Fully developed chicks not hatching?

[suliah]

I keep my humidity low, 20-30%. I've been far more successful this way.

 

[moving coops]

I have my cabinets running at 33 to 40 for dry incubation!
No problem keeping them that low.

 

[smileygreen64]

I have my cabinets running at 33 to 40 for dry incubation!
No problem keeping them that low.

I ran mine at 35% when I tried the dry incubation. I had terrible results. I am in south alabama, and the humidity is usually high outside. I did my ten day candle and the air cell looked like a day 14 candle. Then I raised my humidity but it didn't help. Those chicks were bound up tight. I have read on here lots of people that swear by dry incubation. It does not work for me or I did something terribly wrong.

 

[suliah]

I run mine super low and watch the air sack. if it gets too big I increase humidity.

That being said, I also keep the humidity super high during lockdown and hatch (like water is condensing on the windows high). For that reason I pull my chicks out immediately after they hatch cuz they will never dry off in the steam room I create in there!!!

I also am an early intervener. If one is pipped and having trouble I'm going to help earlier than most. I have lost a few by convincing myself to wait then they get all bound up in the membrane and goop.

I realize now that these situations all cause each other lol, but for some reason I seem to have decent hatch rates.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I ran mine at 35% when I tried the dry incubation. I had terrible results. I am in south alabama, and the humidity is usually high outside. I did my ten day candle and the air cell looked like a day 14 candle. Then I raised my humidity but it didn't help. Those chicks were bound up tight. I have read on here lots of people that swear by dry incubation. It does not work for me or I did something terribly wrong.

Not everything works for everyone. That's one of the reasons we should embrace the differences in other's methods, give our experiences but allow for many different practices and success found in different ways. I think low humidity incubation (dry as it is called) is great for most table top incubators, but it won't always work for everyone. Just like some people can run 45-50% humidity in the table tops for standard eggs, and have perfectly fine hatches, (which blows my mind), but for most they'd end up with drowned chicks. Sometimes the hardest part of starting out hatching can be finding what works for you.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I run mine super low and watch the air sack. if it gets too big I increase humidity.

That being said, I also keep the humidity super high during lockdown and hatch (like water is condensing on the windows high). For that reason I pull my chicks out immediately after they hatch cuz they will never dry off in the steam room I create in there!!!

I also am an early intervener. If one is pipped and having trouble I'm going to help earlier than most. I have lost a few by convincing myself to wait then they get all bound up in the membrane and goop.

I realize now that these situations all cause each other lol, but for some reason I seem to have decent hatch rates.

I run mine low for incubation and high for hatch as well, (though I don't let condensation build up) and I remove my chicks as they become active in the incubator. I take out shells and roll over pippers. I will assist if I feel it's needed but not usually before 18 hours and even then I usually end up only doing a little and waiting for 24 before they are actually ready. I have a great hatch rate normally and I believe in the "If it ain't broke you don't fix it" theory, so I don't see anything changing soon...lol

 

[smileygreen64]

My air cells look good to my eye. Obviously I haven't got much experience, but I think my issue is in the hatcher. My first hatch was my best, but I didnt expect much because I was using eggs that were outside during low 20 temperatures and others that were 3 weeks old. I didn't test my hygrometers tge first time either. When read how to, I tested them and they were nearly 20 % low.

I run mine super low and watch the air sack. if it gets too big I increase humidity. 

That being said, I also keep the humidity super high during lockdown and hatch (like water is condensing on the windows high). For that reason I pull my chicks out immediately after they hatch cuz they will never dry off in the steam room I create in there!!!

I also am an early intervener. If one is pipped and having trouble I'm going to help earlier than most. I have lost a few by convincing myself to wait then they get all bound up in the membrane and goop. 

I realize now that these situations all cause each other lol, but for some reason I seem to have decent hatch rates. 

I think I will try and make my hatcher a little chick sauna this time.

I moved them last night, so I wont have to wait too long before i find out if it works for me.

Thanks for all the input everyone.

 

[smileygreen64]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas. The higher humidity is what I needed. I ran it between 70 and 80 in the hatcher. I had a much better hatch rate. My last ones were about 60% hatch rates. This time I was above 90% hatch rate.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas. The higher humidity is what I needed. I ran it between 70 and 80 in the hatcher. I had a much better hatch rate. My last ones were about 60% hatch rates. This time I was above 90% hatch rate.

That's great! Congrats! I aim for 75% to hatch and once they start it goes higher.