Well today is lockdown day at 7pm tonight. Not very happy with this hatch, down to 10 eggs out of the 14 lavender orpington eggs I started with. The 4 I got rid of showed no sign of development at all, guessing they were not fertile eggs. My main concern is that 3 or 4 of eggs look less developed than the others meaning the chick has not grown to fill the egg like the others. After reading back through recent posts it seems I am not the only one having this issue this time. I kept a close eye on my humidity and temperature, 30-40% and 99.5-100, no big swings in either during the whole process. Any ideas or input would be appreciated. Either way hatcher has been set up for 2 days now so I am ready for lockdown tonight holding a steady 65% humidity and 99.5. Maybe they will all hatch and I am just paranoid that I have done something wrong.
Maybe just slow growers, maybe they will be slightly smaller chicks, maybe parent stock issues, even possible differences in amount of albumin and yolk size? Different eggs from different hens? Too many possibilities, but they will probably hatch just fine.
I will say though that my lav orps tend to hatch a little late, even when incubating with others that hatch on time. Not sure if its breed related, or my flock, or what, but thought I'd throw it out there.
Good luck! Post some pics when you can.