Quick Answer
Start the brooder’s warm zone at about 95°F (35°C) for the first week, then lower it by about 5°F (about 3°C) each week — 90°F in week two, 85°F in week three, and so on — until chicks are fully feathered at about six weeks and comfortable at room temperature. Measure at chick height, under or beside the heat source, and always leave a cooler area so chicks can move away from the heat. Watch the chicks more than the thermometer: huddled, loudly peeping chicks are too cold; panting chicks spread far from the heat are too hot; calm chicks spread evenly around the brooder are just right.
Why Chicks Need So Much Heat
A newly hatched chick cannot regulate its own body temperature. In nature it would spend almost all of its first days tucked under its mother hen, and even a short chill in those first days can make it sick or kill it. That is the whole job of the brooder: to replace the hen with a warm, draft-free zone the chick can move in and out of as it grows feathers and learns to control its own temperature.
This also means the numbers below describe the warm zone, not the whole brooder. A brooder that is 95°F everywhere is a danger, not a success — chicks with nowhere cooler to go will overheat, dehydrate, and stop eating. The gradient is the point: warm at one end, cooler at the other, food and water in the cooler half so chicks have to leave the heat to eat and drink.
Brooder Temperature Chart by Week
The standard chart, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Treat the first-week figure as a warm-zone target, and the later figures as a ceiling to wean down from — chick behaviour (below) overrides the chart.
| Chick age | Warm-zone temperature | In Celsius | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (days 0–7) | 90–95°F | 32–35°C | Downy, no temperature control; stays near heat |
| Week 2 | 85–90°F | 29–32°C | Wing feathers appearing; more active |
| Week 3 | 80–85°F | 27–29°C | Feathering well; short trips outside on warm days are OK |
| Week 4 | 75–80°F | 24–27°C | Mostly feathered on body; longer outdoor time in warmth |
| Week 5 | 70–75°F | 21–24°C | Heat needed mainly at night; try daytime heat-off in mild weather |
| Week 6 | 65–70°F | 18–21°C | Fully feathered; heat usually no longer needed indoors |
| Week 7+ | Room temperature | — | Ready for the coop if nights stay above about 50°F (10°C) |
Some sources stretch the chart to seven or eight weeks (60–65°F in week seven, 50–60°F in week eight) for chicks in cooler rooms or moving outside gradually. The principle is identical: drop about 5°F a week, and stop dropping when the chicks tell you they are comfortable without it.
A useful refinement for beginners: drop the temperature gradually within the week — roughly a degree every other day by raising the lamp slightly — rather than jumping a full 5°F overnight. And for shipped chicks, which arrive stressed and chilled from transport, keep the first two days at the warm end of the range (94–95°F) and make sure every chick finds food and water quickly before you start weaning the heat down.
How to Set the Temperature — and How to Measure It
Place a thermometer at chick height — about one to two inches above the bedding, under or just beside the heat source — not at the top of the brooder or on a wall. That is the temperature the chicks actually feel. A simple digital thermometer works; one with a min/max memory or an alarm is worth it if you cannot check the brooder often.
To adjust the temperature with a heat lamp, raise the lamp to cool the brooder or lower it to warm it, in small steps, then re-check after an hour. With a heat plate or panel, adjust the height setting so chicks can just walk underneath it with their backs near the plate. Preheat the brooder 12 to 24 hours before chicks arrive, so bedding, feeder, and water are already warm — a cold brooder floor steals heat from tiny feet fast.
Keep the brooder draft-free but ventilated. Drafts from air-conditioning vents, open windows, leaky walls, or even a nearby refrigerator can chill chicks badly, especially in the first two weeks. At the same time, a sealed box with wet bedding builds up ammonia and moisture, so allow gentle air exchange above chick level and keep bedding dry.
Reading the Chicks: Too Cold, Too Hot, Just Right
Behaviour beats any single thermometer reading, because thermometers fail, lamps shift, and room temperatures change overnight. Check chicks at different times of day, especially in the coldest part of the night.
Too cold: Chicks huddle tightly directly under the heat, peep loudly and urgently, refuse to leave the heat even for food and water, and look lethargic. In the worst case they pile on top of each other, which can suffocate the chicks at the bottom. Piling is an emergency — add heat immediately and check whether one heat source is enough for the number of chicks.
Too hot: Chicks scatter to the far edges of the brooder, hold their wings away from their bodies, pant with open beaks, go quiet, and eat and drink less. Prolonged overheating causes dehydration, poor growth, and in severe cases sudden death even after the temperature is fixed.
Just right: Chicks are spread evenly or in a loose ring around the heat source, move freely between warm and cool areas, eat and drink regularly, and peep quietly. Quiet, busy chicks are comfortable chicks.
Two quick extra checks: touch a chick’s feet gently to your cheek after it has settled — cold feet mean the brooder is too cold, whatever the thermometer says. And watch water intake — chicks that are too hot drink excessively and produce watery droppings; chicks that are too cold may not drink enough.
Heat Lamp or Heat Plate?
Both work. The choice is mostly about safety, cost, and where you brood.
Heat lamp (usually a 250-watt infrared bulb): cheap, widely available, and powerful enough for cold rooms, garages, and large batches. It is also the leading cause of brooder fires. If you use one, hang it from a chain — never just the clamp, and never by its cord — keep it well clear of bedding and anything flammable, use a shatterproof or poultry-rated bulb (some food-service heat bulbs have Teflon coatings that are toxic to birds), protect it from water splashes that can shatter a hot bulb, and check the cord, fixture, and bulb before every use. A lamp that can fall into the brooder is a fire waiting to happen.
Heat plate or radiant panel: a flat, low-wattage plate chicks walk under, like a mother hen. It uses far less electricity, cannot set bedding alight, and chicks feather out at least as well under it. Downsides: it costs more, it only warms the space directly underneath, so in a cold garage or barn chicks may be reluctant to leave it to eat and drink, and you must raise it as chicks grow or they will outgrow the gap. For a small indoor batch, a plate is the safer default; for a cold outbuilding or a large batch, a lamp (carefully hung) or a lamp plus a plate may be needed.
Whichever you choose, keep a spare bulb or a backup heat source on hand. A bulb that fails overnight in week one can kill a batch before morning.
Brooder Basics That Make Temperature Work
Temperature alone does not keep chicks alive — the surrounding setup decides whether the temperature can do its job:
- Space: chicks need room to move away from the heat. Crowding forces chicks into the warm zone whether they want it or not, and causes piling, pecking, and disease. Start with room to spare and expand the brooder as they grow.
- Bedding: kiln-dried pine shavings or paper towels for the first few days (so chicks learn what food looks like) are the standard. Avoid cedar shavings — their fumes are toxic to chicks — and avoid newspaper or smooth surfaces, which cause leg problems. Fine sawdust can be eaten by chicks and cause crop problems. Keep bedding dry: wet litter breeds coccidiosis and bacteria.
- Food and water: chick starter feed and clean, room-temperature water, available around the clock, in shallow chick feeders and drinkers that cannot drown a chick. Place them in the cooler half of the brooder, away from the heat source.
- Light: chicks need to find food and water, so give near-continuous soft light in week one (about 23 hours light, one hour dark), then step down gradually — roughly 20 hours in week two, 18 in week three, and toward a natural day/night rhythm by week five or six. Harsh, bright light all night stresses chicks and encourages pecking.
- Handling: do not take week-one chicks away from heat for more than a couple of minutes, even indoors. Short handling for health checks (such as checking for pasty butt) is fine; outings and adventures are not.
Weaning Off Heat and Moving Outside
Most chicks are ready to leave the brooder at about six weeks, when they are fully feathered — but “fully feathered” and “outdoor nights above about 50°F (10°C)” matter more than the birthday. Test readiness before the move: on mild days from week five, turn the heat off during the day and watch. If chicks stay active, eat normally, and do not huddle, they are ready for heat-free days. If they huddle or go quiet, restore heat and try again in a few days.
Move them to the coop in stages if you can: a warm, draft-free coop with dry bedding, no drafts at roost height, and a few days of close watching at night. Chicks brooded indoors need a few days to adjust to outdoor temperature swings, so avoid moving them out during a cold snap or a heatwave. Once outside, they still need the same basics — dry bedding, clean water, chick or grower feed, and protection from predators and drafts — just without the lamp.
One breed note: chick temperature needs do not vary by breed. A Silkie chick and a Leghorn chick need the same warm zone, even though the adults differ in cold and heat tolerance. Those adult differences only appear once the birds are feathered, at about six weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my room is already warm — do chicks still need a lamp?
Yes, in week one. A normal house at 68–72°F is far below the 90–95°F warm zone a day-old chick needs. The lamp or plate creates that zone; the room provides the cooler area.
Can I use a regular light bulb instead of a heat bulb?
A regular incandescent bulb can add some warmth in a small, warm room, but it usually cannot hold 95°F, and its output is hard to control. For week-one chicks, use a proper poultry heat source and a thermometer.
My chicks sleep away from the heat — is something wrong?
Not necessarily. Chicks sleep where they are comfortable, and they often nap in a loose group near, not under, the heat. Worry only if they are piled tightly under it, panting at the edges, or peeping loudly and constantly.
How do I know when heat can come off at night?
When chicks are fully feathered, the brooder room stays above about 65°F overnight, and chicks sleep spread out without heat for several nights running. Remove heat on a mild night, check them before bed and first thing in the morning, and restore it if they huddle.
Do heat plates need a thermometer too?
Yes — check the temperature under the plate at chick height when you set it up, and re-check as you raise it. The plate’s setting is a guide; the chicks’ behaviour is the verdict.
The Bottom Line
Start warm, drop slowly, and let the chicks vote. A 95°F warm zone in week one, minus about 5°F a week, a cooler area to escape to, a thermometer at chick height, and a heat source that cannot fall or catch fire will carry almost any batch to six feathered weeks. Check behaviour morning and night, fix huddling or panting the same day, and wean heat off in daylight before you move chicks outside for good. Get the gradient right and the chart mostly takes care of itself.
This article is general information for backyard keepers, not veterinary advice. If chicks are lethargic, not eating or drinking, or dying, contact a poultry veterinarian promptly — chick problems escalate fast.