Is it really worthwhile to take the trouble to pre-heat a house before chick placement?
Yes, it definitely is worthwhile to pre-heat, and to provide optimum temperature throughout the brooding stage. When baby chicks come to the farm they have no ability to regulate their own body temperature, so that they will readily lose heat to the air and to the surface of the floor. And if they are too cool in the early days of life they will be stunted in terms of future growth. University study after study has shown that chicks brooded at too cool temperature will suffer in feed conversion, body weight, mortality and increased incidence of ascites. This is why it is so critical to pre-heat a house to have adequate warmth in the house during the first days of the flock, and to maintain the correct temperature during the brooding period. In fact it takes almost three weeks for chicks to fully develop the ability to maintain their body temperature. If we wait until the chicks are in the house before turning on the heat, it will take a day or two for the floor and the litter to warm u
