I always let mine rest for a full 24 hours after shipping. For the first 18 days I run my humidity levels around 35% to 45%, during lockdown I increase a the humidity anywhere from 60% to 70% percent. I have always hatched with my eggs laying naturally on their sides, as they would underneath a hen. However some swear by the egg carton method, where you literally place the eggs in a cut up egg carton during lockdown and allow them to hatch vertically.
I have never allowed a chicken I've had to help out of the egg shell be part of my breeding program, I won't let them struggle, suffer and eventually die by not being able to pip, zip and hatch from the shell correctly. But there's no way of knowing if it's my fault due to improper incubation or if there is a genetic reason behind them not being able to break out of the shell easily, but I won't take a chance of the birds passing on my bad genes, lack of vigor, etc. So these birds either become layers or go to another home.
Incubation, IMO, especially with shipped eggs is all trial and error. There is no right or wrong way to do it, only what works best for you and results in the highest percentage of chicks hatched.
