Sportsman incubator

Ok, finally got the incubator and the humidity bucket.
Have 1 tray on the top shelf with a 'wick' pad thing and the bucket hooked up. Having a bit of time keeping temp at 45% seems to fluctuate a lot. Do you usually have to pour water in the tray? should I add the second tray of water??

I do not use the bucket on the top, I use a large tray and fill it every 2 or 3 days, that way you are sure to keep an eye on the bator,

haha, believe me, my eyes are never off it!
I thought the bucket, eliminated the need for opening and closing the darn thing??

I open and close all the time some times I have to candle every day and I very successful hatches about 90% to 95% on my own eggs a bit less on shipped eggs, like the jersey Giants that I had flown in 47 out of 48 hatched

Barb I did try calling you last night.
Dont worry too much about humidity, I would not use the wick pad, but make sure your float is working properly. Your water level should be about 1/2 to 3/4 of the tray.
I use the wick pad only for hatching.

Also, keep making sure the float works. Not sure what went wrong here (didn't lose any eggs) but the tray quit filling. Since the incubator was full, for the last month, I have been opening the door to put water in it. I found that it doesn't matter how deep the water is for humidity, it is the surface area. The only time I put the wick in is to hatch. As soon as the hatch is done, the wick come out. Sometime that is only a day or 2 before the next hatch, but haven't had any problems with that.

Ok, hubby checked float, seems to be ok. I plugged the one opening at the front right of incubator and humidity is now going up. It is in the basement, so you would think high humidity.
I kept checking it and it stays @ 36-42 ballpark, WITHOUT the plug. Will post what's up WITH the plug in.
Can you tell, I am a Virgo, LOL.