Has anyone tried dry incubation and does it work well? And a sexlink breeding question.

[GlicksChicks]

Hmmm, I dug two quarters out of my left front pocket and gave one to my wife. Then, we each flipped the quarters and recorded how they fell. So, based on that, it seems you should see me for heads and my wife for tails.

What is the AMBIENT HUMIDITY in the room where your incubator resides? Was it identical for each hatch you reference?

The difference in HATCH was four and four divided by 22 is 18% (82% Hatch) while four divided by 21 is 19% (66% Hatch) - a sixteen percent difference in the hatch rates.

You do not detail a PM of the eggs that did not hatch. Had an embryo developed to some extent in every one of them? None of them? Some of them?

I do not know the ambient humidity of the room I kept the incubator in, but I do know that around here it is not very humid. The incubator has stayed in the same exact room with the same exact temperature and the eggs were hatched one after the other. The scenario of the room did not change.

Did you do research on flipping a coin and the difference between two different people flipping them before flipping? Are there other people who support your claim?

That is still a difference, and I am not the only one who has done dry hatches in a Nurture Right 360. I looked into different incubation methods for a good while before even trying. So, based on my experience and what has been recorded, dry hatching in my certain incubator has, more often than not, been much better.

In all of them there had been an embryo that had formed to some extent. For the wet hatch, 2 died within the first week, 2 within the second week, and 2 were formed but never hatched. I called that batch the terrible twos because of that. I know that they were all fertile because I opened them and there were dead embryos inside.

Look into dry hatch vs wet hatch in a Nurture Right 360. I recommended specifically for my incubator type, never did I vouch for any other incubator.

 

[Jesitxmarie]

I have the Maticoopx incubator from Amazon, highly recommend it! I always do dry hatch and have had very high hatch rates with it. My last hatch was 9 out of 9 chicks from my own flock, 100% hatch rate. For chicken eggs, do not add any water until day 18 or 20, then bring it to 55 or 60% humidity. The humidity runs approx 30% with no water added for the first 18 to 20 days. I had approx 80% hatch rate on shipped eggs with this method, also. Too high humidity while the eggs are developing will drown the baby chick.

I’ve also hatched 12 of 15 goose eggs in it. For goose eggs, add very small amounts of water to keep approx 35-40% humidity, and then when they start pipping, raise the humidity very high, approx 80%, and mist eggs often with warm water while hatching. Goose eggs are waterfowl and require different hatching conditions.

 

[Moon Daizy]

But what if you do get a black araucana that you want to name liquorice?? Are you fine with having 2 chicks named liquorice?
I will tag you when it comes time for my hatch-along, which is like in 2-4 weeks or so.
I got an easter egger in 2019 and she was supposed to be nice but she is super skittish.......
Yes, I hope your araucanas turn out to be nice as well!

Yeah, that's fine! My daughter will never know! She wouldn't mind anyway they can be chick "twins" from one side of the globe to the other!

 

[DavisburgHENS]

I am no expert! But common sense would tell me the greenhouse might be a bit risky, as the temperature might fluctuate too much. Does it get really hot in there? We have a summer house (basically, a glorified shed!) which my husband uses as an office. It gets almost unbearably hot in there on sunny spring/summer days, but then really cold at night. I would recommend putting a bit of paper in your greenhouse and a reliable thermometer and hygrometer out there, and at various times throughout the day / evening make a note on the paper of the time and temp/humidity, before you decide to site your incubator out there.

Even if I was using the dry incubation method, I would aim for humidity of a minimum of 30%, and start misting the eggs / increasing the humidity from day 18 onwards to help them break out of their shells.

Keep us posted with how you get on!

My incubator will arrive today and my eggs will arrive next week !!!

Hello! Today is day 21 for me. Chanteclers, dry method. My understanding is watching water loss on the air cell at day 7,14 and 18 at lockdown. I run 40% as best as able then bump to 65-70 on day 18 and plug all vents at that time. We live in a very dry climate, and my humidity with a foam incubator still jumps around. Hatch rate typically 80%, once red with this weekends hatch, we has a 12 hour power failure. We will see what happens.
Misting eggs? Never heard of (only 7 years of hatching experience). Eggs will absorb water through osmosis.. make sure device is sterilized I suppose. When my humidity drops, I will typically use my washed turkey bastor, and drop from vent hole into water channel.

Don’t lift that lid until you are ready to end your hatch. Attempts in assisting those that struggle to get out, don’t work well in my experience.

Best of luck!!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Yeah, that's fine! My daughter will never know! She wouldn't mind anyway they can be chick "twins" from one side of the globe to the other!

Sounds awesome, I'll put Licorice down on my taken names list!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

make sure device is sterilized I suppose.

How do you sterilize an incubator? Do you use a certain product?

Don’t lift that lid until you are ready to end your hatch.

What happens if chicks hatch a day early and I leave them in there until the rest of the chicks hatch possibly 2-3 days later? Will anything happen to them??

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Hello! Today is day 21 for me. Chanteclers, dry method. My understanding is watching water loss on the air cell at day 7,14 and 18 at lockdown. I run 40% as best as able then bump to 65-70 on day 18 and plug all vents at that time. We live in a very dry climate, and my humidity with a foam incubator still jumps around. Hatch rate typically 80%, once red with this weekends hatch, we has a 12 hour power failure. We will see what happens.
Misting eggs? Never heard of (only 7 years of hatching experience). Eggs will absorb water through osmosis.. make sure device is sterilized I suppose. When my humidity drops, I will typically use my washed turkey bastor, and drop from vent hole into water channel.

Don’t lift that lid until you are ready to end your hatch. Attempts in assisting those that struggle to get out, don’t work well in my experience.

Best of luck!!

Thank you! And I wish you the best of luck as well.

 

[NatJ]

What happens if chicks hatch a day early and I leave them in there until the rest of the chicks hatch possibly 2-3 days later? Will anything happen to them??

A chick will be fine in the incubator for that amount of time. The only thing that will "happen" is they will take lots of naps, mixed with small amounts of practicing walking, pecking everything in sight, and rolling the other eggs around.

Chicks absorb the yolk just before they hatch, and that means they do not really need to eat or drink for the first few days. Starting to eat and drink sooner will not do them any harm, but you really do not need to worry about a chick starving if it hatches a day or two earlier than the rest.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

A chick will be fine in the incubator for that amount of time. The only thing that will "happen" is they will take lots of naps, mixed with small amounts of practicing walking, pecking everything in sight, and rolling the other eggs around.

Chicks absorb the yolk just before they hatch, and that means they do not really need to eat or drink for the first few days. Starting to eat and drink sooner will not do them any harm, but you really do not need to worry about a chick starving if it hatches a day or two earlier than the rest.

Thank you! But is it okay if they are in the super hot/warm and humid incubator for that long?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thank you! But is it okay if they are in the super hot/warm and humid incubator for that long?

Yes