What's the next move... death before hatch

[Princess fluffy-butt]

I SEEK HELP
Fyi, this might be long.
2nd time bating, chicks first then ducklings.
1. I lowered my humidity, to weed out drakes also - chicks were too big and died before hatch
[Chicks day 1- 4dozen day 21- 2 live hatch 1 survivor]
2. Only started with a dozen. No Turner 98.5° f 51-54% humidity
Day 7- 9 wonderful looking ducklings
3. Day 25 lockdown 8 moving 2 internal pip
4. Day 26 first external
5. Day 27 2nd pip and hatch (duckling has deformed? Foot. YouTube helped some but none
1st pip beak out, toes pushing... dead CPR was too late
Candled the rest...
NOTHING! THEY ALL APPEAR LIFELESS
Question, guidance or whatever your like to say
What's going so wrong?
Next try, 5 Guinea eggs kept 4 days at 60° in carton point side down. Still in holding until day 28 has came and gone. Will set at 7 days?
I have 1 broody hen and she is sitting on 31 eggs
I have a duck that wants to be ,but she is as mean as a snake and I cant leep her confined enough via solitude to keep her setting

 

[Alaskan]

There are various incubation articles on here...

I would suggest reading through them.

I find that for a good hatch you need the following:

1. Excellent nutrition. Freezer burnt salmon (I am in alaska) and nutritional yeast (the less expensive farm grade kind) and chickweed and dandelions. Helps lots. But use what you have in your area.

2. Lots of egg turning 5 times a day or more. Stop turning 3 to 2 days before hatch.

3. For chickens .. 30 ish percent humidity for the first part, then 60 ish plus for the last 2 to 3 days.


For the storage... 60 F is a bit high. 45 to 50 is better. And if you are storing for longer than 5 days or so then rotate the stored eggs. But fresh is always best. The older the lower the hatch rate.

 

[sawilliams]

Still air or forced air?
Turner or hand turned?
Second thermometer and hydrometer or not?

My understanding is chicks to big is usually temps to high. Other then that I'm not much help here. You need to do a comparison test for your temp and humidity at egg level all around the bator to make sue it's stable. Still air bators can have to hot and to cold spots eggs need to be set accordingly

 

[Alaskan]

True. Which is why I really like my thermometer that also keeps max. And min. Temps.

Also, make sure the thermometer reads true.