i have talked to many breeders and they all hatch different ways. some put water in at first and then none till day 18. some put no water in till day 18 . then others keep water in the whole time . im hatching some maran eggs and hear they do better with the dry method. i have a sportsman . if i dont put water in it runs around 25% humidity. what do yall think works best ?
With all my hatches, I try to keep the humidity between 30 & 40 %. When it gets to 25%, I add just a little water. Then on day 18 kick it up to between 55 To 60%. This has worked for me for many years. Some will say it doesn't work, but a poor hatch rate for me is 80%. Using a sportsman with the above mentioned humidity percentage you should have a great hatch rate.
From my experience, dry incubating is evil... Sportsman is a very good incubator, so do the normal 40-50% hum. for first 18 days then 60-65% for days 18 + will be good. I have an LG and I am now getting 85%+ hatch rates with that humidity. Before, I tried "dry incubation" and never got higher than 40% hatch rates. You should do what works normally for the eggs you hatch, don't try a new method with special eggs. Dry incubating is very subjective because of where you live, and how the humidity is on a normal basis. Some states are dryer than others or more humid. "Dry incubating" could be 40% hum. and considered "dry" in one state and 20% hum. be considered "dry" in another state. Hope that this helps. I'm very against that method because of how much time and effort I wasted on it and I got bad results. Just trying to save ya from learning the hard way. Good luck.
I think it really depends on your climate and the environment you have the incubator in. If it's in a cellar that's already damp or in a humid climate then you could get away with dry incubating. Just remember that your average chook sits on the eggs with all her feathers covering them, they aren't all exposed and apt to dry out like how we have them in the incubators, so I would imagine humidity is important to aid optimal chick development in our artificial hen environment. I think you just have to fiddle with it till it works for your situation. I know of people who swear that they never put any water in the trays till day 18, and others who have a hard time maintaining humidity and then struggle to increase it in day 18. It just varies. I would go with what the manufacturer suggests and then see how each hatch goes and if you're unhappy with the manual suggestions then increase/decrease it and then test it again. chookstarter
