Brooder Basics: How to Care for Chicks in Their First 6 Weeks
- May 12, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 13
Your step-by-step guide to raising healthy, happy chicks from day one
Bringing home baby chicks is an exciting (and adorable) start to your chicken-keeping journey. But those fluffy little chicks need the right care in their first few weeks to grow into strong, thriving hens or roosters. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about brooder care—from day one through week six.
Setting Up Your Brooder
A brooder is what we refer to as the chicks’ living space (or home) where they will be raised. Before bringing your baby chicks home—or removing them from the incubator after hatching—be sure to gather all of your supplies and set up your brooder about 24 hours in advance.
Choose a quiet location for your brooder that’s away from other pets in the home. Ideally, it should be in a designated room with a door, such as a heated garage, laundry room, basement, or front entry. Keep the brooder away from windows and drafts so the temperature remains as consistent as possible for your chicks.
Brooder
Choosing the right brooder and size depends on how many chicks you plan to brood at once. As a general rule, chicks need at least ½ square foot per chick, increasing after week 3. Chicks grow incredibly quickly, so while a smaller brooder may work for the first week or two, they’ll likely outgrow it sooner than expected and become overcrowded.
Choose a brooder with sides at least 16" tall, such as:
Soft mesh animal playpen (this is our preference!)
Plastic storage tote
Wooden box, or DIY brooder
Small animal enclosure, like a rabbit cage
TIP: If you plan to brood multiple groups of chicks together, the safe age gap is no more than 2.5 weeks, though 1.5 weeks or less is ideal to reduce the risk of bullying.
Bedding
For the first few days, we prefer using paper towels layered over puppy pads so chicks can gain strength and stability on a smooth, even surface. Once they’ve gained a bit more coordination, we transition them to pine shavings.
If you purchase chicks from us, they’ll already be ready for pine shavings or other suitable bedding. Avoid slippery, non-absorbent bedding like newspaper, as well as potentially toxic options such as cedar. Hemp bedding is another excellent alternative, though it can be quite expensive in Canada.
TIP: Bedding purchased at feed or agricultural stores is far more affordable than the small bags sold at pet stores.
Heat Source
A heat source—whether a heat lamp, heat plate, or brooder plate—is absolutely essential for your chicks’ survival, regardless of your room’s ambient temperature.
While there are creative alternatives, we strongly recommend using a heat plate (our preference) or a heat lamp, used with caution. If choosing a heat lamp, opt for a red bulb or a black bulb that doesn’t emit light.
If you’re using a brooder plate, set one side slightly higher than the other so chicks can adjust their position and find their ideal warmth. Chicks should need to slightly duck under the plate, which mimics the warmth and protection of a mother hen.
Keep a thermometer in the brooder to help monitor temperature changes. Below is a general guideline for temperatures under the heat source:
Week | Temp Needed |
1 | 95°F / 35°C |
2 | 90°F / 32°C |
3 | 85°F / 29°C |
4 | 80°F / 26°C |
5 | 75°F / 24°C |
6 | Room temp, transitioning off heat |
Watch your chicks’ behavior for cues:
Too cold = Huddled and chirping.
Too hot = Spread out, panting, avoiding the heat source, and chirping.
Just right = Acting comfortable, exploring their brooder, sleeping soundly.
Feed and feeders
When it comes to chick nutrition, keeping things simple is best. Always use chick-sized feeders and waterers—adult versions are difficult for chicks to access and may pose safety risks.
Feed
Feed your chicks a properly formulated chick starter for their first 8 weeks of life. This stage is critical for growth and development. While small treats can be offered occasionally, we personally avoid them until chicks transition to grower feed at eight weeks.
Chick starter comes in medicated and unmedicated options—it’s up to you to decide what’s best for your flock. This is a great article explaining the pros and cons of each choice.
What do we feed? We choose unmedicated feed unless we’re brooding our own chicks out in the coop.
Feeders
The basic chick feeders with the simple base, or a chick feeder trough work just fine. Our favorites are the chick feeders that have removable legs; this allows us to raise the feeders ever so slightly when they start to get a bit bigger so that there is less mess or shavings to pick out multiple times a day.
Water and waterers
Water
Fresh tap water is the best option for baby chicks. Occasionally, you can offer them a poultry-specific vitamin mixed into their water, but always ensure they have access to fresh water too. Your chicks should be getting all the vitamins and minerals they need from their feed, but if they seem a little sluggish and not 100% themselves, adding a vitamin to their water is a great first step to see if they just need a little extra nutrition. If you purchase chicks from us, we always offer vitamin water for the first 24 hours in the brooder to make sure they are getting a good boost of nutrition during this time.
Waterers
The basic waterer with a bottom base works just fine, but we recommend adding marbles to the water base for the first week or so until they get the hang of using it. Chicks are very clumsy in their first week, and there's a risk that they will fall over into the water and sadly not be able to get out. Our recommendation for waterers is the chick waterers with the vertical nipples. They may slightly leak as the nipple is loose enough so the chicks can easily peck at them, but we put a small sponge tray from the dollar store underneath it to catch any stray drops that land on the ground. Cleaning this out daily saves us a ton of mess!
Daily Brooder Maintenance
Chicks are generally easy to care for, but staying on top of daily maintenance is essential. Refill food and water multiple times a day, ensuring both are clean and free of bedding or droppings.
Bedding should be changed frequently—chicks get messy (and stinky!) quickly. A clean brooder helps keep chicks healthy and thriving.
TIP: If using puppy pads or paper towels, expect to change them several times a day. Watch for signs of ammonia burns—small black dots on the bottoms of their feet—which indicate bedding is too dirty or damp.
It's also a good idea to sit and observe your chicks so that you can understand what's normal, and what's not normal for your little brood. Watch for signs of bullying, stress, or illness. If any of these appear, you may need to intervene by upgrading to a larger brooder, adding multiple food and water stations, or separating any bullies or sick chicks.
Common issues to watch for
While for the most part, chicks grow up very happy and healthy. But, there's always a few common things you need to look out for.
Pasty butt
This is very common in chicks within their first few weeks of life. It essentially is a buildup of dried poop around their bum, which causes constipation. If left too long, this can actually be fatal for chicks and sometimes can be easily overlooked. There are many causes of pasty butt, from too cold or too warm of a brooder, to stress or an imbalance of their diet. This can even be caused by them relieving themselves while they sleep, and because they don't move in their sleep, it dries up and sticks to their bum. The easiest solution to get rid of it is to run their bum under a gentle stream of warm water, and work on breaking the poop up with your fingers. It will eventually release from the feathers. You can also cut the fluff around their bums if it happens consistently, and put a chick probiotic in their water for a while. To prevent this, check them daily and ensure their brooder is at the right temperature for their age.
Wry neck
While not very common, wry neck can sometimes come up if your chick is lacking essential vitamins and minerals; while there are other causes for wry neck, this seems to be the most common reason for it. Signs of wry neck are the chicken's neck is bent and twisted so that their head is oriented towards the left or right side, upwards or downwards, or the chick is off balance and unable to stand while remaining on their back. The simplest cure for this is to separate the chick in their own brooder and heat source, while using a small syringe to feed them a concentrated vitamin water mix that contains vitamin E and selenium. Poultry Cell Rooster Booster or Poul-Vite are our preferences. You can mix it with some plain water, or add in a bit of egg yolk for extra nutrition. You will need to feed them multiple times a day and track their progression. If they can't stay upright by themselves, you can also try putting them in a rolled-up dish towel in the shape of donut to keep them upright. Typically, the chick will make a full recovery within a week and can be reintegrated with the rest of their brood.
Week-by-Week Chick Development
Your chicks will grow up quicker than you can imagine! Here's a guide for each week of thier first 6 weeks of development:
Week 1 | Fluffy and sleepy, need full warmth, and are easily startled |
Week 2 | Wing feathers will start to grow in, are more adventurous |
Week 3-4 | Bold, fast, messy and dusty. But still oh-so-cute! Personalities start to form |
Week 5-6 | Fully feathered and nearly coop-ready, pecking order starting to establish |
When Can Chicks Leave the Brooder?
At 5–6 weeks old, if fully feathered and outdoor temps are mild, it's usually safe to start taking them outside or transitioning them to their coop. If it’s still chilly, wait a bit longer or use a heat source in the coop. It's best to wait until overnight temps stay above 10°C before moving chicks outdoors.
If you are integrating your chicks with an existing flock, we recommend that the chicks have a safe area in the coop so that they are protected from the flock while they get used to one another. A dog crate or a designated grow-out space in your coop are great ways to ensure your chicks don't get bullied and are well-adjusted for a few weeks before having free rein of the coop and run.
We have another blog (coming soon!) on how to integrate your chicks into a new coop or existing flock.
Final Thoughts
While chick keeping can seem overwhelming, it's really quite simple as long as you are well-prepared before you bring your chicks home. We always encourge doing as much research as possible to see what might work for you; Facebook or community groups, YouTube, other blogs, or your local feed stores are some great resources!
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