What temperature do you incubate pigeon eggs for breeders

Every time you set a clutch of racing or show pigeon eggs, the same question hangs over the incubator: what temperature do you incubate pigeon eggs so they actually hatch on time and grow into strong youngsters? Maybe you’ve already had a batch hatch a day too early, or sit in the incubator until day 20 with weak chicks and no clear idea whether the temperature was really to blame.

This article is written for pigeon breeders and serious hobbyists who want a clear, practical answer instead of conflicting numbers from random forums. We’ll pin down the ideal temperature range for different incubators, explain how it affects hatch day and chick quality, show you how to set and verify your incubator, then walk through fine tuning, special scenarios like rescued eggs, and a short FAQ so you can turn guesswork into a repeatable, reliable hatching routine.

Quick answer: what temperature you should incubate pigeon eggs at

When you search “what temperature do you incubate pigeon eggs”, you really want to know two things:

What exact temperature should you set?
How much can you be “wrong” without ruining the hatch?

Standard temperature for pigeon eggs in forced-air incubators

In forced-air incubators (with a fan), most pigeon breeding resources and incubation research converge on the same answer:

Set the temperature at 99.5–100.0°F (about 37.5–37.8°C) and keep the reading as stable as possible in this window.

This range is based on two points:

For most bird species, the optimal embryo temperature lies around 37–38°C.
Many poultry incubation studies show that about 37.5–37.8°C eggshell/embryo temperature gives the best hatch rates and chick quality.

A forced-air incubator circulates air, so air temperature and eggshell temperature are fairly close. That’s why you can use the setpoint as a direct proxy for embryo temperature.

Recommended temperature for pigeon eggs in still-air incubators

Still-air incubators have a noticeable vertical temperature gradient inside.

Hot air rises, so the top of the chamber is warmer than the bottom. If your thermometer sits above the eggs, you’ll read a higher value than the embryo actually experiences.

Standard practice is:

Position the thermometer bulb at egg-top height.
Aim for a reading of about 101°F (≈ 38.3°C) at that height in a still-air incubator.
That gives you a similar embryo temperature to about 99.5°F (37.5°C) in a forced-air incubator.

So pigeon eggs don’t “need hotter air” in still-air units; you just need a higher number at the probe to achieve the same embryo temperature.

Safe temperature range and acceptable fluctuation for pigeon eggs

No incubator holds a perfectly flat line for 18 days. What you really need is a target window + realistic tolerance, not a single magic number.

A practical framework is:

Ideal working window
- Forced-air incubators: 99.5–100.0°F (37.5–37.8°C).
- Try to keep daily fluctuations within ±0.5°F of your setpoint.
Acceptable but not ideal range
- Short-term dips or spikes between 98.5–101.0°F are usually tolerated by most embryos.
- If you live on the edges of this range all the time, or see big swings every day, hatch rates and chick quality start to slide.
High-risk zone
- Sustained temperatures below about 98°F (36.7°C) slow development significantly and increase late hatching, weak chicks and dead-in-shell.
- Sustained temperatures above 101–102°F (> 38.3°C) clearly increase early hatching, small weak chicks, deformities and embryo mortality.

Later we’ll connect these ranges to what you actually see: hatch day patterns and chick quality.

At the end of this section, it’s helpful to know where to go for the “full picture” (temperature + humidity + turning + timeline). For that, you can always refer to EggBloom’s complete pigeon hatching guide here:
Full step-by-step pigeon egg hatching guide

Why this is the right temperature for pigeon eggs

Once you know the target temperature, the next question is:

Why that number?
What happens inside the egg if you run hotter or colder?

How pigeon embryos develop between day 1 and day 19 at the correct temperature

At the right, stable temperature, pigeon embryos follow a fairly predictable timeline:

Day 1–3
- A fertilised egg starts cell division and forms a small embryo disc.
- When candling, you see almost no change or just a faint spot.
Day 4–7
- Blood vessels spread rapidly.
- By day 5–7, candling shows a “spider web” of veins and a tiny, pulsing dark dot.
Day 8–14
- The embryo grows fast and bodies become recognisable.
- The clear albumen area shrinks; most of the egg looks darker under the light.
Day 15–17
- The embryo occupies nearly all available space except the air cell.
- The chick starts shifting into “ready to hatch” position.
Day 17–19
- Under good temperature control, most pigeon eggs hatch somewhere between day 17 and day 19, often clustering around day 18.
- You’ll notice internal pipping, then external pipping and finally zipping out of the shell.

This 17–19-day window is reported consistently across pigeon breeding resources and matches what you see with naturally brooding parents in the loft.

When the temperature stays in that 99.5–100°F “sweet spot,” this timeline stays surprisingly stable.

What happens if pigeon egg temperature is consistently too low or too high

When temperature consistently drifts away from the ideal, both the tempo and quality of development shift.

If the average temperature is too high (about +0.5–1°F)
- Embryo metabolism speeds up.
- You see hatches about 1 day earlier than expected, often with smaller, weaker chicks.
- At more extreme or prolonged high temperatures, deformities, early embryo death and dead-in-shell problems rise sharply.
If the average temperature is too low (about −0.5–1°F)
- Development slows down.
- You see hatches 1–2 days later than expected, often with larger chicks that are slow to stand and feed.
- Many “late dead-in-shell” cases and chicks that pip but never complete the hatch are linked to long-term cooler incubation.
If the temperature swings up and down a lot
- Development is repeatedly disturbed at key stages.
- You may see early embryo losses, uneven chick sizes and a mix of early and late hatches in the same batch.

In the fine-tuning section, we’ll use “hatch day + chick quality” as a simple diagnostic for whether your temperature is a bit too high or too low.

How to set and verify your incubator temperature for pigeon eggs

Knowing the target temperature is only half the job. You also have to make sure that:

The number on the incubator screen is actually correct.
Different spots in the tray aren’t running hot and cold.

This is where pre-heating, calibrating and checking your incubator pays off.

Pre-heating and stabilising your incubator before setting pigeon eggs

Before you ever put eggs in, you need to pre-heat and stabilise the incubator.

A safe workflow looks like this:

Turn the incubator on 12–24 hours before setting eggs
Set the desired temperature (for example, 99.5°F in a forced-air incubator) and let it run empty.
Watch how the temperature behaves
Check whether the incubator overshoots and then settles, or swings up and down, or stabilises quickly in a narrow band.
Check the room location
Place the incubator away from direct sunlight, blowing air-con and door drafts.
Big room-temperature swings make it much harder for any incubator to stay stable.
Only load eggs once the temperature has been stable for hours
When you’ve seen it hold the target temperature steadily, then set the eggs.

This step lets you catch problems like “slow, overshooting controller,” “overly drafty spot” or “unstable ambient temperature” before any embryo is at risk.

Calibrating your incubator thermometer with an independent thermometer

Most incubators ship with their own sensor and display, but factory calibration and sensor drift over time can both introduce error. It’s smart to cross-check with an independent thermometer.

Here’s a simple calibration process:

Get a reliable independent thermometer or probe
Ideally use an incubation-grade thermometer with accuracy around ±0.2–0.3°F.
Place the sensor at egg-top height
Don’t just toss it in a corner. Put the sensing tip at the height where the tops of the eggs will be.
Measure in several positions
Move the thermometer to the front, centre, back, left and right of the tray, letting it settle a few minutes each time before reading.
Compare to the incubator display
Note the difference between the independent reading and the incubator’s display.
- If the independent thermometer consistently reads 0.5°F lower, you may need to raise the setpoint by 0.5°F.
- If it reads higher, do the reverse.
Repeat occasionally
Re-check every few batches or every few months, so you catch any long-term sensor drift.

In EggBloom’s own testing and customer logs, simply aligning “display temperature” with actual egg-top temperature around 99.5–100°F dramatically improves both hatch timing and chick quality.

Checking temperature at different spots of the tray to find hot and cold zones

Even in forced-air incubators, there can be 0.3–1°F differences between spots in the tray, especially in larger or multi-shelf units.

To find hot and cold zones:

Use the same independent thermometer and measure temperature at the front, back, left, right and centre of the tray.
Look for patterns, like “front-right always 0.5°F cooler” or “back-left 0.7°F warmer”.
From the second batch onwards, you can:
- Place the most valuable or fragile eggs in the most stable zones.
- Occasionally rotate trays or swap egg positions between zones to even things out.

In small countertop units, these differences are usually modest, but they still exist. In cabinet incubators, paying attention to layers and zones is essential if you want the whole batch to behave similarly.

Fine tuning temperature based on hatch day and chick quality

Once your setpoint and real temperatures are aligned, the last high-level question is:

“This batch hatched early/late. Should I change the temperature, and by how much?”

You can answer that using a simple combination of hatch day + chick quality.

If pigeon chicks hatch too early: signs your temperature is too high

You’re probably running a bit hot if:

Most eggs hatch on day 17 or even earlier.
Many chicks are smaller, with finer legs and noticeably less energy.
Some chicks have slightly swollen bellies or poorly absorbed yolk.

This pattern strongly suggests that the average incubation temperature was too high.

A safer response than a big correction is:

Lower the setpoint by 0.3–0.5°F for the next batch.
Keep humidity, turning and ventilation the same.
Observe whether hatch timing and chick quality improve.

Small, incremental changes are much safer than dropping 1–2°F in one go.

If pigeon chicks hatch too late or not at all: signs your temperature is too low

On the other hand, you’re probably running too cool if:

Most eggs don’t hatch until day 19–21 or later.
Chicks are relatively large, but slow to stand and sluggish at first.
Many eggs are still unhatched around day 20, and candling shows fully formed but dead embryos.

That points to a batch-wide cool bias.

In that case, you can:

Raise the setpoint by 0.3–0.5°F for the next batch.
Keep all other settings unchanged.
Watch whether hatches move back toward the 17–19-day window and chick vitality improves.

If you see just one or two very late hatches in an otherwise normal batch, that’s more likely to be individual egg issues (fertility or embryo health) than a temperature problem.

How much you should adjust temperature for the next pigeon hatch

Putting the above together, you can use a simple fine-tuning rule:

Most eggs hatch around day 18 ± half a day, chicks look strong
- 👉 Temperature is essentially correct. No adjustment needed.
Most eggs hatch about 1 day early and chicks are small/weak
- 👉 Reduce the setpoint by 0.3–0.5°F on the next run.
Most eggs hatch about 1–2 days late and chicks are large but sluggish with more dead-in-shell
- 👉 Increase the setpoint by 0.3–0.5°F on the next run.
Extreme outcomes: lots of deformities or early embryo death
- 👉 Check for serious overheating or equipment faults, not just small fine-tunes.

If you record “average hatch day + chick quality notes” for each batch, you’ll quickly home in on a very stable temperature setting for your particular machine and environment.

Temperature settings for common incubator setups

Different incubator designs behave differently, but your goal is always the same: hold embryo temperature near that optimal curve.

Small countertop incubators with forced air and pigeon eggs

Many home users and small-scale breeders use small countertop forced-air incubators.

These units have a few temperature-related quirks:

The small air volume means they cool quickly when you open the lid.
Transparent lids encourage frequent peeking, which can cause more temperature and humidity swings.
If the airflow is well designed, temperature uniformity can be very good, but they are more sensitive to room drafts and sunlight.

For temperature:

You still aim for 99.5–100°F as your target window.
The big wins are:
- Choosing a spot in the room with stable ambient temperature.
- Keeping lid openings to a sensible minimum.
- Using the pre-heat, calibration and multi-point checks described earlier.

If you’re comparing models, it’s worth looking at incubators that were designed with smaller bird eggs in mind and tested for good temperature stability. You can browse a range of pigeon-friendly incubators and see which designs offer better control and small-egg trays here:
Explore pigeon egg incubators designed for small bird eggs

Cabinet incubators and larger loads of pigeon eggs

Cabinet or high-capacity incubators can handle many eggs at once, but temperature management is more complex.

The core idea is the same:

You still target embryo temperature ~37.5–37.8°C.
You must pay attention to temperature differences between shelves and zones.

Practical tips:

Place thermometers or probes on multiple shelves to see which layers run warmer or cooler.
Prefer designs with good airflow and minimal vertical stratification.
Put your most valuable pigeon eggs on the most stable shelf, not necessarily the top or bottom.

Once you’ve mapped your cabinet’s behaviour, you can treat each shelf more like a separate “mini-incubator” within the overall machine.

Incubating pigeon eggs together with other species

Many smallholders incubate pigeon eggs alongside chicken, quail or duck eggs.

From a temperature standpoint, these species’ optimal embryo temperatures are actually very similar, typically around 37–38°C.

The real differences are:

Incubation length
- Chickens ~21 days, pigeons 17–19 days, other species vary.
Humidity curves
- Some species prefer slightly different humidity patterns, especially late in incubation.

If you mix species:

Put pigeon eggs where temperature and airflow are most stable.
Plan your lockdown phases carefully so each species gets suitable humidity when it needs it.
If possible, move different species into separate hatching compartments once they reach their own lockdown stages.

That way you don’t sacrifice pigeon hatch rates just to maximise incubator occupancy.

Special scenarios: rescued eggs, home setups and high-value breeding

Now let’s look at some special but common situations:

A single found or abandoned egg.
A very small home setup with just a couple of eggs.
High-value racing or show pigeon eggs.
Children or students constantly wanting to see what’s happening.

Quick temperature guide for a single rescued pigeon egg at home

If you find a pigeon egg or notice that parents have been off the nest for a long time, many resources suggest you can try to incubate it artificially.

For temperature, the simple rule is:

If you have a forced-air incubator, pre-heat it to about 99.5°F as described earlier.
Check with an independent thermometer to make sure the reading isn’t badly off.
Then gently place the egg inside and avoid moving it in and out repeatedly.

Realistically:

If the egg has been completely cold for many hours, the odds of success drop sharply.
You can try, but keep your expectations realistic.
If you suspect it might be from a wild or protected species, contact local wildlife rescue before attempting incubation.

Some guides explain how to use makeshift warmers or surrogate broody birds, but these methods tend to have bigger temperature swings and are riskier for inexperienced keepers.

Temperature strategy for racing and show pigeon breeders

For racing and show pigeon breeders, each egg can represent years of line-breeding work and a lot of money.

Many serious breeders therefore choose a slightly more conservative temperature strategy:

Aim for an average just a touch under 99.5°F, for example 99.2–99.5°F.
Accept that hatches may be half a day later on average.
Prioritise avoiding chronic high temperature, which is more likely to produce weak or deformed chicks.

Common habits in this group include:

Keeping detailed records: setpoint, ambient temperature, hatch day, chick quality.
Using better monitoring equipment and sometimes backup power for critical batches.
Applying small 0.3–0.5°F adjustments based on multiple batches, not just one unusual result.

This mindset turns temperature management into a long-term optimisation project rather than a one-off guess.

How to reduce temperature risk when children are watching and opening the incubator

When you run a family or classroom hatching project, a very practical question comes up:

“How often can we open the incubator to look, without ruining the temperature?”

In general:

Occasional short openings are usually fine.
The real problem is opening the incubator many times a day and leaving it open for long periods, causing large swings in both temperature and humidity.

A few simple rules help:

In the early phase (days 1–14):
- Limit yourself to 1–2 short openings per day, just a few minutes each.
- Turn the fan off briefly if your model allows it, and close the lid promptly afterwards.
In the final lockdown phase (last 2–3 days):
- Avoid opening the incubator unless absolutely necessary.
- Prevent sudden humidity drops that can cause chicks to dry and “shrink-wrap” in the shell.

For kids, you can combine this with observation worksheets and candling sessions so they can still see the process without constantly lifting the lid.

Common pigeon egg temperature questions (FAQ)

This section compresses some of the most common questions into quick answers.

Is 99 degrees warm enough to incubate pigeon eggs?

In a forced-air incubator, 99°F is generally usable but sits on the cool side of the recommended range.

If your average temperature is close to 99°F, you can still get decent hatch rates.
You’re more likely to see hatches closer to day 19 or slightly later.

If your batches are consistently late, it’s worth trying a small increase toward 99.5°F and seeing how the next hatch behaves.

Is 101 degrees too hot for pigeon eggs in an incubator?

It depends on the incubator type.

In a still-air incubator, a reading of around 101°F at egg-top height is standard practice and corresponds to a comfortable embryo temperature.
In a forced-air incubator, running at 101°F for the whole incubation is on the hot side and more likely to produce early hatches and weak chicks.

For forced-air units, it’s safer to keep the setpoint at 99.5–100°F and treat 101°F as a brief excursion, not a permanent setting.

Do pigeon eggs need the same temperature as chicken eggs?

In terms of optimal embryo temperature, pigeon and chicken eggs are very similar: both do best around 37.5–37.8°C (about 99.5°F).

The main differences are:

Chickens normally hatch at about 21 days; pigeons at 17–19 days.
Humidity and late-stage management are a bit different.

If you’re used to incubating chicken eggs, you can usually keep the same temperature settings for pigeon eggs, but you must adjust timing and humidity to match pigeons.

Can pigeon eggs survive a few hours without heat?

Whether they survive several hours without heat depends on development stage and ambient temperature.

Early embryos (first days) are somewhat more tolerant of short cool periods.
Late embryos, close to hatching, are much more vulnerable.

In any case, you should treat these events as high-risk:

Restore stable target temperature as soon as possible.
Avoid repeated on-off heating cycles.
Watch hatch timing and chick strength in that batch for signs of trouble.

How much can incubator temperature fluctuate and still hatch?

Experience and research suggest:

Short-term fluctuations of ±0.5°F (≈ ±0.3°C) around the target are usually acceptable.
As long as the long-term average stays in the ideal window, hatch rates stay reasonably strong.

You should worry more about:

Chronic bias (e.g., always 1°C too hot or too cold).
Big, frequent daily swings.

These patterns are the ones that visibly reduce hatchability and chick quality.

Can I incubate pigeon eggs at home in a chicken egg incubator and use the same temperature?

Yes. Most chicken egg incubators are perfectly capable of incubating pigeon eggs.

Just make sure you:

Keep temperature within the recommended window and calibrate it properly.
Check that tray design and turning mechanisms are safe for smaller pigeon eggs.
Follow a pigeon-appropriate timeline (17–19 days) and humidity schedule instead of just copying a generic chicken plan.

With those adjustments, a chicken egg incubator can work very well for pigeon eggs.

Recommended incubators and next steps for better pigeon hatches

At this point you know the temperatures and the logic behind them. The final step is tying that knowledge to equipment choice and next actions.

What to look for in an incubator that holds pigeon egg temperature steady

If you’re wondering whether an upgrade would help, you can evaluate incubators using a few temperature-related criteria:

Accurate, stable temperature control
- A good controller holds real temperature within about ±0.5°F of the setpoint.
Well-designed forced-air system
- Fan placement and airflow paths minimise hot and cold spots.
Trays and turning suitable for small pigeon eggs
- Eggs sit securely and are turned reliably without banging around.
Easy calibration and monitoring
- Clear display and access so you can compare against an independent thermometer.
- Optional alarms for high/low temperature give an extra safety margin.

If you want one incubator that suits pigeons, quail and other small birds, multi-tray forced-air models designed for small eggs are a strong option. A typical example is a three-tray automatic incubator made for birds and quail, where airflow and tray design are tuned for small eggs:
See an example of a three-tray automatic incubator for small bird eggs

What to read next: humidity, turning and full pigeon incubation guide

Temperature is only one part of the puzzle. To build a really reliable pigeon hatching routine, you’ll want to combine it with:

The right humidity curve.
Proper turning schedule and when to stop turning.
Good ventilation and air cell monitoring.
Smart candling and culling of clears and early deaths.

For a full day-by-day plan that brings all of this together, you can follow EggBloom’s in-depth guide here:
Full pigeon egg hatching guide with settings and timeline

By now you’ve seen that the answer to what temperature do you incubate pigeon eggs isn’t a random number, but a tight window around 99.5–100°F in forced-air incubators, backed by careful calibration, sensible placement and small fine-tuning based on hatch results. You also know how to read early or late hatches and chick quality as feedback, instead of guessing blind.

As a pigeon breeder who cares about both bloodlines and hatch rates, you no longer have to bounce between conflicting forum screenshots. You have a clear temperature logic, practical checks and simple adjustment rules you can trust.

Next time you set a clutch of pigeon eggs, follow the steps in this article: pre-heat and calibrate your incubator, confirm real egg-top temperature sits in the target range, record hatch days and chick quality, and make small 0.3–0.5°F adjustments between batches. That’s how you turn today’s understanding into your own stable, repeatable pigeon hatching system.

References

Profitable Livestock. (2025, May 14). Pigeon egg incubation tips for higher hatch rates. ProfitableLivestock.com.
PoultryHatch. (2025). The complete lifecycle of 17 to 19 days pigeon egg hatching: Day-by-day guide. PoultryHatch.com.
IERE. (2025). How long does it take for a pigeon egg to hatch? IERE.org.
Aviculture Blog. (2023). Pigeon egg hatch time: Importance of humidity and parental behavior. AvicultureBlog.com.
Chipper Birds. (2023). How long for pigeon egg to hatch. ChipperBirds.com.

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