Don't ever trust the gages that are factory installed in the bators, (especially the cheaper foam bators). Get a good hygrometer and a couple good thermometers and make sure you check the thermometers against a thermometer you know to be accurate, even if they are new. It doesn't hurt to calibrate the hygrometer either. Once you have those in your bator and you are confident they are right, then you'll be able figure what you need in the wells to get the humidity you want. Your ambient humidity can and will affect your bator's humidity so what might work for one person is not neccessarily going to be the answer for you. I have an older LG and hatch chick eggs. I run the bator dry for the first 17 days and still maintain at least a 40% humidity reading. So if I fill my wells, I'm going to be way above what I need whereas someone who lives in a dryer less humid climate is going to need to fill the wells just to get the 40-50%
What incubator are you using? I'm thinking one of styrofoam models?
I think that's true for a lot of the flack the styro bators get. No they aren't as easy and work free as the fancy expensive ones. My experience so far is that if you have them in a draft free place with a fairly steady temp they do well staying fairly steady themself. Mine is so old there's no digital nothing...lol. It does have the fan kit installed though and I use the egg turner. I've only done chicken eggs and I switched to the dry incubation method. I make sure I have more than one thermometer and I monitor the air cells to stay on target with humidity. They are a little more work but I think if you can and are willing they can be as efficent rate wise. My last hatch was 81%, hopefully next will be a bit more.
