- ✓Apply the temperature and lighting programme for the first two weeks
- ✓Widen the brooder guard, move from trays to feeders and raise the equipment at the right pace
- ✓Read the three daily checks: how the chicks spread out, the crop, water
The temperature programme
Temperature is measured at chick height, under the edge of the brooder, morning and evening, and above all at night. The programme below is a benchmark for an open-sided house; how the chicks spread out remains the final judge.
| Age | Under the brooder | In the rest of the area | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 3 | 32 to 34 °C | 28 to 30 °C | Curtains closed at night; check every 2 h on the first night |
| Days 4 to 7 | 30 to 32 °C | 27 to 29 °C | Start widening the brooder guard every day |
| Days 8 to 14 | 28 to 30 °C | 26 to 28 °C | Brooder guard removed at around 7 to 10 days; curtains open in the hot hours |
| After 14 days | 26 to 28 °C then ambient | Lower by 2 to 3 °C per week down to the outside temperature |
In the hot season, the problem is not heating during the day but not suffocating them: from 10 in the morning, you open the curtains and lower the brooder; you close up again at sunset. During the harmattan, nights drop to 18 to 20 °C and dust gets in: stronger heat at night, curtains closed, drinkers washed twice a day.
Even during brooding, a poultry house is never closed completely: gas or charcoal use up oxygen and give off gases. Always leave a high opening to let fresh air in.
Space, equipment, lighting
The brooder guard is widened every day from day 3 and disappears at around day 7 to 10, when the chicks calmly occupy the whole space. The poultry house is then opened up gradually, never all at once: too much space too soon means chicks wandering away from the heat and the feed.
The trays and paper are used until day 3 or 4; you introduce the permanent feeders while keeping a few trays for two more days, then you remove everything. Feeders and drinkers are raised every week, the rim at back height: it is the simplest rule and the most forgotten one. A drinker too low means wet litter; a feeder too low means wasted feed.
Lighting goes from 23 hours for the first three days to 20 hours at around day 7, then to around 18 hours at two weeks for broilers (more night = less sudden death and stronger legs). For pullets that will become layers, the hours of light follow a precise programme that we cover in level 5.
The three daily checks
- How the chicks spread out (morning, midday, evening, night): chicks spread out everywhere, active, eating and drinking, tell you all is well. Huddled = cold; pressed against the edges = hot; on one side = draught.
- The crop: on days 1 and 2, 20 chicks at random; after that, you simply observe that the feeders empty and fill up, and that the chicks disperse after eating.
- Water: the consumption recorded every day must rise from one day to the next. It never falls without a reason. If it falls: water temperature, drinker height, disease starting.
On top of these three checks come the record of deaths and culls, and the weight on day 7 and day 14. On day 7, a white broiler that has started well weighs about four times its weight on arrival; by day 14, it has almost tripled again. A flock that is behind on day 7 almost never catches up.
The actions that make the difference
- Change the water in the drinkers several times a day in the first days (litter, droppings, heat).
- Give feed in small, frequent amounts: it stays fresh, the chicks come more often, nothing goes mouldy.
- Remove wet litter around the drinkers every day, and add dry litter under the brooder if it gets packed down.
- Walk slowly in the brooding area: the chicks learn that people are not a danger; a calm flock eats better.
- Keep the record sheet every day from day 1 (lesson 7 of this level).
For the entrepreneur
- ›Ask for the average weight on day 7 and day 14: these are the two figures that forecast the flock.
- ›Pay for someone to be present at night until at least day 7; after that, one check at midnight is enough if the nights are mild.
- ›Check for yourself once that the feeders and drinkers are at back height: it is a 30-second check.
For the technician
- ›Temperature under the brooder morning, evening and night, written on the record sheet; immediate correction if how the chicks spread out calls for it.
- ›Brooder guard widened every day from day 3, removed between 7 and 10 days; equipment raised every week.
- ›Light reduced gradually: 23 h → 20 h on day 7 → about 18 h at two weeks (broilers).
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- What temperature did we have under the brooder last night, and how were the chicks spread out?
- On what day was the brooder guard removed, and were the feeders raised this week?
- What is the average weight on day 7, compared with the weight on arrival?
Key points
- •32 to 34 °C under the brooder on days 1 to 3, then 2 to 3 °C less per week; the night matters more than the day.
- •Brooder guard widened every day from day 3, removed at around 7 to 10 days; equipment raised every week to back height.
- •Lighting: 23 h, then 20 h on day 7, then about 18 h at two weeks.
- •Three daily checks: how the chicks spread out, the crop (first days), water consumption that must rise.
- •Weight on day 7 (≈ 4 times the weight on arrival) and on day 14: a delay on day 7 is almost never made up.