PLEASE!!! Tell me about dry hatching!!

[CityChicker]

I didn't mean that I was referring entirely to what was said on this thread only. I meant that in one of the recent discussions I read about dry incubating someone was acting like air cell size was in no way linked to humidity (that is how I read it anyway). LOL, I didn't mean to sound ambiguous. I just didn't want to step on anyone's toes or offend anyone. Air cell size is absolutely directly linked to humidity. I agree that a person shouldn't focus on the "number" per se, but we have to recognize that if we are monitoring air cell size, we are indirectly monitoring humidity.

When someone says that they "dry hatch" and don't monitor humidity, they just monitor air cells and/or weight, I think to myself that what they are saying is completely and totally nonsensical. Just my opinion. I didn't want to spell it out or refer to the exact discussions that I am talking about because again, I didn't want to offend anyone that has a different idea on how to do things. LOL

 

[FenDruadin]

Yup, that's what I meant, duckluck. And I think I understand what you meant, too, CityChicker. You're quite right that it wouldn't make sense to monitor the air cell without monitoring humidity too--at least, not if you want to develop a system that works reliably. I monitor the air cell in order to determine whether my current humidity system is working for me. The method I use--which is similar to "dry incubation"--seems to work quite well in my setting. But I also agree that it may very well not work for someone else.

Unfortunately, monitoring air cell development takes practice, so I definitely think it's a good idea to start with a standard humidity, and as you gain more experience, play around with it until you reach a system that seems to result in optimal hatch rates. This is where keeping good records helps--how can you know what's working if you don't keep a record? Also, for a couple of hatches I actually tracked the air cell development by drawing, in pencil, a line around the air cell at each candling, so I could see how fast it was growing. When I finally got my humidity so that the air cell was a third of the egg mass at hatching (which also resulted in my highest hatch rate so far and no post-internal-pip losses), I had a very clear idea of what the air cell should look like at each candling. And of course I made a record of it!

Anyway, I think we're all pretty much on the same page.

It's just different angles.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Wow - that sure was a lot to take in, lol. I think Im going to try the way yall are saying, adding water till it gets down to the 20s. Only thing is this - Ihave NO water in there at all and my humidity says its 70% ?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

you're kinda like me, down here in the south our air is 80% year round just about, especially when it gets hot, 90% or so in the mornings right!!

 

[ruralmom]

Or you can be like us in the semi-desert of the Rocky Mtns and have to work you %@# off just to get the humidity in the 20s. How do you 'watch air sacs closely'? Wouldn't that require you to get into the bator often and handle the eggs, candle, and what draw lines on the the egg to see if it increases or decreases? I plan to get some call eggs from another BYC member and I would like it to be as successful as possible.

 

[FenDruadin]

I monitor the air cell at 10 days, 20 days, and then again right before lockdown. When I was getting the hang of it, I would draw a pencil circle on the outside of the egg to show where the air cell was, and label it with the date. If the air cell looks good, I leave it alone until the next candling. If not, I would probably candle again after a few days to see if my humidity changes were having the desired impact. But--since I started using the "modified dry" incubate method I currently use, I haven't had to do that.

The goal of the monitoring is to develop a system that works reliably--it doesn't necessarily help an individual hatch all that much.

And, by the way, I do handle my eggs a lot. I can't help myself. I leave them alone once they go into lockdown, but I really don't think it hurts them to handle them up to once a day. Maybe I'm wrong (back to my disclaimer--I'm only on my fourth/fifth duck incubation, so I'm hardly an expert), but I like to candle often.

 

[ruralmom]

How do you know what size of an air sac is right for a duck egg? Shouldn't it vary depending on the time you check the egg and how close you are to hatching? Wow, I am really getting worried about hatching duck eggs now with alot of good advice it is hard to know what to do. Do use let the bator cool down for 15 or so minutes every night with your modified dry method?

 

[CityChicker]

Quote:
I am right there with you. It is very hard to keep humidity up here in Colorado, not to mention the whole issue with gas exchange/oxygen at higher elevations. You need an incubator with a decent size water surface area or sometimes additional containers of water in the incubator. Even under the best of circumstances, my hatches here are lower than they were when I lived a few years in Texas. There are some things you just can't control unfortunately. We usually weight the eggs, candle, and check air cells once a week, but we open the incubator daily to hand turn the eggs.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

to be honest, I have raise some of the most exotic, rare migratory waterfowl over the past 25 years or so, 100+ species. I have never worried about all this, just put them in the bator, run them at 99.5 degrees and keep humidity around 60% or so and go with it, never once have I worried about aircell size monitoring??True it is directly linked with humidity, but if you keep the humidity right the aircells will be right They just do fine the old fashioned way for me, plus it's hard to monitor 1000's of eggs that close all the time, I'd never be able to shut the incubator, LOL. If I can hatch goldeneyes, eiders, smew, ruddy ducks and stuff of that sensitive nature just by staying with the ol tried and true, domestics would be a walk in the park. I dont see the hole worry of this method, seems to be a lot of extra work for no better of a result. Basically, if it's fertile, it hatches here just going the normal route... Honestly, I feel this method of extreme monitoring could turn new comers off if they feel they HAVE to do all this, or in an accident cause them to loose their eggs from doing it improperly, which to me the hole method sounds improper, especially for waterfowl. But to each his own, just my opinion here. Just keep water in your trays and let them hatch I say...For those in the dry areas, like they said, you just have to add more surface area of water to your incubator, and keep it filled, where I fill 1 little try, you'll need to do 3 or better probably.
But as for the Dry method, If it works it works, but you wont ever hear me trying it

 

[FenDruadin]

I also agree with Boggy Bottoms. If you're new, just use the standard numbers and you'll probably have a great hatch. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the many options and give up altogether, when really it's not all that complicated and eggs tend to be pretty flexible in their requirements--so what if your first hatch has a lower hatch rate than later hatches? If you get even 50%, you've got babies and you can work toward a better hatch rate the next time.

Then, if you feel like it, you can play around with more complicated methods and see what works for you. But I totally agree that newcomers shouldn't let all the talk of air cell development and dry hatching and so on worry them. Just follow the standard advice, hatch some eggs, have fun!