Quail egg emergency on day 17

[Retrosveni]

So, this is my first time hatching quail with an incubator. I had only two broody hens before, so I'm not completely new to the game.
My eggs are on day 17 now, and so far everything went good, chicks developed great and the first ones started to pip the shell yesterday afternoon.
However , I have a cheaper incubator, and the mesh that came with it to replace the rolls(?) is a bit wonky. I put a small kitchen towel underneath the eggs so they won't hurt their feet when they hatch( again that mesh thingy is cheap quality and has some sharp edges).
Then in the evening I noticed that the towel must have came in contact with the water underneath and was soaking wet.
I've read that bc of the porous shell water can enter the eggs and drown the chicks.
So I worked as quickly as possible, got the eggs out, adjusted the mesh and put a new towel in, and the placed the eggs back. I tried my best not to move them too much or roll them around. This must have taken about a minute or two at most.
Now the heartbreak:
One of the chicks already made a bigger hole in the shell and sticked it's beak out yesterday evening. That was 8 hours ago. I just checked up on the eggs and noticed that nothing happened, and the little beak didn't move anymore. I panicked and got the egg out. The chick didn't make it.
I'm devastated. I knew not to oped the incubator in lockdown, but I also didn't want the chicks to drown and now I fear I killed them all.
I've got the chick out the egg, it had one underdeveloped wing. Haven't seen something like that before but . Now I'm wondering if it was maybe just too weak...
But I fear it was my fault for opening the lid.
Can somebody please tell me what to do. I don't want to check on the remaining eggs by taking them out, but is there still hope that they'll make it despite my stupidity?
I've read a lot of threads on here, and I know there have been some folks who candle and waterboard the eggs when they should be in lockdown and they still made it. But I'm so freaking terrified now.

I know everything can happen while raising chicks, and I've seen some things over the years. But for me it's especially haunting to see a little quail die before they even really entered the world.

I know I messed up, so no need to sugarcoat anything. I just hope someone here can give me some advice ,hope or whatever

The added photo shows how the eggs are pipped, they all look like that. Haven't changed since yesterday evening.

 

[nuthatched]

It's not because you opened the incubator, unless you took it off and went to make popcorn, (which you didn't) There will be no issue from that.
Is your incubator calibrated?

 

[Retrosveni]

It's not because you opened the incubator, unless you took it off and went to make popcorn, (which you didn't) There will be no issue from that.
Is your incubator calibrated?

The incubator is a cheaper one I got from eBay. It holds the temperature well at 37,8°C. Don't know whats that in Fahrenheit. However, it doesn't show the humidity level, so we added a hygrometer. That was calibrated.
From day one to 14 I kept the humidity between 40-50%, but I had some trouble keeping it steady. It never dropped under 40% but would occasionally go up to 80%. The incubator only has one hole in the lid for air, so I opened the lid a tiny bit to get some humidity out and oxygen in when I noticed the percentage going up.
I'm not sure why it was fluctuating that much, but again, cheap incubator
I've read before that the humidity should be raised to up to 90 % while in lockdown, but here in the forum I've seen so many different opinions. In my case has been between 70-90% since day 15, so two days ago.

 

[nuthatched]

The incubator is a cheaper one I got from eBay. It holds the temperature well at 37,8°C. Don't know whats that in Fahrenheit. However, it doesn't show the humidity level, so we added a hygrometer. That was calibrated.
From day one to 14 I kept the humidity between 40-50%, but I had some trouble keeping it steady. It never dropped under 40% but would occasionally go up to 80%. The incubator only has one hole in the lid for air, so I opened the lid a tiny bit to get some humidity out and oxygen in when I noticed the percentage going up.
I'm not sure why it was fluctuating that much, but again, cheap incubator
I've read before that the humidity should be raised to up to 90 % while in lockdown, but here in the forum I've seen so many different opinions. In my case has been between 70-90% since day 15, so two days ago.

Hmm. Do you have a way of double checking the the temperature?
90% is a little high for lock down, 65-70% is usually recommended.
The high humidity and fluctuation might be the cause of your issues.

 

[Retrosveni]

Hmm. Do you have a way of double checking the the temperature?
90% is a little high for lock down, 65-70% is usually recommended.
The high humidity and fluctuation might be the cause of your issues.

Yes sorry I forgot, the hygrometer also shows the temperature, but I had to set it up in a corner , at a different height than the incubators temperature sensor. There it shows the temperature between 35-37°C, so also fluctuating. But I'm not sure if that's correct.

For everyone reading this before buying an incubator - invest in a good expensive one the trouble is not worth saving a few bucks.

 

[007Sean]

The trouble didn't stem from you removing the wetted paper towel lining. It sounds as though you most likely had humidity issues.
Coturnix eggs, in general, should be incubated at around 30% humidity, raising the humidity to 50 or 55% during lockdown but this also depends on your location and ambient humidity conditions.

The (DIS) died in shell chick may have been "stuck" not "shrink wrapped". Too high a humidity, above 70% will act like a lubricate, every time the chick trys to turn when zipping it slips back to it's original position, this exhausts the chick and it will succumb to exhaustion.

 

[Retrosveni]

Hmm. Do you have a way of double checking the the temperature?
90% is a little high for lock down, 65-70% is usually recommended.
The high humidity and fluctuation might be the cause of your issues.

Looks like I panicked a bit too early. Even though I obviously had some humidity troubles one Chick has hatched! Just an hour after I posted lol.
It got out pretty fast, I haven't seen a crack when I checked earlier, and then from first pip to zip it only took half an hour. Let's just hope the rest turns out fine too!
Thank you all for your replies!

 

[Retrosveni]

There it is

 

[Retrosveni]

The little one looks healthy and the other are also popping I'm in love with those feet hehe

 

[nuthatched]

View attachment 3761459
There it is

Maybe your incubator is a little low so they're behind.
He doesn't look especially impressed...