Humidity is important but you can also drive yourself nuts worrying about it and making constant adjustments. I just hatched my first batch of eggs and am very pleased... got 29 chicks from 34 eggs. I don't have any way of checking humidity (no hygrometer) and so I played it by ear. Stuff I read said it was probably better to have a little bit too little than too much humidity during the first 18 days, and I am living near water, so I filled area that they said to fill in instructions that came with my bator and never opened the lid again until I candelled at one week. Then I added a little two more times. I got pretty worried when I went to take the eggs out of the turner at 19 days and the water cup was totally dry. I figured I wouldn't get a single chick, but I went ahead and put in the water they recommended for the last few days and got 29 chicks. The 5 that didn't hatch were fully formed, but for whatever reason didn't make it out. Anyway, I am about to start another set of eggs and don't intend to change anything. My feeling at the moment is that it is important to just leave them alone as much as possible. For that reason, I think an automatic turner is a big plus because otherwise you are opening the incubator three times a day or more for those first 18 days. Anyway, that's my two cents worth. It may be that I am just lucky to live in a climate that is moist and that makes it a heck of a lot easier that in some hot dry place.
