How does a DRY HATCH work?

[Painted Calls]

I do not add water to my incubator and I can keep it at a steady 30 to 35% humidity... Without adding water which makes it a dry hatch.

Same. I just simply don't add water until lockdown. Otherwise my humidity would be way too high up until then.

 

[WonkierZulu]

Nice.
If incubation humidity should be common sense then no one would need to come here and ask questions and get answers like "because it's easier" without any explanation for why it's easier.

Where you live is common sense.... and yeah if you can't figure out your own climate you shouldn't be incubating nothing. Already gave responses how to dry hatch as did other people. Then they asked why they do it because in alot of cases it is easier for people.

 

[WVduckchick]

The humidity where you live also affects the shells of the eggs laid by your flock. Higher humidity areas, hens’ eggs tend to be more dense, with a heavier bloom. So incubation technique also depends on the eggs you have chosen to incubate.

There is a correlation that I have found that if you incubate eggs from your own flock, they seem to hatch better without additional water added until the last 2-3 days. The eggs are usually already “conditioned” to your location. Whereas if you order eggs from a distance away, I would advise checking the relative humidity of that area also.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I dry hatch in the summer because there is already enough humidity in the air without me adding more to the incubator to keep humidity around 40% where I want it. I add water in the winter because once the temperature drops humidity runs under 20% in my incubator without additional water being added.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

A dry hatch is when you don't add any water to your incubator the first 17-18 days. Then on lockdown you up your humidity 60 to 70 percent if I remember correctly. Also I believe you don't want your humidity to drop below 25 percent.

I did miss this first post from you. As the youngins say these days ..my bad.
But still all I was trying to say is in my mind easy has nothing to do with it.
If you find it too hard to add some water to your incubator when the humidity is low in there maybe you shouldn't be incubating anything.

And even where I live where there is plenty of humidity that doesn't mean the room I am incubating in has the same humidity as the outdoor climate. I have had my incubator humidity get as low as 15% and needed to add some water. I assume it has to do with central heat and air unit in my house. And it probably also has some to do with how much you open your incubator. I incubate call ducks so I do open my incubator and candle them more often than you probably would chicken eggs.

 

[WonkierZulu]

I did miss this first post from you. As the youngins say these days ..my bad.
But still all I was trying to say is in my mind easy has nothing to do with it.
If you find it too hard to add some water to your incubator when the humidity is low in there maybe you shouldn't be incubating anything.

And even where I live where there is plenty of humidity that doesn't mean the room I am incubating in has the same humidity as the outdoor climate. I have had my incubator humidity get as low as 15% and needed to add some water. I assume it has to do with central heat and air unit in my house. And it probably also has some to do with how much you open your incubator. I incubate call ducks so I do open my incubator and candle them more often than you probably would chicken eggs.

Have a rcom with a water pump it does all the work with humidity, temp etc. That's probably the easiest wet hatch machine I have. The others they are just to easy to over fill with water and throw the humidity out of control. So for those machine the ambient humidity and dry hatches are much easier to use for those machines. I only add water to those when the humidity gets too low (25-30 percent) during the days 1-17. Then I bump it up to the standard for chickens 60-70 range 17-20. Realized days 20 -21 pretty quickly once the peep too or begin to hatch they start to put off humidity on their own. I don't add water then. The brinsea mini advance is one of the harder incubators to do a wet hatch in for the simple reason you cant adjust the ventilation. The nr 360 is better for the reason if you accidentally fill too much water you can adjust the vent to help any excess humidity evacuate more quickly. Regardless those two machines are much easier to do dry hatches in then wet by far in my experience.

 

[little-beep]

Dry hatch does not mean NO humidity.

I do not add water to my incubator and I can keep it at a steady 30 to 35% humidity... Without adding water which makes it a dry hatch.

hey are you @WoDia ?

Thanks, yeah, I've begun to gather that re dry hatching. Good info, the words 'dry hatch' are a bit misleading.

Has anyone used one of THESE on their poor bird? --- it's a 'flight suit' aka bird diaper .. my poor wee baby did NOT like it at allllllllllllllll....

 

[Kiki]

hey are you @WoDia ?

Thanks, yeah, I've begun to gather that re dry hatching. Good info, the words 'dry hatch' are a bit misleading.

Has anyone used one of THESE on their poor bird? --- it's a 'flight suit' aka bird diaper .. my poor wee baby did NOT like it at allllllllllllllll....

Why in the world would you do this?

 

[Ebony Rose]

why do people do a dry hatch and what is the purpose of having no humidity until the end of the incubation period?

I live in a high heat, high humidity environment, year-round, day and night. Adding humidity to the incubation process caused my unborn chicks to drown in their shell.

I was able to successfully hatch chicks once I started 'dry hatching' instead.

 

[little-beep]

Why in the world would you do this?

Why in the world are you asking?
Is it national "rude day" around here or something??????