Do you add water to Hatchrite?

[Jerhart]

I have always used perlite to incubate my eggs in the past. I have had a good hatch-rate until this year....ugh, long story.

So I recently picked up a bag of hatchrite...I still plan on using perlite for most of my clutches, but I figured I would give this a whirl and a couple of clutches to see how great it is...

But I am confused...do you add water to it? The instructions basically say empty contents of bag into egg tub. Put in eggs. Put on lid. Stick in incubator.

Am I missing something?

[jhaven]

I have always used perlite to incubate my eggs in the past. I have had a good hatch-rate until this year....ugh, long story.

So I recently picked up a bag of hatchrite...I still plan on using perlite for most of my clutches, but I figured I would give this a whirl and a couple of clutches to see how great it is...

But I am confused...do you add water to it? The instructions basically say empty contents of bag into egg tub. Put in eggs. Put on lid. Stick in incubator.

Am I missing something?

No, you don't need to add water.
I am using it for my first clutch this year and it maintains the humidity well.

[snakesRkewl]

I used it my first year and won't again.
Yes I had to add water but my tubs were not "sealed" and the hatchrite dried up.

I think if you use seal a meal and truly seal the tub up you shouldn't need to add water.

I switched to Vermiculite under light diffuser.

[Jerhart]

Interesting....


Anyone else?

[Jerhart]

I thought there would be more than 2 people on this forum who have used this...?

[dreese88]

Josh, I used it this year and it dried up pretty badly. Had to add a lot of water (~1 cup in a 6 qt box) about a 1/3 of the way into incubation

[Freakie_frog]

to expensive for my blood and I've heard it can be to dry..or to wet.. I'm still anal about that stuff..

[Wh00h0069]

I have used HatchRite, and have never added water. I do not seal my tubs, and have never had any issues with it drying up at all. All of the ball eggs on the HatchRite hatch perfectly. Good luck.

[Jerhart]

Good God...could the results be anymore split down the middle?

I am hesitant to use it now...I thought this stuff what suppose to eliminate the guesswork?

Well...thanks for the responses everyone!


Keep the reviews coming if you have them...

[bones93]

I used it this season and put it under the light diffuser. I added alot of water but that was just to be sure. I dont know if I will use it again simply because of the cost if you are doing a few clutches. I would say use substrateless and that eliminates pretty much most guess work. Good luck on the upcoming season