A good day-old chick is alert, stands firmly, has bright eyes, a closed dry navel, and finds feed and water within hours. You can check all of this in the first 30 minutes after the chicks arrive, and again at 8 and 24 hours. What you see in these first 24 hours tells you a lot about how the whole batch will go.
Why the first day matters so much
A broiler lives about 35 to 42 days. The first week is roughly a sixth of its life, and the body weight at day 7 is closely linked to the final weight. Management guides from the big breeding companies aim for a 7-day weight of about 4 to 5 times the hatch weight. A chick that starts weak, cold or dehydrated rarely catches up.
So quality checking is not about blaming the hatchery. It is about knowing early which problems come from the chick and which come from your shed, so you can fix your side fast.
Before the truck arrives
Chicks cannot be judged fairly in a cold shed. Get these ready at least 24 hours before:
- Floor and litter warm, about 28 to 30°C, and air at chick level about 30 to 32°C. In winter fog this takes longer than you think.
- Fresh litter spread evenly, with paper or trays and crumble feed covering a good part of the brooding area.
- Drinkers clean and filled, water lukewarm, not straight from a cold tank.
- A small thermometer for checking chick vent temperature, a kitchen scale that reads in grams, and a notebook.
For the full winter setup, see the winter brooding checklist.
Checking chicks on arrival
Do not open the boxes and walk away. Take a sample: about 100 chicks from boxes at the front, middle and back of the truck load.
What a good chick looks like
| Check | Good | Problem |
|---|---|---|
| Activity | Stands up fast, alert, chirps calmly | Sleepy, lying down, loud distress calls |
| Eyes | Bright, round, open | Dull, half closed |
| Navel | Closed, dry, clean | Open, black, wet, string hanging |
| Legs and feet | Straight, clean, no red hocks | Swollen or red hocks, bent toes |
| Beak | Straight, closed properly | Crossed, red tip |
| Down | Dry, fluffy | Wet, sticky, dirty |
| Belly | Soft | Hard, swollen (yolk not taken in) |
A simple test: put a chick on its back. A healthy chick turns itself over within about 3 seconds.
Weight and evenness
Weigh 50 to 100 chicks one by one, or in small groups and divide. Write the average and the lightest and heaviest. Most broiler chicks weigh 35 to 45 g. Chicks from young parent flocks are smaller and need extra care, warmer floors and feed close by. A box where some chicks are 32 g and others 46 g will give an uneven batch later.
Vent temperature
If you have a thermometer, gently touch the tip to the vent (the bottom opening) of 10 to 20 chicks from different spots. A comfortable chick is about 39.4 to 40.5°C. Below that, the chick is cold: raise the floor heat and check for drafts. Above that, it is too hot: reduce heat and look for panting.
Crop fill: the most useful test
The crop is the small bag at the base of the neck. After a chick eats and drinks, it feels soft and round, like a small water balloon with crumbs inside.
Pick 30 to 40 chicks from three or four places in the brooding area and gently feel each crop:
- Soft and full: chick has found feed and water.
- Hard, feed only: chick found feed but not enough water. Check drinker height and number.
- Empty: chick has found neither.
Aviagen's guidance gives these targets:
| Time after placement | Chicks with a full crop |
|---|---|
| 8 hours | more than 80 percent |
| 24 hours | more than 95 percent |
If you are clearly below target, do not wait. Add more paper and feed, move drinkers closer (no chick should walk more than about 2 m to feed or water), and check temperature again.
The first 3 to 5 days
Keep counting. Pick up dead chicks twice a day and write the number by date. Look at each dead chick: was the navel bad, the belly swollen, the chick small and dry? Deaths from chick quality usually show in days 1 to 4. Deaths that rise after day 5 point more to brooding, water or disease.
On day 7, weigh a sample again. If the average is less than about 4 times the arrival weight, look at your brooding first. Our post on reducing broiler mortality explains how to read deaths week by week.
What to tell the hatchery
Hatcheries and dealers take facts seriously. Keep this short list for every batch:
- Date and time the truck arrived, and the truck temperature (hot or cold inside)
- Boxes received, chicks per box, and any short count
- Sample weight: average, lowest and highest
- Number of chicks with bad navels, red hocks or weak legs in your sample
- Crop fill at 8 and 24 hours
- Deaths on days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7
Share it the same day, politely, with photos. If a supplier keeps sending weak chicks, your notes from three batches make the case for you. If the chicks were fine and your crop fill was poor, the notes show you that too.
Keep it in one place
A notebook works. Many farmers now keep this in Poultry Curve, where the daily log keeps placement count, deaths and weights together, and Helper, the AI assistant, can compare this batch to your last one. Either way, write it on the day, not from memory at the end.
Good chicks plus a warm, ready shed give you a strong start, and a strong start is the cheapest way to a good FCR. Check your results later with the FCR calculator.