Ixworth hatching eggs

It's day seven for the Ixworth eggs I have in my incubator and when candled, they were throwing up some rather strange shapes in the egg.  I'm sad to say I was not organised enough to take photographs (I was a little preoccupied by the boys wanting to see the chicks forming in the eggs). Only one is not fertile, two are well established but the others seem to be lagging behind somewhat.  I have left them in the incubator for now to see if they keep developing. Fearing the worst, they may have started to developed and died at 3-4 days old.  But only time will tell.
It's my first time hatching Ixworth eggs, and the plan is to keep a pair for hatching my own eggs to rear as table birds.  Something I have wanted to do for a long time but space and the theft at my allotment plot has put me off.

I guess I could buy in Ross Cobb or other hybrid bread table birds but I still see these birds as frankestine chickens.  From tiny chick to table weight in 6-8 weeks really does not sit right with me.  Yes it's cheaper as you feed less and you don't have the potential problems of cock birds fighting but I am convinced, it will be worth waiting 20-25 weeks for the Ixworth and we will be rewarded with great tasting meat.
Having said that, whether I will be joined eating the home reared meat my wife and kids, we will have to wait and see.  I guess the best was is not to tell them and find some spare supermarket stickers to slap on the birds.

I chose the Ixworth because it is a Brisith rare breed, in need of help and to me seems a perfect chicken for the smallholder.  I still don't class myself as a smallholder, yes I grow vegetables, I keep chickens, ducks and quail, but for me (and it's different for everyone) a smallholder provides meat as well as vegetables and eggs.    So I hope this is my first step toward the smallholding life, on a small scale, but one that will bring satisfaction from producing a roast dinner to be proud of from very local produce.

In the mean time, I'm preparing the Wyandotte hen and two ducks for the Spring show at the Royal Welsh show ground.  As she has aged, I think her lacing has become a bit tatty.  Having said that, maybe I'm just being critical and looking for perfection.