I wish I had better news, but I don't. After waiting, tapping, and candling (and seeing nothing), I finally water candled today. I couldn't see any sign of life. Being Day 24, I decided to poke a small hole at the air cell end of the egg on one of the four cemani eggs. I put the moist end of a Q-Tip into the hole and gently rubbed the membrane, hoping to see some movement. Nothing. After staring it down under the light for a few minutes and seeing nothing, I carefully began to chip away at the shell. Inside, the chick had died at what looked to be around Day 18. Yolk sac completely unabsorbed.
I proceeded to (VERY GENTLY) open two of the remaning eggs. I have left the last one alone, but am pretty certain it is also dead. All three eggs looked the same. I couldn't see any excess moisture. In fact, I am quite puzzled as to what happened with these eggs. Every single one looked to be around Day 18, yolk sac completely unabsorbed, without any signs of excess goo or moisture in the egg.
Also ironic... These four Cemani eggs were incubated along with a dozen SHIPPED random pure bred eggs, all twelve of which have fully developed and are in the process of hatching as we speak... They were only a couple days behind the Cemanis and are also in the same hatcher.
Temp and humidity has held steady through lockdown. I have four monitors in there all reading within one degree and two percent of each other.
Stranger still, inside one of the Cemani eggs, I caught a small glimpse of white feathers. I'm not sure if this is normal or not for Cemani chicks (maybe they eventually get replaced with the black) but there was significant white feathering.
I am so extremely disappointed. When I work up the courage, I'll perform a full inspection of the dead chicks and possibly take some photos for reference.
REALLY confused.... I was so careful with these eggs. I never opened the incubator during a pip, and when I did it was lightning fast to candle or water candle (today). I even made sure my hands were scrubbed clean before even touching any of them. I have only seen consistent temp and humidity...
So confused and disappointed. I was working outside on the coop today and getting excited about a few Cemanis to add to my flock. =( Those eggs were EXPENSIVE, too.