OK - Hatch results (Thanks Sonew & Pdsavage for your guidance) : I got 5 that made it to lock down with 3 live births. Today I have what looks like a sussex mix (mille?) and 2 Black Australorps (from BHep). All were assisted hatch after having peeped with no further action after 12-24 hours. One of the dead had a large herniated umbilicus and the other just died. The 3 survivors are doing great - eating and drinking and working on being absolutely adorable.
So for a second attempt at hatching - with the first completely unsuccessful, I guess I'm ok with the results. Of course there is disappointment. some eggs looked unattached? when candled the insides just floated around, most eggs had 0 development and I did let them sit all the way through *just in case *. I think having them shipped in this awful heat probably had a lot to do with it. I am going to try to snatch some more eggs via the swap and put in some eggs from my friends barnyard mix (local) at the same time - a little experiment.

So for a second attempt at hatching - with the first completely unsuccessful, I guess I'm ok with the results. Of course there is disappointment. some eggs looked unattached? when candled the insides just floated around, most eggs had 0 development and I did let them sit all the way through *just in case *. I think having them shipped in this awful heat probably had a lot to do with it. I am going to try to snatch some more eggs via the swap and put in some eggs from my friends barnyard mix (local) at the same time - a little experiment.