Operation Dry Hatch

[ChickensInMyYard]

I anyone trying the Dry Hatch Method right now?

I had the best luck before I started using a hydrometer. I'm using a styro with fan and egg turner as well as a reptipro with two fans and two turners. The first time I tryed my old second hand styro I had my best hatch. Reason being I think was because I kept forgetting to add water.

My next hatch was a disaster. I had two hydrometers and kept them at 60% throughout the incubation period until lock up when I raised the humidity to 70% and again same thing, bad hatch.

So when I heard about this "Dry Hatch Method" I researched it and thought I'd give it a whirl. I set up both incubators and after a 10 days I candeled the eggs and all but 2 looked great!.The eggs in my bators were started at three different dates so the early ones are hatching right now and so far out of 8 eggs it looks like I'll have 7 chicks!

Two Buttercups and five Orps. My next hatch date is due on the 6th and the third is due on the 12th.

I'll keep you all posted, is anyone with me? I'd love to hear from you.

Ttys

 

[immyjay54]

This may not have to do with the title (Operation Dry Hatch) but there may be some real newbies on here that would like to read this. Back in the day, lol, when most old time farmers had a few of this a and a few of that there was always an old shed somewhere with a bunch our feathered friends. We (our family) had a large lot for them to run in but in the evening we always would let them out to run in the yard and fields just as a special treat. I can remember one time when we had this old barred rock hen and every day she was out of the pen from the other chickens. Dad clipped her wing etc and still she got out. What it was was that she was starting to go broody. After a while dad realized what he thought was happening so one morning he watched her really close and followed her around for a couple of hours till I guess she couldn't wait any longer to lay and she took off out in the field and he followed and found her on her nest in the high weeds. She had already had 8 or 10 eggs in there. Now, after each egg was laid, she would leave the nest until the next day. Those eggs weren't turned until she went the next day to lay her next one. She probably had 15 eggs in there when she started to set. In the early morning hours, we would see her leave the nest when the dew was on the ground and go around picking bits of grass, dirt and bugs. She would go back to the nest and turn her eggs and settle in for a couple or so days till she decided to leave the nest again. Usually every 2 - 4 days. The last couple or so days before the babies started to hatch you couldn't force her off the nest. Dad always said she could hear her babies yeeping in the eggs. Oh my, at the end of the 3 weeks, dad would have a little triangle box thing fixed up and when she came off the nest with the little ones following close behind he would catch her and put her under this little house and have it where the little ones could go in and out but not be dragged to death by the mom. He would leave her under there till the babies were a week or so old then he would just let her run around. Those were the days and the old hens would hatch almost every egg. Sometimes they would set in the nest in the coop so dad would mark every one of her eggs once she started to set then each day he would raise her up and remove any eggs that another hen would go in there an lay if she was off the nest. Gee, writing this is sure bringing back a lot of childhood memories. We had an old mixed dog that stayed with the chickens all the time and when one was out (like this setting hen) he would guard them really close so we never worried about anything getting them. He sure was a good old dog. Just a medium sized Heinz variety but we all loved him just the same.
I hope you folks enjoyed reading this.
Jim

 

[ChickensInMyYard]

INCUBATION TECHNIQUES:
All eggs in nature are incubated flat. You'll never see a hen set them on the small end and turn them. By laying them flat and rolling them 180 degrees each time, you’re making everything inside the egg shift completely. This complete shift is called “Making the Embryo Exercise”. This will give you a stronger chick when it comes time to hatch.
The only time I'll incubate eggs in the upright position is when I get eggs shipped in. Then I incubate them in the upright position for 7 to 8 days without turning them at all and then turn them for the remainder of the 18 day period. This stabilizes the air cell and gives the embryo a better chance to start growing and get strong. You should let them rest at least 12 hours prior to incubation when you use this system. When shipped eggs that have air cell damage, it's best to have them incubate in the upright position the entire time of incubation just tipping back and forth after the first 7 to 8 days. I've taken eggs that have the air cells damaged so bad that they'll shift all the way down the side of the egg and I've gotten a good percentage of them to hatch doing it this way. This is my idea from getting hatching eggs shipped in over the years and then nothing hatching because of air cell damage. I just studied the eggs and opened tons of them that didn't hatch and came to the conclusion that to get them to hatch you first had to get the embryo growing building up strength. That was always the biggest battle. That's what blood rings are in shipped eggs. The embryo starts and then dies because it can't attach itself properly in the egg. Run both of these incubator with the air vents wide open. This will keep the air healthier in the incubator and keep the humidity lower. Only go by the size of the air cell in the egg to gauge the humidity in your incubator. Some eggs dry down easier than others. Marans eggs will dry down slower than Leghorn eggs. This has something to do with the egg shell. But if you go by standard operating directions and run your incubators according to the incubator directions you'll have poor hatches. You have to shoot for getting the air cell size to grow up to 1/3 of the egg by the time the chicks are supposed to hatch. The smaller the air cell the wetter the chicks will be. Small air cells will lead to a lot of chicks pipping and then drowning in the eggs.
As far as the humidity goes like I said, just watch the air cells. They're what will determine if the eggs are incubating right. Sticky chicks are caused by way to much moisture in the egg. What you have to think about is all the white of the egg has to be gone when that chick is ready to pip out. Then what happens ,if it is still there, is as soon as air gets into the egg when they pip through, the white of the egg acts like glue and as they're pipping it's drying and eventually it plugs the air hole and their nostrils up and they smother. I have all my vents wide open and I don't add any water until the eggs are pipping. I set my Redwoods up so when I start them I fill the water pans full of the hottest water that comes out of the faucet. Then let them run for a couple of hours to seal up the wood. Then set your temps. Once the Redwoods are sealed then the moisture evaporating out of the eggs seems to be enough until they start pipping. Then, when the eggs start pipping, fill the water pans with straight hot water again. I do this even with my waterfowl eggs. They hatch so much better this way.
I've always lived my life with the motto that "The way you treat people will come back to you double". I've made a lot of friends this way.
Rodney Haefs

 

[OkChickens]

This technique is actually called "Dry Incubation" not dry hatch. meaning little to no water is added while incubation and then on day 18 the humidity is increased in order for the chicks to hatch. It is as simple as what ever the humidity is when there in the room you are incubating is no water added to the incubator to use that. Then add water to the Hatcher to what ever humidity you prefer to hatch with. I incubate around 15-20% and hatch around 30% humidity most of the times. This works well for me. I would advise to not open the door for ANY reason if you want the humidity to stay high. I have also mainly incubated LF Eggs so far. With the exception of my English Chocolate Orpington Bantams. I have Chocolate Orpington Eggs from my Breeding Pair and they are growing good so far. I do not know what the differences would be with American bantams. I have hatched many chicks this way and I would encourage you to try it. I would try it with cheap eggs first to make sure you like the results. Thanks

Nate

 

[azhenhouse]

I have no advice to give because I haven't had a successful hatch yet. And I don't understand because I did the dry hatch method and my chicks were shrink wrapped and couldn't pip and others do it lower than I had my humidity and they have great hatch rates. Then some people say keep it high and others say they do and their chicks drowned. Very confusing. This time I am shooting for humidity in the upper 40s, but I also bought a scale and weighed them before putting them in and will weigh once a week to check progress. I am thinking this time I will have a perfect hatch, not because I am upping my humidity, but because I can't get the temperature to stabilize very well, even though the last two times I used the incubator it was fine, I can't get my humiidity quite right. Then I set the eggs on Monday and on Tuesday decided to put more in there and on Wednesday got scared that I wouldn't be able to find a home for them and took a bunch back out and today I thought putting the eggs in the styrofoam egg carton wasn't working as well as I thought so I took that out and laid them flat and will just hand turn 3X a day and then my temps were wonky again......so since it's so bad right now and I could never replicate all this action going on, I think I will have a perfect hatch. And I hear you on the whole broody hen thing....I brought my last broody in the house since it was so cold outside and she was happy as anything to be the center of attention in the bathroom while she sat on the eggs. When they started to hatch I moved her downstairs to a bedroom and I would go in and sit for hours with her and watch her take care of her eggs/chicks. She got up several times to show the little ones how to eat, she turned her eggs still at the end and one night she moved the whole nest from one end of the crate I had her in to the opposite end, I assume to get the little ones away from the broken shells after they hatched. It's been five weeks since then and she is still with her babies in my basement having a wonderful time with them. She did everything we're not supposed to do and still had little chicks so I'm with you

Maybe we try too hard! Maybe I should turn the incubator off for a while, open it up, take a walk outside, take a potty break, get something to eat, peck around a little bit, and then go back and lock the eggs up again in the incubator. Do this a few times a day. At night keep them secure in the incubator until morning, and then go through the routine again. The last three days would be a frantic food, water, and potty break. IDK! It seems to work for my hens.

 

[DDNONIN2016]

Hope you all don't mind me lurking and reading this thread. I will have questions whenever I finally get my incubator. Can't wait to see how your hatches turn out.

 

[chiknaddiction]

So...of my 38 original eggs, 11 were tossed when candling at day 7 leaving me with 27. All passed second candling at day 18, most had movement and I immediately afterward locked down. Last night, day 19, we were hearing chirps from the eggs. Today, day 20, we have 3 Silkie chicks hatched with the majority of the rest piping! I roughly followed the dry hatch instructions, but my 2 hygrometers were unreliable/inaccurate and my 3 thermometers all had different readings. To make up for it I allowed for fluctuation of temps with the average of all three readings between 99 and 100 degrees. At lock down I filled the water channels and added a wet sponge to boost humidity and removed the egg turner (fan is running).

Sorry to hear some of you have been having a rough time with this method. I'm convinced that it totally depends on the humidity of the area you live, it was fairly simple to keep my humidity in the 30-40% range.

 

[immyjay54]

I don't have the turner, but I will look for a good deal on one. I'm trying to be as frugal as possible. Thanks for the advice.

I fully understand but it will save you a lot of time. I wouldn't want to turn eggs 3 times a day if you have very many in there. lol It will be worth the money.
Again, good luck
Jim

 

[chickensNpoodles]

So what was your incubating humidity at this time? Did you add any moisture during the 18 days? What did you do for lock down? Do tell. Oh and also what about your climate? Are you in a humid climate or dry?

60 is way to high of humidity during the 18 days. I keep mine at 35 - 40 and then up it on day 18 to about 75.


Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[ChickensInMyYard]

My humidity is between 20 and 30 percent. And I would only have to add a few tablespoons of water if it went any lower than 15 percent maybe twice a week. In Story's Guide to Raising Chickens, under humidity control (pages 207 and 208) it says, The typical hydrometer for a still-air incubator measures relative humidity, usually 60 to 62 percent during incubation, raised to 70 percent during the hatch. I live in Alberta Canada so we have a pretty dry climate. But to me 60 percent seems very high. I had to fill the water grooves in the styro more that a few times a week to keep the humidity that high.

Confusing