Incubators and humidity

[graham]

Hi,what are peoples views on humidity when incubating hens egg.I have been experimenting with running dry and had some surprising but good results.
This is the results I came up with running dry right from start to finish.All the way through the hatch my hygrometer has read 35 to 38%
The chicks started to hatch yesterday and the humidity immediatly went to 58% with out adding any water at all,amazing nature taking care of its self.About half are now hatched and these eggs came all the way from france by post.
You can see the humidity on the glass of the incy this only happend as the eggs began to pip.

Graham.

 

[graham]

Hi,here is a photo showing,the humidity on the glass of the incy and also some of my hatch.

Graham.

 

[chrismahon]

They look really sweet Graham, and perhaps a little confused by what's going on outside. What breed are they that you needed to get them from France?

The humidity of the air in a centrally heated modern house can fall to 10%. In an old property with solid walls and hand made bricks like ours it can be 80%. Our incubator read 55% all the way through but it used very little water because the air contained all it needed. I think the humidity was too high and the gauge was wrong. I am not a great believer in the accuracy of the humidity gauges on these things -the best way is to see the air sac development. It can also be done by fine measurement of the weight of the eggs during the process. Humidity will rise when the egg breaks because the water inside the shell evaporates. But the fact that all yours hatched and none were stuck in the shell because it was apparently too dry says to me that the gauge on your incubator is in error. The 'textbook' humidity requirements have been established using very accurate equipment on a commercial scale and are based on hatch rates over many tens, or perhaps hundreds of thousands of eggs. So I personnally would not question them. If I had a successful hatch with my incubator after having wildly different readings to those prescribed I would always doubt the accuracy of my readings.

 

[foxy]

Looks like a good hatch Graham!

I dry incubate right up until at least a third have externally pipped then if I need to I pop the humidity up to around 65%. Using this method I have a very good success rate usually around 90% + of fertile eggs. I only hatch from my own eggs so no problems with postage to worry about!

 

[graham]

Hi Chrismahon,they are a commercial hybrid,due for a hatchery in Lancashire,they are called hubbards.They are predomonatly a meat bird but I keep them as a utility bird keeping the hens as layers and eating the cockerals.
I then cross my own copper blue marran,road island red cockerals with the hens and produce a very fine eating bird.
I would expect my hygrometer to be any thing up to 10% out given my results this would add up.Out of 14 fertile eggs 2 were DIS unpiped evan internaly.
12 hatched 1 was not right so unfortunatly I had to youthanase.
Hi Foxy,I will be re stocking the incy with my own eggs tommorow there is nothing like your own eggs they always seem to be so strong and viralent compaired to those that are bought in.
This is one of the first times I have run dry and and is the first time I havan't had up to a third of the hatch as DIS that are so wet they looked like they have drowned.
I have looked at waighing eggs before,but I was very concerned at all the time the incy was open and all the handaling involved.

Graham.

 

[Chuck]

I've run them dry now for two seasons with good results after having very disappointing results using manufacturers instructions. This seems to be a common pattern with a lot of people who go over to dry out of frustration. I up the humidity to 55% when they chip. I too had a good hatch when I forgot to put water in on day of chipping.