Trees are a very important source of nectar. Sometimes we don't even realize they're blooming but the bees know. The flowers may not be showy but there are millions of them and quantity is what is important for honey bees.
Make sure the nectar is close to the feed you're having a problem with and also pebbles and things in the syrup so they have something to land on without drowning.
I've put things close to the hive and even planted beds of flowering plants next to the hives for them and they get ignored. When the foragers come out of the hive, they make a 'bee line' for distant lands.
There are many variables, accuracy of hygrometer, egg size, egg color, washed or not, ambient humidity, air movement, ventilation, heat source, etc.. All of which can affect the effect on water loss in the egg.
IMO, the foolproof way to deal with these variables is to weigh the eggs when collected, when set and weekly thereafter. A good inexpensive gram scale is more accurate than any hygrometer I've had (thrown away).
The egg will lose weight from the moment the hen lays it. Storage in a humid environment helps. If you'll be storing long term(over a week), wrap the eggs in plastic till setting.
The egg should lose 0.6 - 0.7% weight per day in the ideal humidity for that egg. Not all eggs were created equal.
It helps a lot to set all the same type of egg, (dark vs. white or light, large vs. small)
I weigh each egg when I set it. If I set less than say 30 eggs, I'll weigh each egg at each weighing. If I have more eggs, I'll weigh a dozen at a time (accounting for the weight of the carton. I'll still track a few individual eggs, for instance, in corners and center of the incubator tray.
Precisely
Most thermometers are supposed to be accurate to +-2 F. That's a 4 degree spread and it's not accurate enough for incubating.
The trick is to find one(2 is better) that is guaranteed to be within 1 degree.
Ron reminded me sometime back that oral thermometers are very precise - usually to 0.2 F. And guess what, 98.6 is very close to incubator temperature so a good calibration point.
Another thing to consider is the speed of the thermometer. If we're comparing different types, we may be confused by the lag time of some of them. Mercury and meat probes tend to be faster than digitals like Accurite.
The type of heat element, location of fan controller sensor and thermometer are also critical. In my incubator the fan is integrated with the heat element. The fan runs all the time but when the heat element kicks on, my instant read thermometers will rapidly climb to around 110 or more as the fan blows the heat past them. That doesn't mean the eggs are at 110. They'll read closer to 99 by the time the heat element kicks in again.
Here are a few options for thermometers
digital 6 second probe with +-0.9 F accuracy. It also has adjustable calibration. It is one that I used this last hatch and agreed with the Brinsea spot check within 0.1F.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt301wa.html
I have this also to give a high/low alarm in both the incubator and hatcher. Not as accurate but I'm only using it to alert me of dangerous high or low temps.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/alarm/rt8100.html If you just have an incubator, you can use it for the incy and ambient air.
oral with 10 second readings, accuracy +-0.2 F
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/other/dt_11f.html
thermapen with 3 second readings and +-0.7 F accuracy
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/
If you need a long probe, this one isn't as accurate but you can compare to an oral
http://thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt610b_12+24.html#Specifications
Since I became unemployed several years ago, I've become a tightwad but IMO, it doesn't hurt to spend big money on a reliable thermometer. Generating heat with electricity requires a lot of power. By extension, running an incubator is expensive, as is a brooder. For that expenditure, we should try to maximize production. It doesn't cost any more to get a 90% hatch than it does a 5% hatch. It doesn't cost any more to brood 100 chicks than it does 2.
My incubator has a 225 watt heat element, the hatcher has a 250 and a 125 watt, I'm running 3 brooders with 150 watts each. That doesn't count light and fans.
If you set 50 eggs and get 5 to hatch, that's 45 ruined eggs you could have eaten or sold as eating eggs for $10 or more.
You do that a few times and counting the wasted electricity, it would quickly pay for a $100 thermometer.
a bit on calibration
http://www.thermoworks.com/blog/2010/10/making-a-proper-ice-bath/
A good incubator/hatcher setup can be sabotaged by a controller that's off by a bit. A precise thermometer is the answer, at least for me it is.
I never shop walmart but I bought thermometers from Lowes, Petco, Petsmart and even incubator companies. For the most part, they were all a waste of money. I could have invested that money in a single good thermometer from the start and had hundreds more birds now.
I got this little jewel from IW.
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-incubator-timer.html
It is a countdown, countup timer and as long as all the eggs are set at the same time, you can determine how far off your temperature is based on how early or late the hatch is. (all other things being equal)
Where are you getting them from?
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