dry incubation or not?? please help!

[circlecfarms]

I am setting three incubaters this week, two with quail eggs, and the other with chicken and duck eggs.... i am trying to decide if i want to do a dry incubation or not... i guess thats what it is called when there is no water in there... i have had water in my other incubator and it seems to be doing ok but it keeps going up and down and there is not much i can do... so does dry incubation work for quail chicken and duck eggs???
Please let me know what you do... they will all be moved to a hatcher i just want to know what works for the incubation time before lockdown and what you do for lockdown!
Thanks!!!

 

[quail kid kid]

Hello,

From my personal expiriences, I would do the dry method with quail and chickens. I have had very good hatches using the dry method.
But for duck eggs I would not recommend using the dry method as duck eggs naturally need quite a bit of more humidity.

 

[Pasha1]

I had a very successful first chicken hatch (100%) using the dry method. But it is my first and only hatch so far. Not sure if my opinion should matter. lol Good luck to you either way you go.

 

[circlecfarms]

well i only have one duck in there right now... so maybe i can figure something out... so what do you do for the lockdown then? add lots of water to get the humidity up where it shouldbe?
Thanks

 

[Pasha1]

I filled the water wells and added sponges soaked in warm water. To get the humidity up. I kept mine between 60-70% If it got over 70 I pulled up one of the windows to vent some more. If the humidity dropped I added hot water with a straw to the sponges. Hope that helps

 

[Coldweatherbirds]

I'm doing my first hatch as a semi-dry incubation. (chicken eggs, LG still air) I added a squirt every couple days to keep the humidity over 20% but it never went over 37%. Now they are hatching. On lock-down I put water in the little channels and added a couple damp rags. The humidity has been a little too high... 69-78%. Most seem to be hatching ok. My problem is that several are hatching from the small side and getting stuck there... I don't think that has anything to do with dry hatch. I was naughty and helped one out and it's neck and torso were all deformed, very creepy and sad.