Low humidity troubles

[cmom]

Remember hatching isn't rocket science. The embryos are pretty resilient. If the temperature is off a little the chicks will still hatch. If the temperature runs a little low it may take a day or two longer for the chicks to hatch. If the temperature runs a little high then the chicks may hatch a day or two early. If the humidity is too high during incubation, condensation can build up in the air cell and when the chicks pip the air cell (internally pip) they can drown. I would suggest since you are calibrating your incubator, put something in it like water bottles, rocks, fake eggs, something that can absorb the heat to get accurate readings. Again, good luck and have fun...

 

[Hyland 79]

The humidity will rise once you have eggs in the incubator. It's a good idea to get a secondary thermometer just to double check your unit even though both of my NR360s were spot on I have heard one person say they adjusted it a little bit.

I did put the eggs in not long after posting. The humidity did go up some. But still it stays around 48%. I do have a broody thermometer, temp is spot on. But it doesn't read humidity...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Any cheap hygrometer will work if salt tested. What humidity you are targeting is changed by adding or reducing the surface area of the water. Depth means nothing other than you don't have to refill it as often if deep. Find different size containers to find the one that works for your target humidity. I incubate 30-35% and hatch 70-80% RH

Salt tests are just that, add salt and hygrometer to a sealed container and take the reading to calibrate it.

Use a quart sized zip lock type bag, milk or juice cap full of salt and drops of water until it's saturated. Put the cap and hygrometer in bag and seal it. Place on counter for 12 to 24 hours. Take the reading, however far off it is to 75%Rh is what you will always add or subtract to that hygrometer reading for true RH.

 

[cmom]

I thought I would post this again.
To calibrate a hygrometer you will need:
1/2 cup table salt
approximately 1/4 cup water
coffee cup
hygrometer
large resealable freezer bag
The amount of salt to water can vary depending on how large the container is you are using. The salt won't dissolve in the water; instead, the salt should have the consistency of wet sand.
Place 1/2 cup of salt in the coffee cup, and add the water. Stir for a bit to totally saturate the salt.
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 awhile. 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 awhile, 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 awhile again 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...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

1/2 a cup of salt!?! Why do you want to waste all that salt? Salt maintains RH nomatter how much is used. It just needs to be adequate amount to container size. Tablespoon at most, or a milk cap full to quart bag. Works every time.

 

[muddy75]

1/2 a cup of salt!?! Why do you want to waste all that salt? Salt maintains RH nomatter how much is used. It just needs to be adequate amount to container size. Tablespoon at most, or a milk cap full to quart bag. Works every time.

I think I used a tbsp container maybe when I did it

 

[cmom]

The amount of salt to water can vary depending on how large the container is you are using. The salt won't dissolve in the water; instead, the salt should have the consistency of wet sand.

1/2 a cup of salt!?! Why do you want to waste all that salt? Salt maintains RH nomatter how much is used. It just needs to be adequate amount to container size. Tablespoon at most, or a milk cap full to quart bag. Works every time.

 

[Hyland 79]

I wanted to update that we had a very successful hatch! We got 11 babies!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I wanted to update that we had a very successful hatch! We got 11 babies!

Congrats on a great hatch!