Going completely dry, no water at lockdown!

[birdmandan]

I know this topic has been brought up many times but I think we need to talk about it one more time.

I've had issues with regulating the humidity in my $70 ebay incubator so I went for the dry hatch and added a bowl of water at lockdown.

My good friend said he was getting 95% + hatch rate by going completely dry, including at lockdown.

He also had no instances of splayed legs with this method and the chicks are generally stronger due to faster recovery from hatching.

It is usually the moisture and cold that kills weaker newborn chicks.

This method dries the chick much faster.

We have all heard about shrink wrapped chicks.

Since i already threw out the incubator manual in regards to not adding water til lockdown, would it hurt to not add water at all?

Humidity is 30%-35% for me when dry. I incubate my eggs in the wardrobe, covered by the polystyrene that the incubator came in, then the cardboard boc, then a blanket.

Has anyone here tried a completely dry hatch with good results?

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Well, hatcheries do it the most, and they add water.

 

[feedman77]

This year I had a few tray in my cabinet that hatched a day or 2 early or I miss put down the date I set them.

Had several hatch out just fine without any added humidity. Weren't stuck or shrink wrapped.

Was gonna try a total dry hatch after these just haven't yet.

I say give it a shot.

One way to look at it is a hen can't raise the humidity a lot while her eggs hatch.

 

[DanielleInUro]

Bookmarking this thread to hear results later.

 

[The_crazy_chicken_girl]

did you ever try it and did it work?

 

[Mellowmalt]

hi crazy chicken, this thread is 4 years old.
I doubt the OP has waited this long for a big reveal. Most likely it was just a big flop like many dry hatches.
It's risky going completely dry. I myself don't understand the urge to even try it. Like I have said before the egg can tolerate a wide range of humidity but too low of a humidity and the egg will just lose too much moisture. This is how they get shrink wrapped which the OP seems to use as an argument for going even drier 4 years ago which would just make the problem worse.
Why risk it?
If you are going on a 21 day trek across a desert do you want to take enough water that is theoretically going to be enough or do you want to take one more bottle in case it gets really hot one day so you don't run out of water?
The proponents for dry hatching will often use the argument that if you don't, chicks will drown in the egg from too much moisture. This has never happened to me and I routinely incubate on the more humid side than most so to me that is a mute argument that is just a hypothetical. If the chick is born with a bit of extra reserve of moisture it is just born a bit wet but they won't drown unless they haven't developed properly and are thus very small in comparison to the unabsorbed egg white still remaining. This generally has nothing to do with humidity.
So my advice is don't go too low. 45% seems to be most people's favourite, anything between 40-50% is good imo, I wouldn't go much below 40% and some incubators can hold 40% without adding any water. You just need to try, if the incubator can hold humidity without adding water that is great, you just need to add some for lockdown but if it can't hold 40% minimum I would not risk going dry just because some people swear by it. Most likely it worked just fine for them because the incubator they used was able to hold humidity from dropping too low. Not every incubator can.

That is like an astronaut telling a pilot to fly straight up and eventually he'd reach the moon. An astronaut might be able to in a rocket but a plane would fall apart trying so don't just try something for the sake of trying something.

 

[Sierra G]

Unless your incubator is filled with every pack of dessicant you've ever found in luggage and electronics there's no such thing as a completely dry hatch. I think the OP meant no added water. If you've had non-stop rain for a few weeks you probably can't keep your humidity at 55% either. While I agree that changing things to experiment isn't a good use of the incubator, you still have to acknowledge that every hatch is different. If I feel like the eggs don't have a large enough air cell or haven't lost enough weight I don't have a problem not raising the humidity to 75% for lockdown. While I don't think drowning is a problem I do think too much moisture in the shell limits a chick's mobility and causes him to spend lots of time in the shell waiting to dry out after they first pip.

I understand your point about the 21 day journey, but not every chicken is going to take 21 days exactly to hatch. And the chick isn't going to dry out in the shell either. When the moisture content of the membrane gets low it triggers absorption of the yolk and withdrawal of blood from the membranes. Which is part of the reason that slightly too high an incubation temperature results in an earlier, and drier, hatch.

The guidelines on optimal temperature, humidity, etc are all based on what has generally worked for many people. But they don't always work and even with they do the results can still be less than satisfactory. The biggest worry of most people is shrink-wrap. But shrink-wrapping the chick requires a moisture gradient. You don't get the wrap just because it's dry outside the egg, but because it's much drier outside than it is inside. For most of us regulating humidity is more art than science.

Given that the thread is 100 years old in internet time we're probably not going to get better answers though unless somebody decides to experiment.

 

[BackwoodBabe]

I’m actually doing an experiment on this as we speak. Had no issues with regular method of hatching until early June.. then things went downhill. Even though I was able to maintain a consistent humidity at 45-50% during setting, the air cells would not get large enough and the chicks would drown.

I have 5 batches of eggs for a staggered hatch- all set at 26-28% humidity for the first 18 days. Half the eggs were shipped, half were not.

-One batch is going to be a dry hatch - no water added at set or lockdown

-One batch is going to be a dry hatch -no water for setting, humidity raised by 15% for lockdown

-One batch is going to be a dry hatch - no water for setting, humidity raised to 60% for lockdown

Depending on how the above experiment goes, will determine how I hatch the final two batches of eggs.

Will share my results

 

[Lori J]

I’m actually doing an experiment on this as we speak. Had no issues with regular method of hatching until early June.. then things went downhill. Even though I was able to maintain a consistent humidity at 45-50% during setting, the air cells would not get large enough and the chicks would drown.

I have 5 batches of eggs for a staggered hatch- all set at 26-28% humidity for the first 18 days. Half the eggs were shipped, half were not.

-One batch is going to be a dry hatch - no water added at set or lockdown

-One batch is going to be a dry hatch -no water for setting, humidity raised by 15% for lockdown

-One batch is going to be a dry hatch - no water for setting, humidity raised to 60% for lockdown

Depending on how the above experiment goes, will determine how I hatch the final two batches of eggs.

Will share my results

And?

 

[KEarthman]

I know this topic has been brought up many times but I think we need to talk about it one more time.

I've had issues with regulating the humidity in my $70 ebay incubator so I went for the dry hatch and added a bowl of water at lockdown.

My good friend said he was getting 95% + hatch rate by going completely dry, including at lockdown.

He also had no instances of splayed legs with this method and the chicks are generally stronger due to faster recovery from hatching.

It is usually the moisture and cold that kills weaker newborn chicks.

This method dries the chick much faster.

We have all heard about shrink wrapped chicks.

Since i already threw out the incubator manual in regards to not adding water til lockdown, would it hurt to not add water at all?

Humidity is 30%-35% for me when dry. I incubate my eggs in the wardrobe, covered by the polystyrene that the incubator came in, then the cardboard boc, then a blanket.

Has anyone here tried a completely dry hatch with good results?

A very successful BCM breeder told us that was the way he does his. 35% the entire time. Might hatch a day later. I'm testing it out right now.