Questions about the dry Incubation method

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You will get a difrent answer from everyone. Belive me, i found out two weeks ago about that. Im on my first trip and my bator has been running the 40s mostly around 45. When I candled i had 7 out of 8 moving. The 8th was to dark to see but had lots fo veining where I could see. On the 18th day ill raise it to 65% ish and hope for the best. This is my first hatch though and im seeing what works for me. For now, i seem to be doing something right. Next sunday ill know for sure.
 
The humidity question frustrates me the most. Opinions are all over the place. From the various success and failure stories I've read, doesn't seem like humidity is really that big of an issue, except in the last few days. I'm too new to give advice, so this is only a comment based on exhaustive attempts to find a magic number to follow, and not finding one. Seems better to err on the side of too dry in the beginning rather than too wet, but I'm sure there's plenty of advice and success stories to the contrary. Maybe shooting for middle of the road is safest...
hu.gif
I read an interesting comment on one of the forum threads regarding different breeds having different optimal humidity range requirements. Maybe that comes into play, too, along with everything else.
 
... I am in a very dry, high altitude climate and I incubate with 50+% H in the bator. Otherwise, the eggs dry out too much in the first 18 days. Room humidity here hovers around 20%.

It seems to be very different depending on your climate. I tried dry incubation the first time 'round and the eggs got waay too dry inside.

Just pick some reasonable medium values to start with and if the aircells get too big, add moisture next time. If they don't develop enough, let the 'bator run a little dryer.
 
I am high altitude and in a dry climate as well. My last hatch was kept at 40-45% and all my chicks were dry and sticky. The air cells were huge and the chicks ended up being really small. Between that and having the eggs shipped to me in freezing temps, only 3 of 30 something eggs hatched out. This next hatch I am aiming for 50-55% humidity and hoping for the best. I know from my first hatch I need more humidity and "dry" humidity doest work for my area.
 
Melissa- I'm not far from you so I would say we have the same climate? My last batch I hatched 11 out of 12 eggs and I use a Little Giant with no turner or fan. For days 1-18 I kept my humidity between 30-35% and on days 18-21 I kept it between 65-70%. After they started hatching out I didn't touch anything. On days 1-18 I kept one of the red vent covers in and the 2nd one out. After day 18 I had both out. I also had about 6 sponges that I kept wet in with them. I never opened the top, but kept them watered by using a straw through a vent hole with a syringe and watered the sponges that way. Good luck! BTW, my house humidity where I keep my incubator is around 30%. But I also keep my incubator in my pantry closet to keep away from drafts.
 
Humidity also depends on where you live. I live in the humid south (NC here) and I do not use a room humidifier ever. The humidity in my incubators stays anywhere from 20% (rare) up to about 35%. I've had a few 100% hatches and many 90% hatches using this method. Best to find something that works for you and stick with it. For your first few incubations, I would follow the normal humidity, the ones listed as around 55% and then up to 65-70%. If you keep getting high percentages to hatch, I wouldn't worry about it. I do use warm water when I do add water to the incubators so it doesn't make the temps fluctuate quite as badly. I have over 100 chicken eggs and about 20 duck eggs in the incubators right now, plus two polish that just hatched, and two cukoo marans that have pipped.

Good luck with your first hatching and keep us updated through the process!

Emily in NC
 
I'm in high altitude too and used dry incubation with my LG still air with fan(my hubby put the fan in the bator for me). I kept humid at 30~45%(sometimes hit under 30%...), tem. at 99~101(sometimes hit 102). One of my chick hatched by itself but little sticky. My second one couldn't hatched itself. It's was peeping & made a little hole though. So, I helped a chick out. A chick was so dry and sooooo sticky so can't walk at all. I keep checking a chick. It's getting dry...but, still really sticky and can't stand at all.....that make me cry....I don't know what to do. I don't know a chick is going to make it.....Anyway, I will try higher humidity at 50~55% next time too. Noriko.

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