welcome to the forum - when you get the beads, you can almost chuck the hygrometer.

as for stuffing the humidor - after you season it properly - put your sticks in gradually - if you stuff it all at once, you're going to notice a fluctuation in your humidity. your humi will be truly seasoned when you've kept it 75% full of sticks for a couple months - won't have any fluctuations after that, providing you keep the rh constant.

good luck