# Dry hatch method



## JPerdue

Has anyone ever tried dry hatching and any success? My last batch out of 25, 2 hatched and then died, they couldn't stand on their own, and their necks were crooked I guess they grew too big for the egg from the low temps because they didn't hatch until day 24. My first mistake was using the thermometer that came with my styrofoam incubator and it showed my temp. At 99.5 but it was really 96. And second I think my humidity was too high and caused some chicks to drown? I just set 35 buff. Orph and I'm going to try and keep my humidity around 45% until lockdown then try 65%?


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## farmhand

I personally have not had great luck hatching eggs so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt. But a post I read somewhere made a lot of sense. They said they were very confused by the "Wet/Dry" proponents each claiming their way was the best. Until they discovered that either method worked best depending on the climate you lived in. What worked great in one area was a bust in another. According to this you need to find out what works best in your climate. 
But now I'm in over my head so I'll let someone else chime in.


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## Apyl

I would do some more research, get a new thermometer and hygrometer. Then set some eggs.


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## Tiffanyndavid

I am trying this incubator thing, if it doesn't work I'm not doing it again and will just buy baby chicks. It hurts my heart when I lose a chick, and it's just gonna tear it out if I lose my babies in the eggs. I'm sorry to hear about your loss


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## Cluckspert

I, personally, have not had great success using the dry hatch method. The membrane on the egg became brittle and the chicks couldn't break through it and the shell. I would suggest you doing one more test hatch with only a few eggs to make sure you don't again ruin a whole batch of eggs.


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## farmhand

Tiffanyndavid said:


> I am trying this incubator thing, if it doesn't work I'm not doing it again and will just buy baby chicks.


I plan on doing this Bator thing till I get it right. Total loss on my first go around and 12 more right now. Decided to by cheep eggs for the second time and found Marans and Marans crosses for $4.00 a dozen.


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## ReTIRED

I tried ONCE...a couple of years ago....to incubate some eggs in a homemade incubator. FAILURE !
I now have some incubators (styrofoam) and have studied the Subject considerably.
Expecting to have an excellent hatch when I try again.....starting sometime later this Month.
( I'll just use my own eggs...with 3 roosters and 6 hens....I'm confident that the eggs ARE fertilized ! )

NOW...the "_trick" _is to incubate PROPERLY !

I'm SOLD on the "DRY INCUBATION" Method.
(less than50% humidity until "lockdown"....THEN
up the humidity to around 65-70%)

We shall see.........


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## Tiffanyndavid

Our first baby chick hatched today!! I am so happy, it is so precious !!









Yay!!


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## ReTIRED

GOOD for YOU !!!


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## piglett

ReTIRED said:


> I tried ONCE...a couple of years ago....to incubate some eggs in a homemade incubator. FAILURE !
> I now have some incubators (styrofoam) and have studied the Subject considerably.
> Expecting to have an excellent hatch when I try again.....starting sometime later this Month.
> ( I'll just use my own eggs...with 3 roosters and 6 hens....I'm confident that the eggs ARE fertilized ! )
> 
> NOW...the "_trick" _is to incubate PROPERLY !
> 
> I'm SOLD on the "DRY INCUBATION" Method.
> (less than50% humidity until "lockdown"....THEN
> up the humidity to around 65-70%)
> 
> We shall see.........


 i start out by adding just a shot glass of warm water to the bator
this gets me to about 40%
i'll let that drop down to 30%
once it goes below 30 then i wait about 12 hours
you will get some humidity from the eggs themselves
so letting it drop for 12 hours is not a bad thing
then i add another shot glass full of water & close it back up
on day 18 i remove the turner & add a bunch of water
but i don't allow it to go over 65%
so if your just starting out 
just putting afew eggs in the bator for a test hatch is a good thing to try
if something isn't rite why destroy a bunch of good chicks??
once you get the test batch hatched out now load er on up
this time you will see the bator acts "different"

good luck & happy hatching folks
piglett


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## ReTIRED

piglett said:


> i start out by adding just a shot glass of warm water to the bator
> this gets me to about 40%
> i'll let that drop down to 30%
> once it goes below 30 then i wait about 12 hours
> you will get some humidity from the eggs themselves
> so letting it drop for 12 hours is not a bad thing
> then i add another shot glass full of water & close it back up
> on day 18 i remove the turner & add a bunch of water
> but i don't allow it to go over 65%
> so if your just starting out
> just putting afew eggs in the bator for a test hatch is a good thing to try
> if something isn't rite why destroy a bunch of good chicks??
> once you get the test batch hatched out now load er on up
> this time you will see the bator acts "different"
> 
> good luck & happy hatching folks
> piglett


I think THAT is GOOD ADVICE, *Piglett !!! ...*at least according to what I've READ and _perhaps _understood.
I, _personally, _will use THIS ADVICE *! *( _although I know...._that the "BEST-METHOD" is _highly dependent _upon LOCAL CONDITIONS....and the LOCAL Conditions _HERE _on the "High-Altitude-Desert" are bound to be _significantly _different than the conditions where you live. Nevertheless....IF I keep a good "watch" on the temp. and humidity AND _weigh the eggs_, when candling, looking for that 14% _drop-in-weight _during incubation AND "watch" the Air-Bubble (candling)....I _think I'll have a GOOD HATCH _on my next "trial-run".)
Candling on the 7th, 14th, and 18th day...
THEN "Lockdown" with no turner used any further....BUT eggs IN "egg-cartons" with the bottoms cut out of cartons. THAT'S my Plan.
We shall see..........

*THANKS *for the input *!

*_bowing out----_NOT attempting to "kidnap" this thread.....*Ha-Ha !!! 

*ReTIRED
*P.S. *I'm also considering building a BIG wooden-box with styrofoam insulation (got plenty)....in which to put my incubator AND hatcher (incubator)....to minimize temperature and humidity variations. ( Those things fluctuate immensely inside my house _because _I ONLY use my Wood-Stove for heating purposes and _seldom_ use my Air-Conditioners. Of course....I CAN _easily _and _inexpensively _use my little "humidifier" ---like is used for sinusitis----to increase the humidity in this house...._but...._I doubt that I'll _need_ to do that.


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## Sundancers

Congrats on the chick and a wish for more ...


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## InnKeeper

Time out for off topic comment: 

ReTired, is the way you type any reflection of the way you speak??!! I often try to imagine the "tone" of the words on the screen, and you are an interesting character !! You know, like how you would imagine how a person looks or sounds based on what is written?


Ok, carry on.......


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## piglett

ReTIRED said:


> I think THAT is GOOD ADVICE, *Piglett !!! ...*at least according to what I've READ and _perhaps _understood.
> I, _personally, _will use THIS ADVICE *! *( _although I know...._that the "BEST-METHOD" is _highly dependent _upon LOCAL CONDITIONS....and the LOCAL Conditions _HERE _on the "High-Altitude-Desert" are bound to be _significantly _different than the conditions where you live. Nevertheless....IF I keep a good "watch" on the temp. and humidity AND _weigh the eggs_, when candling, looking for that 14% _drop-in-weight _during incubation AND "watch" the Air-Bubble (candling)....I _think I'll have a GOOD HATCH _on my next "trial-run".)
> Candling on the 7th, 14th, and 18th day...
> THEN "Lockdown" with no turner used any further....BUT eggs IN "egg-cartons" with the bottoms cut out of cartons. THAT'S my Plan.
> We shall see..........
> 
> *THANKS *for the input *!*
> 
> _bowing out----_NOT attempting to "kidnap" this thread.....*Ha-Ha !!! *
> 
> ReTIRED
> *P.S. *I'm also considering building a BIG wooden-box with styrofoam insulation (got plenty)....in which to put my incubator AND hatcher (incubator)....to minimize temperature and humidity variations. ( Those things fluctuate immensely inside my house _because _I ONLY use my Wood-Stove for heating purposes and _seldom_ use my Air-Conditioners. Of course....I CAN _easily _and _inexpensively _use my little "humidifier" ---like is used for sinusitis----to increase the humidity in this house...._but...._I doubt that I'll _need_ to do that.


your correct RT
i live in new hampshire (500' aboue sea level)
where it's not all that humid
also we use a woodstove this time of year full time,
if i was in the high desert i would have to "change up"
but the way i do it works well for me here

piglett

PS: thinking of putting my 2 hovabotors on a free standing rack
they will take up less space that way
& i can put each bator on a set of slides 
so they just pull out when i need to take the top off of 1 of them.
i'll probably want a remote on each so i can see the temp & humitidy readout by just looking at the rack.

piglett


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## ReTIRED

InnKeeper said:


> Time out for off topic comment:
> 
> ReTired, is the way you type any reflection of the way you speak??!! I often try to imagine the "tone" of the words on the screen, and you are an interesting character !! You know, like how you would imagine how a person looks or sounds based on what is written?
> 
> Ok, carry on.......


InnKeeper....

Does THIS "avatar" help you _VISUALIZE _*?
Ha-Ha !!!   
*Bruce ( ReTIRED )


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## Energyvet

Yes! Lol.........


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## John WILKINS

Well to start off adding water is not a dry hatch. Or atleast not my version of a dry hatch I also dont worry about weight or size of the air cell and let the chick let me know if the temp is to hot or to cold and never use a Hygrometer 

My incubators/hatchers always run about the same never adding water to them.
I also don't do a lock down and no counting days to hatch


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## seminole wind

Hi and welcome!


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## John WILKINS

t


JPerdue said:


> Has anyone ever tried dry hatching and any success? My last batch out of 25, 2 hatched and then died, they couldn't stand on their own, and their necks were crooked I guess they grew too big for the egg from the low temps because they didn't hatch until day 24. My first mistake was using the thermometer that came with my styrofoam incubator and it showed my temp. At 99.5 but it was really 96. And second I think my humidity was too high and caused some chicks to drown? I just set 35 buff. Orph and I'm going to try and keep my humidity around 45% until lockdown then try 65%?


that is actually not a dry hatch, a true dry hatch would be to dry the air all the way threw the incubation period and hatch from 6-35% humidity


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## John WILKINS

ReTIRED said:


> I tried ONCE...a couple of years ago....to incubate some eggs in a homemade incubator. FAILURE !
> I now have some incubators (styrofoam) and have studied the Subject considerably.
> Expecting to have an excellent hatch when I try again.....starting sometime later this Month.
> ( I'll just use my own eggs...with 3 roosters and 6 hens....I'm confident that the eggs ARE fertilized ! )
> 
> NOW...the "_trick" _is to incubate PROPERLY !
> 
> I'm SOLD on the "DRY INCUBATION" Method.
> (less than50% humidity until "lockdown"....THEN
> up the humidity to around 65-70%)
> 
> We shall see.........


a true dry hatch would be to incubate at humidity down in the teens and no lock down


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## John WILKINS

farmhand said:


> I personally have not had great luck hatching eggs so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt. But a post I read somewhere made a lot of sense. They said they were very confused by the "Wet/Dry" proponents each claiming their way was the best. Until they discovered that either method worked best depending on the climate you lived in. What worked great in one area was a bust in another. According to this you need to find out what works best in your climate.
> But now I'm in over my head so I'll let someone else chime in.


Actually that is not true but my dry hatch is to hatch as dry as possible but it works everywhere because humidity is not a concern and I dont add water and chicks hatch at what humidity that is left in the incubator down to 6% not 65%


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