Quote: This is just my opinion..nothing else
Silkie eggs have more liquid that needs to be absorbed and it seems they die at pip time because they drowned. or shortly before because of to much liquid.
I feel silkie eggs should be dry hatched. If you are getting catdance eggs, they are fresh..that day collected and shipped. She has 100's of laying silkies and send out only the very best. They have very little air pockets because they are so fresh. You are 100% correct about setting them out for a day, fat end up. That does two things. It allows the air pockets to settle and the ones not attached ...gives them time to attach, and it brings the eggs to room temp so it is not a shock going into the incubator. I have not done 5 days with out turning, I place them in the turner when cells attach. unless you are talking about shifting the cartons high end to low end that is fine too. I always hatch big end up on shipped eggs. I lay down at day 18. It sounds like you do not have a turner. I would carton hatch if I were you, till day 18. I try to keep my humidity at 30% and under 35%. I do not increase humidity until internal pip on first egg. You have to check your air cells if they are wonkie. Check your moisture level in your eggs during candling. With such an important investment I would weigh the eggs at arrival, day 10, and day 18. You should loose about 6-10% weight at day 10 and day 18. Than you know you are all good. If it is more weight, you need more humidity. If it is less, you need less humidity. Your humidity levels at lock down are perfect.
for example ..
egg one
arrival weight 1.315 day10 1.170 that is 11% loss....... you have to average it out with all the eggs. I have one egg with to much loss I have one egg with not enough loss and I have 10 eggs that are right on the mark. I know that my humidity is good.