Dry (low humidity ) Incubation Testimony

[quintinp]

i had 100% hatch rate with 20% humidity the first 18 days, and 60% the last 3 days

 

[artathart]

I got my new Brinsea and I am running it for a few days before I set my eggs. Temps are steady. I fill up one water area per intruction and my humidity is at 41%. I am going to suck half the water out and and see what it reads. I may not need to ad a drop of water till lockdown!

 

[lamNervousNellie]

this is not a testimony so much as a barrage of questions and plea for advice and wisdom..

'dry' incubating is a totally new concept to me. (not that i'm any kind of incubating pro, i've only just had my first hatch last week!) so, for my first hatch i had the humidity around 55-60% for days 1-18, then kicked it up to around 65-68% for lockdown. i had 8/12 hatch, and my SO did a little investigating when he disposed of the eggs. one wasn't fertile, 2 were fairly developed except he said it looked like their abdomen didn't quite come together, and the last one probably should've hatched, from the looks of it. naturally i had major humidity spikes when the chicks emerged, and i did open the bator a few times during lockdown

does that make me a terrible person? haha

(note: keeping the humidity that high was kind of a pain since my house is dry dry dry. i'm talking full water reservoir and a wet sponge)

i just set a new batch of 12 eggs on the 9th, and have been keeping the humidity closer to between 40-50%, but there have been a few times i've seen it get up to 55%. i was thinking of kicking it up to 60-65% for lockdown.. any opinions on that?

with this batch i've added very little water, and when i add it i just poke a straw down through a vent hole into the 'moat' and fill her up. i have to keep an eye on it though because my house is unbelievably dry. the only concern i have about this batch is that the first night i set them at about 10pm, and when i went to check on them before bed (midnight or so) the temp had spiked to like 102-103 and the humidity was at 73%!!

i spent the next 2 hours tweaking the control, waiting, soaking up some of the water, etc. i'm hoping that since they were only exposed to those conditions for a short time that they'll be OK.

anyway, i'm wondering if any of you could point me in the direction of a discussion or website that would give me the run down on how to go about doing a 'dry' method. basically any advice, tips, tricks. i'm open for any suggestions. thanks

hannah

p.s. i have a LG w/ fan kit & turner

 

[pistol123]

Oh boy I also need help, I have been going along every day the same 100 degrees and 35% humidity day hatch and today it spiked to 70 % humidity...Help it won't go down! No water in there.....I'm on day 14...

 

[Turkeyrangler]

Quote:
Last year was my first hatch with turkey eggs and I did this method only because I had trouble getting my humidity up. Ran about 35% for 25 days then 60 % at lock down. Out of the 5 eggs 4 hatched.

 

[jaimie44]

This was my bible! https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=14596-incubation-cheat-sheet

Dont overlook the part about "Ignore the humidity until day 18"...Most important part imo.

l.comNervousNellie :

this is not a testimony so much as a barrage of questions and plea for advice and wisdom..

'dry' incubating is a totally new concept to me. (not that i'm any kind of incubating pro, i've only just had my first hatch last week!) so, for my first hatch i had the humidity around 55-60% for days 1-18, then kicked it up to around 65-68% for lockdown. i had 8/12 hatch, and my SO did a little investigating when he disposed of the eggs. one wasn't fertile, 2 were fairly developed except he said it looked like their abdomen didn't quite come together, and the last one probably should've hatched, from the looks of it. naturally i had major humidity spikes when the chicks emerged, and i did open the bator a few times during lockdown

does that make me a terrible person? haha

(note: keeping the humidity that high was kind of a pain since my house is dry dry dry. i'm talking full water reservoir and a wet sponge)

i just set a new batch of 12 eggs on the 9th, and have been keeping the humidity closer to between 40-50%, but there have been a few times i've seen it get up to 55%. i was thinking of kicking it up to 60-65% for lockdown.. any opinions on that?

with this batch i've added very little water, and when i add it i just poke a straw down through a vent hole into the 'moat' and fill her up. i have to keep an eye on it though because my house is unbelievably dry. the only concern i have about this batch is that the first night i set them at about 10pm, and when i went to check on them before bed (midnight or so) the temp had spiked to like 102-103 and the humidity was at 73%!!

i spent the next 2 hours tweaking the control, waiting, soaking up some of the water, etc. i'm hoping that since they were only exposed to those conditions for a short time that they'll be OK.

anyway, i'm wondering if any of you could point me in the direction of a discussion or website that would give me the run down on how to go about doing a 'dry' method. basically any advice, tips, tricks. i'm open for any suggestions. thanks

hannah

p.s. i have a LG w/ fan kit & turner​

 

[Luke13:34]

Quote:
I know that sounds like simple advice and I'd like to follow it, but I keep seeing people say they are doing a "dry" hatch but their humidity is in the 40-50% range. If you were to just take a quick peak at your hygrometer during the time you are ignoring it, what would it read? Isn't that going to vary depending on where you live, if it is the middle of the rainy season and if a humidifier, dehumidifier or A/C unit is being run in the house? No one has 0% humidity. Is 20% ok? 30%? 10%? I'm an eager student, but need a bit more concrete answers.

 

[youngbiddy]

Luke13:34 :

Quote:
I know that sounds like simple advice and I'd like to follow it, but I keep seeing people say they are doing a "dry" hatch but their humidity is in the 40-50% range. If you were to just take a quick peak at your hygrometer during the time you are ignoring it, what would it read? Isn't that going to vary depending on where you live, if it is the middle of the rainy season and if a humidifier, dehumidifier or A/C unit is being run in the house? No one has 0% humidity. Is 20% ok? 30%? 10%? I'm an eager student, but need a bit more concrete answers.

A truly "dry" hatch means you don't add any water to the bator during incubation. Your humidity will fluctuate with the environment, but when you don't add water the humidity typically doesn't top 40% for very long. (depending on climate) Let me just put it this way. You want to shoot for average humidity of 30% during incubation and raise it to 65-75% during lockdown. I did my first hatch that way and my second with "normal" humidity of around 45%. I had much, much, much better results with lower humidity.​

 

[Luke13:34]

See.. you say 30%. For me to get to 30%, I have to have water to get there. For me - no water and vents open (with my bator in a small room in an alcove with no drafts and no windows nearby) means about 10% humidity. Is that too low? I don't think "ignore it" is all that simple.

 

[dretd]

Quote:
I did a 'dry run' without eggs to see where my incubator was at. I have 2 hygrometers, on my dry run my 'good' (=expensive) hygrometer was at 3% and my cheapie was at 16% (16 % is the lowest it goes, btw). The house humidity was at around 20% give or take. So my feeling is that dry for me is maybe a little too dry.

I am now adding maybe 1/2 teaspoon of water once or twice a day to keep the humidity above 20%, aiming for 30% ideal. I did a quickie air cell candling check in the carton on a few eggs and they seem to have lost a fair amount of water thus far. We'll see what happens....