Brooder Temperature, Week by Week

Getting brooder temperature week by week right is the biggest job of your first month with chicks. Baby chicks can’t regulate their own body heat yet. In nature a broody hen warms them under her feathers. In your brooder, you are the hen.

The schedule is simple, and your chicks will tell you when you’ve got it wrong. Below you’ll find the week-by-week chart, where to put the thermometer, what huddling and panting mean, and when to switch the heat off.

If you’ve just ordered baby chicks from Hoover’s Hatchery and the box is on its way, you’re right on time. Run the brooder for 24 hours before they arrive so the bedding is warm too, not just the air.

What Temperature Should a Brooder Be for Chicks?

A brooder is a warm, draft-free enclosure where chicks live until they have the feathers to keep themselves warm, often a stock tank, big tote, or sturdy box with a heat source. If you haven’t built yours yet, our walkthrough on making a simple chick brooder covers the basics.

Day-old chicks need a warm zone of roughly 90 to 95°F at bedding level during their first week. Figures vary slightly from source to source, and what matters more than one exact degree is giving chicks a range to choose from.

Why a warm side and a cool side matter

Directly under the heat is the warm zone. The far end should be noticeably cooler, closer to room temperature. Chicks move between the two all day, napping under the heat and heading out to eat, drink, and explore.

A brooder that is 95°F from wall to wall gives them nowhere to cool off, so brooder size is part of temperature control. Put the feeder and waterer between the zones, not directly under the heat.

Brooder Temperature Week by Week: The Chart

The classic rule is easy to remember: start at 90 to 95°F and lower the warm zone by about 5°F each week until chicks are fully feathered. Use the chart below as your starting point, then adjust based on what you see in the brooder.

Chick age	Warm zone at chick level	What’s happening
Week 1 (days 1 to 7)	90 to 95°F	All fluff, no feathers. Lots of naps under the heat.
Week 2	85 to 90°F	Wing feathers start showing. More running around.
Week 3	80 to 85°F	Tail feathers and shoulder feathers fill in.
Week 4	75 to 80°F	Patchy “teenage” look. Chicks spend more time away from heat.
Week 5	70 to 75°F	Mostly feathered. Many barely use the heat during the day.
Week 6 and beyond	65 to 70°F or room temperature	Fully feathered chicks can usually go without supplemental heat.

The chart is a guideline, not a law. Batch size and the room around the brooder shift things a few degrees: a dozen chicks make more body heat than three, and a 55°F garage behaves very differently from a 72°F spare bedroom.

Lower the heat gradually

Many keepers lower the heat a little every few days instead of one 5°F drop each week, which is gentler on the chicks. Raise a heat lamp an inch or two, or a heat plate’s legs a notch, then watch how the chicks respond. For a closer look at what changes in the second week, our week two with new chicks diary shows it in real time.

How to Measure Brooder Temperature the Right Way

A thermometer taped to the brooder wall at eye level tells you almost nothing useful. Brooder temperature should be measured at bedding level, directly under the edge of the heat source, where the chicks actually stand. That’s the number the chart refers to.

Where to put the thermometer

• Warm zone reading: Lay a thermometer on the bedding just inside the edge of the heat, about the height of a chick’s back.
• Cool zone reading: Put a second thermometer at the far end. You want a clear difference between the two.
• Check at different times: Read both in the morning, afternoon, and before bed. Room temperature can swing more than you expect, especially in garages and sunrooms.

A digital probe thermometer works well. Test it against a second thermometer before chick day, because a reading that’s off by five degrees throws the whole schedule off by a week.

Watch for drafts

A draft can undo a perfectly set heat source. Chicks piled in one corner, away from both the heat and a window or doorway, are often reacting to moving air. Keep the brooder away from fans, open windows, and exterior doors, with solid sides at least a foot high. Dry bedding helps too, and our guide on how to maintain a chick brooder covers the daily cleanup that keeps it that way.

Are My Chicks Too Hot or Too Cold?

Chick behavior is the most reliable brooder thermometer you have: huddling means too cold, spreading to the walls means too hot, and even scattering means just right. Watch them for a few quiet minutes several times a day.

Signs chicks are too cold

• Packed tightly together directly under the heat source
• Loud, shrill, constant peeping (a distressed sound, different from happy chirping)
• Not leaving the heat to eat or drink

Signs chicks are too hot

• Pressed against the walls, as far from the heat as they can get
• Panting with open beaks
• Wings held slightly away from the body
• Lethargic and droopy, even when awake

Signs the temperature is right

Comfortable chicks spread across the brooder, eating, scratching, or sprawled flat out asleep. That flop-over nap looks alarming the first time, but it means a relaxed, warm chick.

Temperature stress, too hot or too cold, is also linked to pasty butt, where droppings stick to the vent and block it. If you’re seeing it, recheck your warm zone.

Heat Lamp or Heat Plate: How Your Heat Source Changes the Plan

The weekly schedule is the same either way, but how you adjust it depends on your heat source. With a heat lamp you control temperature by raising the lamp, and with a heat plate you control it by raising the plate’s legs as chicks grow.

Heat lamps

Heat lamps are inexpensive and warm the area below them, usually with a red bulb that’s easier on sleep than white light. The trade-off is safety: a lamp that falls into dry bedding is a real fire risk. Secure the fixture in at least two ways (the clamp plus a chain or wire), keep it well away from walls and bedding, and never rely on the clamp alone. Our article on the warm truth about heat lamps goes deeper on the risks.

Heat plates

A heat plate is a low, flat heater on adjustable legs that chicks walk under, much like a mother hen. It warms by contact rather than heating the air, so open-brooder readings look cooler than you’d expect. Rely on behavior: chicks should fit underneath with backs lightly touching the surface. Raise the legs as they grow.

Test either one a full day before chicks arrive. For first-day extras, the Baby Chick Care Kit from Hoover’s Hatchery bundles a feed supplement, a water additive, and a step-by-step success guide for new keepers.

When Can Chicks Go Without Heat?

Most chicks can go without supplemental heat once they are fully feathered, usually around five to six weeks old, as long as the air around them stays near 65 to 70°F. Feathers, not age alone, are what let a chick hold its own body heat. Some breeds feather out faster than others, so look at the birds rather than the calendar.

How to wean chicks off heat

1. Turn the heat off during the warmest part of the day and watch them.
2. If they stay active and spread out, keep daytime heat off for a few days, on at night.
3. Then turn it off overnight, checking them at bedtime and first thing in the morning.
4. If they huddle and peep, turn it back on and try again in a few days.

Season matters. Chicks in a warm house may be off heat by week five, while chicks in a cold outbuilding may need help longer. Our guide to how long chicks should stay in the brooder covers the move out in more detail.

A note on mixed batches

If you ordered a mixed box of breeds, such as one of the chick assortments at Hoover’s Hatchery, some chicks may feather out a week ahead of the rest. Set the heat for the slowest feathering chicks and let the early birds use the cool side.

Key takeaways

• Week one: 90 to 95°F in the warm zone, measured at bedding level.
• Lower the warm zone about 5°F per week, a little at a time.
• Trust behavior over the thermometer: huddled is cold, pressed to the walls is hot.
• Remove heat once chicks are fully feathered, usually weeks five to six.
• Secure heat lamps two ways, every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do baby chicks need a heat lamp?

Most baby chicks need a heat lamp or other heat source for about five to six weeks, until they are fully feathered. The exact timing depends on breed, the season, and how warm the room around the brooder stays. Wean them gradually by turning heat off during the day first, then overnight, and watch for huddling that means they still need it.

Can chicks get too hot in a brooder?

Yes, and overheating is more common than many new keepers expect. Chicks that are too hot press against the brooder walls, pant with open beaks, and hold their wings away from their bodies. The fix is to raise the lamp or plate and make sure the brooder is large enough to have a cooler side chicks can retreat to.

What temperature is too cold for baby chicks?

For day-old chicks, a warm zone much below about 85°F is usually too cold, and you’ll see them huddle tightly under the heat and peep loudly. The safe minimum drops each week as feathers come in. By five or six weeks, fully feathered chicks are typically comfortable around 65 to 70°F without added heat.

Should the brooder heat stay on at night?

Yes, keep the heat on at night until chicks are fully feathered. Nighttime is when rooms cool down and chicks are least active, so it’s usually the last stretch of heat you remove. When weaning, take heat away during warm afternoons first, then turn it off overnight only after chicks handle the daytime without huddling.

Do ducklings need the same brooder temperature as chicks?

Ducklings follow a similar pattern, commonly starting near 90°F and dropping about 5°F each week, though many feather out and come off heat a little sooner than chicks. The bigger difference is water. Ducklings splash, and damp bedding chills them quickly, so keep waterers away from the heat and change wet bedding often.

Brooder temperature sounds technical until you’ve watched one batch through its first week. After that, a glance tells you whether they’re comfortable. Start warm, lower slowly, give them room to choose, and let the chicks tell you the rest.