Brooding country chicks: heat, feed, first 6 weeks

Newly hatched chicks cannot keep themselves warm: they take about two weeks to start controlling their own body heat (TNAU). In the backyard the mother hen covers them; for chicks without a hen, a brooder does the job. Warmth, clean feed and water, dry litter and protection from predators decide how many chicks you raise. This page covers the first 6 weeks.

Hen or brooder?

• With a hen. Backyard chicks need no lamp: the hen keeps them warm and safe (TANUVAS), brooding them for 3–4 weeks (TNAU). Some farmers keep the hen and chicks shut in a coop for about a month, until the chicks' feathers grow, because snakes and kites take many young chicks (TANUVAS).
• In a brooder. Day-old chicks from a hatchery, or chicks from an incubator, need a heat source inside a round chick guard.
• Skip this stage. Buy chicks that are already brooded — in 2025-26, Tamil Nadu's native chicken scheme gave each unit 250 chicks at 4 weeks of age (TN Animal Husbandry). See Buying country chicks safely: hatcheries, health and fraud.

Get the brooder ready

• Clean the room, lime-wash the floor and let it dry (TANUVAS). Keep out draughts, rain and predators (TNAU).
• Spread 2–3 inches of rice husk, sawdust or clean sand and cover it with old newspaper (ICAR-DPR), so the chicks do not eat the husk (UAS Bangalore). Change the paper when it gets wet, and take it away after 3 to 10 days — sources vary (TANUVAS, TANUVAS).
• Make a round chick guard of card or tin sheet, 1–1.5 ft high and 5–6 ft across, for 200–250 chicks. It keeps them near the heat and stops them piling up and dying of cold (TANUVAS).
• Place feeders and drinkers like the spokes of a cartwheel, never right under a bulb (TANUVAS).
• Switch the heat on 24 hours before the chicks arrive (TNAU).

Heat: let the chicks tell you

Chicks need extra heat until their down is replaced by feathers (TANUVAS). TNAU's guide for the temperature under the heat, 5 cm above the litter (TNAU):

Week	Temperature
1	35 °C
2	32 °C
3	29 °C
4	26 °C
5	23 °C

The chicks' behaviour is the better guide (TNAU, TANUVAS, TNAU):

What you see	What it means	What to do
Chicks crowd together under the heat	Too cold	Lower the bulb or add one
Chicks move to the edge, pant or gasp	Too hot	Raise the bulb or remove one
Chicks bunch against one side of the guard	A cold draught	Close that side with a curtain
Chicks spread out; about half eat and drink, the rest rest	Just right	Keep it so

How long? There is no fixed day: keep the heat until the chicks are feathered and stay spread out without it. TNAU gives heat at night only after the first days, for about 1 week in peak summer and up to 3 weeks in rain or cold (TNAU); TANUVAS keeps it on round the clock for the first 3 days, then at night (TANUVAS).

Heat sources:

• Bulbs: about 1–2 W per chick; hang 60 or 40 W bulbs about 1 ft above the litter and raise them about 1 ft a week (TANUVAS). ICAR-DPR uses 2 W per chick (ICAR-DPR).
• One 250 W infrared bulb warms 150–250 chicks (TNAU).
• For power cuts, a charcoal pot brooder — a pot with holes holding the charcoal, a second pot on top — warms 250–300 chicks (TANUVAS).

Space, feeders and drinkers

Floor space, and length of feeder and drinker edge, per chick (TNAU):

Week	Floor space	Feeder space	Water space
1	0.2 sq ft	1.5 in	0.5 in
2	0.2 sq ft	2.0 in	0.7 in
3	0.3 sq ft	2.0 in	0.7 in
4	0.4 sq ft	2.5 in	0.8 in
5	0.6 sq ft	2.5 in	0.8 in
6	0.8 sq ft	3.0 in	1.0 in

• Give 1 feeder and 1 drinker for every 50 chicks (TNAU).
• Widen the guard as the chicks grow (TANUVAS). When you take it away, round off the corners of the room so chicks cannot pile up there (TNAU).

First water and feed

• Fill the drinkers before the chicks arrive, and dip each chick's beak in the water as you put it in (TNAU).
• Chicks lose water on the journey, so give boiled and cooled water for the first 5–7 days (TANUVAS). In the first 2 weeks, 200 chicks drink about 4–6 litres a day (UAS Bangalore).
• For the first 1–2 days, sprinkle finely ground maize, rava or chick feed on the newspaper (ICAR-DPR, TANUVAS), then use trays and feeders. In the first week, give small fresh amounts about once an hour (TANUVAS).
• Give a complete chick feed: commercial layer-grower or broiler feed for the first 6 weeks, or a coarsely ground home mix (ICAR-DPR). See the home mix.
• Keep feed and water in front of the chicks all the time (TANUVAS). Do not give termites to chicks (TANUVAS).

Light

• Charcoal and gas give no light, so hang a bulb or tube light every 10–12 ft (TANUVAS).
• From the first night, switch the lights off for about half an hour, so the chicks get used to the dark and do not panic in a power cut (TANUVAS).
• Stop the extra light once the chicks no longer need heat (TNAU).

Vaccines and worms

• In the first 6 weeks, ICAR-DPR's schedule lists Marek's disease on day 1, Ranikhet at 5–7 days and 30 days, Gumboro at 14 and 24 days, and fowl pox at 6 weeks (ICAR-DPR). Ask the hatchery which vaccines your chicks have had, and follow your vet's schedule; full table on the country chicken page.
• Deworm for the first time at about one month of age, as your vet advises (TANUVAS).
• Coccidiosis, which causes bloody droppings, hits chicks most at 4–8 weeks (TANUVAS) and thrives in wet, warm litter, so keep the litter dry (TANUVAS).

Why chicks die, and how to prevent it

In a TANUVAS study of backyard flocks in the Kolli Hills, Ranikhet was the main cause of death (TANUVAS study); in backyards, snakes and birds of prey take even more chicks than disease (TANUVAS).

Cause	How to prevent it
Cold, chicks piling up	Right heat, a round guard, curtains against draughts
Heat and thirst after the journey	Water first; transport in the cool hours
Wet or dusty litter	Dry litter, stirred often: wet litter grows mould that brings pneumonia, dust causes breathing trouble (TANUVAS)
Ranikhet and other diseases	Vaccinate as your vet advises; tend the chicks before the older birds each day
Coccidiosis	Dry litter, clean feeders and drinkers
Predators	A closed brooder; a coop for the hen and chicks
Weak chicks	Reject weak, inactive chicks on arrival (TNAU); see Buying country chicks safely: hatcheries, health and fraud

When chicks can go outside

• ICAR-DPR broods chicks for 4–6 weeks, depending on the season, and lets them out to forage after 6 weeks (ICAR-DPR), when improved birds weigh about 650–750 g (ICAR-DPR).
• Let them out by day once they are fully feathered, and shut them in the night shelter every evening.
• Give clean water each morning before they go out, and 20–30 g of grain each evening (ICAR-DPR). More in Country chicken feed: evening grain, home mix, water.

Common mistakes

• Switching on the heat only when the chicks arrive.
• Going by the thermometer alone instead of watching the chicks.
• A square pen with corners where chicks pile up.
• Leaving wet paper or litter in the brooder.
• Letting chicks out before they are feathered.

Frequently asked questions

How long do chicks need a heat lamp?

Until they are feathered and stay spread out without it. TNAU gives heat at night for about 1 week in peak summer and up to 3 weeks in the rainy or cold season.

What temperature do day-old chicks need?

About 35 °C at chick height in the first week, about 3 °C less each week after (TNAU). Watch the chicks and adjust.

What should chicks eat first?

Finely ground maize, rava or chick feed sprinkled on newspaper for 1–2 days, then a complete chick feed. Let them drink first.

Next

For feeding after brooding, see Country chicken feed: evening grain, home mix, water, and for the full vaccination calendar, Country chicken health: vaccination schedule and deworming. To raise chicks under a hen, read Hatching country chicken eggs: broody hen, incubator. When your birds are grown, see How to sell country chickens: age, price and safe payment and post a free ad, or find chicks and birds for sale near you.