Reviews by GerbilsOnToast

My husband bought me the eco 20 model w/turner about a week ago without consulting me....
The ad blurbs say the temp is factory pre-set, the paperwork in the box say it isn't - and it wasn't. The ads also say it includes a thermometer, which it did not, and thermometer is not listed as 'included' in the paperwork. The temp is difficult to get stable; two days at 99.3 when empty turned into 98.6 two days after loading it, and I'm afraid to monkey with it now that it's got eggs going. At the rate it's going through water, I'm sure I need a hygrometer quickly. The rails for separating eggs into rows are a good idea... but not so easy in practice; they won't hold in place until the tray is inserted in the machine because the tray bows out. I wouldn't have bought this incubator for myself; now that I have it, I still wouldn't. Will revisit this with comment after incubation time is up & I have, or don't have, live chicks.
The husband, OTOH, was definitely worth the investment.

I raise hens for egg production, not pets... these girls are TOPS at that. They exceed 300/yr comfortably, and continue to lay saleable eggs for about two years. I still have four of my first six, all are still laying (huge, ugly) eggs. Their food consumption is about half what the RIR's & BO's eat. Friendly is NOT one of their traits.

Although they have 4 square feet per bird plus 1.5 s.f. of perch and one nest for each three birds in the coops, (night space only) and hundreds of acres to range - they still pick on each other regularly. Eggs generally are large to XL; every Jumbo so far is followed within hours by a cannibalized hen. Start of lay means many hours watching them to protect them from each other - because they won't even run away when being eaten alive.

However, they have shown themselves to be quite predator-wary; we have many hawks, foxes and coyotes, and I haven't lost one to a predator yet.

I had six RIR's in my first flock, four are still with me. They have more distinct personalities than the other breeds I have, and they're all friendly. None have been aggressive to other birds, although, since their flock mates are mostly Leghorns they're sometimes picked on. One was lost to cannibalism, one to a cat while young, and one is currently suffering ovarian cancer. One is my dog... or so she thinks.

They are relatively consistent layers, but only at about 4 eggs a week. Almost every meat spot I've found was in a RIR egg, and the eggs soon became jumbo size and are gradually becoming more misshapen. (they're over 2yo) The hens bought their retirement plan with personality, not production.

My flock is free-range, so I don't know how they react to confinement - they don't usually leave the barn lot area (2 acres).

I got these girls in hopes of having hens raise my replacement chicks instead of *me*. So far, three have thought about it, and one is currently sitting. She is relatively tolerant of candling interruptions, and doesn't actually peck at me, just coos and makes the motions. Her mothering behavior has yet to be demonstrated, but I'm optimistic.

They are much calmer than the Leghorns, no panics when I enter the pens, but they also don't follow me around like the other breeds do and while they come when called, they take their sweet time doing so (which is both good and bad).

Their laying rate, once they finally started, is much greater than I expected; they're on par at this time to go over 250/yr and I'm seriously considering adjusting my future flocks to be mostly BO's

I have two of these for each restaurant I service. 15dz boxes rarely came back, (very convenient size box for a lot of things), and the first one of these went MIA for a few days. I soon embossed them all with the farm name and since then they've been returned promptly.
This is a very sturdy crate, cleans up easily with pressure spray, and my *only* complaint would be that the handles are for man-size hands. I am very pleased with these!
Note that 'price paid" is rounded.