Is It OK To Raise Chicks In The Winter?

Sometimes it is difficult to obtain the breeds you want during the warmer months, and we are often asked, “Is it okay to start chicks in the winter?” The answer to this question depends on you, your location, setup, and possibly your tolerance level for having chicks inside. Chicks will need to be kept warm for 6-8 weeks, the amount of time it takes them to become fully feathered. Once fully feathered, juvenile chickens are capable of regulating their body temperature and can go out to the cold, but I suggest acclimating them gradually.

If you want to brood chicks in the winter, you will need a place to keep them warm enough. Begin at 95 degrees for the first week and decrease the temperature by 5 degrees each week until the chicks are fully feathered. Some will do this, at least part of the time, in their homes. Should you decide you want to try this in your home, be aware that it will be dusty. Are you sensitive to that? If you are, I’d suggest waiting until the weather is warmer or you have a backup plan in place. 

If I need to brood chicks when it is cold, I often follow steps to gradually move chicks outside as they grow. I will start them in my small bathroom for 1-2 weeks. A laundry room, basement, or sunroom may work for you, too. I moved them to my garage after that time. The garage isn’t heated, but is attached to the house, so the ambient temperature is warmer than outside, the barn, and the coop. By week 3, chicks like to be kept at about 85 degrees F. I prefer to use a heat plate rather than a light, so I just raise it as they grow. If you are using a light, you can adjust the height too, making sure it is secured at all times.

When using heat plates for day-old and very young chicks, I try to keep the ambient room temperature over 70 degrees F.  By the time the chicks are about 2 weeks old, I can let that drop to 55-60.  Even if my garage is colder than that, I make sure the brooder space itself is warmer by placing a jug or jugs of hot water in the brooder and allowing them to release heat over time. I change these out several times a day to keep the inside of the brooder warm enough. The other option I’ve used is to add a heat lamp, but a smaller wattage bulb than if it is my only heat source. There are days it isn’t needed, but that varies with the weather, temperature, amount of sunshine for the day, and the time of day.  

I’ll generally keep chicks in the garage in the winter until they are about 5-6 weeks old. By this time, about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit is a comfortable temperature for them. Since our barn is insulated but not heated, I still provide the height-adjusted brooder plate for the chicks. With the increase in size of the birds, I may have to add another plate or use a larger one, and I may need to add another brooder for space, depending on the number of chicks. (While snuggling can help them to stay warm, I don’t crowd them because it can lead to other problems.) If I need more height for the plate, I will place a brick under the legs of one or both sides as needed. I use this time for adjustment. They can still go under the plate when it is needed, but will spend plenty of time out from under it so they can begin adjusting to colder ambient temperatures.

While they are in the barn, around the start of week 7, I’ll begin removing heat during the day by unplugging the plate. I typically will start to add straw into the brooder for bedding for the nights. By week 8, I will leave the plate in with the straw under it but leave it unplugged, even at night, unless the weather is really severe with extremely low temperatures. My goal at this time is to remove heat completely and have them acclimated and ready to go into the coop.    

By the start of the 9th week, they have no heat source and no plate to snuggle under. I’ll switch them back to shavings for bedding and may keep them like this for another week, just to let them get a little bigger.  So about week 10, I’ll move them to the back of my coop. They can see but not mix with the other birds. They will have shavings for bedding and maybe a little straw if it is extra cold. By week 11, they are ready to go in with the rest of the flock. I’ll just place them on a roost in the front section of the coop with other birds, and from there, they usually integrate quite nicely.