I keep reading where it says after day 18 not to open the incubator but how do you get water into the incubator and do you have to add water during hatching? This is my first time so I am totally new and lost.
Hi yes opening the incubator after day 18 when you have gone into lockdown can compromise your hatch. But if you have no other way of getting water in you have to open it but try to be as quick as possible. You still need to add water so that the humidity stays at 65%. You will probably find though when your hatch begins your humidity will go up and down as chicks hatch due to them being wet. If possible it is always better to try and find a way of adding water with out opening I found on my first incubator i could use some tubing and a syringe through one of the vent holes in the base. Good luck with your hatch.
I syringe my water through the vent holes as well, but that's not an option for everyone. Something else you can do, if you have a humidifier, is to jack the humidity up in the room your Bator is in. You can leave it like that, if it get the humidity inside the incy high enough or just turn it on long enough to open it real quick and add the water. Good luck!
It depends on the model incubator and the room humidity, but I've never found that I needed to add water after day 18. I fill up all the water areas as full as possible. I aim for a humidity of at least 80%, but often during the hatch, it goes to 100% and that has never been a problem. Until the first egg pips, it is really ok to open the incubator to add water. After they pip, I would still open the incubator to add water if the humidity was low. The reason not to open it is to keep the humidity high during hatching, so not opening it to increase the humidity by adding water is a bit counter-intuitive to me.