Can someone tell me what im doing wrong

[FLITZ]

??? What did I screw up ??
Three hygrometers that dont read the same
I put them in a zip lock sandwich bag with a soda cap full of salt. and just enough water to make the salt wet. I mixed it up all the salt was wet but firm and no puddles of water.
I waited about 11 hours and two were wrong. 80 and 61 so the third was 75
---.. I put them all in the incubator side by side.. waited over night and thru the next day... If i add 13 to one and subtract 5 from the other.. the three should all give me the same %

BUT!! they dont!! not even close!! crap I cant get this right.. We heat with wood so i really need to know what is correct.
Can anyone give me an idea what went wrong? Grrr

 

[FLITZ]

I'm thinking i may have calibrated them wrong. the one that I thought we off by 13%
I took them out of the incubator and now the one that was off by 13 reads the same as a flucker's name brand hygrometer as well as a digital acu-rite I have..but this is outside the bator.

so outside the bator i have two uncalibrated ones that both read 36 as well as a digital acu rite (too big for inside the LG)
acu rite is at ----------------- ------- 36
TWO others are at ---------------- 36 ____^ non calibrated (first 3)
t one i thought was off by 13is- 36
the one i thought was correct---55
the one that was off by 5----------47
Did i calibrate wrong.. it sees so easy to calibrate them?

 

[Arielle]

Most of us incubate in a RANGE of RH, not an exact number. The temp must be an exact number, but not the RH. Pick the one hydrometer that reads between the high and the low readings. THen decide if you are using the dry incubation method or not. Do you have a %RH selected as your goal range?

Do you know the purpose of the %RH? You may already know this. To help the egg lose moisture slowly so that by day 18 the air cell is well developed and has reached the desired size. The egg will lose about 15% of it's weight. This might help:

Diagrams of air cells, duck and chicken:

http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/aircell.html

Hope this has helped.

 

[Zootopia]

The guys I work with use 1/2 cup table salt, 1/4 cup of water stir and place in the ziplock for 8 to 12 hrs. (The reptile guys at the Zoo I work at)

 

[nurse_turtle]

I believe the recommended amount of salt is 1/2 cup then add the 1/4 cup of water then put 'em in a zippy bag. I strongly recommend using the DRY incubation method. It's the only method I use and although I have a good hygrometer in there, I rarely look at it as it always reads the same during the first 18 days. At lockdown I add water to reach 50-60% for chicken eggs. Dry incubation makes life so much easier during egg hatching.

 

[Arielle]

x2

 

[aveca]

i agree with the dry hatch..it just works.