Air cell?

[crazyforchicks]

I have almost 30 eggs in the bator right now and I am on day 12, They are BCMs and a few white leghorns from my mutts. I candled them last night and I can not see a air cell in ANY of them. My humidity has been 50-55% And temps have been close to 99.5 within a degree or so. They are alive and I can see them moving in there but no air cell?

 

[GreenGoddess]

Sometimes the color or thickness of the shells can make it difficult to see at times.. Make sure your light is bright enough and y.. ou can try to not only looking from under the egg but also from the side and top.. In a very dark room you can put the light just slightly off center of top and can see the aircell..

The only reason you would not have an aircell would be if your hygrometer was not correct.. did you calibrate it before you used it?

Goddess

 

[crazyforchicks]

Oh crap!!! No I didnt calibrate it! how do I do that?

 

[GreenGoddess]

Quote:
Take a small dish or cap of some sort (shot glass works too if you have one) and put a tablespoon of table salt in it.. Add just enough water to make it like wet sand but not soaking wet to where you can see the water.. Place the container with the salt into a ziplock bag and then put the hygrometer next to the dish inside the bag and seal it... Leave it there for 8 hours and then check the reading on the hygrometer.. It should read 75% if it is correct... If it is not correct, + or - whatever you need to get to 75%.. So, if after 8 hours it reads 45%, then whenever you read the hygrometer in the bator, you will need to subtract 5% and the actual humidity in the bator would be 40%...

Once you calibrate it, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Calibrating it just means that you figure out how much it is off from the actual temp/humidy and then figuring out what it really is... Sometimes you can get lucky in finding one that you can actually change what it reads with a little dial or button but those are usually very pricey...

Goddess

 

[kvmommy]

Oh no! my eggs will be here today or tomorrow and I didn't know I was supposed to calibrate my hygrometer. Should I take it out of my stable and running incubator to calibrate it or leave it at this point.

 

[GreenGoddess]

Quote:
You have plenty of time... Take a deep breath!! lol... Go ahead and take the hygrometer out and calibrate it.. You will need to let your eggs rest for 12-24 hours if they are shipped before you put them in the bator anyway so take advantage of time time so you know it's correct...

Goddess

 

[Unclebean]

You should have time to calibrate it.

 

[kvmommy]

LOL, I didn't even think about that! phew....I think this whole ordeal is making me lose my mind. OK...hygrometer is being calibrated. Thanks guys!

 

[crazyforchicks]

Ok so as soon as I knew I should calibrate it I searched it on here and found a posting that said to calibrate it by putting a bowl of a half cup of salt and a quarter cup of water in a plastic bag with the hygrometer for 8-12 hours and then it should be at 75% So I frantically put all of that in a bag and im on hour four and it is at 66% Is this a good method to calibrate it?

 

[kvmommy]

Is it possible for my brand new hygrometer to be off by 30%?? When I filled my water wells...all of them I couldn't get the humidity past 49%. Then I put 1 tbs of salt in a shot glass with just enough water to make it look sandy but not watery. It hasn't been 8 hours, but the humidity has been staying under 49% the whole time. Should I return it? Its called Accurite or something and its an indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer. It has a sensor you can place outside for a separate reading, but the piece itself is for inside. Anyone use one? Getting panicky again! LOL My husband has little faith in me and keeps saying this is a bad idea cuz I'll kill them all. I can't grow house plants and my geckos laid eggs and all died after doing everythjing I researchd. Soooo...I want this to be perfect and prove him wrong!