Short answer: Weaning means moving chicks from artificial heat to the ordinary air of the house without a cold shock. Step the heat down over one to two weeks, take the night heat away before the day heat, and let feathering and the chicks' sleeping pattern set the pace rather than the calendar. In Ghana the real risk is less the heat going and more a cool, wet night arriving before the birds are ready.
Key takeaways
- Remove night heat before day heat, because chicks sleep in the cold hours and that is where they get caught.
- Judge readiness by feathering, a spread-out sleep and steady feed intake, not by the date on the calendar.
- Step the heat down in stages over one to two weeks, and keep a backup heat source for the first cool nights.
- Rainy-season nights and damp floors are a bigger threat to a weaned brood than a warm day.
- Never move chicks or vaccinate on the same day you change the heat, and follow your vet's schedule.
The night the heat goes off is the real test
Most weaning problems we hear about happen on one particular night. The brooder has been running for three weeks, the chicks look well, and the farmer switches everything off on a Tuesday because the calendar says it is time. By Wednesday morning there is a pile of birds in the least comfortable corner of the house, and the farmer is back to lighting the bulbs.
Weaning is not a single switch. It is a run of nights in which the chicks learn to sleep in the air the house gives them, and each step should be a small one they can handle. The day can be warm and the chicks will forgive a lot. The night is when the body cools, and a chick that cannot keep warm at 4 a.m. is the one you will find dead by the feeder.
So the rule we give farmers is simple. Take the night heat away first and keep the day heat for a little longer. Only when the chicks sleep evenly on the house floor at the house temperature do you remove the last of the heat.
Feathers and footing, not the calendar, set the start
Age tells you roughly when to begin, but feathering tells you whether the bird can cope. A chick that is still bare along its back and under its wings has very little insulation, and it will feel the change on a cool night far more than a fully covered bird. Lift a few chicks in the brooder and look at the wings and the back. If the feathers are coming in thickly and the bare patches are closing, you are close to ready.
Footing and movement matter as well. A bird that walks steadily to the feeder, scratches at the litter and pecks at feed without stumbling is coping with the house. A bird that stands hunched, sits apart from the group or moves stiffly is telling you it is not ready, whatever the date says.
Write down the feathering score you see on the first day you start weaning, and check it again each week. A brood that is covering up over the week is on track. A brood that is not, despite the age, needs more heat for longer.
A step-down plan written as a week-by-week table
The plan below is a sample for a brood that is on track at the end of week three. It is not a prescription. Adjust it for your house, your breed and your season, and do not move to the next row until the chicks have settled on the current one for at least two nights.
| Stage | Heat in the brooder | Night routine | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| End of week three | Day and night heat as before, at the week's target | Check at 6 p.m., midnight and 4 a.m. | Chicks spreading evenly, feed and drinking steady |
| Start of week four, days 1 to 3 | Day heat off once the house is warm, night heat kept on | Check at dusk and again at 4 a.m. | Chicks sleeping under the lamp, not out at the cool edge |
| Week four, days 4 to 7 | Night heat only, with one panel of the ring lowered to widen the space | Check at dusk and 4 a.m., note the huddle | Pile-ups at 4 a.m., wet droppings, weight loss by feel |
| End of week four | Ring opened fully, heat kept only as a backup for the coldest nights | Check at dusk and before dawn | Back and wing feathers closing, steady appetite |
| Week five onward | Heat off in the house, backup kept ready and tested | Check at dusk and before dawn for a fortnight | Sleeping spread out at house temperature, no crowding |
The table has a deliberate pattern. The day heat goes first because the house is warmest in the afternoon. The night heat stays longest because that is when the chicks have the least margin. The backup stays in place after the main heat is gone, because a cool snap can arrive in the middle of a settled week.
Taking the night heat out first, one bulb at a time
In a brooder with several bulbs, take them out in a way you can reverse. Switch off one bulb at the warm end of the ring on the first night of the step-down, and keep the others on. Use a bulb with its own switch or its own plug so you can put it back in seconds if the chicks start to pile up.
On the next night, switch off a second bulb only if the first night was quiet. A quiet night means the chicks slept spread out and the 4 a.m. reading held close to the target for the stage. A night with crowding, a cold corner or a fall in the droppings means you stop, put the bulb back, and wait another night.
Many farmers use a warm-water box as a backup for the first cool nights, rather than a second bulb. Set it inside the ring with a towel over it. It will not carry a brood through a cold snap, but it gives the chicks a warm place to press into while you decide what to do.
The first cold night off heat: what a settled brood looks like
On the first night the heat is fully off in the house, you will want to check the brood more often than usual. That is normal. The chicks should be asleep in a loose spread across the floor, with their heads down and their bodies at rest. Some will be standing, and that is fine as long as they are not crowded or sitting alone with their feathers ruffled.
A settled brood also makes a little noise. Soft cheeping and the scratch of feet on litter are what you want. Loud, high cheeping that does not stop is the chicks asking for warmth, and so is a quiet corner where birds are huddled tight. When you hear it, check the cold edge first and then the thermometer.
Give the brood at least two nights in the settled state before you call weaning done. Then keep watching for a week. A brood that holds up through one cool night can still crowd on the second, when the cold has built up in the walls and floor.
Moving the brood from the ring into the house without a shock
The ring is a small, warm, controlled space. The house is larger, cooler at night and less even from one corner to the next. A brood that goes straight from a tight ring into an open house can get lost in the new air, so open the ring gradually. Lower one panel per day, or per two days, until the chicks have the whole house to move into.
Set up the house before the ring opens. Feeders and drinkers should be at the same heights and spacing the chicks already know, and they should be full and clean before the first panel comes down. Put feed and water at the edge of the old ring first, so the chicks can find them without a search.
Keep the feed the same. Changing feed and changing housing on the same day doubles the stress. Our broiler chicks and our layer chicks both move through the same kind of step, and the feed plan you started with is the one to keep until the feeder change you have already planned.
Rainy-season nights and the damp floor
In Ghana the weaning risk changes with the calendar more than with the chicks. In the rainy months, the nights in the south can turn cool and wet, and a long run of rain soaks the litter, which then chills the birds from below. A brood that is weaned in the wet weather needs more care than one weaned in the dry heat.
Check the litter every morning and every evening. Wet litter under the feeder or near the drinkers is a sign to change it at once, and to move the feeder and drinkers a little so the wet patch dries. A damp floor is a worse enemy than a cold night, because the chicks lie on it all night long.
Keep the backup heat ready through the rains. A storm can take out the power for a night, and a weaned brood with no heat source to return to is the one that suffers most. The guide on brooding without electricity shows the backups we suggest for a site with unreliable supply.
The dry hot months: the opposite problem
In the hot dry months the risk flips. A brood that was kept warm through the cool weeks can be too hot once the day heat rises, and the air inside a closed house gets warm and stale by the afternoon. Chicks panting with their wings held away from their bodies are not weaning, they are overheating.
Open the vents and the sides of the house in the middle of the day, and give the chicks plenty of cool, clean water. Lower the night heat sooner in hot spells, because the room may hold warmth you do not need. Our article on heat stress in broilers explains the signs to watch for once the birds are bigger.
A short hot spell does not mean you have to go back on heat. Watch the chicks, not the thermometer alone, and only add heat again if the night is clearly cold for them, not just cooler than the afternoon.
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Feed and water in the first days out of the ring
The first two or three days in the house are when the feeder and drinkers have to do their job without you hovering. Check that every chick can reach a drinker and that the water is clean and fresh. Chicks that do not find water within a day of the move can lose weight quickly.
Weigh a handful of chicks by hand each week if you have a scale, or at least feel the crop and the body. A chick that has lost condition after the move is the first to fall behind. Feed should look used and the droppings should look normal. Any sudden change in either is worth a call to your vet, and our vaccination guide explains the general schedule your vet will be working from.
Keep the feeder full and not heaped. A full feeder that spills into the litter wastes feed and makes the wet patches that cause the next problem. Top up on a schedule you write down, rather than on guesswork.
Keeping vaccination and handling days away from the move
Do not change the heat, move the chicks and give a vaccine on the same day. Each is a stress, and stacking them is how a good brood gets set back for a week. Pick one job per day and write the sequence on the brooder wall.
Vaccination timing belongs to your vet. The hatchery vaccinates at the start, and our batch record shows what was given and when. After that, follow your vet's schedule for any further doses, and do not guess dates from a chart on the internet. The timing differs with the flock, the disease pressure and the vaccine used.
Handle the birds gently on the move days. Catch them from the front, support the body, and keep the time out of the house short. A chick held too long on a cool morning is chilled before you put it back down.
Mistakes that set a brood back a week
- Switching all the heat off on one day, because the calendar said so, rather than stepping it down over a week.
- Taking the day heat away and leaving the night heat on, which reverses the order the chicks actually need.
- Opening the whole ring at once so the brood has to find its way into a large cold house in one night.
- Moving the feed and the housing on the same day, or changing feed brands during the move.
- Moving the brood during a cold, wet spell without a backup heat source ready in the house.
- Judging readiness by age alone and ignoring the feathers, the footing and the sleeping pattern.
Most of these come from the same thing: trying to finish weaning faster than the chicks can. A week of patience costs you a few bulbs' worth of power. A week of setback costs you birds and weight.
A weaning checklist for the week you start
- Feathering checked on a sample of birds, and the score written down.
- Step-down plan written on the brooder wall, with the date for each stage.
- Backup heat source tested and parked where you can reach it in the dark.
- House set up with feeders and drinkers at the heights the chicks already know.
- Litter checked each morning and evening, with wet patches changed at once.
- Night checks logged at dusk and before dawn, with the sleeping pattern noted.
- No vaccine, handling day or feed change on the same day as a heat step.
- Weight or condition checked by hand each week, and any drop written down.
If you are planning your next batch around these weeks, you can reach us on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503, or place the order through the order form. Our starting prices are listed in full, and we confirm the final price in writing before you pay. For the space side of the same move, read our guide on brooder space and density by week.
Questions farmers ask
How old should chicks be before I switch the brooder heat off?
There is no single age, but most farms start the step-down around the end of the third week or early in the fourth, and finish within a fortnight. Feathering and sleeping pattern matter more than age. A brood that is still bare along the back or huddling at night needs more heat for longer, whatever the date says.
Can I switch the heat off all at once?
You can, but you should not. A sudden drop leaves the chicks to find their own warmth in a house that may be cool at night. Step the heat down over a week or more, taking the night heat away first and keeping a backup ready. Gradual weaning gives the brood a chance to adapt, and a bad night shows up while you can still put a bulb back.
What if the chicks crowd at night after I stop the heat?
Treat crowding as a signal that the brood is too cold, not as a problem with the chicks. Put the heat back on for a night or two, check the cold edge and any draught, and try the step-down again more slowly. Crowding that continues after the heat is back may also point to damp litter or a draught, so check those too.
Does rainy season change the weaning plan?
Yes. In the rains the nights are often cooler and the litter gets damp, and power can fail during storms. Weaning slowly is safer, the litter needs checking more often, and a backup heat source must be ready at all times. In the dry hot months the opposite risk applies, and you may need to speed up the step-down.
Should I change the feed when I wean the chicks off heat?
Keep the feed steady through the move. Changing feed and housing on the same day adds stress, and it makes it harder to tell whether a problem comes from the feed or the move. If a feed change is due, plan it for a separate week, and check the plan with your feed supplier and your vet.
Can I vaccinate the chicks on the day I move them?
Avoid it. Give the vaccine on a different day from the move and the heat change, and follow your vet's schedule. Stacking a vaccination, a handling day and a housing change is a common way to set a brood back. Your batch record shows what was given at the hatchery, which your vet can use when planning later doses.
How do I know the chicks are fully weaned?
A fully weaned brood sleeps spread out at house temperature, eats and drinks steadily, has back and wing feathers closing, and shows no crowding on cool nights. Keep checking for about a week after the heat has been off, because a cool spell in the second week can still show a problem that the first week hid.
