how to add water?? HELP!

[chickenshiha]

So i got my electronic thermostat octagon incubator and i put 60 eggs in it today is day 2 i did i add water the first day before i put the eggs but now its hard i just added water in it but i removed 3 eggs to add water and added the back. Who has experience in adding water in these incubators as it has mesh to hold the eggs which makes it harder

 

[SunHwaKwon]

You may not need to add any. It looks like your humidity there is 86% today. What is the incubator reading?

I do not add water until day 18, personally, or just enough to keep it at 20% if it falls too low.

 

[chickenshiha]

You may not need to add any. It looks like your humidity there is 86% today. What is the incubator reading?

I do not add water until 18, personally, or just enough to keep it at 20% if it falls too low. 

These incubators dont have thermometer but has a temperature controller like u set it to a temp and it self heats till that temp its one of the best and most accurate in my country

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Okay so there is no way to tell what the humidity is then? Is there anywhere that you can buy something called a "hygrometer" or "humdity gauge" to put in there? The problem is that you live somewhere relatively humid and if you add too much water the eggs will not be able to lose enough moisture. When that happens there is not enough room for the chick to grow and there is also the risk of them drowning in the excess fluid when they try to hatch.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

If you do find that you need to add water, you can pour it through a straw or a small piece of tubing or find a squirt bottle with a nozzle to put it under the mesh without getting the eggs wet.

 

[AllynTal]

So i got my electronic thermostat octagon incubator and i put 60 eggs in it today is day 2 i did i add water the first day before i put the eggs but now its hard i just added water in it but i removed 3 eggs to add water and added the back. Who has experience in adding water in these incubators as it has mesh to hold the eggs which makes it harder

I don't have experience with that incubator, but I really don't see a problem with taking a couple of eggs out, adding the water and then putting the eggs back. Wash your hands first and just be careful handling the eggs. Do you have a humidity monitor in the incubator so you know what the humidity level is inside?

 

[chickenshiha]

Well it doesnt read humidity either u just add water till it hits the line where u know how much the water supposed to be then it hits the right humid spot, its usually at 60 to 65% humidity at that line but i dont have a problem with dry incubation

 

[chickenshiha]

How good of hatch rate does dry incubation give anyways?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I just hatched 4 out of 4 last week. The only thing I cannot dry incubate is guinea fowl, for some reason. They get too dry. It works especially good on chicken eggs that are thicker shelled or very dark or less porous, like Marans. Here are a few sources of info:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/632773/dry-incubation

Also look up instructions on candling and "reading" air cells, as that will be useful. If you find that your aircells look too big or too small (and don't be afraid to ask for another opinion on here) then you can use that to determine whether you should add water or not.

I know there is so much information on here that it is a lot to try to sort through, but we're here to help

 

[AllynTal]

Well it doesnt read humidity either u just add water till it hits the line where u know how much the water supposed to be then it hits the right humid spot, its usually at 60 to 65% humidity at that line but i dont have a problem with dry incubation

Quote:

How good of hatch rate does dry incubation give anyways?

Well, if that's worked for you in the past, go with it. Filling the water to the line (meaning the water is a certain depth) doesn't affect humidity. The surface area of the water is what determines humidity in the incubator. So having the water be full to the line or halfway to the line doesn't matter if the surface area is the same.

The idea behind dry incubation is that if the air is dry, it will increase evaporation inside the egg and increase the size of the air sac. I find that the humidity level that works best for me from day 0 to day 18 is between 30 and 35 percent,which I can maintain by using two small condiment cups to hold the water in the incubator. I have to add water to my incubator to achieve that even though I live in a very humid part of the country. The heater inside the incubator will dry the air out, so even though the humidity in the room is somewhere between 85% to 95%, the humidity inside the incubator will be about 18% if I don't add water. On day 18, I add two more condiment cups of water to bring the humidity up to about 65% to 68%. I don't know if 30-to-35 percent is considered 'dry' incubation, but it works for me in my situation because I don't want the air sac to grow too fast. Candling the eggs at regular intervals will let you know if your air sac is growing at the correct rate and will let you know if you need to adjust your humidity level.

Also, I don't trust the temperature and humidity settings on my incubator. I use temp/humidity monitors like these to determine what settings achieve the temp and humidity I want to maintain.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MXEA3X0

Edited to add: On an aside note, my last hatch was 20 out of 22 eggs and they were shipped eggs, which is quite good.