Can I use a Reptile Incubator for Chicken Eggs (Reptipro5000)

Hello!
We thought our silkies were broody, now I am not sure and I have 24 Australorp eggs coming. So, for plan B, I need an incubator. Looking online, I found this reptipro 5000 that looks great compared to others for chickens specifically. It says you can do bird eggs...BUT...do you need an egg turner and are chicken eggs really considered just "bird eggs"?

Here is the link: http://www.reptipro.com/supplies/incubators/reptipro-5000-reptile-incubator.html

Any comments from you in-the-know chicken growers???
THANKS, Patricia in Texas

yeah, i saw that too. really wanted to go for it. no egg turner though.
and it seemed too good to be true.

I looked at this also. On ebay it's about $150 and free shipping.
I read how you could modify/add another shelf and it looks like it would work. You would probably have to use styrofoam egg cartons to hold and turn/tilt the eggs from left to right, leaving room for air circulation.
It is made from plastic, it looks like metal and in actuallity is smaller than it photograph's.
But for $150 and free shipping.....it looks better than a styrofoam model.

Brenda

I would spend another 100$ and get one of those sweet eco ones

Why couldn't you just put someinthing under the right side and then something under the left side and tilt it back and forth that way? It is small enough it wouldn't be a huge problem?

I don't see why it wouldn't work...but for basically the sme price you could get a styrafoam one with an egg turner and all that noise...but that one would look nicer I guess than styrafoam...

I dunno know!

Quote:
I don't see why this would not work for chickens. I would think of chicken eggs as just about the most run of the mill bird eggs there are!

You don't need an automatic egg turner, but the eggs do need to be turned. Open the unit and turn by hand 3 or 5 times a day.

The description you linked to does not include any mention of humidity. You might end up adding a pan for water.

That unit isn't as big as it might appear. But, it does look like there is plenty of room to put in a homemade shelf to expand the capacity if that is something that is of interest to you.

Hello Again! Thank you for "that should work" agreements. I could not figure why it would not...but I am new to the incubator realm. I called the manufacturer and they told me these units have been used many times for parrot eggs and other more exotic birds. So, they should work just fine for chickens. For humidity you place a small (about 4 inch round) storage container with water, and seal it a bit (I think). The person I spoke with said the humidity does not escape at all, but it will if I open it to turn the eggs.

So, here is another question: Is there such a thing as a universal egg turner that you can put in any unit?

AND..this will hold between 25-30something chicken eggs, depending on size.

On their site, these are priced retail at $249. The ones for sale on Ebay are from the actual company, the very same thing...but $100 less and free shipping.

We will post how it turns out.

Please share any more comments, especially any ideas on egg turning.

Happy Peepin! or how about this..."Peepin' the faith". Hopefully it will work.

The inside dementions are too small for the usual turners, which are about 16" square. My Suro-20 will accomodate 2 standard 12 cell cartons - and that's a TIGHT fit, and it is on an external rocker for a turner. An 18 cell egg carton is 12" x 6.25" so that wouldn't fit eitherl I got My Suro-20 holds 24 eggs] for $249.00 --- can still get one for $269 and that includes the automatic humidity pump!!!

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not bad even for a souped up mini hot cold fridge, I like the digital temp control but it looks pretty small (makes me tempted to go mod the plain old mini hot cold fridge, but I would probably fail lol)

Can someone fill me in on what is meant by an egg "tilter" or external egg tilter (mentioned above)? I am envisioning a see-saw and pushing one end down and then up again every three to five hours? But where are the eggs? All lined up with a space at one end, so they roll when you tilt back and forth? Is there a link to one I can see? Hmmmmmm....I am still working on how to turn the eggs.

My silkie will not go sit back on her eggs...so I think she has certainly decided not to be broody.

Thanks again! Happy Hatching!