatched 6 eggs. Waiting on 2 more.

What is your hatching percentage? My first hatch was 50%, second one 60%, then dropped to 30% my most recent one with humidity. (3 years ago, so not THAT recent). Maybe my expectations are too high and that's normal? They are all eggs I've gathered myself, not shipped ones.

For the most part I'm doing this for fun, I've got the room and have been wanting chicks for a long time. So I'm very open to your tips and methods, I'm willing to try anything.

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

My first time incubating i did a dry hatch. I would never do it differently. Not stressing over humidity was a relief. My dry incubation stayed at 30-40% humidity. I didn't have a drop of water in the incubator until lockdown. Then it didnt take much to get it to 60-70%, and im not even sure if that was needed. The sudden spike in humidity didn't seem necessary as when the first chick hatched, it naturally raised the humidity. If i decide to ever hatch again, i will experiment with not stressing with raising humidity during lockdown either. Ive seen many people forget to adjust for lockdown and had better hatch rates than they did opposed.

I honestly love seeing so many different people's suggestions and ways of incubating, it shows just how adaptable good embryos can be. This is just what I've been wanting to hear! Thank you!!

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

You bet I do.
I have fantastic hatch rates and I'm convinced it's party because I keep my humidity low throughout.
20-30% until I see an external pip and then I may raise it to 50%. Never higher.

This is perfect, 20-30% is what it's been sticking to. Thank you so much!! I'm glad to hear there is such a wide range of humidities eggs can incubate at, it gives me more room for error haha. What incubator do you use? I've been considering upgrading but I have no idea where to even start looking. I usually do 20+ eggs at a time if that helps.

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

Sadly I just did my first candling and most of the eggs did not make it. There are 6 left and we go on lockdown the 25th. Lost 13, they tried and quit. Will probably order some chicks locally in a week or so.

I will try more dry-incubating after these hatch, and do eggtopsies on those that don't. I kept my humidity at 23-30%.

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

Well, my first dry incubation didn't go too well. 30% hatch rate. Six chicks made it, but two aren't thriving very well. I did eggtopsies, one was malpositioned and never pipped. The others pipped the airsac but didn't progress any further than that. One looked shrink wrapped, but it never pipped so I'm not sure thats what killed it.

I decided not to incubate back-to-back, I'm pretty disheartened. I'm just going to enjoy these 6 and focus on them for now. I'll try again another time. Thank you all for the tips and suggestions, I may have to look into a different incubator before I try again.