Chicks need supplemental heat to stay warm, healthy, and to mature into strong adults. Supplemental heat is most crucial for the first 4 weeks of a chick’s life. However, the supplemental heat will need to be weaned off starting at 1 week of age. Once the chicks are old enough, they will no longer need the supplemental heat source. Consider a broody hen. She would naturally wean her chicks off of supplemental heat as they got too big to all fit underneath her. As surrogate parents, we must know how to wean chicks off supplemental heat in order to properly raise a healthy homestead flock!
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Why Do Chicks Need Heat?
Chicks need supplemental heat because they hatch out with down feathers. Down feathers are soft and pillowy, but they do nothing for insulating the body or trapping in body heat. This does not allow chicks to control their own body temperature very well.
When a chick hatches, its body temperature is around 103°F. Which means the environmental temperatures are often not warm enough to provide enough supplemental heat for keeping them warm.
That’s why supplemental heat, like a heat lamp or radiant heater, is needed in the brooder.
As the chicks grow, they start replacing their down feathers with actual feathers. The real feathers will help insulate them and allow them to regulate their own body temperature. As the chicks grow in those feathers, their need for supplemental heat decreases. The switch from down feathers to real feathers is considered a chick’s first molt.
Young chickens will have most of their first set of real feathers by the time they are 5-6 weeks of age. At that time, they start a second molt. The second molt is much slower than the first molt from down feathers to real feathers. In the second molt, the first set of real feathers gradually fall out and are replaced by a second set of real feathers.
Most of the time supplemental heat is not needed during the second molt. It happens gradually enough that a chick can still keep warm even as the feathers fall out and get replaced.
A chick’s body temperature also increases as it grows until it levels out at about 105-107°F. The developing metabolic processes will help a chick maintain that body temperature as it matures into an adult.
When to Wean Off Supplemental Heat
Chicks need a supplemental heat source for the first 3-6 weeks of their life. The degree of supplemental heat depends on environmental conditions.
Chicks start replacing their down feathers at about 20 days of age. By the time they are 5-6 weeks old they will have most of their first set of feathers grown in. However, the rate at which they start growing in their new feathers is affected by environmental conditions.
Cooler temperatures will cause chicks to feather out more rapidly. At the same time, cooler temperatures means the chicks will need an external source of heat longer than if they were raised in a warm environment.
Warmer temperatures can cause chicks to grow faster, but not necessarily feather out quicker.
If you are using a heat lamp in the brooder, the process of weaning your brood off of supplemental heat can begin as early as 1 week of age. As the chicks grow in more real feathers, the less supplemental heat they will need.
If you are using a radiant heater (like an Ecoglow), the chicks will regulate their own heat needs and use the supplemental heat source as needed. Essentially, they will wean themselves off of the supplemental heat.
The question then becomes, when do chicks no longer need supplemental heat?
When Do Chicks Not Need Heat?
Exactly when your brood no longer needs supplemental heat will depend on a few factors, including:
- Environmental Conditions– cooler temperatures will warrant external heat for longer than warmer temperatures
- Brooder Size– the number of chicks relative to brooder size will play a role in how much the chicks can help keep each other warm through body heat
- Maturity Rate– some chicken breeds are known to mature faster than other breeds, and fast maturing breeds can be weaned off heat sooner than slow maturing breeds
- Heat Source– what heat source you use in the brooder will determine if the chicks can regulate their own need for heat or not
The environmental conditions will vary depending on where you live, when you are raising your chicks, and where the brooder is located.
In warm environments, supplemental heat may no longer be needed as early as 3 weeks of age. In cooler environments, the young birds may need supplemental heat for as long as 6 weeks, or until they are fully feathered.
Chicks raised in the fall and winter often need supplemental heat for longer than chicks raised in late spring and summer months. Another thing to consider is where the brooder is located.
Chicks raised in an indoor brooder often don’t need supplemental heat as long as chicks raised in an outdoor brooder. However, most of the time chicks will outgrow an indoor brooder by the time they are 2-3 weeks old. That means they may need to be moved to a different brooder located in a garage, barn, or coop.
You will want to consider the ambient temperature of the area where the grow-out brooder is located in order to determine when supplemental heat is no longer needed.
Temperature Guidelines
In general, try to keep the ambient brooder temperature above 55°F at all times. This is the optimal temperature for either a heat lamp or radiant heater to supply sufficient supplemental heat for the chicks. The chicks can feel comfortable leaving their heat source to get food and water at this temperature.
Chicks no longer need supplemental heat once they are fully feathered or if the ambient environment temperature is high enough to keep them warm.
Keep in mind temperature fluctuations, such as daytime highs or nighttime lows. Sometimes chicks may need supplemental heat at night, but the day is warm enough for them to be without supplemental heat. The lowest temperature at which your chicks will be comfortable will depend on how mature they are.
Here are some general temperatures to keep in mind:
- Day 1 – 1 Week Old: 95°F-90°F
- 1-2 Weeks Old: 90°F-85°F
- 2-3 Weeks Old: 85°F-75°F
- 3-4 Weeks Old: 75°F-65°F
- 4-5 Weeks Old: 65°F-60°F
- 5-6 Weeks Old: 60°F-55°F
If the environmental temperatures are lower than these averages for the age of your chicks, then supplemental heat may be needed. For radiant heaters, the ambient brooder temperature should always be above 55°F.
Hang a thermometer in the brooder to help you monitor the brooder temperatures!
How to Wean Chicks Off a Heat Lamp
Using a heat lamp in the brooder means you are controlling the temperature of the brooder. Chicks raised under a heat lamp often grow faster due to the warm conditions. However, that doesn’t mean they feather out more rapidly. Given the warmer temperatures, they don’t need their real feathers as soon as if they were raised in a cooler environment.
Chicks can often become addicted to the heat supplied by the heat lamp. That often leads us to keep providing supplemental heat for longer than necessary. You can encourage your chicks to feather out more quickly by properly weaning the chicks off of the heat lamp’s supplemental heat.
Start by having the heat lamp about 18″ above the brooder floor. In cooler environments, you will need to make sure the brooder temperature is about 95°F near the heat source. In which case, you may need to lower the heat lamp a little more.
After the chicks are 1 week of age, raise the heat lamp about 3″. Again, in cooler environments, this equates to lowering the brooder temperature by about 5°F, so raise the lamp accordingly. Continue the process of raising the lamp 3″ or lowering the brooder temperature by 5°F each week as the chicks mature.
The time at which the brooder temperature is relatively the same as the ambient environment temperature is when your brood will no longer need supplemental heat.
Tips for Weaning Off the Heat Lamp:
- Outside Time– Bringing your chicks outside on short field trips would mimic the time a chick leaves the mother hen (heat source) and can encourage the chicks to feather out naturally faster.
- ‘Cool’ Space– When using a heat lamp, try to have an area of the brooder that remains at the ambient environment temperature. This mimics a radiant heater in the fact that the chicks can come and go from the heat source as necessary.
- Extended Use– For cooler environments, when the heat lamp may be needed right up until the chicks are fully feathered, try to keep the lamp at least 2 feet above the brooder floor. This should supply enough heat for the young birds to stay warm without getting them addicted to the heat.
Temperature Fluctuations
In conditions where the environmental temperatures fluctuate, you will need to find a balance of when to provide supplemental heat. This can happen if daytime temperatures rapidly change or during the natural highs and lows between day and night temperatures are different.
You may be able to keep the heat lamp off during the day if the brooder temperature is warm enough naturally. However, you may have to turn the heat lamp back on at night if the environmental temperatures are going to drop below what the chicks can handle at their given age.
How to Wean Chicks Off a Radiant Heater
Using a radiant heater in the brooder allows your brood to control their own need of heat as they mature and grow. Chicks raised using a radiant heater often grow at a more natural rate. They will also sometimes feather out faster if the environmental conditions are cooler.
Chicks will naturally wean themselves off of a radiant heat source as they mature. Since they can come and go from under the heat source as needed, they have more control over their heat needs. You just need to raise the heater up enough so that the growing chicks can still fit underneath the heater.
If you are raising a large brood, you will want to have a radiant heater that is big enough to fit all the growing chicks underneath at one time. Sometimes you may need to provide two radiant heaters for large broods of chicks.
When a Radiant Heater Won’t Work
The only time when you may need to provide more supplemental heat in addition to a radiant heater is when the environmental temperatures are below 55°F. When the temperatures get too low, the brooder will be too chilly for the chicks. They won’t want to leave the radiant heater to eat or drink.
One option is to move the brooder to a warmer area. Alternatively, you can use a heat lamp to provide just enough heat to make the brooder comfortable for the chicks to leave the radiant heater. When using a heat lamp with a radiant heater, keep the heat lamp far enough away so that brooder temperature is only about 60°F.
When They Out-Grow the Heater
Usually, a radiant heater can be used until the chicks are fully feathered enough to stay warm in the natural environmental temperatures. However, in a cold climates, they may need a little supplemental heat beyond the time they outgrow the radiant heater.
One option is to move the growing birds to a warmer area (like a warmer room). Alternatively, you can use a heat lamp to keep the environmental temperatures just warm enough for the growing birds.
Knowing how to wean chicks off of supplemental heat is important for their health and well-being! As chicks, they need that extra heat to stay warm until they grow in real feathers. Once fully feathered, young chickens should not need supplemental heat. Their feathers will help them regulate their own body temperature. Whether you are using a heat lamp or a radiant heater in the brooder, I hope you found these tips to be helpful for learning when your homestead brood no longer need supplemental heat!
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by Alexa
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