King Suro 20 adjustments

chrismahon

chrismahon

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we have just started incubating and the machine is running on the default settings. Temp. 37.5 and humidity 50%. The air is very dry here so running dry is not an option. I will need to adjust the temperature to 37.0 degrees and the humidity to 75% at pipping, day 18. The instructions are packed ready for shipping here and the internet downloads are not clear.

Can someone who is experienced with this machine please give me very simple step by step instructions on the button sequence required to make the alterations above. I can't afford to experiment with the settings with hatching eggs in there.

Arrived safely with problems. Hence need to hatch immediately. More details on the exporting Chickens thread later.
 
Hi Chris, Have you managed to find the info you need about the incubator? Hope things are otherwise going well for you.
 
I did have a king suro a few years back, don't have the instructions any more, have a play with it I am sure you will work it out, I held 2 buttons down and scrolled through if I remember correctly, then pressed "OK" to set.
Good luck with your hatch, and I can always send you faverolles eggs next year if you wish!
 
Managed to sort it out only to discover that there is a major software fault. If the humidity setting is changed the limit control is inoperative e.g. setting it to 70% results in it dropping back to the default 50%. So no good for hatching in the last days. Will be switching off the humidity pump and using two tubs of water.

Problems with the Suro 20 continued. The water pipe fell off and just created a puddle in the base. The lack of insulation meant I had to run it in a cardboard box. It is so poor that switching the machine off leads to the temperature plummeting in minutes -no good in a power cut at all. It got worse (but saved the eggs) as the cradle motor failed. Turning the eggs by hand is a pain and a source of bacterial infection so I had to run up the old semi-auto Spanish machine and transfer all the eggs.

Then we had a power cut at midnight. Fortunately the flashing alarm clock display woke us and I dashed out to the store room to connect up the inverter to the standby battery. Problem is our generators are still in UK storage. The temperature rapidly climbed from 30 degrees back towards 37.5. I say towards because the rise stopped at 35 degrees at which time I realised the heater had failed !!!

So back to the Suro 20 which was wrapped in towels and run up to settings. Then the eggs were transferred, but didn't all fit properly as we had added some -now 24 in. So now turning is a major pain to say the least and the new eggs are only two days and very susceptible.

So off to the local Agricultural Store to buy the only incubator they had, an Italian semi-auto. This has now been clad in insulation, calibrated, disinfected and the eggs put in. Problem is the shape is different to the Spanish one so there is one row less but they are longer -half an egg longer which is pretty useless. So we now have two incubators going with 5 TNN eggs in the Suro to be manually turned at day 12 to day 18.

So my advice would be to buy a Suro 20 only if you live in a hot house and never have power cuts. Always have a spare incubator but two spare would be better !
 
What a nightmare Chris. No wonder you haven't had time to update us about your travels. Hoping things go OKish from now on and all your eggs hatch safely.
 
No broodies Tygrysek. Still being moved about between coops and so preoccupied with that and moulting. Broody hen is the way to go, but the rearing units are still in the UK anyway. Power cut was 12 hours which is a normal time for here. Worst case last year was 3 weeks in Winter.

New Italian unit is performing OK. As we are now retired there is no problem with the midday egg turning. The instructions say to turn just twice -can't translate all of them yet but the temperatures are set at 38 degrees Centigrade and the thermometer is in Farenheit

Margaid you have reminded me about mealworms. I was thinking about you when I found the biggest maggot ever in a tree trunk (been cutting the Winter timber rather late -5.5 cubic metres of it and still some to go). It was about two inches long, cream coloured with raised 'hoops' around it along the length. Quite common apparently and a big meal for a chicken and probably a weeks worth of protein as well !
 
So who was a lucky girl or boy and got the maggot?
Hope everything will work out with the incubation despite the all trobules.
 
I've just been separating out the beetles Chris - they should all have died about 6 weeks ago. The little mealworms are growing well so there will be plenty for the girls during the winter.

Looking forward to your update on "Exporting Chickens" when you have the time.
 
Victoria, a 5 year old Blue orpington, last of our original chickens, got the monster maggot Tygrysek. She looked at it in my hand, realised it was good food, snatched it and ran off. Swallowed it in one go!

Candling the first batch today for the second time and discarding definite infertile (or transit damaged) eggs. Candling the second batch for the first time and marking possible infertile ones. Four days and the first batch go into the hatcher. I'm setting up the rearing boxes now as I am away in UK during the hatching. I'm missing the best part of all!
 
Appears the only place selling spares for the Suro20 is P & T Poultry. They want £44 including delivery for the cradle motor on its own! I am reluctant to buy from them after previous dealings and that is a silly price. The incubator isn't much good anyway. Perhaps it is worth breaking for spares as the pump works fine. In the meantime it will be used as a crude hatcher. As the humidity can't be controlled away from the default setting of 50% and we need 70% for hatching I will disconnect the water pump system and put two bowls in there. Trouble is that doesn't leave much room for eggs.

So now we are looking for a decent incubator that will take about 50 eggs -any recommendations?
 
I'm interested to know why you are going ahead with hatching at this time of the year, Chris, with all you have to do, and with the cold dark days approaching. When I read your first post in this thread, I thought 'Oh no! There's been a disaster with his hens on the journey!' but later on you said they had arrived OK, except for one.
Good luck with the hatch, though - sounds as if it will give scope for engineering enterprise.
 
Electricity here is much cheaper than England, especially if you are on Tarrif 6 as we are. No cheap night rate and the supply takeoff is restricted (amount unspecified but probably about 15 Amperes) but about half the cost. The trailer (12' long x 5" wide and 7" high) is on blocks now and will become a workshop, but I have run power to it and will use it as a rearer with a 75W electric hen for the 18 chicks.

Snowdrop was killed by the neighbour's dogs when we arrived and we had eggs for eating from her in the luggage. In an attempt to get her offspring (as she was the best of the hens by far) I took the decision to start hatching. As a precaution for losses we brought all the hatching and rearing equipment with us. The incubator was topped up with TNN's as they were still laying happily and none of the other breeding sets were established.
Biggest problem is keeping the dogs away from the chicks. Fortunately we bought all the electric fence stuff as well!
 
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