Reptipro 5000 Hatch-A-Long (=

[yinepu]

My display is sitting on 103. I had to go look since I have never paid any attention to the display temp. I don't trust any of the electronic displays since I don't know (or care) where it is measuring from. I measure the temps on the shelves and and go from there. I rotate them if I have more than one level in at a time since there is a 1 to 1.5 difference. It's all about working out what works for you and your area.

lol.. i use the upper shelf for incubation.. then lower the eggs to the next shelf for hatch.. prefect drop in temp which is just what they need!

 

[yinepu]

the latest batch out of my Reptipro



every one hatched without any problems at all... when this pic was taken I still had two more hatching.. and they also popped out fine!
a mix of turkey poults, and mutt chicks consisting of crosses between silkie, polish, brahma, cochin with a little d'uccle thrown in.. most are the silkie polish crosses

 

[Zootopia]

the latest batch out of my Reptipro every one hatched without any problems at all... when this pic was taken I still had two more hatching.. and they also popped out fine!
a mix of turkey poults, and mutt chicks consisting of crosses between silkie, polish, brahma, cochin with a little d'uccle thrown in.. most are the silkie polish crosses

So tell us, what shelf do you use, what is your RP temp set on, what is the temp in the levels you use. do you use water during incubation or just during lockdown? What do you think is the secret to your success? Have you used any other incubators and how do you think they are different/better?

 

[yinepu]

So tell us, what shelf do you use, what is your RP temp set on, what is the temp in the levels you use. do you use water during incubation or just during lockdown? What do you think is the secret to your success? Have you used any other incubators and how do you think they are different/better?

I ignore the digital readout for temp and take the temp at shelf level since THAT's where the eggs sit

for chickens, ducks, goslings and,turkeys I use the top shelf for incubating.. then the next shelf down for hatch
top shelf holds steady at 99.5.. next shelf down for hatch holds steady at 98.5
for quail I use the top shelf for incubating AND hatch (99.5)
for emu I add some empty styro egg cartons to the bottom of the bator and set the shelf there.. plus drop the display temp a degree or two to get the shelf temp to the 97.5 range.. next year I will be dropping it a bit lower if I hatch out more emu then

humidity for turkeys, ducklings and goslings AT HATCH is around 80%.. I get that just fine by adding one of those plastic sandwich size boxes with water in it.. it will vary for each person.. so you would have to experiment with surface area to hit 80% for them.. pretty much if it feels EXTREMELY humid in there it's probably humid enough

if I am only hatching chickens I keep an eye on how the first chick looks as it's hatching.. then add water as needed... I don't really watch the humidity for them or quail since they are so darn easy to hatch.. if the chickens happen to be in the same hatch as turkeys or waterfowl they do fine at hatch with 80% humidity that I use for the turkeys and waterfowl

My incubator is in the bathroom.. so the average humidity during incubation is running around 30 to 35%.. that will also vary depending on your locale plus if the home has any water features (aquariums and so on)..
for turkeys the ROOM humidity needs to be about 50%... then the bator is run dry.. it seems to also work well in my bathroom this spring for other birds.. however I do weigh emu, duck, muscovy and goose eggs to make sure they have the proper weight loss
humidity during incubation will vary depending on where you live.. not everyone can dry incubate.. usually during the summer it's so hot and dry here that I have to add water to any bator I use during incubation

the best thing to do is to IGNORE the hygrometer during incubation.. either monitor weight loss or monitor the air cells (numbers on the diagram indicate days of incubation)

so many people have hygrometers which are off.. even if they are calibrated before each hatch they can still be off for the next hatch.. so calibration would be needed before each and every incubation justto see if it is still reading accurate.. it's so much easier to let the eggs tell you what they need than to rely on a hygrometer which can be inaccurate

I've been incubating and hatching out chicks of all kinds for over 50 years.. and have used lots of homemade bators as well as some of the commercial varities.. currently I own a modified LG, way to many Brinseas of assorted models (biggest mistake I ever made due to shoddy workmanship, defective products and frayed wires).. and my Reptipro
The reptipro is by far one of my favorite incubators.. had I not wasted so much money on Brinseas I would probably have a half dozen Reptipros by now

I can do staggered hatches just fine in the Reptipro.. (working on a staggered hatch right now with about 7 different hatch dates) .. I have never had a sticky chick (wet or dry sticky) and have not had a single loss to a chick dead in the shell.. the only losses I have had were on infertile eggs or damaged shipped eggs which candled clear on day 10... lol.. gotta love a 90 to 100% hatch rate on my home grown eggs!

 

[yinepu]

lol.. I even stack eggs in the bator for the staggered hatches..
the turkeys and chicks pic I posted came from these eggs.. the remaining eggs are the rest of my staggered hatch
(the one with the question mark is one my husband slipped in on me.. so he never put a set date on it)

I don't recommend egg stacking for everyone.. since if you don't stack them right they can fall.. plus you also need a certain amount of air flow around the eggs

 

[Zootopia]

Thanks, I mostly do staggered hatches, incubating in my Hovabator and locking down in the RP, since I haven't had it long (bought it on ebay) and I need to get shelves for it. I have had several quit in lock down, I will try dropping the temp or lowering the shelf I have rigged in there. I have a list of experiments I want to try in the bators to see what really works best for me. I know I have to add water to keep humidity levels at "dry hatch" levels if the heat is on, haven't had a problem with the a/c. When I started in January the room humidity was in the low 30's, even with the heat and no rain recently the room humidity is holding at 50+.
I did have a couple "sticky" chicks early in the last hatch. I actually rinsed them and patted them with paper towels then put them back in the hatcher to dry. I thought at first the humidity was too high in there, but the later ones were fine and since the humidity in the RP doesn't go down nearly as fast as the styro's it was in the 80's by the time everyone finished hatching.

 

[Zootopia]

lol.. I even stack eggs in the bator for the staggered hatches..
the turkeys and chicks pic I posted came from these eggs.. the remaining eggs are the rest of my staggered hatch
(the one with the question mark is one my husband slipped in on me.. so he never put a set date on it)

I don't recommend egg stacking for everyone.. since if you don't stack them right they can fall.. plus you also need a certain amount of air flow around the eggs

OMG

DH would faint!! I am going to be having a ball with this!!

The thing that concerns me most it if the hatching raises the humidity too much for too long. I am also having issues with wonky air cells on shipped egg so they have to be incubated upright.

 

[yinepu]

Thanks, I mostly do staggered hatches, incubating in my Hovabator and locking down in the RP, since I haven't had it long (bought it on ebay) and I need to get shelves for it. I have had several quit in lock down, I will try dropping the temp or lowering the shelf I have rigged in there. I have a list of experiments I want to try in the bators to see what really works best for me. I know I have to add water to keep humidity levels at "dry hatch" levels if the heat is on, haven't had a problem with the a/c. When I started in January the room humidity was in the low 30's, even with the heat and no rain recently the room humidity is holding at 50+.
I did have a couple "sticky" chicks early in the last hatch. I actually rinsed them and patted them with paper towels then put them back in the hatcher to dry. I thought at first the humidity was too high in there, but the later ones were fine and since the humidity in the RP doesn't go down nearly as fast as the styro's it was in the 80's by the time everyone finished hatching.

you can use the plastic egg crate light diffuser that they use on fluorescent lights and cut it to size to make shelves.. Home depot and Lowes carry it.. most of the employees have no idea what it is.. so you may have to point it out on one of their display lights.. it's usually in large sheets and cuts easily with wire cutters


there are also two kinds of sticky chicks.. "dry sticky" is caused by a chick who is a little slow hatching and the fan from the bator dries it out too quickly causing it to be stuck to the membrane..
the "wet sticky" are the chicks that had too high of humidity during incubation.. the albumen didn't get absorbed completely and it ends up being a pale amber fluid that will harden around the chick ..much like a bug caught in amber
I haven't had issues with either kind of sticky chick in the Reptipro.. but I have had the dry stickies in the Brinsea incubators.. mainly because of the type and location of the fan they use in the Brinsea

the idea behind lowering the temp when increasing humidity is because hot air holds less oxygen than cool air
humid air holds less oxygen than dry air
chicks need humidity to hatch
they also use up more oxygen towards the end of incubation as well as during hatch.. which is why you should never have the vents closed in a bator during hatch
so a combination of hot and humid air means less oxygen for the chicks.. and they die from carbon dioxide poisoning..
I open the Reptipro a lot during "lockdown" (usually because I am turning the other eggs 5 times a day).. it allows more air to enter the bator and the humidity goes right back up when I close the door..

OMG

DH would faint!! I am going to be having a ball with this!!

The thing that concerns me most it if the hatching raises the humidity too much for too long.

that's why you monitor the air cells.. you can even trace them on the egg with a sharpie pen or pencil to see how much they change.. when you go into 'lockdown" (which isn't really true with the Reptipro since the humidity goes right back up) you can still turn the eggs that are still in incubation mode.. also if the high humidity slows their air cells down too much then as soon as the first eggs have hatched go completely dry with the humidity so it will compensate for the eggs that are still incubating.. the air cells WILL tell you what you need.. and if you have hard to candle eggs like Marans or olive eggs make sure you add a few white or light brown eggs to the batch and use them as your guide. A super bright LED light works very well too!

 

[Zootopia]

you can use the plastic egg crate light diffuser that they use on fluorescent lights and cut it to size to make shelves.. Home depot and Lowes carry it.. most of the employees have no idea what it is.. so you may have to point it out on one of their display lights.. it's usually in large sheets and cuts easily with wire cutters
Of course !! I used to use that stuff in my Guinea pig cage bottom. Thanks

there are also two kinds of sticky chicks.. "dry sticky" is caused by a chick who is a little slow hatching and the fan from the bator dries it out too quickly causing it to be stuck to the membrane..
the "wet sticky" are the chicks that had too high of humidity during incubation.. the albumen didn't get absorbed completely and it ends up being a pale amber fluid that will harden around the chick ..much like a bug caught in amber
I had a couple of the "wet sticky" chicks in my last hatch, and I haven't added water to the Hovabator since Febuary. I did have one plug in for awhile but have since taken it out. Now it makes since.

I haven't had issues with either kind of sticky chick in the Reptipro.. but I have had the dry stickies in the Brinsea incubators.. mainly because of the type and location of the fan they use in the Brinsea

the idea behind lowering the temp when increasing humidity is because hot air holds less oxygen than cool air
humid air holds less oxygen than dry air
chicks need humidity to hatch
they also use up more oxygen towards the end of incubation as well as during hatch.. which is why you should never have the vents closed in a bator during hatch
so a combination of hot and humid air means less oxygen for the chicks.. and they die from carbon dioxide poisoning..
I open the Reptipro a lot during "lockdown" (usually because I am turning the other eggs 5 times a day).. it allows more air to enter the bator and the humidity goes right back up when I close the door..

that's why you monitor the air cells.. you can even trace them on the egg with a sharpie pen or pencil to see how much they change.. when you go into 'lockdown" (which isn't really true with the Reptipro since the humidity goes right back up) you can still turn the eggs that are still in incubation mode.. also if the high humidity slows their air cells down too much then as soon as the first eggs have hatched go completely dry with the humidity so it will compensate for the eggs that are still incubating.. the air cells WILL tell you what you need.. and if you have hard to candle eggs like Marans or olive eggs make sure you add a few white or light brown eggs to the batch and use them as your guide. A super bright LED light works very well too!

Great thanks, I think I'm ready to stack!!

 

[skyking]

Hatch report - Hatch Attempt Number 4

Set on Apr 20, lockdown May 8, hatch May 11. Started with 13, ended up with 5 that had good development plus 3 that were Auracanas and are impossible to see into, so I always just leave them and hope for the best. Temp 99.5 using middle shelf and auto turner and humidity around 30%. Roo is a NH Red with 3 Auracanas, 2 NH Reds, and 8 Red Stars (Sexlinks).