Is my chick stuck in the egg?

[Audenis]

Thanks, I'll try it out next time I hatch something for sure.

Many of them are already in a warm brooder (in the attached picture), but many more are newly hatched, soaking wet and not yet fluffy enough to move them from the incubator to the brooder. I've read a lot of guides on what to do when they hatch, and all of them say only move dry fluffy ones to a pre-heated brooder, else they can get sick and die from cold. The ones that run around are still wet. So yeah.

 

[cmom]

To calibrate a hygrometer you will need:
1/2 cup table salt
approximately 1/4 cup water
coffee cup
hygrometer
large resealable freezer bag
Place 1/2 cup of salt in the coffee cup, and add the water. Stir for a bit to totally saturate the salt. The salt won't dissolve in this amount of water; instead, the salt should have the consistency of wet sand.
Carefully place the cup containing the salt/water mix in a resealable plastic bag. Place the hygrometer in the bag, away from the cup of salt and water. Note: make sure none of the salt/water mix comes in direct contact with the hygrometer, or the hygrometer may be damaged. Completely seal the bag.
Place the sealed bag aside at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Pick a location free of drafts, out of direct sunlight, and away from heating or cooling vents. The temperature should be fairly constant.
After being in the sealed bag for 8-12 hours, check the reading of the hygrometer. It is best to read it while still in the bag, since the humidity in your house is probably different the reading may change quickly once you take the hygrometer out of the bag.
The relative humidity in the sealed bag with the salt/water mix should be 75 percent.
If yours is the adjustable type, adjust the screw or setting so that it would have read 75 percent. You will have to do this very quickly, or remember how much you need to adjust the setting (e.g. for mine, it read 72 percent when it should have been 75 percent, so I would need to set it ahead by 3 percentage points). You may want to put the hygrometer back in the bag for another 8 hours to double check your adjustment.
If yours is not adjustable (like mine), simply make a note of how "off" your hygrometer reads. If it reads below 75 percent, you will need to add the difference to your actual readings. If your hygrometer read above 75 percent on the calibration, you will need to subtract the difference from your actual reading. Here are some examples to help:
Case 1: after sitting in the bag for calibration, my hygrometer read 72 percent. It should have read 75 percent, so the difference is 3 percent. I will now add 3 percent to the readings I take on the hygrometer (e.g. in a tank) to get the actual relative humidity.
Case 2: after calibrating in the bag, a hygrometer read 80 percent. It should have read 75 percent, a difference of 5 percent. I would have to subtract 5 percent from readings when using the hygrometer to get an accurate relative humidity.
Remember: always give a hygrometer about 2 hours to stabilize before taking a reading, as changes in the relative humidity may take a while to register accurately on a hygrometer.

Whenever you purchased a new thermometer and about to use it for the first time, you need to calibrate it. Thermometers will also need to be calibrated whenever they are dropped or when going from one temperature extreme to another. Thermometers are a critical measuring equipment's for temperature to ensure good hatch rates.

There are two methods that you could use to calibrate thermometers -

Ice Point Method - Fill a container with crushed ice and water. Ensure that the container have enough crushed ice to provide an environment of 32 degrees F, so you may need to add more ice into the container during the process. It will takes about 4 to 5 minutes for the mixture of water to stabilized. Then insert the thermometer which needs to be calibrated into the appropriate immersion depth. Hold the thermometer away from the bottom and sides of the container to avoid error. If your thermometer is not accurate at 32 degrees F, adjust the thermometer accordingly.

Boiling Point Method - Fill a container with distilled water and heat it up. After the temperature in the water has reached the boiling point, insert the thermometer, be sure to leave at least a two inch gap between the thermometer sensing element and the bottom and sides of the container to avoid error. If your thermometer is not accurate at 212 degrees F, adjust the thermometer accordingly.

There are some thermometers that are not meant to be put in water and water may damage them. This is what I do for these types of thermometers. I fill a glass with crushed ice (NO WATER) and put the thermometer probe around halfway down into the ice and cover with a washcloth. I let the thermometer set in the ice for about 15 to 20 minutes. At that time it should read around 32ºF. Good luck and have fun...