Dry hatch standard chicken eggs

[konachicks]

I raised to the humidity to 65%. Two out of my 3 hatched. I waited a day for the last one, then candled it. It looked dead. There was no movement, and it just swished around inside the egg. It's aircell was very large. The only thing I can think of is, it was sitting directly under the vent in the incubator.
I do have 2 adorable babies though. They are almost 3 weeks old now

Thanks so much for the update! They are adorable!

 

[blklangshandude]

So I have an NR 360 incubator and tonight (Tues. 9/13) is lockdown time. I am doing a dry hatch. I'm also on a NR 360 FB page where many people do not even add water at lockdown. They never add any water at all and get good hatch rates. I'm conflicted on raising humidity. If I don't, then I have the fear of shrink wrap for the chicks. If I do, then I may see the drowning people talk about on fully developed viable babies. I obviously don't want either!!! Is it more a matter of looking at the air cell size at lockdown time to determine humidity needs?
I set 6 eggs, 3 quit early -around day 7 or 8. The remaining 3 looked to be quite good size at day 16 candleing, air cells had grown and looked good in my limited experience. So having 3 left I want all of them to make it!!! Any advice?
Dry hatch - do you raise humidity? Some experienced hatchers do not, and they say humidity rises as soon as chicks pip and they only add water if humidity goes below 20%! -My first time hatching anything! Thank you.

It’s a balancing act but I found too dry is much less risk than too much humidity. As a matter of fact I have never heard of an 100% dry hatch go wrong. Just err on the side of not enough if you are not sure of the perfect balance. Less water is better in my observation.

 

[Erinnlyn]

It’s a balancing act but I found too dry is much less risk than too much humidity. As a matter of fact I have never heard of an 100% dry hatch go wrong. Just err on the side of not enough if you are not sure of the perfect balance. Less water is better in my observation.

Thank you. I have another hatch going now with lockdown tomorrow. Only 1 egg remains because of a hen that apparently doesn't want to mate!