Dry (low humidity ) Incubation Testimony

[StormyMoon]

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

I keep giving this advice but I don't know if anyone is actually listening to me

Any ways the digital thermometer and hygrometers tend to go a bit wacko some times its always good to have a glass thermometer as a back up and not the one that comes with the bator... for 1.60 at walmart I got a aquarium fish tank glass thermometer it shows me level temperatures all the time and my digital thermometer ( Yes is calibrated ) will go off the wall crazy up to 102. and the glass thermometer will show me between 99.5 - 100. for me this is a bulls eye and perfect temp especially for a LG incubator with fan.

I add 0 water till day 18, yesterday was day 18 for me and I had not even had a chance to candle or add water and 2 chicks popped right out.

I am now on hatch 5 for 2011 and I have done the same thing every hatch and got 100% hatch rates on all of them.

Note: these are from my own flock and not shipped eggs. I haven't been bold enough yet to try shipped eggs.


You do have to fiddle around and find out what works for you everyone does things a bit differently, I never open the bator if I see any pips, but if none have pipped yet and chicks are piling up in there and there is absolutely no room I do take them out other wise I just leave them all be if they have space to run around and knock the eggs about it gets the other chicks rocking and ready to jump out

Good luck!​

 

[StormyMoon]

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.

My hygrometer is both digital and the kind that looks like a clock with an arm it stays between 20% -30% at all times inside the bator from day 1 - 18 I never add water till day 18 and then I jack it up to 70% I have an LG Incubator so you have to remember it does not seal shut all the way and has tiny gaps for some to escape. It may read 70% right next to the water well, or rags but may not exactly be 70% around each egg.

My humidity in my room ranges from 30% - 60 % depending on whats going on outside I have sat and noted every hour on the hour just for a study and inside the bator never changed. I do not run the AC until it reaches 100 Degrees outside, so my room Temps range between 70 degrees and 90 degrees at the current moment it isn't as warm outside.

I watch closely at our peek points of the day ( Hottest point of the day ) and my temp on the glass thermometer never changes.

I think the worst thing to do is to keep playing with the temp nob and not waiting for the heat in the bator to settle for at least 1 hour after changing it up or down the slightest bit.......if you keep going up and down fast and you keep changing it then there is no level temperature.​

 

[dretd]

Quote:
It would be really helpful if you could tell us what your incubator humidity is and what the humidity runs in your house!

 

[StormyMoon]

Quote:
It would be really helpful if you could tell us what your incubator humidity is and what the humidity runs in your house!

I just did

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

I have done turkey eggs the same as my chicken eggs. DH has been hatching eggs since he was 10 - neither of us knew our preferred way of hatching had a name!

We do this with everything except we do not hatch geese - he wont let me - and I hatch ducks a little differently

It usually takes the turkeys longer to hatch too... on day 21, I would not be throwing them out. Of course we never remove anything 2-3 days before hatch date - then it is only obvious clears & bloodrings.

 

[youngbiddy]

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.

10% humidity, wow. That why I put "depending on climate" in parentheses. Some people live in really dry places. I'm in the humid south; my indoor humidity is about 65% right now, and my bator is at 29%. Everyone's conditions are a bit different, but if you can get your humidity in the bator between 25-35% during incubation, you're golden.​

 

[Luke13:34]

Quote:
10% humidity, wow. That why I put "depending on climate" in parentheses. Some people live in really dry places. I'm in the humid south; my indoor humidity is about 65% right now, and my bator is at 29%. Everyone's conditions are a bit different, but if you can get your humidity in the bator between 25-35% during incubation, you're golden.

Excellent! Thank you for speaking plainly! I will NOT "ignore" my humidity then, but will keep it in the 30% range.


(Does drooling over how beautiful my eggies are help with humidity?

)

 

[youngbiddy]

Luke13:34 :

Quote:
10% humidity, wow. That why I put "depending on climate" in parentheses. Some people live in really dry places. I'm in the humid south; my indoor humidity is about 65% right now, and my bator is at 29%. Everyone's conditions are a bit different, but if you can get your humidity in the bator between 25-35% during incubation, you're golden.

Excellent! Thank you for speaking plainly! I will NOT "ignore" my humidity then, but will keep it in the 30% range.


(Does drooling over how beautiful my eggies are help with humidity?

)​

It spiked mine, but it sounds like you don't have to worry.

 

[youngbiddy]

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....

Colorado seems to be a very dry state. If it ever got that dry around here the natives would shrivel up and blow away.

When I had 30% humidity throughout incubation my hatch rate was 66% with shipped eggs. Made a believer outta me, fer shure.

 

[NorthTexaschick]

Helpful thread - I've learned lots reading through.