[jim_148]

Hi,

I've borrowed an incubator off of a friend and am putting my eggs in it tonight, when should I start adding water to the incubator for humidity and at what level of humidity should I be looking for?

Thanks

Jim

[kegs]

Hi
What type of incubator is it, and what eggs are you putting in? 

[jim_148]

It's a polystyrene one with a light and fan, also temperature and humidly meter (unknown make).

Will have to manually turn the eggs, add water etc...

I've got the temp stable at 36oC and have 3 turkey eggs and 12 sussex eggs to hatch and am ready to put them in today or tomorrow.

[rileyfin]

Hi,
You need the incubator to be running at 37.5, 36 is too low  :blink:
As for humidity I have found with 15 - 20 eggs the humidity takes care of its self, for the first 18 days. I will then fold a couple of paper towels together and wet them with bottled water,for the last three days. This way you can change the towels everytime they need rewetting and in reduces the risk of bacteria, also protects hatching chicks if you have bowls of water they may drown, they chicks flounder around quite a bit when they first hatch.
Also I use bottled water because the additives to tap water can be detrimental to the eggs.
The official humidity levels in all the books are 40 - 50% first 18 days, and  60% for hatching. Be aware humidity will rise when chicks start to hatch as they are wet when they emerge.
I have found hatches are either good or bad depending on the eggs, you can have perfect hatching environment and they will either ping out or it can be a disaster and it may not be your fault.
Make sure you turn the eggs at least 3 times a day and always an odd no so they lie a different way at night.
Good luck 

[kegs]

If you're mixing chickens eggs with turkey eggs which have different incubating times you might find you have problems towards the end.  (I've only hatched chickens so can't advise you really.)  However, as turkeys need turning for 25 days, you'll need to keep turning them when they chicken eggs should be in 'lock down' in order to maintain humidity.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1515/hatching-quality-chicks

Also, instead of bottled water it might be helpful to use boiled (so it's sterilised), slightly cooled water which will help raise the humidity quickly