Setting Chicken Eggs Today in R-Com King Suro

[skyking]

After 5 hatching attempts that all failed using a Reptipro style bator with auto turner and following everyone's advice over on the Hatch-A-Long thread during each hatch attempt, I have decided to spring for the R-Com and hope for better results. Set 18 eggs today from my mix of NH Reds, Aracaunas, and Red Stars all fertilized by my NH Red Rooster. Watched a couple of good videos on assembly and setup on Youtube, so was able to get the pumping system primed after 6-2 minute cycles. Ambient temps here right now are low 80s and 55% humidity. Suro came up to temp in 5 minutes and shows 55% humidity so pump will not even need to come on until ambient humidity drops off a bit. Used some plumber's silicone grease (non petroleum) on the cradle ends to eliminate jerky motion and smooth out turning cycles. So, let's see how this goes. Will post updates as things progress. Had to cut the absorber pad a bit small and push the V clips all the way in otherwise it would touch the top of the eggs in the middle row as most of mine are Ex-Lge to Jumbo in size standing on end.

 

[ReneB]

Good luck! Crossing my fingers it works well for you!

 

[skyking]

Hatch Report: Out of 18 eggs set, one hatched on the 22nd, 12 on the 23rd and 3 on the 24th. One was unviable and one stopped half way. Awesome 88% hatch rate results! Used factory settings of 99.5F and 45% humidity although this time of year mine ran between 50% and 55%. Jumped to over 80% after first hatch. I kept eggs on their side 6 to a row. No comparison, this is a true ink-ee-bater and the Reptipro is a poor excuse (at least for chicken eggs, maybe it's OK for reptiles). Will set another batch tomorrow. Peeps galore!

 

[Justin-Dallas]

Wanted to see if your R-Com King Suro is still working & how you find the reliability? I bought the RCom Mini a few months back 7 loving it, but, I need to upgrade to something bigger - looking at the King Suro, or the Pro 20 ... but, finding some people have had issues with the King Suro.

 

[skyking]

My hatch rate over the last three years has run around 70%. Stepper motor does get a little louder as it gets older. Had to bump up temp to 100.5 from 99.5 to keep hatch rate up (might be crud on temp probe). Overall a great incubator that keeps on going. I do about 8 hatches a year from April thru September so it runs a lot. Really easy to clean and do routine maintenance. I run 48% humidity then 78% during lockdown. For doing two dozen at a time it's great, perfect for me (YMMV).

 

[Justin-Dallas]

Thanks for that - I think Im definately going to get one.

Im using the small RCom Mini 3 Egg unit at the moment & it works flawlessly - set & forget, auto turn, auto countdown & auto-humidity.

The Suro unit doesnt tell you the hatch day (like countdown from 21 days like my little RCOM Mini 3 egg one which makes it super easy to keep track).... so, my question is did you have a system of when to change humidity, or to stop the cradle from swinging.
Is there an app you use - or is it just keeping proper notes?

 

[skyking]

I use both a paper calendar and desktop app calendar (Mozilla Lightning add-on for Mozilla Thunderbird) and mark 19 days to up humidity and stop cradle. Good online day calculator at datewheel.net