No humidity....?

[Talavar]

Im starting to think the whole humidity thing is malarky... I'm at 98% hatch rate with fertile eggs, thermostat set to bounce between (99 f)-(101 f) .. Manual turn twice per day, with open hatch during turning, to simulate hen leaving nest for short cooling. ((((Forced air, NO added humidity.))) Im in PA, but we have a coal furnace, and it's about the driest air you've ever felt. To give you some idea of how dry, we regularly use skin cream everyday so our skin doesnt dry out. (>.<) My brooder and homemade incubater are both in our back room so they are both subject to the same conditions.
Anyone else finding this?

 

[jher77]

What is your average humidity inside the incubator from start to finish?

 

[Talavar]

I couldn't tell you.. lol... It's the same as what's in the house.. I didnt add a humidity controller on the incubater I built. I've done 3 rounds of hatching. 50 eggs total.. I only lost 1 egg out of all of them!

 

[jher77]

Your humidity could be within range and you just don't know it. Lots of people dry incubate (no added water/humidity) with success.

Your eggs were 100% fertile?

 

[Talavar]

Your humidity could be within range and you just don't know it. Lots of people dry incubate (no added water/humidity) with success.

Your eggs were 100% fertile?

Yeah, I keep my rooster in with a specific set of hens, that way I know their eggs are always fertile. I don't know about the humidity though.. As I said, the air in here is really dry. Doesn't make sense.. but it's working! lol

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Anyone else finding this?

Hi there and welcome to BYC!

No, I wouldn't say it's malarky. But I would say that that there aren't MANY rules in chicken keeping.. just a bunch of best suggestions.

My first hatches were super high % maybe even 100.

Genetics, eggs shell color, shell thickness, age of eggs set, age/breed/nutrition of parent stock, ambient humidity, and perception there of verses personal hydration levels are all variables that matter SOME.. in addition to pure luck! But yes temperature is possibly THE most important factor. Congrats on your hatch!

Did you use a hygrometer at all? Honestly I rarely do. I agree with your finding that high humidity rates are NOT always a good choice or required and sometimes even more harmful.. noting that when you start doing hatch analysis like what's left in the eggs shell after hatch, where it pipped/zipped, down/naval condition, and other things like that.. it MAY point to thing that CAN dial a persons hatch parameters in as good as possible.. But, LIFE does find a way quite often! One of my favorite incubation/hatching resources aside from BYC of course..

Incubation guide

Small batch numbers RARELY correlate to larger sample sizes and this is likely what you will find as well. Glad to have another thinker/questioner and searcher for the truth in the community! I hope you will keep long term records including at least ambient humidity reported by the weather station for your location and consider starting threads and/or writing up some informative articles like this one on dry hatching..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...h-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method.47694/

The more breeds I work with the easier it is to face different challenges, guaranteed. After hatching literally hundreds of chicks, it would be nice if all hatches came out that well with such little effort.. automating things like turner REDUCES hatch rate also. Sometimes keeping it simple works wonderfully, thank you for sharing.

 

[jher77]

Put a pan of water on top of the stove. That will increase the humidity some.

 

[Talavar]

Put a pan of water on top of the stove. That will increase the humidity some.

I'm going to go with the age old addage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. we're adapted to it, and my hatches are doing good... lol.. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Talavar]

Hi there and welcome to BYC!

No, I wouldn't say it's malarky. But I would say that that there aren't MANY rules in chicken keeping.. just a bunch of best suggestions.

My first hatches were super high % maybe even 100.

Genetics, eggs shell color, shell thickness, age of eggs set, age/breed/nutrition of parent stock, ambient humidity, and perception there of verses personal hydration levels are all variables that matter SOME.. in addition to pure luck! But yes temperature is possibly THE most important factor. Congrats on your hatch!

Did you use a hygrometer at all? Honestly I rarely do. I agree with your finding that high humidity rates are NOT always a good choice or required and sometimes even more harmful.. noting that when you start doing hatch analysis like what's left in the eggs shell after hatch, where it pipped/zipped, down/naval condition, and other things like that.. it MAY point to thing that CAN dial a persons hatch parameters in as good as possible.. But, LIFE does find a way quite often! One of my favorite incubation/hatching resources aside from BYC of course..

Incubation guide

Small batch numbers RARELY correlate to larger sample sizes and this is likely what you will find as well. Glad to have another thinker/questioner and searcher for the truth in the community! I hope you will keep long term records including at least ambient humidity reported by the weather station for your location and consider starting threads and/or writing up some informative articles like this one on dry hatching..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...h-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method.47694/

The more breeds I work with the easier it is to face different challenges, guaranteed. After hatching literally hundreds of chicks, it would be nice if all hatches came out that well with such little effort.. automating things like turner REDUCES hatch rate also. Sometimes keeping it simple works wonderfully, thank you for sharing.

No hygrometer. Only temperature control. And I agree 100% keeping it a little more simple and manual seems to be working best! As for humidity levels in PA during the winter months, they are typically 30-40%, however, the air inside our house is always somewhat lower than that because of our heat source. Just something to keep in mind!

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Do you have pics of your incubator?