Getting ready for chickens, week by week

By the Fluff & Feed team · Updated October 10, 2026

This is the timeline for the most common way to start: day-old chicks. Chicks need heat until they're fully feathered. At the usual schedule of 95°F dropping 5°F a week, that's about 6 weeks. Hens start laying at 18 to 22 weeks old, so plan on 4 to 5 months from bringing chicks home to the first egg.

Buying young hens that are already feathered instead? Skip the brooder and start at "Move to the coop."

Before you start: decide as a family

Work through these before you buy anything.

• Local rules. Check your city or town, your county, and your HOA if you have one. Look for limits on how many hens you can keep, whether roosters are allowed, how far the coop must sit from property lines, and whether you need a permit.
• Neighbors. Talk to the people next door before you build.
• Budget. Most of the money goes toward the coop. Of the 16 coops we've checked, the least expensive one with real floor space for 4 hens cost $999.99 when we checked. Every cheaper coop we could measure had floor space for 2 hens or fewer. After that come the door, waterer, feeder, brooder and bedding. Then there's feed every month: a hen eats about a quarter pound a day, so price a 50 lb bag of layer feed at your local store.
• Who does what. Someone has to feed, water, collect eggs and close the coop every day. Decide who does each job, who covers when they're away, and who looks after the birds when the family travels.
• Time. Chickens need a check every day, plus regular cleaning. See the chicken care calendar for the full routine.
• Predators. Think about what lives near you, such as raccoons, foxes, hawks and dogs. That decides how strong the coop and run need to be.
• A vet. Find out now whether a vet near you treats chickens.

Before the chicks arrive

A month or more before

• Pick a hatchery or farm store and reserve your chicks. Ask whether the chicks are vaccinated for coccidiosis, because that decides which starter feed you buy.
• Choose and order the coop, so it's built and predator-proofed before the chicks are feathered. What to look for.

A week or two before

• Set up the brooder somewhere draft-free and away from pets. Plan on half a square foot of floor per chick for the first few weeks, and more as they grow.
• Get a heat source, a chick feeder and a chick waterer, large pine shavings (not cedar), and chick starter feed. Medicated starter feed helps prevent coccidiosis. If your chicks were vaccinated for coccidiosis, they don't need it, and it can interfere with the vaccine.
• Turn the heat on a day early and check the temperature at chick height: 95°F.

The brooder weeks

Watch the chicks as well as the thermometer. Huddled together under the heat means they're cold. Staying far from the heat and panting means they're too hot. Spread out evenly means the temperature is right.

What to watch for

• Water on arrival: dip each chick's beak in the water as you put it in the brooder, so it finds the water.
• Pasting: droppings that dry over the vent can block it, and a chick that can't pass droppings will die. Wash the vent gently with warm water and a soft cloth, and check bottoms every day for the first several days.
• Coccidiosis: blood or orange mucus in the droppings, and chicks that look listless with ruffled feathers. Call a vet or your county extension office.
• Salmonella: chicks and chickens can carry it even when they look healthy. Wash your hands with soap and water after touching them, and keep them out of the house, especially the kitchen.

Move to the coop

• Once the chicks are well feathered, they can move to an unheated coop.
• Check every latch and gap first. Raccoons can open simple latches, and the smallest weasels can squeeze through holes as small as 1/4 inch. See protecting chickens from predators.
• Close the coop every night, or let an automatic door do it.
• Keep feeding chick starter or starter-grower until it's time for layer feed.

Weeks 18 to 22: first eggs

• Line the nest boxes with shavings or straw. A few wooden or ceramic eggs in the nests show hens where to lay.
• Switch to layer feed at 18 to 20 weeks, and put out oyster shell in a separate feeder so hens can take what they need.
• Collect eggs every day.

After that

Your flock is grown. The chicken care calendar covers the routine from here on.

Adding birds to your flock later? USDA advises keeping new birds apart for 30 days before they join your flock.

Sources

• University of Maine Cooperative Extension: brooding chicks (temperatures, space, chick behavior, coccidiosis vaccines)
• Colorado State University Extension: how to raise chicks (pasting)
• University of Arkansas Extension: tips for raising chicks (bedding, water)
• Penn State Extension: coccidiosis in small flocks
• CDC: backyard poultry (salmonella)
• NC State Extension: keeping garden chickens (moving to the coop)
• University of Maryland Extension: poultry predators (raccoons and latches)
• University of Kentucky: predator management for small poultry flocks (weasels)
• Mississippi State Extension: backyard flocks (age at first egg, oyster shell)
• University of Maine Cooperative Extension: nest boxes
• Alabama Extension: feeding the laying hen (feed per hen)
• USDA APHIS: biosecurity (30-day quarantine)