Ok. This is such a minor thing, I know it is, but it's really making me sad.
So about 2 weeks ago we hatched some eggs for the first time using an incubator. I put the manufacturer's advised maximum amount in (10) and although it was a tight squeeze they did fit.
Come hatch day the first egg to pip had its end very close up to the wall of the incubator and I was worried the chick wouldn't have any room to wiggle out of the egg. So although i knew it would impact the humidity I opened the incubator to reposition the eggs.
2 banty eggs hatched and it took until the next day for more to pip. I took the 2 chicks out because they were fluffy and it was really cramped in there. At this stage a few more are pipping including one cream legbar egg.
It pipped and the chick was cheeping away for about 6 hrs. I had read about how it was unwise to help the chick out in case the blood vessels to the shell are still active and the chick bleeds to death. So I leave the chick and go down to dinner. After dinner I come up and the egg is quiet. I take it out and slowly start gently peeling back small sections of she'll but there's no movement or noise and the chick is dead.
The other chicks were fine and are still doing well 2 weeks later.
I know it's only a chick but I'm devastated. I think it's my fault it didn't make it. I shouldn't have put so many eggs in. I should have positioned them better and I shouldn't have opened the incubator and so dried out the membranes of the egg and made it harder for the chick to hatch. I should have realised it was struggling and helped it out.
I know there are far worse things happening in the world, but i just feel so guilty. 