Humidity for dry hatch? 11% or 17%

[lawschicks10]

Recently I asked a question on here about how my humidity was 20% on my dry hatch and was happy enough to leave it at 20%, I have two hygrometers in the incubator a digital and an analog one. The analog is reading 11% and the digital is reading 17% so I am in a bit of a pickle as to which one I believe. Should I scrap the dry hatch and start adding water to save my eggs on time if it is as low as the readings?

 

[NatJ]

How far along are the eggs?
Have you candled and looked at the size of the air cells?
There are charts online of how big the air cell is supposed to be at different stages of incubation.

If the air cells are the right size for the current stage of incubation, I would just keep doing what you have been doing. If the air cells are much bigger than they should be, I would add water to raise the humidity.

 

[lawschicks10]

How far along are the eggs?
Have you candled and looked at the size of the air cells?
There are charts online of how big the air cell is supposed to be at different stages of incubation.

If the air cells are the right size for the current stage of incubation, I would just keep doing what you have been doing. If the air cells are much bigger than they should be, I would add water to raise the humidity.

I have added just a tiny bit of water, when I candled the egg there was movement inside them this is currently day 2 of the second week so Day 9? Have I done right by adding just a small bit of warm
water? Couldn’t believe it when I saw some eggs add movement I really don’t want to kill the babies

 

[cmobley]

It won't hurt to add some water bump your humidity up to 35 40. I'm in south Alabama all I dry is dry incubate just make sure on lockdown day get it up to 70 or so for chicks. I do 80 and higher for ducks and turkeys.

 

[NatJ]

I have added just a tiny bit of water, when I candled the egg there was movement inside them this is currently day 2 of the second week so Day 9? Have I done right by adding just a small bit of warm water?

Did you check how big the air cells were?
That is a way to tell if the eggs are actually losing water at the correct rate.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...cell-growth-do-i-still-have-a-chance.1282569/
This thread has an image showing what size the air cell should be at what stage of incubation. So at day 9, your air cells should have a size larger than the 7-day size but smaller than the 14-day size on the chicken egg diagram.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I live in a desert. My household humidity is regularly in the single digits. Dry hatching was terrible for me.

Remember that the point of controlling humidity is to get the correct amount of weight loss during incubation. Which means the chicks and their air cells have grown the proper amount to hatch successfully. Too big or too small will have issues.

Checking air cells or weighing eggs is the best way to dial in humidity for your microclimate. Then there is trail and error.

How far along your hatch is (how much time remains to correct and issues) would dictate if you raise humidity or not. Just take lots of notes. So you’ll know for next time.

 

[lawschicks10]

It won't hurt to add some water bump your humidity up to 35 40. I'm in south Alabama all I dry is dry incubate just make sure on lockdown day get it up to 70 or so for chicks. I do 80 and higher for ducks and turkeys.

I am in lockdown now and it’s reading 72% is this ok?

 

[cmobley]

Yes

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I think for dry hatching nearer 30% is much more of a preferred humidity, getting under 20% humidity can cause the eggs to lose too much weight. Though, I've seen a few people seem to have had success with lower humidities I cannot imagine it is the most efficient way to hatch. Personally, I prefer a dry hatch at around ~35%.