Yes, keep the incubator on at all times until you are ready to call you hatch complete and dispose of any that didn't make it. If you turn it off for lock down, I would be surprised if anything hatched at all. I have burned myself on the top... but NEVER had a chick do it.That would be great.
So I keep the incubator on during lockdown? Will the babies burn themselves on the top? It’s my first time hatching.

I keep my STILL air incubator at 102 and get day 21 hatches consistently. So 101 MIGHT make you slightly delayed.
I start by running my incubator COMPLETELY dry ALL vents open and see where my humidity is without any additional water. Then fill wells individually giving a couple hours afterwards for the humidity to stabilize and read correctly each time. SO on day 18... IF my air cells are large enough (and they always are because I've been doing this A LOT so my parameters stay they same), I spend ALL of day 18 getting my humidity right (that's how long it used to take me). Which is 35-45% days 1-18 and 60-65% days 18-21. However, if you are relying on ONLY the incubator built in temp and hygro... they have been known to be WAY off.
If you didn't rotate the eggs to a new location inside the bator every day or two.. you may end up with some early or late hatchers due to temp variances. That is true EVEN in forced air bators. This might be your most anxious hatch ever... and then your in for a "little" addiction!



Have you candled your eggs and make sure you are putting only viable ones into lock down? If your cells are too small... you can wait a little later to raise your humidity IF NEED BE. If you need to you can carefully take all your eggs out and empty your wells and start dry adding back in the humidity.
I should state that I got my best hatches hand turning in my still air incubator. Forced air with turners is nice but it has NOT increased my hatch rate and maybe even done the opposite.
I too use a flashlight that stays mostly on the window.

Super small hatches are so frustrating to me... if I end up with a single lonely chick. Is that what you started with or just what ya got in LD? What kind of bantam? EE chicks are so cute and my EE crosses get great fertility and hatch. I have a broody raising 3 Marans EE cross and at 3.5 weeks I can tell 2/3 are cockerels! Of course the 3rd one may be also just later blooming.have two Easter Egger eggs and one bantam I am so eggcited

Good luck to you both!

