3 thermometers/hygrometers, 3 different readings!

[CHardcastle]

Hello! This is my first time posting, so I'm hoping someone will be able to help me. I have a Little Giant 9300 Still Air Incubator, and I'm trying desperately to get the temperature and humidity right. I've tried hatching silkie chicks twice, and have yet to have any eggs hatch. They develop, but somewhere along the way something goes wrong. I just received a shipment of a dozen fertile paint silkie eggs through the mail (first time trying this)-- the other eggs have been from a mated pair of silkies I own (one of which was recently killed by an animal)-- And I DO NOT want to make the same mistakes with these. I have let them rest undisturbed and room temp overnight, round end up, and I already know not to use an egg turner for the first few days in case the membranes detached during shipment. That said, they need to go into the incubator NOW, and I still can't get a correct reading for temperature and humidity. I'm using 1) the temp/hygro on the incubator, 2) a digital thermo/hygro, and 3) an analog thermo/hygro, and NONE of them have the same reading. They are all approximately one degree apart, and the humidity readings are all over the place. The incubator hygro is telling me 47%, the analog is reading 32%, and the digital is reading 12% (what?!?). I am tempted to trust the analog thermometer, but I don't know enough about hygrometers to know which one might be more accurate. Buying a dozen fertile silkie eggs was expensive, so I really don't want to screw this up. Help, please and thank you!

 

[Hei 20]

Hello! This is my first time posting, so I'm hoping someone will be able to help me. I have a Little Giant 9300 Still Air Incubator, and I'm trying desperately to get the temperature and humidity right. I've tried hatching silkie chicks twice, and have yet to have any eggs hatch. They develop, but somewhere along the way something goes wrong. I just received a shipment of a dozen fertile paint silkie eggs through the mail (first time trying this)-- the other eggs have been from a mated pair of silkies I own (one of which was recently killed by an animal)-- And I DO NOT want to make the same mistakes with these. I have let them rest undisturbed and room temp overnight, round end up, and I already know not to use an egg turner for the first few days in case the membranes detached during shipment. That said, they need to go into the incubator NOW, and I still can't get a correct reading for temperature and humidity. I'm using 1) the temp/hydro on the incubator, 2) a digital thermo/hydro, and 3) an analog thermo/hydro, and NONE of them have the same reading. They are all approximately one degree apart, and the humidity readings are all over the place. The incubator hydro is telling me 47%, the analog is reading 32%, and the digital is reading 12% (what?!?). I am tempted to trust the analog thermometer, but I don't know enough about hydrometers to know which one might be more accurate. Buying a dozen fertile silkie eggs was expensive, so I really don't want to screw this up. Help, please and thank you!

 

[featherhead007]

I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I have never incubated eggs before. I just wanted to wish you the best of luck.

 

[JDGreene]

There is a "salt test" people use to calibrate hygrometers. I didn't calibrate mine and haven't looked into it any further than knowing that much so maybe that will get you going.

 

[CHardcastle]

There is a "salt test" people use to calibrate hygrometers. I didn't calibrate mine and haven't looked into it any further than knowing that much so maybe that will get you going.

Thank you! I will look into that.

 

[CHardcastle]

There is a "salt test" people use to calibrate hygrometers. I didn't calibrate mine and haven't looked into it any further than knowing that much so maybe that will get you going.

Ok, so after looking up the salt test, the problem is the thermometers/hygrometers I have do not have calibration capabilities. I can't make adjustments. So I'm stuck trying to figure out which one of these is the most correct unless I buy a better thermo/hygro. Then the problem becomes timing. I have the eggs now-- I've had them 24 hours, they took three days to ship, and they were on Ebay for three days, which makes them AT LEAST a week old. I'm worried if I wait too much longer to put them in the incubator they won't hatch.

 

[JDGreene]

I don't think you have to actually calibrate it but it should tell you how much the meter is off. If it is 10% off, then you know it is 10% off and add or subract from there. Write it down on something and keep it.

 

[mcdze]

yeah 12% doesnt sound remotely right ... i wouldnt sweat humidity too much, temp, what i would do is use a medical type 'glass' thermometer like you check your temperature with and place it on the eggs, maybe tape it to them on top, and go off of that to see where your unit is calibrated to and just adjust it to the right place, once you have the reading it should be at to make the glass thermometer 100 your good to go .. back to humidity, i'd just use the bators reading, that will be close enough for rocknroll .. 50ish sounds good to me until lockdown then fog it out lol ..

 

[CHardcastle]

yeah 12% doesnt sound remotely right ... i wouldnt sweat humidity too much, temp, what i would do is use a medical type 'glass' thermometer like you check your temperature with and place it on the eggs, maybe tape it to them on top, and go off of that to see where your unit is calibrated to and just adjust it to the right place, once you have the reading it should be at to make the glass thermometer 100 your good to go .. back to humidity, i'd just use the bators reading, that will be close enough for rocknroll .. 50ish sounds good to me until lockdown then fog it out lol ..

Thanks! Yeah, that didn't seem right to me, either, but I'm not experienced enough to trust my instincts on this. Better to consult the experts! I'm trying the salt test with the digital thermo/hygro, but I've left the analog in the incubator, since that seems to be closer to the incubator readings. Once the salt test is complete I'll have a better idea of which reading is correct and how much each one is off. As for temperature, the incubator is reading as an average of the other two readings, so I figure right down the middle is probably closest to correct. If I can stay near 101, give or take half a degree, that should be good enough for silkies. I'm not confident in any of the readings to set the incubator to 102 in case it's actually closer to 103 in reality (yikes!).