Short answer: if chicks are dying suddenly in the first three days, check heat and water before anything else. Chicks die in the brooder mostly because they are too cold or too hot, never find the water, never start eating, or arrive weak from the hatchery. Work through the eight checks below in order, and you will usually find the cause within an hour.
A day-old chick is born with a small store of yolk. It is a bridge, not a meal. A chick that does not drink and eat on day one burns that store and often dies on the second or third night.
What is a normal death rate in the first week?
Zero to one percent. A review of first-week mortality in Poultry Science states that the ideal first-week death rate is 0 to 1 percent of the chicks placed, and reports that infections caused about half of first-week deaths in layer chicks, with dehydration among the other main causes. More than one chick in a hundred in week one means something below is wrong.
Count the dead birds every morning and write the number on the shed wall. The day the losses jump tells you which night to investigate.
The 8 checks to run tonight
- Check the heat at chick level, not at your head. The Ross broiler management handbook from Aviagen asks for about 30°C at chick height for whole-house brooding, or 32°C at the edge of the brooder for spot brooding, with floor temperature 28–30°C and litter 28–32°C at placement. Penn State Extension gives 95°F at chick level for the first week, dropping 5°F each week. Put the thermometer on the litter, where the feed and water are.
- Read the chicks before you trust the meter. Aviagen calls chick behaviour by far the best indicator of correct brooding temperature. Use the table below.
- Prove they found water. Flush the lines one to two hours before the chicks arrive and tap nipple lines until a drop shows on every nipple. Aviagen’s brooding figures: 8 bell drinkers per 1,000 chicks, 10–12 chicks per nipple, or 12 mini-drinkers per 1,000 chicks, water at 18–21°C. Below 5°C or above 30°C they drink less.
- Prove they started eating. Feed goes on paper covering at least 70 percent of the brooding area, plus trays at one per 100 chicks, as a 2 mm sieved crumble. For the first 24 hours no chick should have to walk more than 2 m to reach feed or water.
- Check the crop, not the feeder. See the crop-fill table below. A full, soft, rounded crop means that chick found feed and water. If the crop is full but you can still feel the shape of the crumbs, Aviagen says the bird has not drunk enough water.
- Check that the shed was preheated. Temperature and humidity should be stable for at least 24 hours before the chicks arrive, with humidity at 60–70 percent for the first three days. A cold floor pulls heat out of a chick all night. Unload fast, too: the longer chicks sit in the boxes on the farm, the greater the risk of overheating and drying out.
- Check the air. A sealed winter shed saves gas and kills chicks. Keep a minimum air exchange running, but hold air speed at floor level below 0.15 m/s so there is no draught. Aviagen warns that carbon dioxide above 3,000 ppm or carbon monoxide above 10 ppm makes chicks lethargic and stops them eating.
- Check the chick itself. See the day-old chick checklist further down. Chicks that arrive with a wet or badly healed navel are the ones that die in the first few days.
What does chick behaviour tell you?
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Chicks evenly spread, busy, soft chirping | Temperature is correct | Nothing — check again in two hours |
| Chicks crowded under the heater, loud distress calls | Too cold | Raise the heat, close curtain gaps, add litter depth |
| Chicks panting, wings and head drooping, pushed to the edges, quiet | Too hot | Lower the heat and check air movement |
| Chicks huddled in one corner or along one side | A draught | Find the gap — door, curtain join, broken side net |
Aviagen also gives a direct body check: a day-old chick’s vent temperature should be 39.4–40.5°C (103–105°F) in the first two days. If the shed reads right but the chicks read cold, trust the chicks. Our broiler brooding temperature guide has the week-by-week figures, and in a Punjab December the winter shed rules matter just as much.
How do you check crop fill?
Pick up 30 to 40 chicks from three or four spots in the shed and feel each crop with your thumb. Aviagen’s targets after placement are:
| Hours after placement | Minimum chicks with a full crop |
|---|---|
| 2 hours | 75% |
| 8 hours | more than 80% |
| 12 hours | more than 85% |
| 24 hours | more than 95% |
Aviagen notes the first two to four hours are the crucial ones. Miss the target and the problem is in the shed, not in the chicks: check light, heat, drinker height, feeder space and how often feed is topped up. Light matters more than farmers expect — 23 hours of light at 30–40 lux whole-house (80–100 lux under spot brooders) is what gets chicks up and feeding.
What should a healthy day-old chick look like?
Aviagen’s chick-quality check takes a minute at unloading. A good chick is clean and dry, stands firmly, walks well, is alert and active, and calls contentedly. Eyes are clear and bright, down is fluffy and yellowish, not sticky, and the beak and legs are straight. Most important: the yolk sac is fully retracted and the navel is fully healed.
A wet, scabbed or badly closed navel is the open door for yolk sac infection, also called omphalitis. The Poultry Science review describes bacteria entering through the yolk sac after faecal contamination of the hatching eggs, killing chicks from late in the egg up to three weeks after hatching. Turn over ten dead chicks: if most have swollen, smelly navels, the problem came with the chicks, and your hatchery and your vet both need to know. Never start a medicine on a guess — ask your vet.
How do you know the first week went well?
Weigh a sample on day 7. Aviagen’s field target is a seven-day body weight of at least 4.5 times the day-old chick weight; the handbook says field data has consistently shown that this weight, together with low seven-day mortality, improves how the flock finishes. So weigh the chicks on day 1 as well, or you have no number to multiply.
Watch the water meter too. A drop in daily water intake arrives before the deaths do — our note on broiler water consumption per day gives the normal figures to compare against.
Give them a starter they can eat
Particle size matters in week one: a crumble that is too coarse or too dusty slows the start. Our broiler starter feed is made in crumb form for this stage, and your nearest Vital Feeds dealer can tell you what is in stock near you.
Written by the Vital Feeds editorial team.
How this guide was made: numbers are taken from the Aviagen Ross Broiler Management Handbook 2025, Penn State Extension and a 2021 Poultry Science review, all read in full; the draft was AI-assisted and fact-checked against those sources on 6 October 2026.
Losing chicks right now? Message the mill on WhatsApp (UAN 0311 1555136) with your shed temperature, your crop-fill count and the age of the chicks, and our team will help you read it.