When I use the append tool, the default values for fields that are not included in the target layer are not calculated.
Although the default values for the target layer are already defined.
When you are doing the append are the two fields that are set to default included in there?
If they are and they are null (or an other value) it will fill the default with that value or null
In this example I included only one field and the data was transferred successfully but the rest of the fields that were not included appeared "null" even though a default value was set for them in the layer settings.
What I mean is that when I use the copy and past tool the default values are calculated for each field but when I use the append tool the default values are not calculated.