Wrath's Marans

[wrathsfarm]

A lot of previous research I've done with Marans breeders say because of the harder shells and darker pigments, they don't require the added moisture of regular eggs. They retain it, thereby not needing higher humidity.

Dryer climates may require more humidity. Or if furnace is running constant.

 

[wrathsfarm]

It would be interesting to see the difference in success rate. Do you use an app or spreadsheet to track hatch rates with different methods?

I have notebooks I keep all my records in to track stuff but I slack on it quite a bit. This is why I post so many egg pics as I'm following their first 20-30 eggs for color average.
This is only my 4th incubator hatch. My 1st was a fail as the 360 temp was way off. 2nd wasn't too good either at 9 out of 22 I believe, 3rd was better at 7 I think out of 13...3 were clears. All hatches were 20-30%, not over 50% lockdown. The 3rd hatch I had the temp finally dialed in, but with the govees now showing that humidity was running lower last year than incubator reading.

I would have done more hatches last year but 10 broodys were much better at it.

 

[wrathsfarm]

@WingItRanch are you following @Auntiejessi3 next hatch. She's dry hatching a set in Texas. This would be one to watch for your climate.

 

[WingItRanch]

@WingItRanch are you following @Auntiejessi3 next hatch. She's dry hatching a set in Texas. This would be one to watch for your climate.

I am not! Need to find it... She tempted me with chicks so I've been avoiding looking too closely at her hatches since she's within driving distance. Too tempting!

 

[TexasBlues]

If you go to the dry hatch-aholics group on FB they will tell you adding ANY water it is NOT a dry hatch. The problem I found with the dry hatch-aholic's recommendations for dry hatch is they don't specify your ambient humidity. (which has an effect on your incubators humidity) and they don't give humidity percentage recommendations. So, you could be in the sweltering jungles of Costa Rica and you don't add water to your incubator and the incubator's humidity is at 60% and you then could take that same incubator to Death Valley and your incubator's humidity would be 0%. Both are technically considered dry hatches to them because no water was added.
But, what I did learn from reading all the dry hatch posts is that it is ok to have the humidity at 20% all through day 18 and not add any water. Once the first chicks start hatching the humidity should rise and all is well.

With good recommendations from @wrathsfarm I kept the humidity at my last hatch between 20-35% range for the most part the first 18 days. Then brought it up to 50% for lockdown and got my best hatch so far. 45 out of 49 set. This next hatch, I am not going to add water the first 18 days and then I am not sure if I want to add water or not at lockdown, I'm still hesitant about going all the way dry.

The other group on facebook that I've been lurking and reading is the stackers group. They stack eggs on top of each other in the incubator to max out the space and then they DONT TURN the eggs at all. This freaks me out a little not having them turned, but they say it works fine.

 

[WingItRanch]

If you go to the dry hatch-aholics group on FB they will tell you adding ANY water it is NOT a dry hatch. The problem I found with the dry hatch-aholic's recommendations for dry hatch is they don't specify your ambient humidity. (which has an effect on your incubators humidity) and they don't give humidity percentage recommendations. So, you could be in the sweltering jungles of Costa Rica and you don't add water to your incubator and the incubator's humidity is at 60% and you then could take that same incubator to Death Valley and your incubator's humidity would be 0%. Both are technically considered dry hatches to them because no water was added.
But, what I did learn from reading all the dry hatch posts is that it is ok to have the humidity at 20% all through day 18 and not add any water. Once the first checks start hatching the humidity should rise and all is well.

With good recommendations from @wrathsfarm I kept the humidity at my last hatch between 20-35% range for the most part the first 18 days. Then brought it up to 50% for lockdown and got my best hatch so far. 45 out of 49 set. This next hatch, I am not going to add water the first 18 days and then I am not sure if I want to add water or not at lockdown, I'm still hesitant about going all the way dry.

The other group on facebook that I've been lurking and reading is the stackers group. They stack eggs on top of each other in the incubator to max out the space and then they DONT TURN the eggs at all. This freaks me out a little not having them turned, but they say it works fine.

45 out of 49? Wow!

 

[wrathsfarm]

45 out of 49? Wow!

Yeah, that's a great hatch. Hoping my hatch is that good, I only need 17 to fill orders this round but set 22.

 

[TexasBlues]

45 out of 49? Wow!

We got 22 out of 23 BCM eggs to hatch. No assisting and no opening of the incubator til they hatched. Worked great. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke. Thanks to Wrath!

 

[wrathsfarm]

If you go to the dry hatch-aholics group on FB they will tell you adding ANY water it is NOT a dry hatch. The problem I found with the dry hatch-aholic's recommendations for dry hatch is they don't specify your ambient humidity. (which has an effect on your incubators humidity) and they don't give humidity percentage recommendations. So, you could be in the sweltering jungles of Costa Rica and you don't add water to your incubator and the incubator's humidity is at 60% and you then could take that same incubator to Death Valley and your incubator's humidity would be 0%. Both are technically considered dry hatches to them because no water was added.
But, what I did learn from reading all the dry hatch posts is that it is ok to have the humidity at 20% all through day 18 and not add any water. Once the first checks start hatching the humidity should rise and all is well.

Yes, some of those posters can be brutal. No Water Ever or suffer the consequences!!

With good recommendations from @wrathsfarm I kept the humidity at my last hatch between 20-35% range for the most part the first 18 days. Then brought it up to 50% for lockdown and got my best hatch so far. 45 out of 49 set. This next hatch, I am not going to add water the first 18 days and then I am not sure if I want to add water or not at lockdown, I'm still hesitant about going all the way dry.

Meh, just regurgitated info. With us being in both humid states with Marans eggs, I think the odds helps. Like said above @Auntiejessi3 I believe is doing a complete dry hatch next in her thread. Be worth it to follow along as everywho is in Texas.

The other group on facebook that I've been lurking and reading is the stackers group. They stack eggs on top of each other in the incubator to max out the space and then they DONT TURN the eggs at all. This freaks me out a little not having them turned, but they say it works fine.

Yea, I'm following but I don't know. 22 is cramped in the 360, can't imagine 50 chicks stuffing to get out. Seems like a lot of injuries could happen. Just my thought....

 

[wrathsfarm]

I am not! Need to find it... She tempted me with chicks so I've been avoiding looking too closely at her hatches since she's within driving distance. Too tempting!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/change-of-plans.1454019/page-100

You've been there...