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

[exoticduckluvr]

any news to report IvyWoods

I have been thinking about them too for over a yr. I really hate my 2 LG.
Christmas is right around the corner and I could probably talk Santa into getting one for me

 

[Ivywoods]

Yes. I incubated a batch of eggs. It was kind of a last minute deal, and I actually took eggs out of the refrigerator to incubate. Needless to say, my hatch rate wasn't too good. I got 3 out of about 20 to hatch. About half of them I think were not fertile.

Anyway, as far as the incubator goes, it sure is a nice, convenient size. I like the door that you can see through. The turners worked great. I bought a rather expensive, highly accurate thermometer/hygrometer. It was very obvious that the temp on the lower tray was 2-3 degrees lower than the temp on the upper tray. The humidity stayed relatively constant, but would go up if I filled the bottom tray with more water. Humidity was not a problem at all, but definitely worth monitoring.

I had to make up a tray for putting the eggs in lockdown. The turners slide right in and out, but there was nothing to put the eggs in for lockdown. I'm in the process of building two little trays to slide in and out with a border in front to keep the chicks from hoping out the door when you open it. The door is somewhat tricky to close, so be sure you close it carefully so that it latches fully.

Overall, I like the incubator. I think there were a lot of factors that went into this poor hatch rate, such as eggs being washed or really poopy when I picked them up, refrigerated eggs, rooster covering too many hens, etc.

If there is any other questions you have, I would be happy to try to answer them.

 

[quintinp]

there are ones on ebay now with egg turners, they are a bit pricey, but i cant say probably anything bad about this incubator though, from the ratings it has, and how it is very well insulated, i couldn't say anything bad about this incubator

 

[exoticduckluvr]

I just got one from Think Greek for 89.99 & ground shipping for total 103.00 can always get turner off e-bay later. I made offer to guy on e-bay to add free turner and I would buy it for his price. and showed him the same one for 89.99 but he rejected me. Saw he had 7 offers to buy but hasn't sold any. Guess he isn't going to come off hardly any money on them. He is asking 159.00 & free ship or make offer and that is without turner. I may see if I can cut my LG turner down to fit or just hand turn them

 

[quintinp]

i would take my lg turner motor off of the turner base, or buy a lg egg turner motor off of ebay and make an egg turner which would hold more eggs than those reptipro 5000 egg turners on ebay

 

[exoticduckluvr]

Wow am I impressed with it. They started pipping early afternoon and I have 6 as of this minute and 6 more pipping out of 16 eggs. That is super fantastic for Araucana eggs.
They are just popping out pretty quickly. I am truely amazed how fast they are hatching out especially after dealing with LG incubators for the last 2 yrs. It would take 2 to 3 days for them to all hatch out

 

[bel]

Glad you had better results than I did, maybe our temps fluctuate too much but it was not anywhere near as stable as I like, also the humidity was a bear to correct because its sealed and it kept fogging up making it hard to read the hygrometer and thermometer inside.

It really could use a better fan. Did find a great use for it, during summer last year I used it to let shipped eggs rest when there were no places in the house cool enough.

 

[RioLindoAz]

Quote:

You pretty much just proved that this is a useless device.

 

[HHandbasket]

We have an ExoTerra (similar to Reptipro). It has been amazing at holding temps & humidity steady. We don't mind manually turning the eggs, gives us a chance to inspect for problems, etc. This is our first hatch in this incubator, and all our eggs were fertile. On day 8 candling, we had 100% viability inside all eggs. On day 13 candling (today... well, yesterday now), we continue to have 100% viability & the chicks are all moving. No more candling until lockdown, but I feel confident that unless something goes horribly wrong during lockdown, we should have an excellent hatch rate with the ExoTerra.

We purchased our thermometer and hygrometer at Harbor Freight and calibrated it before we set any eggs.

Thus far, I highly recommend this incubator for hatching chicken eggs. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:

You pretty much just proved that this is a useless device.

This unit can be used as a refrigerator or as a heated unit. I've thought about storing eggs in it when I'm not using it as an incubator.