I copied and pasted here for you as it is long and wanted to make sure you got it as I did not want all of it to get lost.
Very nice to read from you I enjoyed sharing. The incubators do smell a little when they are new I would say what you smell is quite normal and not to worry about that. It is a good idea to use the hygrometer which will give you a reading on your humidity, when your eggs start to hatch then the smells in there will get really funky! again though that is normal and not to worry. Also when the chicks start to hatch the humidity will start to go up because they are wet and the inside of the empty shells are wet so you may have to take further action during the hatch, my first hatch in this model I had to prop open the lid a little as the humidity got very high during the hatch.
My first hatch in the same model (my 1602N was brand new not the old ones, new one) my first hatch I kept the humidity between 55 and 60 as this is what the guy I got the eggs from told me to do, that was for the 18 days, the last 3 days he said I should put it up to 70% which I did it was tough getting it up that high, I had to add lot's of wet sponges to raise it, I don't think you would have an issue raising your humidity since you are close to water. Following the guys instructions 17 out of 28 eggs hatched very well, these eggs were shipped eggs and people say if you get a 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs then you did really well. I used the automatic egg turner for this hatch also.
For my second hatch I bought the genesis 1588 which comes with a fan there are no adjustments that need to be made with this incubator and many people love this model. When I used the 1602N for my first hatch I had to adjust the temperature at least 3 times a day especially after overnite as it would drop a degree or two. I followed the instructions for the 1588 and my thermometers and hygrometers gave me good readings so the 1588 is reliable with humidity and temp. I kept my eggs in there for the 18 days and then moved them over to the 1602 for the last 3 days to hatch as I wanted to keep the 1588 clean and free of any bacteria caused by a hatch. My hatch from this was very poor, only 1 out of 20 eggs hatched, one zipped half way then died, others pipped and died. I had started out with 66 eggs at the start of this they were all shipped, over the days and weeks some were infertile, others got blood rings, some died early and 20 made it to the hatch stage. It was very disappointing and sad and it took me a day or two to get over it. I posted on the site about possible problems and someone siad to me it may have been because I moved the eggs from one incubator to the other that caused the problem at hatch time, others offered alternative explanations but somehow this one seemed to make sense to me. I think it can be difficult because many people use different temperatures and humidity.
Currently I have many eggs all due to hatch on different days, 6 are due to hatch tomorrow, 6 more two days after, 6 more two days after that then a whole bunch on Thursday. Most of these are serama eggs and many people say different things about the seramas.
At this point I am experimenting further to see what will produce the best results for me where I live. The most difficult part is that it all comes down to that one hatch day to see what you did correct and what you might need to do to change for the future hatches. With the serama I have due to hatch tomorrow the breeder I got the eggs from strongly suggested that I do not raise the humidity at all and keep it where it has been the whole time, again I am letting someone elses opinion decide the outcome of the hatch! With some of the other eggs in the 1588 when they are due to hatch I am going to stick with the instructions that came with it and fill the 2nd trough and see how that goes, I am using the egg turner in the 1588, that is where the eggs due to hatch tomorrow have been, I took them out of the turner and placed them on top of the turner in a plastic dish I had to do this as my other eggs are staggered and arrived on different days and I only have two incubators and do not plan on a 3rd, my 1602N also has about 50 eggs in it only a few days old. I am going to leave them in there in egg cartons hand turning them following the instructions that came with it and see how that hatch goes, again I think it is all about experimenting and perfecting your best technique for your area ( just don't move to a new house in a new area or you will have to start all over again!)
I hope you can understand all of this and enjoy it
Pippa
