Incubating vertically - where to measure temperature?

[JaeG]

I have 9 Muscovy eggs that were shipped to me, 3 eggs each from 3 different hens. I am currently incubating them (forced air) vertically because the air cells looked a little loose. I've had to put them in trays loosely packed with paper towels to keep them upright because one hens eggs are enormous, and I couldn't close my incubator with them just in an egg carton. I even tried cutting the egg carton down, but they are just too big.

I read that Muscovy eggs average 2.7 ounces. This hens eggs are 3.2-3.3 ounces.

My biggest concern is, with such big eggs sitting vertically, where should I be taking the temperature reading? At the top, halfway down?

 

[oregonkat]

Sheesh that's a big egg!! You must be turning them manually, yes? I would think that taking the temp mid way down the biggest egg would be ideal so that you would get a kind of average temp for the biggest and the smallest egg. Only MHO though.

 

[JaeG]

Sheesh that's a big egg!! You must be turning them manually, yes? I would think that taking the temp mid way down the biggest egg would be ideal so that you would get a kind of average temp for the biggest and the smallest egg. Only MHO though.

Thanks for replying. Yes I'm manually turning them (my incubator isn't fancy). That sounds good to me. I'm used to incubating quail eggs so this is all new territory for me!

 

[WVduckchick]

I hope you are keeping it away from any heating element.
I’m currently incubating some Sebastopol eggs (a couple over 7 ounces! Ouch) for a friend and I kinda thought about it too, but i just left my incubator set where it has always worked fine on chicken and duck eggs. They seem to be developing just fine.

 

[WVduckchick]

Sheesh that's a big egg!! You must be turning them manually, yes? I would think that taking the temp mid way down the biggest egg would be ideal so that you would get a kind of average temp for the biggest and the smallest egg. Only MHO though.

Good to see you again!

 

[JaeG]

I hope you are keeping it away from any heating element.
I’m currently incubating some Sebastopol eggs (a couple over 7 ounces! Ouch) for a friend and I kinda thought about it too, but i just left my incubator set where it has always worked fine on chicken and duck eggs. They seem to be developing just fine.

Wowzer, those are some mammoth eggs! I'd love some Sebastopol Geese - they are gorgeous, but very hard to find in New Zealand.

Don't worry - the eggs can't get near any heating element. That's high up in the lid with the fan underneath it and a grate below that. It's one of those octagonal incubators. Hopefully I can lie the eggs down soon and relax a bit.

 

[WVduckchick]

I’m not really a “goose person”, just helping a friend with extra eggs. But the Sebbies definitely are beautiful. She gave me 8 eggs to incubate and they ranged from 130 to 217 grams! Huge size difference. I’ve not dealt with such differences, but I’d be more worried in a still-air incubator.

I had a pigeon hen on eggs last week, and one egg got pecked by another bird, just prior to being due to hatch. I brought it inside and put tape on it and popped it in with the Sebbie eggs, and some call duck eggs. Talk about a huge size difference!
The pigeon egg pipped the next day, so I returned it to the hen and it hatched.


Best of luck with your hatch! I love Muscovys!

 

[JaeG]

I’m not really a “goose person”, just helping a friend with extra eggs. But the Sebbies definitely are beautiful. She gave me 8 eggs to incubate and they ranged from 130 to 217 grams! Huge size difference. I’ve not dealt with such differences, but I’d be more worried in a still-air incubator.

I had a pigeon hen on eggs last week, and one egg got pecked by another bird, just prior to being due to hatch. I brought it inside and put tape on it and popped it in with the Sebbie eggs, and some call duck eggs. Talk about a huge size difference!
The pigeon egg pipped the next day, so I returned it to the hen and it hatched.
View attachment 2062759

Best of luck with your hatch! I love Muscovys!

Wow, that is amazing. The pigeon egg looks so cute in amongst the rest. 217g is huge! I thought the Muscovy eggs were whoppers at 95-97 grams (the 3 big ones anyway).

Our pond has been adopted by a group of 4 wild geese (NZ has quite a number of wild Greylag geese wandering about) so I'm not sure getting additional geese would be a good idea. I'm enjoying having them around though despite the copious amounts of poop. I had no idea geese pooped so much.

I'm hoping we can get something to hatch - we need the Muscovy for bug control here. Our chickens were kept in a run all of their lives and didn't free range, so now that we've moved to the country and they have all this space - they don't go further than about 30 feet from their coop. Despite the fact that there are crickets and grasshoppers and locusts and moths to hunt.

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

I have 9 Muscovy eggs that were shipped to me, 3 eggs each from 3 different hens. I am currently incubating them (forced air) vertically because the air cells looked a little loose. I've had to put them in trays loosely packed with paper towels to keep them upright because one hens eggs are enormous, and I couldn't close my incubator with them just in an egg carton. I even tried cutting the egg carton down, but they are just too big.

I read that Muscovy eggs average 2.7 ounces. This hens eggs are 3.2-3.3 ounces.

My biggest concern is, with such big eggs sitting vertically, where should I be taking the temperature reading? At the top, halfway down?

Place the eggs in the egg tray of the incubator, with the larger end facing up and the narrow end facing down in the incubator. Set the temperature to 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit with 50-55 percent humidity.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

It being a forced air incubator, the temperature should be more consistent throughout the space. It should be the same near the top of the egg as it is in the middle, but if you are concerned, the take it at the middle. Good luck with you hatch...