First of all, the guidelines are just guidelines. They do not guarantee you success if you follow them nor do they guarantee failure if you don't. They are there to improve your odds of success, not guarantee anything. You may be successful no matter what you do or you may have problems. I sure cannot guarantee you anything. I'm saying this because some prople will probably come on here and say that that they do this all the time and just leave the eggs in there with the high humidity, don't turn them, and they hatch out fine, where others will say they raise the humidity but open the incubator and turn the eggs. Sometimes those eggs/chicks can be pretty tough.
Which of the 25 or 5 eggs are your most valuable? I personally would put the least valuable in the homemade incubator and leave the more valuable in the one you have the most trust in. Since you have two incubators, I would split the eggs and I'd be tempted to use the homemade one as a hatcher.
If I had only one incubator, I'd jack the humidity up but continue to turn the eggs. I have shrink-wrapped a chick before by opening the incubator during lockdown (you do what you need to do) but I did not shrink-wrap all of the unhatched chicks, actually very few of them, even if they had already pipped. I'd worry more about not turning them than the humidity, but cut back on the turning to maybe 3 times a day and mist the incubator with warm water when you open it. How much harm you do depends some some on the type if incubator you have.
I do not have experience with your specific circumstances, but you asked for an opinion.
Good luck.
. However, I have 5 more eggs that aren't due until next week. Can I leave them in there during lockdown? I can put up a cardboard divider, but I won't be able to turn them for a few days and the humidity will be higher while the silkies are hatching too. Another option is to put them in a homemade bator that I made that has been holding steady for 2 full days, but still I was wanting to test it with some of my own eggs before putting more expensive shipped eggs in it. What would you do?
