Brooding Temperature for Chicks by Week
TL;DR: Start day-old chicks at about 95°F (35°C) at chick level and step the temperature down roughly 5°F (2-3°C) each week until it reaches ambient, usually by week 5-6. That schedule is a starting point — piling chicks are too cold, panting and spread-out chicks are too hot, and either sign overrides what the thermometer says.
What Temperature Do Chicks Need, Week by Week?
Day-old chicks need about 95°F (35°C) at chick level, with that figure dropping by roughly 5°F (2-3°C) each following week until it matches the surrounding air, typically by week 5-6. This step-down schedule is standard, well-documented brooding practice and applies the same way whether you’re raising gamefowl stags, layer replacements, or native chicks — the biology of a chick regulating body heat doesn’t change with what breed it is.
| Week | Target temperature at chick level |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | ~95°F (35°C) |
| Week 2 | ~90°F (32°C) |
| Week 3 | ~85°F (29°C) |
| Week 4 | ~80°F (27°C) |
| Week 5 | ~75°F (24°C) |
| Week 6 | ~70°F (21°C) or ambient |
This table is the core of our pillar guide on how to brood chicks — this article goes deeper on the temperature side specifically, including where to measure it and how to tell if it’s actually working.
Where Should You Measure the Temperature?
Measure at chick height, not at the level of the heat source or the brooder’s rim, because warm air rises and a reading taken higher up will consistently read warmer than what the chicks are actually standing in. A thermometer clipped to the side wall a foot above the floor can show a comfortable number while the chicks below are cold.
If you’re using a thermometer at all, treat it as one data point rather than the whole answer — a good placement gives you a useful number, but chick behavior is still the tiebreaker when the two disagree.
How Do You Read Chick Behavior Instead of Just the Thermometer?
Chicks tell you the real conditions through where they position themselves and how they sound, and that signal is more reliable than a single-point thermometer reading because it reflects everything happening at floor level — drafts, uneven heat, cold spots — that a thermometer can miss entirely.
- Piling together, especially directly under the heat source, with loud distressed peeping — too cold. Chicks pile to share body heat, and a serious pile can suffocate chicks at the bottom.
- Spread to the far edges of the brooder, panting, pressed against the walls — too hot. Chicks move as far from the heat as the space allows and pant to cool themselves, the way many birds do.
- Spread out loosely, moving around freely, quiet contented chirping, settling into a relaxed scattered group when resting — correct. This is the target regardless of what any thermometer says.
A brooder can show a textbook-correct number and still have piling or panting chicks, because the thermometer’s single point doesn’t capture drafts, an unevenly placed heat source, or a floor that’s colder than the air above it. When behavior and the thermometer disagree, adjust to what the chicks are showing you.
What Causes a Brooder to Run Colder or Hotter Than Expected?
Drafts, uneven heat source placement, and changes in ambient temperature through the day are the usual culprits, and all three can throw off a brooder that was set up correctly at first. A brooder that reads right at noon can be genuinely too cold at 2 AM if the surrounding air drops and nothing compensates.
- Drafts at floor level. Even a small gap can chill chicks at chick height while a thermometer higher up reads fine.
- Heat source too far or too close. A single heat source needs to warm the whole intended area evenly enough that chicks have both a warm zone and a cooler zone to choose between — see our brooder box design guide for placement.
- Day-to-night swings. Philippine daytime heat can mask a brooder that’s genuinely too cold once temperatures drop after dark — check on chicks in the evening and early morning, not just during the day.
- Batch size versus brooder size. A brooder sized right for 20 chicks in week 1 loses heat faster once the batch is thinned or if fewer chicks than planned hatched, since chicks huddled together also generate their own warmth.
How Does Philippine Heat Change This?
The chick-level target temperature in the table above doesn’t change because of climate — a day-old chick needs roughly 95°F regardless of where it’s raised. What changes in Philippine conditions is how much supplemental heat is needed to hit that number: a hot afternoon may need little or no added heat, while an evening drop still calls for the heat source to be running.
This is a real management difference from brooding in a cooler climate, where the heat source typically runs continuously at a fixed setting. In the Philippines, watch chick behavior across the day rather than setting a heat source once and leaving it — see our guide on keeping chickens cool in Philippine heat for the flip side of this same problem in older birds.
Does the Heat Source You Use Change Any of This?
The chick-level target temperature stays the same regardless of what produces it — a heat lamp, a brooder plate, or another controllable heat source can all hit the same numbers in the table above, so the choice of equipment doesn’t change the schedule itself. What changes is how you control it: a heat lamp is adjusted mainly by raising or lowering its height above the floor, while other heat sources have their own controls.
Whatever you use, the same placement principle applies — put the heat source at one end of the brooder rather than spread evenly across the whole floor, so chicks always have a cooler zone to retreat to if they’re warmer than they’d like. See our brooder box design guide for how this plays out with materials realistically available in a Philippine backyard, including what to check for when a heat source runs for hours at a stretch.
What Happens If Chicks Get Chilled?
A chilled chick becomes lethargic, stops eating and drinking, and can die within hours if the chilling is severe or prolonged, because a young chick can’t generate enough body heat on its own to recover without help. This is one of the most common preventable causes of death in the first two weeks — see our chick mortality guide for the full list of early causes and what’s actually preventable.
If you find a chilled chick, warm it gradually rather than with sudden intense heat, and don’t return it to the main brooder group until it’s active and eating again — a weak chick can get trampled or pecked by more active littermates.
The Honest Limits Here
The temperatures in this guide are standard, well-documented brooding figures, not a precision measurement calibrated to your exact brooder, climate, and batch. Insulation, brooder material, batch size, and ambient weather all shift how much supplemental heat is actually needed to hit these chick-level targets. Use the table as a starting point and the chick behavior section as the real check — a brooder that technically matches the table but shows piling or panting chicks needs adjustment regardless of what the thermometer says.
This guide is part of our how to brood chicks pillar. For the full day-by-day and week-by-week brooding plan beyond temperature — space, feed, water, and when chicks are ready to leave the brooder — start there.
Frequently Asked Questions
What temperature do day-old chicks need?
About 95°F (35°C) at chick level for the first week. This is measured where the chicks actually stand, not the ambient temperature of the room the brooder sits in.
How much should brooding temperature drop each week?
Roughly 5°F (2-3°C) per week, stepping down from about 95°F in week 1 to around 70°F or ambient temperature by week 5-6, when chicks are fully feathered.
How do I know if my chicks are too cold?
Cold chicks pile together, often directly under the heat source, and give off a loud, distressed peeping instead of normal quiet chirping. Piling is the clearest single sign.
How do I know if my chicks are too hot?
Hot chicks spread as far from the heat source as the brooder allows, pant with open beaks, and may press against the walls or corners away from the heat.
Should I trust the thermometer or the chicks?
Trust the chicks. A thermometer measures air temperature at one point, but drafts, floor-level cold, and heat source placement can all make the actual chick-level conditions different from the reading.
Where should I measure brooder temperature?
At chick height, not at the height of the heat source or the top of the brooder walls. Warm air rises, so a reading taken higher up will read warmer than what the chicks are actually experiencing.
Does brooding temperature change in Philippine heat?
The chick-level target temperature stays the same, but hot ambient conditions mean you may need less supplemental heat, or none by evening, to hit that target — watch chick behavior closely rather than assuming a fixed wattage works the same in April as in December.