Please give me tips on 'dry hatching' duck eggs

[Goat_Walker]

Ive heard of a method called "dry hatching" or "dry incubating" before and was wondering how exactly this is done?

I want to try it since I keep having aweful luck with watching my humidity in the bator.

 

[Sweetfolly]

I don't know if I can be of any help, but I have duck eggs in my Brinsea right now that I've been dry incubating. I haven't put any water in it at all, and the air cells look perfect, and they're due to hatch on Tuesday (I'll up the humidity for hatching, of course!) - HOWEVER the ambient humidity in my house is usually right around 60% - I don't think you could get away with it in a drier climate.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Im just wondering what temp I need to keep it at and then of course what say i need to add the "steaming hot water" I think it was, lol. And I wasnt sure if I was supposed to cover all the holes to keep the humidity in as well as what the humidity will need to be from the day I add the hot water till hatch.

 

[Sweetfolly]

You should never plug all the holes in the incubator to keep humidity in, because the developing embryos need oxygen - you can plug some holes to get humidity up, but make sure you leave a hole for gas exchange.

Hopefully someone else will drop in and answer your other questions!

 

[Goat_Walker]

Lol Thanks! Im getting everything set up today so that I can get this peep party started! lol