I know it's probably too late to say anything, but please remember that shipping eggs is a big risk. Out of the 6 dozen eggs Miss Prissy sent me, 7 chicks hatched. I'm thrilled to have the 7, and try not to think about the rest that the PO scrambled.
We can only guarantee that they are fertile to the best of our knowledge, intact, and packaged as best we can... how it's handled by the PO, the heat/cold between here and there, the length of time in transit, incubation techniques, yada yada, they're out of our hands so there's never any guarantee. Some people have wonderful hatches. Last summer (or was it the year before?) I was known as the "One Chick Wonder"... all summer I would get 0-1 chick to hatch.
Until my August set, where I hatched 14 out of 22 eggs, and October when I hatched 9 out of 16. That was when I got my flock of BBS Orpingtons started.
So definitely remember to breathe, relax, and don't stress it...
That being said, there are things you can do to help your hatch rate... unpack them carefully and place them in a carton (pointy end down) in a cool place to "rest" for a few hours before putting in the incubator. Sometimes the aircell becomes detached during shipping, and settling them in the correct position helps. Increase the humidity by about 5%. During transit the egg is losing moisture, and increasing the humidity a little bit will help slow it down. I keep mine at about 50%.
I can't shake em and see what the present is inside???
