Congrats on your bator! I do hope that you will read all of Hatching 101 in the learning center before you plug it in. That will answer lots of questions you didn't even think to ask! Does your bator have a turner? If it does, can you remove some of the egg holders to free up some floor area? The reason I'm asking is that a bator will hold temp better if it is full, and if you don't want to fill it with eggs, you could add some water bottles. Got your own eggs? If so, and you can collect plenty, you might want to join in on the "egg shaped gender experiment". I've increased my pullet hatch from 40 to 60% with this method. Sounds hokey pokey, but, I can't argue with consistent results for 3 hatches. Do realize that your hatch results, especially first time may not be as high as you'd like. Assuming that you set a dozen eggs, get a 50% hatch rate, and your gender is average, you'll only get 3 pullets! How many do you want? Multiply that by 4, and that's how many eggs you should set. You can always sell or eat the extras.
