Question about Dry Incubation?

[Jungleexplorer]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you have had some good results and that is what I would like to have. My first try resulted in 1 chick out of 20 eggs. I had 9 clear, and 10 fully developed chicks that never piped. I took my egg turner out and laid all my eggs on their side. The chick that did hatch came out of the side of the egg, but it was very active and went around knocking the other eggs all over the place. This time I am considering just turning my egg turner off and letting the eggs hatch in it. Do you see any problem with that?

 

[DanEP]

I really don't see a problem with just leaving them in the turner but the eco 20 I use has an external turner so I am not familiar with the internal turners. I do know that I left my eggs in the egg cartons and it seems to be going just fine. I have 12-13 hatched right now and the only problem I see is the hatched chicks are sitting on top of the zipping eggs and the little girls are really having to work at getting out but are doing just fine. As far as the hatched chicks playing bumper car with the other eggs when laying down it's no big deal they do just fine getting rocked around a little. If I have the room I always lay the eggs down for lockdown. I really don't think it makes much difference either way it's just that with the eco 20 its pretty tight in there so if I have the room to lay them down I will.

 

[Arielle]

Sorry to butt in-do you know the importance of candling to verify the effects of your RH? You may already know this, but in case you don't this is a critical to actually hatching the eggs. THis is the reason why RH is important= moisture loss in each egg. allows chick to be small enough to turn during hatching process. Increasing the moisture at hatching helps keep the membranes moist enough.

I keep this pic available during candling. Hope you find it useful to print and keep on hand.



Diagrams of air cells, duck and chicken:

http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/aircell.htm

 

[mkhenderson17]

I'm just trying to get this right... The size of the air sac gets BIGGER the longer the egg is in the incubator? So in theory at day 7 the air sac is smaller than at day 18. That is interesting...I would have thought It would be opposite since the chick grows. Any more information would be helpful! My first hatch was a total flop, stet 30 and 0 hatched. I think my humidity was off. I also had a bad temp spike and I think it killed most my eggs. I have an LG, I got it as a gift so I figure I will learn on a tough incubator and then I will be better when I get a nicer one lol.

Thanks!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Sorry to butt in-do you know the importance of candling to verify the effects of your RH? You may already know this, but in case you don't this is a critical to actually hatching the eggs. THis is the reason why RH is important= moisture loss in each egg. allows chick to be small enough to turn during hatching process. Increasing the moisture at hatching helps keep the membranes moist enough.

I keep this pic available during candling. Hope you find it useful to print and keep on hand.



Diagrams of air cells, duck and chicken:

http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/aircell.htm

Thanks for the diagram. I will use it.

 

[coz74]

I'm just trying to get this right... The size of the air sac gets BIGGER the longer the egg is in the incubator? So in theory at day 7 the air sac is smaller than at day 18. That is interesting...I would have thought It would be opposite since the chick grows. Any more information would be helpful! My first hatch was a total flop, stet 30 and 0 hatched. I think my humidity was off. I also had a bad temp spike and I think it killed most my eggs. I have an LG, I got it as a gift so I figure I will learn on a tough incubator and then I will be better when I get a nicer one lol.

Thanks!

As the moisture in the egg evaporates, the air cell gets bigger. In nature this is what would happen. If the humidity is too high in the incubator, not enough moisture is lost and the chick "drowns". The size of the air cell is dependent on moisture lost, not chick growth.

 

[DanEP]

Thanks for the info. How many eggs are you incubating in all? Lets us know what your percentage is on this hatch, please. Did you leave the eggs in the turner, take them out and lay them on their side or put them in something to keep them upright?

Well its almost the end of day 21 and I have 18 in the brooder out of 21 I started with so a little over 85% hatch rate. There is still 2 eggs in the bator and one is peeping but no pips so maybe I'll still get another chick or two, I'll give them one more day then candle to see if their still alive.
Dry hatching may not work for you but it seems to work better for me. I don't know if location or maybe elevation makes a difference but it works for me so far.All I can say is try it and see what happens.



Good luck with your hatch Dan

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Well its almost the end of day 21 and I have 18 in the brooder out of 21 I started with so a little over 85% hatch rate. There is still 2 eggs in the bator and one is peeping but no pips so maybe I'll still get another chick or two, I'll give them one more day then candle to see if their still alive.
Dry hatching may not work for you but it seems to work better for me. I don't know if location or maybe elevation makes a difference but it works for me so far.All I can say is try it and see what happens.



Good luck with your hatch Dan

Thanks. My incubator has been at 99.8 degrees and 30% humidity all day. As best I can tell, this is about right for dry incubation. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[DanEP]

Yep thirty is about right, then raise to about 60 for lockdown.
let us know how your hatch goes.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Will do.