Chicks: 95°F in Week 1, Then 5°F Less Each Week

Start chicks at 95°F at chick level. Drop 5°F each week until you are near 70°F. Give each chick 0.5 sq ft of floor for the first weeks, then 1 sq ft, and feed a complete starter of 18 to 22% protein.

Count the chicks before you buy a box. Fifteen chicks need about 7.5 sq ft in the first two weeks and about 15 sq ft once they need 1 sq ft each. A kit sold for 15 chicks still has to show that floor.

Heat and floor are separate. A warm plate does not add square feet. A big pen does not replace the 95°F start. The setup guide puts both on one week-by-week table.

Pre-heat the brooder for 24 hours before the chicks arrive. University of Maine and Missouri Extension both use that lead time, so the floor is already warm when the box opens. Check the reading at chick level, not at the ceiling of the room.

The drop is 5°F a week, not a jump. Week 6 lands near 70°F. In a warm room you may ease off sooner. In a cold garage you may need the heater a little longer. The setup guide walks through both cases.

A lamp and a plate are different tools. Missouri Extension gives one 250 W lamp for 50 to 75 chicks, hung 1 to 1.5 ft above them. A 10 × 10 in plate suits about 15 chicks, by that plate's maker. The heat-gear page lines those counts up next to the watts.

The setup guide is the how-to: heat, floor, litter and the first-day layout. The brooder page is the buy page: what a kit includes and how many chicks the floor can hold. Use the other page's words on purpose. Setup stays here. A chick brooder is the box you buy.

Feed is its own page because the bag changes with age. University of Maine puts starter protein at 18 to 22% by breed type, and about 2 lb of feed per chick in the first 6 weeks. That is 200 lb per 100 chicks. Switch to layer feed at the first egg, not weeks earlier.

Feeder space is small at the start. University of Maine gives 1 in of feeder per chick through 4 weeks, and one 1 quart waterer per 16 chicks in the first week. A port feeder made for hens is too tall. The starter page covers the dish. The waterer page covers the jar.

Litter is 3 to 4 in of dry pine shavings in the Missouri guide, and University of Maine says to skip hardwood shavings and hay. Keep the waterer on a small block so the litter stays out of the jar.

Adult hens are a different section. Once the birds are on layer feed, move to the feeding pages for pounds per week, feeder ports and winter water. The chick numbers on this page stop being the right ones after the first egg.

Write four numbers before the chicks ship. How many are coming. Square feet that count gives you. The week-1 heat at floor level. The protein on the starter bag. The four pages above are those four numbers, one page each.