Chick Brooder Temperature Calculator
Enter the day your chicks hatched and it tells you today's brooder temperature, the date of every step down, and the day heat can come off — so bookmark it and you never have to count weeks.
Figures reviewed against university extension guidance · Last reviewed July 2026
- Schedule
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- pick a hatch date to see your brooder schedule
| Week | Dates | Brooder temperature |
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This page is bookmarkable — the link in your address bar carries your hatch date, so it tells you the right temperature for today every time you open it.
The short answer
Newly hatched chicks need 95°F at chick level under the heat source for their first week, then 5°F cooler every week after that until they reach room temperature (about 65°F) around week 6. Enter the date your chicks hatched above and the table fills in with real dates — today's target, when each step down is due, and the day heat comes off.
Bookmark it — it counts the weeks for you
Brooding is six weeks of a number that changes every seven days, which is exactly the kind of thing nobody keeps track of correctly. So this calculator asks for the hatch date rather than your chicks' age: a date you know, instead of arithmetic you'd have to redo every time you check.
Once it's entered, the address bar carries it. Bookmark that link and the page works out where your chicks are today, every time you open it — week 3, hold 85°F, drop to 80°F on the 30th — right through to the day heat comes off. If you brought home day-old chicks rather than hatching your own, use the day you brought them home; a day either way makes no practical difference to the schedule.
How this works
Chicks can't regulate their own body temperature for the first few weeks — that's the job a broody hen would do, and in a brooder it's yours. The schedule is simple and comes straight from Pennsylvania State University Extension: 95°F at chick level in week one, dropping 5°F each week until the brooder matches the ~65°F of a normal room. By about six weeks the chicks are feathered enough to hold their own heat and can come off supplemental warmth entirely.
The single most important detail is where you measure. The number that matters is at the chicks' level — a couple of inches above the bedding, directly under the heat source — not the warmer air near the top of the brooder. Lay a cheap thermometer on the bedding under the lamp and set the height to that reading.
Better still, let the chicks tell you. Temperature charts are a starting point; chick behavior is the real gauge. Chicks piled directly under the heat, cheeping loudly, are cold — lower the lamp. Chicks pressed to the far corners are too hot. When they're spread evenly across the brooder, eating, drinking, and dozing in little scattered heaps, you've got it right, whatever the thermometer says.
A worked example
You brought home day-old chicks and set the brooder to 95°F. Two weeks later they're feathering along their wings, so you're in week three — the table says 85°F, so you raise the lamp a few inches until the thermometer at bedding level reads 85. Keep stepping down 5°F a week. If they'll graduate to an unheated coop, don't do it the day the schedule hits 65°F — harden them off over a few mild days first, and watch the first cold night closely.
Put this calculator on your site — free
Copy this into any page. It works anywhere, needs no account, and stays up to date on its own — we maintain the numbers, you keep the widget.
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Sources
- Penn State Extension — Brooding of Domestic Fowl
Frequently asked questions
- What temperature should a chick brooder be?
- 95°F at chick level under the heat source for the first week, then 5°F cooler each week — 90°F in week 2, 85°F in week 3, and so on — until you reach the normal room temperature of about 65°F. This schedule comes from Pennsylvania State University Extension.
- How do I know if the temperature is right without a thermometer?
- Watch the chicks. If they huddle in a pile directly under the heat, they are cold — lower the lamp or raise the temperature. If they press against the far walls away from the heat, they are too hot. Comfortable chicks spread out evenly across the brooder and chirp contentedly. Chick behavior is more reliable than any single thermometer reading.
- How long do chicks need a heat lamp?
- About 6 weeks in most cases — until the brooder schedule reaches ambient temperature and the chicks are fully feathered. Chicks raised in a warm house may be ready sooner; chicks going out to an unheated coop in winter may need heat a little longer. Feathering, not the calendar alone, is the real signal.
- What if I do not know exactly when my chicks hatched?
- Use the day you brought them home. Feed stores and hatcheries sell chicks at a day or two old, so the difference is well inside the slack already built into the schedule — you are stepping the temperature down 5°F a week, not to the hour. If you are a few days out either way, chick behaviour settles it: evenly spread and dozing means the temperature is right, huddled under the heat means too cold, pressed to the corners means too hot.
- Where exactly do I measure brooder temperature?
- At the chicks' level — about 2 inches above the bedding, directly under the heat source — not at the top of the brooder where the air is warmer. A cheap thermometer laid on the bedding under the lamp gives you the number that actually matters.
- Is a heat plate better than a heat lamp?
- A radiant heat plate (which the chicks go under, like a broody hen) is safer than a heat lamp — no fire risk from bulbs, and it lets chicks self-regulate by moving in and out. With a plate you adjust the height rather than chase an air temperature, but the same principle applies: warm the first week, cooler each week as the chicks feather out.