Dry incubation

[Arielle]

I also need to vent my worries and have someone tell me not to panic ( I hope)

First time incubator using a still air hovabator with turner. I am also trying dry incubation, although since the eggs went in on Saturday night, it went from 30% ( on my dry run for a few days) to 40-45%. I have a thermometer in the incubator laying on the turner that is reading 101/102 and an indoor/ outdoor thermometer that has the probe on the top of the eggs that is reading 98-99. Hoping this means we are ok with right in the middle. Wish they were closer for being an inch or two apart.

should be hatching between 31 and 1st I hope. THis is my first time and the incubator is packed! Here is to hoping we have chicks for easter

I'm not familiar with this model , but i'm concerned the temp maybe a little high. TIme will tell on that.

Do remember to look at the air cell development. That is more i mpoirtant than the actual RH readings.

 

[kristip]

They have been in less than a week. can you advise the best temp... I have seen everything between those two points listed.

 

[zekii]

Still air incubators 100.5F is the goal plus or minus 0.5F for chickens.

 

[rgvchicks]

i've tried the dry incubation method on 3 hatches ...third going on as i speak ....and i've had wonderful results.....1st hatch back in feb 20 100% ....2nd hatch last week still good great loss due to power outage and my little chihuahua unplugging my bator unknown for how long but still hatched 9 out of 25....and the 3rd as we speak is going on a possible 100% hatch rate also.....i've got 16 ....on brooder, 6 drying on bator ...and 12 peeps trying to get out of the shell.....i always used 30% humidity on first 18 days then bumped it to 75% on last 3 days and it's been working for me.

 

[kristip]

For some reason I can not get humidity lower than 40%. I have one vent hole open and added no water. But incubator is pretty full so maybe that is it.

 

[rebel yell]

You might try opening the other vent, that will probably bring it down where you want it,
Before your next setting you might want to add you a PC. fan to it.
Humidity will run a lot higher in a bator without a fan

 

[HEChicken]

I have a digital thermometer in my bator. It records daily high and low temps as well as the current temp. My bator is fluctuating between 99 and 102!!! I haven't touched the dial, so why is the temp range so big? Also, the humidity is holding steady at 16%. Is that Ok? IK I'm not supposed to worry about the humidity for the first part of the hatch, but it's just so different from how I've hatched before. I just need someone to tell me that it will be ok. LOL

The problem may be your digital thermometer - I have yet to find one that reads accurately. The analog thermometers generally read more accurately but even then there can be wide differences in their readings. My first hatch I had 5 thermometers in the incubator (2 digital and 3 analog) and every one of them had a different reading! The problem is that unless you know your thermometer is accurate, you really don't know what temp you're incubating at, and could be unknowingly either cooking the eggs or incubating at too low a temp to get good results. What I finally did is calibrate the thermometers and now use just one in the incubator - one that I can trust.

16% is pretty low. I also believe in dry incubation and have read a ton of material on it. I do follow Chooks Chick's recommendation to not let it go below 20% for a prolonged period though. If you are still running at 16%, I'd suggest adding a little water to get it up. You must live in a really dry part of the country. My humidity started at 25-30%, but the past few days, although we've had no rain, we've had a spike in humidity. Our RH in the house is running around 60% and in my incubator it is currently around 45%, and creeping towards 50%. I'm not thrilled but since I have no water in it, there isn't a lot I can do to bring it down.

For some reason I can not get humidity lower than 40%. I have one vent hole open and added no water. But incubator is pretty full so maybe that is it.

Could be the full incubator or just the relative humidity whereever you are. I'm experiencing the same thing at the moment.

 

[animalsRawesome]

hmm. IDK why the humidity is so low. In the house it is reading at 55, but in the bator it goes down to 16. I guess I'll see how they hatch, although the temp got way to high for about six hours, so I hope I didn't fry them :/

 

[HEChicken]

hmm. IDK why the humidity is so low. In the house it is reading at 55, but in the bator it goes down to 16. I guess I'll see how they hatch, although the temp got way to high for about six hours, so I hope I didn't fry them :/

There is a correlation between temp and humidity. As the temp goes up, the relative humidity (RH) goes down. So if your house is 70 degrees, you would expect the RH to be higher than in your incubator where the temp is closer to 100 degrees.

 

[animalsRawesome]

Yes, I totally understand, but we have about the same rh in the house, yet your rh in the bator is much higher... that's the part that confused me.