Read the heat at chick height, not on the wall, then bring it down a few degrees each week while the chicks show you whether you are right.
Halaal Farms Ghana team16 September 2026 · 10 min read
Most first-time growers hang the thermometer where they can read it easily, which usually means a nail on the wall at head height. The chicks are not standing at head height. They are a hand's width above the litter, under the heat, and that is where the number has to be right. A wall thermometer can say 30°C while the chicks under the lamp are cold, or say 36°C while the corner farthest from the lamp is perfectly fine. The reading only means something at the level of the birds.
The rest of this guide covers the number to aim for at that level, week by week, and what the chicks themselves tell you. The birds are a better thermometer than any dial you can buy, once you know how to read them.
Put your probe or thermometer on a stick, a block or a box at the height of a chick's back. Take one reading directly under the heat source and another at the edge of the brooder, away from the lamp. The gap between those two readings tells you how the house is working. A large gap is normal in the first days, because the heat has to be strong in the centre. It should never be so large that the chicks have to choose between freezing at the edge and crowding into a hot centre.
Check the house in the morning and again in the evening, and on a night check if you can manage one. A reading taken at two in the afternoon in Kasoa tells you very little about the cold hour before dawn, when most houses are at their lowest.
Our eggs spend 21 days in the incubator at about 37.5°C. The chick that hatches from that egg is warm, dry and used to a steady, even heat. Then it is sorted, counted and boxed in ventilated boxes of 50, and carried out to a vehicle and then to a house that may be a good deal cooler than the box it came in. Nothing about that is strange, but it explains why the first days matter so much.
A young chick cannot yet regulate its own body temperature well. Its down is thin, its feathers have not come in, and it has not built up the reserves that help older birds through a cool night. It depends on the heat source, on the litter under its feet and on the other chicks around it. Give it a steady warm zone to start from, then let the heat come down gradually while its feathers and its size do more of the work.
The first hour matters nearly as much as the first week. Switch the heat on several hours before the chicks come, so the litter and the air under the lamp are already warm when the box is opened. A cold house that is warmed up in a hurry takes longer to settle, and it leaves you less room for error.
Lay down a clean, dry litter layer before the arrival and check it for damp. Litter that is wet from a leak or from yesterday's rain will chill the chicks through their feet before the heat has had time to reach them. Set out the feed and water in advance. Use shallow trays for the first days so the chicks can reach them without climbing, and keep the drinkers close to the warm zone. The chicks should find food and water within minutes of being let out, and the thermometer should already be reading where it needs to.
When the box arrives, carry it into the house slowly, set it down by the warm zone and open it there. Let the chicks walk out on their own rather than tipping them out in a heap. A quiet, careful first ten minutes costs you nothing and tells you a great deal about the night ahead.
The table gives a working guide for chick-level temperature from day one to about week five. These are common rule-of-thumb figures used in brooding. They are illustrative, not a specification for any one breed or any one house, so start with them and then adjust from what the chicks show you. Check the final plan with your vet or your district extension officer, and with the management guide for the breed you have bought.
| Age | Chick-level target (illustrative) | What the chicks should look like |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | About 35°C | Spread around the heat, drinking and eating soon after arrival |
| Week 1 (days 2 to 7) | 32 to 35°C, easing down through the week | Active, even spread, no pile under the lamp |
| Week 2 (days 8 to 14) | 29 to 32°C | Feathering in, moving freely to the edge of the warm zone |
| Week 3 (days 15 to 21) | 27 to 29°C | Comfortable with less heat, resting in the cooler parts |
| Week 4 (days 22 to 28) | 24 to 27°C | Heat needed mostly at night or in cold spells |
| Week 5 (days 29 to 35) | About 21 to 24°C, or room temperature | Comfortable by day without extra heat; watch the nights |
Two rules sit behind the table. Bring the heat down slowly, usually by a few degrees each week. And keep the heat steady through the night, because a house that feels warm at six in the evening can be dangerously cold by four in the morning if the heat source is weak or runs out of fuel. By week five many houses in Kasoa will not need extra heat during the day, though the nights in the cooler months may still call for it.
A thermometer shows you one spot. The chicks show you the whole house. Learn to read four patterns and you will catch most temperature problems before a dead bird shows up on the floor:
Give the birds a minute to settle when you walk in. Chicks scatter when a person comes near, so the first look can mislead you. Stand at the door and watch them for a full minute before you walk among them. The pattern you see at rest is the one to act on.
Do not judge the heat only by how far the lamp hangs above the litter. Raising or lowering the heat source changes the size of the warm zone as well as its temperature, and the chicks will be in a different place after each change. Watch them again after every adjustment.
Most losses that come from temperature are not dramatic. They come from small habits that add up over a week:
When you need to change the heat, change it a little and watch for a full day before the next step. A slow step down is easier on the flock, and it is easier for you to read what the birds are telling you.
The table is written for a house in the Central Region, where the days are warm and the nights are usually milder. Adjust it for where you are and for the time of year.
In the harmattan months, roughly December to February, nights can turn cold and dusty, and the dry air changes how a house feels even when the thermometer barely moves. Keep the heat on longer at night, and check the litter, because dust and cold together can make chicks sit tight and stop eating. In the wetter months damp is a bigger problem than cold. A house that is warm but wet needs better litter management and better airflow before it needs more heat.
In the northern regions, where the harmattan nights bite harder and for longer, lean toward keeping the heat on a week longer than the table suggests, and then reduce it slowly while you watch the birds. Whatever you decide, confirm the local advice with your vet or extension officer before you commit to a schedule. A temperature plan that works in Kasoa in August may not work in Tamale in January.
Check it against a second thermometer placed beside it, at chick height. If the two disagree, trust the reading nearest the birds, and replace or recalibrate whichever one is off before you rely on either of them.
Many growers do in warm weather, but only once the chicks are spread out, drinking and comfortable at the edges of the brooder. Watch them for a full day before you make it a routine, and keep the heat on at night.
A draught, a damp corner or a weak heat source can make a correct reading feel wrong at chick level. Check the house for gaps first, then the litter, then the lamp. The reading only tells you the temperature at one spot, not what is happening across the whole floor.
The general pattern is similar, but the breed matters. Layers and dual-purpose birds can need a different plan from broilers, so check the breed guide for the bird you have bought. When you order, ask us about the breed you are planning and we will answer what we can before you pay.
An order starts with a message, not with money. Send the form on this site or call 024 915 1503, and we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer. Dead-on-arrival chicks are replaced free in the next hatch. If you are still planning the house, read humidity and draughts in the brooder and why the brooder guard matters for chick spread. Our broiler day-old chicks page lists the breeds, and the price page gives the from-prices, which you should still confirm with us before you budget.
Written by the Halaal Farms Ghana team. We hatch and import day-old chicks at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and deliver to all 16 regions. This article is general guidance for farmers. For diagnosis and treatment of sick birds, speak to a vet or your district veterinary office.
A weekly weighing routine for broiler farmers: how to pick an honest sample, the weights to compare against from day 7 to day 42, the average and uniformity sums, and what to do when the flock is behind.
Feed cost per kilo of broiler depends on how much feed each kilo takes and what you pay for it. These ten habits lower both without starving the birds or buying additives.
Heat kills the heaviest broilers in the last days before sale. This guide explains why, shows the signs in order, and sets out the house, stocking, water and feeding changes that prevent it, plus an afternoon emergency plan.
