> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.quailstead.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Quail Chick Heat & Development, Week by Week - URL: https://www.quailstead.com/chicks/heat-and-development/ - Published: 2026-08-16T07:20:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-16T08:36:25.000Z - Description: Six weeks from bumblebee to bird. The temperature schedule, and what your chicks should be doing at every stage of it. - Author: James Lamon - Tags: Chicks What temperature do quail chicks need each week? Start \~95 °F in week 1 and drop 5 °F per week — 90, 85, 80, 75 — until fully feathered at 4–6 weeks, when supplemental heat ends. The schedule is a guideline; chick behavior is the instrument. Evenly spread and quietly peeping means right — regardless of what the thermometer says. The whole schedule fits in one line — **95 °F, minus five a week, done when feathered** — so this page earns its keep on the second question: *what should the chicks be doing each week, and when should something worry you?* First, the standing rule that outranks every number below, courtesy of Mississippi State's extension guidance: read the flock's distribution. Spread evenly through the brooder and peeping contentedly means conditions are right. Huddled under the heat and chirping sharply means cold. Pressed to the edges, panting, drowsy means hot. Piled to one side means a draft. Adjust the heat source, re-check in an hour, trust the birds. ### Week 1 — \~95 °F warm zone Published recommendations put the starting warm zone anywhere from 90 to 98 °F measured at chick height; 95 with a cooler end available covers all of them, because chicks shuttle themselves to their number. Days 1–2 they mostly eat, drink, sleep in warm puddles of each other, and fall over. Falling over is fine. What isn't: a chick persistently splayed flat with legs out sideways (splay leg — fix the footing immediately, and hobble-treat early), or one shrunken and apart from the group. They can also *jump* by the back half of this week. People don't believe this until a day-old clears three inches. Believe it. ### Week 2 — \~90 °F Wing feathers arrive first and the jumping becomes flying-adjacent; a lid matters from here even if it didn't yet. Appetite climbs steeply. This is also when the marble-guarded waterer can usually revert to normal shallow service, judged by chick size rather than the calendar. ### Week 3 — \~85 °F Contour feathers replace down in patches; the birds look scruffy and slightly disreputable. On standard-colored (pharaoh-pattern) birds, breast feathers now start telling you who's who (rusty solid chests versus speckled), though calling it confidently is more a week-4 sport ([the sexing guide](https://www.quailstead.com/chicks/sexing/)). Genuine flight now: the screened lid is mandatory, not advisory. ### Week 4 — \~80 °F Mostly feathered, recognizably quail. In mild weather or toward a climate-controlled destination, some keepers move birds out now; more conservative keepers hold on. Feed transitions begin in the coming weeks, from starter toward a grower ration, commonly 20–24% protein ([feeding guide](https://www.quailstead.com/care/)). ### Weeks 5–6 — \~75 °F to off Mississippi State's schedule has chicks maintaining their own body temperature at about five weeks given a room near 70 °F; the practical keeper range for heat-off-and-outside runs four to six weeks depending on feathering and destination weather. Fully feathered birds are surprisingly hardy. The transition to [outdoor housing](https://www.quailstead.com/housing/) is about acclimation and predator-proofing rather than fragility. And then the ambush: hens can lay their first egg at six to eight weeks old. It is entirely possible to still be dismantling the brooder when the first egg appears in the coop. No other backyard bird does this to you. ### When the schedule and reality disagree Warm-months brooding needs less than the schedule; Mississippi State recommends lower brooding temperatures in warm seasons, and an un-air-conditioned summer garage may hit week-3 temperatures on its own. Cold rooms need the opposite. The schedule assumes a moderate room; the flock's distribution corrects for yours. ### FAQ **Can I drop faster than 5 °F a week?** If behavior says so, yes. In warm homes, keepers routinely find chicks comfortable ahead of the schedule; follow the birds downward, and don't force it in a cold room. **Do they need heat at night longer?** Same gradient logic — nights are when marginal heat shows. Mississippi State specifically advises checking chicks in the evening; that's the check not to skip. **One chick is much smaller than the rest.** Runts happen; ensure it's reaching feed (crush finer, sprinkle on a paper towel) and isn't being crowded off. Persistent decline despite eating is usually not fixable — quail are honest about viability. Next in this journey [Which ones are hens? Sexing your quail →](https://www.quailstead.com/chicks/sexing/)