PLEASE HELP!!! Set 3/17 no pipping yet - cracked egg open and it was alive

[MummaZette]

This is with our own eggs. Last attempt was 100% fertility rate. No hatch though our broody hen left the nest. We have a Little Giant Still Air Incubator with egg turner this time. First 2 times was with a homemade bator.
I performed egg-topsies, fully developed.
I opened the first egg tonight to check fertility. The chick started moving everywhere, we quickly put it back in the bator!! After a few hours and verifying that it did not make it, I pulled it back out of the bator to look it over. Yolk sac not fully absorbed, some blood in the bottom of the shell. What do I do about the rest and any feedback why other than I broke the membrane the lil one didn't make it?
This is my 4 th attempt at incubating, never had a live hatch. :'o(
Really hate that I get them fully developed and never a pip, zip or hatch.
Please guide me!!
I have 18 more for this batch and another 21 due on the 21st.

Our neighbor complained about our New Hampshire Red Roo and we had to give him away. These were his eggs and Really want some of his chicks. Just heartbroken I keep killing these poor babies.

I uploaded pics for those much more experienced to give me feed back

 

[nurse_turtle]

Always, always, and always candle an egg before opening. Consider floating the eggs in a bowl of warm water and look for wigglers. If I need to open an egg to check for life, I start with a tiny hole in the air cell and chip away a tiny bit at a time until I can see into the hole with a flashlight and look for breathing motion. If I see life, I place a small piece of tape over the hole and replace the egg into the bator. You haven't said anything about humidity. Do you measure it? What kind of hygrometer do you use? The LG styrofoam incubators are infamous for having major temperature swings which can cause a failed hatch. If the chicks are forming and not hatching out, I suspect humidity problems.

 

[MummaZette]

I did not use a hygrometer this time as it broke, nor did I candle at all. I was so afraid that I handled them incorrectly/too much with previous attempts, that I didn't candle this time. With the previous attempts I had 100% fertility and the chicks fully developed I figured I must have chilled them or jarred them causing their demise. Made the decision I would do them better by leaving them alone this time, because even the ones I took out from under my broody didn't hatch, figured I messed with nature and should keep my hands off them.

this is the first time there has been an egg sack, are they just too early? There were 2 days it was hard getting the temp regulated, it dropped down to 90... but clearly didn't kill them cause that was a good 10 days ago...and it was alive today.

How many more days should I extend their lockdown?

 

[nightowl223]

I did not use a hygrometer this time as it broke, nor did I candle at all. I was so afraid that I handled them incorrectly/too much with previous attempts, that I didn't candle this time. With the previous attempts I had 100% fertility and the chicks fully developed I figured I must have chilled them or jarred them causing their demise. Made the decision I would do them better by leaving them alone this time, because even the ones I took out from under my broody didn't hatch, figured I messed with nature and should keep my hands off them.

this is the first time there has been an egg sack, are they just too early? There were 2 days it was hard getting the temp regulated, it dropped down to 90... but clearly didn't kill them cause that was a good 10 days ago...and it was alive today.

How many more days should I extend their lockdown?

First, let me say that this is just "book-learning," because I haven't had a successful hatch, yet, either. I have a homemade incubator that I am still experimenting with.

However, I have seen folks say that they wait anywhere from day 25 to day 28 to give up on a hatch. Just keep an eye - or should I say a nose - out for stinkers.

 

[MummaZette]

I did pick up a hygrometer this morning and the humidity was 80%. The remaining 18 were quitters. A few around day 4 and the rest about day 9
As I stated in my earlier post, there were 2 days the temp was low... so apparently that slowed down the hatch schedule. Upon further research I'm assuming the chick I opened yesterday had to have been at day 17 or 18 as there was so much of the egg sac still outside of the chick and it usually gets absorbed into the chick on day 19.
I did do the water test, they all were little bobbers. No sinking duds, all low bobbers but none rocking. Noted during my egg-topsy all eggs had a fantastic air cell. So I had done good with the humidity. I did candle about 1/3 of them and I'm embarrassed to say that I still don't know what I'm doing there. I can see the air cell, I can see the dark spot but I couldn't tell you if it was a chicken or the yolk by candling. With previous attempts I have been able to see blood rings and the veins so I am able to detect some signs of activity... but I'm an epic fail when it comes to candling.
{my method} I have a light bulb (was the old top to my homemade bater), I placed an empty coffee can around it and then covered it with a cardboard so the light couldn't escape. There is a small hole about the size of a dime in the cardboard to candle through.

Any suggestions? I'm great at raising them once they've hatched... I've even saved a few of my laying pullets after a dog attack ( she lived in the house for 3 months convalescing and an unknown attacker sliced open the crop of another and I sewed her entire throat/neck back up myself, both these injuries were last year and my girls are happy ladies healthy and laying good eggs for me.

Here's hoping the batch due on the 21st is more successful!!