1. don't store the eggs upright in egg cartons during incubation...
2. turn eggs 3 times a day or MORE
3. don't do an eggtopsy until at least day 23!
Poor baby.. i can't believe I killed a baby... it was the only egg with life in it... All the other 10 are definitely duds at this point...
On a lighter note, I found someone that is willing to foster out her broody hen to me to hatch some eggs. So that will be fun! I met her at a birthday party and she said she has broody silkies that would LOVE to take care of some eggs for me!
I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who have contributed to this thread.
You've probably saved lots of chick lives because people will find this information when they search for help with a problem hatch.
I had one egg abandoned by the mum today - she has four babies to look after and so left the nest. Now I know that I need to wait, wait, wait, with the chick in the incubator warming up.