Dry hatching questions

[SweetieChicken234]

So I set eggs yesterday and I've been watching the temp and humidity inside the incubator with the Govee. It's bouncing between 98.4 and 100 degrees and the humidity is bouncing between 34-38%.

I've been reading that for dry incubating it should be between 15-30%. I am dry incubating because I'm in Florida and it is very humid. Humidity in this range is fine for dry hatching right? I've been reading just to check the air cell sizes and compare them to what they should be.

Also I've learned there are 2 ways to hatch with this. Add water and bump humidity to 60-65% or add NO water and let the chicks hatching add the only moisture. I have a Govee sitting on my counter outside the incubator to see what the temp and humidity is in the room. My actual room is 56% humidity (ugh, Florida). Would it be wiser to just dry hatch them and use my room humidity along with their hatching as the only source of humidity? If I add water by day 18 would that make the humidity too high?

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

I am in Florida myself and coming up to day 18 of incubation this afternoon. I am kind of going back and forth on this myself. My home humidity is only 30% the incubator registers the humidity at 34% but the Govee in it has it at 25.5%. I am thinking of raising the humidity this afternoon to 50-55% when I remove the eggs from the turner. Would like to hear advice if that would be correct. It turned very humid in North Central Florida this week and I thought the incubators would have reflected that change but it seems to not have impacted it.

 

[NatJ]

I've been reading that for dry incubating it should be between 15-30%. I am dry incubating because I'm in Florida and it is very humid. Humidity in this range is fine for dry hatching right? I've been reading just to check the air cell sizes and compare them to what they should be.

As far as I can tell, "dry hatching" means two different things:

--rare meaning, carefully maintaining humidity at a certain level, lower than what incubator advice usually says.

--more common meaning, just do not add water, and let them incubate at whatever humidity the incubator happens to end up with. The "dry" here would mean there is no water source in the incubator, but does not tell anything about what the actual humidity may be.

If you have no practical way to lower the humidity any further, then I would just let them incubate the way they are and see how it goes. If you decide you really do need lower humidity, you could try something like running a dehumidifier in the room with the incubator-- but personally, I would start by watching how this batch does with the humidity they get from your natural conditions.

Also I've learned there are 2 ways to hatch with this. Add water and bump humidity to 60-65% or add NO water and let the chicks hatching add the only moisture. I have a Govee sitting on my counter outside the incubator to see what the temp and humidity is in the room. My actual room is 56% humidity (ugh, Florida). Would it be wiser to just dry hatch them and use my room humidity along with their hatching as the only source of humidity? If I add water by day 18 would that make the humidity too high?

I would expect either way to work. The fewer eggs, the more likely that you should add water. The more eggs and chicks, the more they will raise their own humidity as they hatch, and the less likely that you will want to add water.

As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as "too much" humidity during hatching, unless it is making puddles where the chicks can get themselves wet again. Condensation all over the side of the incubator can make it hard to see inside, but I haven't see it hurt any chicks yet

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I am in Florida myself and coming up to day 18 of incubation this afternoon. I am kind of going back and forth on this myself. My home humidity is only 30% the incubator registers the humidity at 34% but the Govee in it has it at 25.5%. I am thinking of raising the humidity this afternoon to 50-55% when I remove the eggs from the turner. Would like to hear advice if that would be correct. It turned very humid in North Central Florida this week and I thought the incubators would have reflected that change but it seems to not have impacted it.

I'm on the treasure coast and the humidity hit hard this week. It was 93 Thursday and 95 I think yesterday. Horrendous heat and humidity. Let me know what your hatch does and what you do. I think I'm afraid to add water to mine.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

In the far past I used the standard practice and did okay. I was in Delaware in the winter, so dry. I read about dry hatching this time around and thought with the humidity in Florida it was the way to go. Apparently my HVAC keeps my home pretty dry so my bator is not as humid as I thought it would be. In Delaware I used a hovabator and did not add water to the channels but placed a covered bowl of water for humidity, which made less of a mess. I am using a Maticoopx 30 this time around. I will let you know how it goes and try to keep track of the humidity throughout the process.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

Just turned off the turner and laid eggs out on the incubator floor. Humidity was still under 30% so I added water to the first of two chambers using warm tap (well water) and in minutes my Govee showed the humidity up to over 60%. To lower it I used napkins in the water spout to pull some out and it is now around 55%. I hope to maintain that as my home humidity is low. I opened up the vent to full. I believe all eggs except one looks viable. Now it is watch and wait with some monitoring.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

Just turned off the turner and laid eggs out on the incubator floor. Humidity was still under 30% so I added water to the first of two chambers using warm tap (well water) and in minutes my Govee showed the humidity up to over 60%. To lower it I used napkins in the water spout to pull some out and it is now around 55%. I hope to maintain that as my home humidity is low. I opened up the vent to full. I believe all eggs except one looks viable. Now it is watch and wait with some monitoring.

Oh this is exciting!! I hope they all hatch. I wonder if maybe I need to move the incubator come hatch time. It's on my bathroom counter and seems it's staying humid in there even with no one using it. I bet the main house is less humid. We will see come time to hatch what is the case. I feel like if I took a shower in there that's all it would take to raise the humidity for hatching hahaha

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree with NatJ as to what dry hatching means. Either you try to maintain a set but lower humidity than the incubator manufacturer recommends or rely on whatever humidity is in the air. My suggestion on that, if you try and one method works, great, you nailed it. If it doesn't work, then try another way. Try to determine what works for you.

Every reputable incubator manufacturer that I'm aware of recommends raising the humidity at lockdown for hatch. They may give specific ranges or they may just say to add water to another tray. I've only communicated with very few but those very few people that work with the commercial chicken operations recommend raising the humidity for lockdown and hatch. Do as you will. If it works, great. If it doesn't, you might consider trying something different next time.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

I would keep it in the bathroom. As I understood with a dry hatch you get humidity from the environment (FL hot). Apparently my HVAC is working overtime and keeping my house dry, which ia what you typically want to prevent must and mildew.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I would keep it in the bathroom. As I understood with a dry hatch you get humidity from the environment (FL hot). Apparently my HVAC is working overtime and keeping my house dry, which ia what you typically want to prevent must and mildew.

We are keeping the AC at 74. The house was built to be efficient and minimize AC usage. I feel like if I bump my AC a bit lower it will cool it more and remove the humidity. Actually I'm going to move my Govee from my bathroom and see what it says in the main part of the house.