Incubating - humidity and weight of eggs?

[scoopy82]

Hi all,
I've never really been happy with the humidity and the way the chicks hatch in my incubator, so thought i would get scientific and weigh some eggs throughout my next hatch to monitor their weight loss and adjust my humidity accordingly. So I am just wondering if anyone can tell me how much weight an egg should lose per day throughout incubation?

 

[aoxa]

The best way to monitor humidity is to get a hydrometer, OR you can monitor the development of the air cells. That's the best way to see if they are losing what they should be. To weigh each and every egg would be time consuming and every egg would be different. You'd have to keep very good records on which egg weighed what amount and not move them around at all.

Also - noticed that some air cells are different than others in the incubator due to where they are placed and how old they were when set.

I have never added water to my incubator after my first time incubating because I had chicks drown in the shell due to too much humidity in the first 18 days.

 

[scoopy82]

I have a hygrometer - i have tried dry hatching, 40% humidity, 50% humidity and everything in between, still not happy. Have found with the dry hatch the air cells seem to look more like the picture you've posted, and the hygrometer has always read 25-35% humidity which is obviously the moisture the eggs are losing, but if I add any water at all, it is either hard to keep constant, or the air cells really dont get bigger over the 18 days till lock down and i get a lot of squishy wet dead chicks in the shells. I'm not planning on weighing every egg, i thought if i picked say 5 eggs and numbered them and weighed them every couple of days and used them as a guide to judge the environment inside the bator and whether its on track or not. I would dry hatch every time but am just seeing if i can get a better hatch rate by using this method.

 

[aoxa]

I have a hygrometer - i have tried dry hatching, 40% humidity, 50% humidity and everything in between, still not happy.  Have found with the dry hatch the air cells seem to look more like the picture you've posted, and the hygrometer has always read 25-35% humidity which is obviously the moisture the eggs are losing, but if I add any water at all, it is either hard to keep constant, or the air cells really dont get bigger over the 18 days till lock down and i get a lot of squishy wet dead chicks in the shells.  I'm not planning on weighing every egg, i thought if i picked say 5 eggs and numbered them and weighed them every couple of days and used them as a guide to judge the environment inside the bator and whether its on track or not.  I would dry hatch every time but am just seeing if i can get a better hatch rate by using this method.

What is your hatch rate during dry hatch? What don't you like about it?

What incubator are you using?

Are the eggs shipped?