History: Regulation: NFACC 2016 Poultry Code — brooding temperature requirements

Confidence: Verified.

National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Hatching Eggs, Breeders, Chickens and Turkeys, 2016 edition (currently under update — revision initiated 2023).

NFACC codes are not statutory but are referenced in OFFSAP / CFIA / provincial welfare audits as the standard.

Brooding temperature targets — Section 3.3.1 General Guidelines

Broiler chickens days 1–7: 30–34°C (86–93°F) at bird level.
Lower by 2–3°C each subsequent week.
Turkeys days 1–7: 32–35°C (90–95°F) — approximately 2°C warmer than broilers.

Verbatim Requirement (observational, not numeric)

"Bird behaviour must be observed and necessary corrective action taken as soon as possible if birds are displaying signs of thermal discomfort."

Operational test

Chick distribution. Huddled = too cold; spread to walls = too hot. The Requirement is bird behaviour, not a specific temperature reading. Operators should not treat 30–34°C as a hard regulatory threshold — the regulatory test is observable bird behaviour.

Propane-relevance

Brooding week is the structural fuel-consumption event for broiler and turkey operations. Approximately 50% of cycle propane is consumed in the first week at peak brooding temperatures. Detail in op-poultry-barn-propane-load-profile.

Sources

National Farm Animal Care Council, Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Hatching Eggs, Breeders, Chickens and Turkeys, 2016 (currently under update).