Has anyone here ever done a dry incubator hatch?Been reading up on it and it sounds easy, no water untill three days before hatch,if you have done it let me know what the results was,
Dry hatch
I wouldn't chance it.. sticky chicks are so sad to deal with. I've read all about a dry hatch, and just wouldn't have the heart to try it.. Can't see the benefit, especially at the risk of torturing the chicks.. There is a site that raves about it.. Just don't see the need. If it were a recipe, that's different! LOL You asked! :)
You up the humidity to 70 to 75% the day of lock down so thats three days of humidity,do you think that would take care of the sticky chick thing?
This message was edited Aug 1, 2011 6:55 PM
interesting.. and i only say that bc i have noticed my hens haven't pooped on their eggs to raise the humidity at all with this batch.. the next is dry, clean.. they are getting up to poop outside of the next box. Makes me wonder if its their version of a dry hatch since its so hot here? Haven't read up on it at all.. will have to research it now. Idk that I could do it.. but makes me curious
I haven't had any broody poop on her eggs. A hen will sweat, she will pluck the feathers from her belly and chest to be bare skin.. and that is what provides the humidity.
I really don't know how a dry incubation would affect the chicks and wouldn't attempt it to find out. I don't see the reasoning for it? That's just me.. I mean, if it works, don't fix it. LOL
You might feel different and by all means try it if you want.. It has been a popular topic that a lot of people have asked about..
Seems to me that it would be a wasted 21 days if it doesn't work well...Putting a little can of water in the incubator couldn't be that difficult. Why put those little babies in a sticky situation if you don't have to?
Read this and tell if you would try it
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Henthusiasts' Still-Air Styrofoam Incubation Cheat-Sheet
***The first, most important rule is: get the temp right with an empty incubator, and make sure it's stable for 48 hours- without the plugs, without you touching it- BEFORE you add eggs.***
This is the hardest part, and if you can be good and do it, you have a much better shot at success. Do it before you order eggs, even. That gives you time to get it perfect.
Use 3 (yes, 3!) of the sealed-in-glass aquarium thermometers from Wally World ($1.70 each, I always have at least a dozen on hand for my 6 incubators).
They have a little green suction cup- I leave it on and move it to the weighted end for one thermometer, the top end on another and the middle for the third. This makes them a slight bit different in elevation in the incubator as the turner moves, so you can average them for the true temp.
Place them where it will be easy to read from the windows, and turn them in the suction cup so they're angled correctly to read the red line through your windows. They need to be on the turner, wedged between eggs so you can read what the center of the egg is, internally.
This is the only reliable way, as the thermometers that come with the incubators on cardboard change as humidity changes, and they tell you the eggs' top temperature or the temp on the floor! Took forever to figure out my incubator wasn't really spiking as badly as the thermometer said, but that the temp spikes were due to the cardboard shrinking and swelling from humidity!
When you put eggs in, it will take hours to get stable again- ignore it!!! Walk away for a day!!! The temp will drop when you first add eggs. Don't adjust it at all. After a day with eggs, you can put a plug in to go up a degree or two. You can add another plug if you need to. If you're over 101.5*F 24 hours after you add eggs, you can turn the thing down A HAIR.
That's all. Don't adjust again for a day- be patient. **Don't dismiss this recommendation.** You can go up a degree or two per plug you add at this point, too.
Try not to use the knob to adjust. Being a bit off in the beginning as it takes your eggs up to temperature internally is less destructive than yo-yo adjustments. Stability is only accomplished with real patience.
AFTER the first 2 days, during which the eggs are being brought up to temp:
If the temp isn't too hot- like 102* consistently for 2 hours, I don't turn it down.
If it's not below 98* consistently for 2+ hours, I don't turn it up. I add a plug and wait 24 hours. I haven't adjusted my thermostats in 6+ months.
You can get it stable. My incubators are always full. **So are my brooders.**
Ignore humidity until day 18. Do I need to repeat that? No water, no worries. Ignore it completely.
For lockdown, roll up paper towels and stuff them in the water channels, then fill the channels. Lay another paper towel across the wire. I use them because they're disposable, so they won't harbor bacteria, and they increase the surface area of the evaporative substrate while wicking moisture up through the channels from the PT swelling up out of them. You'll then have BOTH sides of the paper towel exposed on the wire, plus the surface of the ones rolled up in the channels, which swell to rise over the channels themselves. You'll easily hit 75% if you follow my instructions. It may even fog up. It's okay, as it will settle down, and since you used no water previously, the high humidity will not pose a threat, as they have already evaporated the majority of the egg moisture- no drownings!
Put the eggs on the now damp paper towel which will have absorbed water from the paper towels poking up out of the water channels, and make sure the whole lot stays wet for 3 days while in lockdown. If you must add water (which is likely) use tubing through the holes on the top of the incubator or open a window to do it. Don't open the lid, if you can help it. I do go in through a window sometimes on the LG. Actually, I do a lot!! I'm not very good about that particular discipline. I have often used a small funnel to ads a bit of H2O at a time through a vent hole, just letting it fall on the paper towel on the wire. Sometimes the eggs get dribbled on- it doesn't matter, so long as you use lukewarm water.
I've hatched hundreds or thousands of eggs this way- YOU MUST GET THE INCUBATOR STABLE BEFORE YOU ADD EGGS.
ACK!! One more thing. If you only have one machine, it's best to use egg cartons to hatch them, with the bottom cut out of each little cup for air movement. Otherwise, when you take out the turner the eggs are laying so much lower than they were in the turner that the temps are no longer appropriate and they're way too cold. This is important! Even a tiny bit of difference in height can mean a big difference in yolk-temp so you might wipe them out in the last 3 days if you don't use a carton or prop up the wire. You can mark the turner edge on the styrofoam and use that line to help you position the wire on shallow bowls or compote cups to get the middle of the eggs at the same height they were for the first 18 days. Put the wire back in and you're good to go. Egg cartons are easier. This doesn't affect hatchability, but you won't want the paper towel on the wire AND cardboard cartons, as this will be too humid.
If you have had both plugs out the whole time, you might be able to get the right temp for them lying on the floor by just plugging both holes, but that's an unknown factor until you've tried it, and you don't want to find out with eggs that are about to hatch. I use a separate machine as the hatcher to avoid this conundrum.
Hope it makes sense!
Let me know if you have any questions. ChooksChick at gmail dot com.
I'm adding this Q & A section for frequently asked questions. Let me know if there's something you'd like to see here.
Q. Can you describe your feelings on the humidity portion and why you suggest no water at all?
A. The method I describe is also referred to as 'dry incubation' and it's the only sure way I know of to decrease the embryonic mass by enough in the first 2 1/2 weeks to make the baby small enough to negotiate getting in the right position to pip properly. Many times if there isn't enough evaporation, the chick can't get into the right position to get enough leverage to pip and they never make it out. The chick is just too big.
If there's substantial evaporation, this seems to be less of a problem. You do need to have adequate humidity for the chick to not get glued in, however, so you increase the humidity to prevent the remaining moisture from dying as the chick opens the shell with first the pip and then the zip. That's why it's important to watch the humidity at the end. There's a whole host of various opinions about how to incubate, but this has worked for me a zillion times and I encourage folks to at least read it, even if they choose another method, just to get some ideas about shat they observe and have a bit of background so they can make educated decisions as they go through their chosen method the first time.
Q. Will this work on a forced-air incubator?
A. Yes, many have used it on a forced air incubator, but I suggest you don't let the humidity dip below 20% for more than a few hours, adding a tad of water through a straw if it's that low for more than 8 hours. I also advocate using the paper towels on the last three days STRONGLY, because anytime a pip is large but the pipper is slow, gluing can occur more easily with the fan and air movement.
If you can turn off the fan for the lockdown period, that would be ideal.
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When i was researching hatching it said the hen will poop near or almost on the eggs to raise the humidity is all i know. And before my hens always did that. Maybe this hen is cleaner.. idk, just one big difference i noticed. She isn't missing the feathers on her belly & chest like the usually do either. but then maybe 110 degree weather makes a difference in how they hatch them compared to early spring when its cooler. I also had sticky chicks with the humidity kept where it was suppose to be which is why this thread interests me.
I have 40 eggs due to hatch friday in my new incubator,do you put anything on the wire floor such as cheese cloth or paper towels?I have to take them out of the egg turner tomorow and fill both trays with water.
I read it and the other site that promoted a "dry hatch" and still wouldn't change the method that works for me.. especially at the risk of the chick's lives. I just don't see why to "try" it? What is the advantage?
I use a sponge.. In fact, I used a lot of sponges.. they can walk on them, etc. without any injury and they stay wet longer than a paper towel. I also always hatched in egg cartons..
I had a lot of sticky chicks under broodiez this year... the weather was crazy..
ZZ how high is your humidity the last three days?
We hardly ever have high humidity.. our summers are normally totally dry. I'd say 20%? just a guess.
I think it was the incubator that was in question.
.ZZ I meant what is the humidity in your incubator at lock down?I have mine 70%,had to use a sponge to get it up there.The humidity here this summer has been awful,we are over a foot in our normal rain fall,I have never seen so many thunder storms and really bad ones that cause a lot of damage,there is a lot of potato farmers here and they have had there crops washed out of the fields,trees uprooted and wash outs in the roads.I have a pip,as I was moving them out of the egg turner I could hear a chirp and when I was putting them back I seen a small hole,hatch day is friday.I just got my brooder ready.I am so excited,I love baby chicks.
LOL My mistake.. LOL I try to get the Rh up over 75% I don't concern myself with how high it gets.. I just added 2 or 3 sponges and add hot water if I had to open. It usually fogs up the glass then I know it's nice and wet in there.
I quit hatching and sold my bators and hatchers.. it got out of hand.. :)