Redstone Signal from hopper to comparator is to short when creating a auto item sorter or auto chicken cooker/sorter

when trying to create a auto item sorter or auto chicken cooker/sorter the output from the items in the hopper is only a redstone signal of 2 when it has always been 3 since i have been using the design and causes the designs to not function properly

1.place a Hopper either going into a block in front or the comparator behind it

2.place a stack of 44 items split into stacks of 11 in the last 4 slots of the hopper and one item of which you want to be sorted and the comparator should power the 3 redstone dust behind it but only powers 2