Stage 0 — deciding and planning
One table covers most of the first two months. The rest is knowing what the birds are telling you and when to stop following the schedule.
By Scooter M.·Published September 1, 2026
The short answer
Chicks need 95 F at chick level for week one, then 5 F less every week until they reach 62 to 65 F, at which point they no longer need supplemental heat. Floor space per bird quadruples over the same period, from a quarter of a square foot to a full one. Both schedules are published by Penn State Extension.
| Week | Temp at chick level | Floor space | Feeder space | Waterer space |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 95 F | 1/4 sq ft | 1 in | 1/2 in |
| 2 | 90 F | 1/2 sq ft | 1.5 in | 1/2 in |
| 3 | 85 F | 1/2 sq ft | 1.5 in | 1/2 in |
| 4 | 80 F | 3/4 sq ft | 2 in | 1/2 in |
| 5 | 75 F | 3/4 sq ft | 2 in | 1/2 in |
| 6 | 70 F | 1 sq ft | 2 in | 3/4 in |
| 7 | 65 F | 1 sq ft | 2 in | 3/4 in |
| 8+ | Room temperature | 1 sq ft | 2 in | 3/4 in |
Penn State publishes the temperature schedule as 95 F in week one falling 5 F per week until normal daily temperature is reached, which they give as 62 to 65 F, and the space bands as quarter, half, three-quarter and one square foot across weeks one, two to three, three to five and five to eight. The weekly rows above are that schedule laid out one week at a time.
Week 1. The chicks do almost nothing but eat, drink, sleep and pile up under the heat. Dip each chick’s beak in the water once when it arrives so it knows where water is. Check for pasty vent — droppings stuck to the vent — daily and clean it off gently with warm water, because it will kill a chick.
Weeks 2 to 3. Wing feathers appear first, then tail. They start scratching, dust-bathing in the bedding and jumping. This is when a low-sided brooder starts needing a lid. They will also begin knocking bedding into the water constantly; raising the drinker fixes it.
Weeks 3 to 5. The floor-space figure moves and the brooder starts feeling small. Expect the birds to spend less and less time under the plate — that is them following the schedule on their own. Raise the plate as they grow, which is why the plates with the widest published height adjustment are worth the money.
Weeks 5 to 8. Fully feathered, roosting on anything they can reach, and ready to go outside once the coop temperature is close to what the brooder had come down to. This is the handover to the coop.
The schedule assumes an indoor brooder at a stable room temperature. If yours is in a garage that swings from 45 F at night to 75 F in the afternoon, the number on the thermometer will chase itself and the birds are the better guide. Similarly, most chicks wean themselves off a heat plate before the schedule says to remove it — they simply stop going under it. When they have ignored it for several days and the room is above about 65 F, it can come out.
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Brinsea
12 W
Twelve watts and a metal warming plate, which is the lowest published draw of any brooder plate we found and the reason it costs about two dollars to run a whole six-week brood.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
Incubator Warehouse
50 F to 120 F
A dedicated brooder thermometer whose range starts at 50 F and stops at 120 F, which is exactly the band you care about and nothing else — and it hangs at chick level rather than sitting on a shelf.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
Purina
18% protein
Eighteen percent crude protein with amprolium at 0.0125 percent, and a feeding direction that tells you exactly when to stop: day one until the first egg, then switch.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
Penn State Extension publishes 95 F at chick level in week one, decreasing by 5 F per week until normal daily temperature of 62 to 65 F is reached. That works out to roughly 90 F in week two, 85 F in week three, 80 F in week four, 75 F in week five and 70 F in week six.
Penn State Extension publishes a quarter of a square foot per bird in week one, half a square foot in weeks two and three, three quarters in weeks three to five, and a full square foot from week five to eight. The requirement quadruples over the brood, so size the brooder for week five rather than week one.
Pasty vent is droppings drying and sealing over a chick's vent, which is fatal if left. Check daily in the first week. Soften and remove it with a cloth and warm water, taking care not to pull the skin, and dry the chick afterwards. It is often associated with stress or a brooder that is too hot.
Following the published schedule, at around six to eight weeks when they reach room temperature. In practice most chicks wean themselves earlier — they stop going under the plate as they feather out. When they have ignored it for several days and the room is above about 65 F, it can come out.
Every figure cited on this page came from one of these documents. If one of them has changed since we read it, the number here is out of date and we would like to know.
Heat, feed, water and a thermometer for weeks zero to six, with the temperature schedule and the electricity math.
The full published brooding schedule — temperature, floor space, feeder and waterer allowance — week by week.
The two conditions that decide when chicks move outside, and the transition that avoids a setback.
The whole first-flock list, staged by when you actually need each thing rather than sorted by category.
The first-year mistakes that cost money, and the two that cost birds — with the published figure that prevents each.