A flock can gain weight for six weeks and lose part of it in the hours it takes to catch, crate and load. Here is how to stop that.
Halaal Farms Ghana team9 September 2026 · 11 min read
Picture the morning the buyer's pickup is due at seven and the birds are still in the house. Nobody has caught anything yet, the crates are stacked by the gate, and somebody is counting heads for the third time. If that sounds familiar, the next hour will decide how much of your six weeks of work reaches the scale.
A flock that grew well through the whole batch can still arrive lighter than it should, and the feed is rarely the cause. The loss happens in the handling. It happens when birds are chased, piled into a corner, dragged by one leg and packed into crates too quickly under a hot sun. Most of that damage is invisible on the farm. It shows up later as slow weights, bruising the buyer can see, or birds that look tired when they are unloaded.
This article covers the catch and the load: the time between the last feed and the moment the birds are safely in the vehicle. That stretch gets the least planning on most farms, and it is where a good batch can lose its edge.
A broiler is a frightened animal once it has been chased. Its breathing speeds up, it pants, and it stops eating for a while. Some of that is normal and passes quickly. Some of it is not. A flock that is run around in the heat can spend the next day off its feed, and the weight it should have added does not come back.
Weight loss at the catch comes from three things working together. The first is stress that stops the bird eating and drinking. The second is bruising, which does not show until the bird is cut. The third is heat that dehydrates the bird before the trip begins. None of the three is dramatic on its own. Together they take the edge off a good batch.
The ranges we work with give an honest yardstick. A well-managed flock usually sees 3 to 5 per cent mortality over the grow-out, while a poorly managed one can see 10 to 20 per cent. Losses during catching and loading are part of that gap. Every bird you lose on the day ate feed for six or seven weeks and never reaches the buyer.
Handling also changes how the birds behave in the days before the catch. Frightened birds crowd into corners, pile on each other and fight for the feeder. That is why the morning before the catch should not be a normal rush. Keep the house quiet and the routine steady, and let the flock settle.
Before any bird leaves the house, you need to know what went into it. Some medicines, feed additives and vaccines carry a withdrawal period, the time the bird must go without them before it can be sold. Those periods are set by the manufacturer and printed on the label, and they vary from product to product. Find them, write them down and confirm them with your vet.
Do not rely on a neighbour's rule of thumb or a figure you read online. Ask the vet or the seller for the exact period for the product you used, and check the date you last gave it. A missed withdrawal period is a food-safety problem and a buyer problem, and no amount of careful loading can fix it afterwards.
On feed, ask your buyer and your vet how long to hold feed before the catch. The answer depends on the trip, the house and the time of day. Hold feed too long and the birds go hungry and dry on the road. Feed right up to the catch and the crop is full and the crate gets dirtier. Agree the timing before the day, not on it. Keep water available until the catch, because a bird that goes dry in the heat arrives in poor condition.
The best time to catch is the cool part of the day, which in Ghana usually means early morning or late afternoon. In the harmattan, mornings are cool but dusty. Dampen the floor a little, keep the dust down and move quietly, because dust in the house is hard on the birds' airways. In the rains, wet crates and muddy yards are the problem, and a vehicle can get stuck with birds on board. Plan the route as carefully as the catch.
Midday catching is the worst choice on a hot day. Birds are already warm from the house, and the crate adds heat on top. A bird that starts the trip hot is losing ground before the vehicle moves.
Book the buyer and the vehicle for the same window. A pickup waiting in the sun for a long time is a loss you will pay for. If the buyer is coming from Accra, traffic on the road through Kasoa at the wrong hour can stretch the trip, so agree the departure time and the route before the flock is on the move.
Catching is the step most farms rush, and it does the most damage per minute. The rule is simple. Move slowly, catch by the body and never drag a bird by a leg or a wing.
Watch the people as well as the birds. Hurried catchers with a buyer shouting at them make mistakes. Give the catch one lead person who sets the pace, and let the rest follow that pace.
The crate is the bird's whole world for the trip, so treat it like one. A crate that is too full heats up and traps dirt and damp. A crate with too much room lets birds slam into the sides and bruise. Crate sizes vary between suppliers, so measure your own and fit the birds so they can stand and turn without being packed against each other.
The same principle sits behind how we box day-old chicks. Our chicks travel in ventilated boxes of 50, because air, space and not too many birds in one place keep them in good order. Market birds need the same respect, even though they are bigger and the crate is bigger.
Load in the cool hours, and get the crates off the bare ground and out of the sun while you work. Lift crates into the vehicle with two people when they are heavy, and never drop them. Cover the load if the sun is strong, and move off as soon as the count is confirmed. A stopped vehicle in traffic on a hot day is the worst place for a crate to sit.
On a longer run, plan the first stop. Birds that have just been loaded need time to settle. If the route passes through a busy station, a load standing still in the heat adds hours, and a station can be a hard place for birds with no shade. Keep stops short and check the crates every time the vehicle halts.
Write the day down like any other batch. Record the count leaving the house, the count at the gate, any birds found dead or down during the catch, and the time you finished loading. A short written record is worth far more than a memory of a hard morning, and it is the only way to tell next time whether the problem was the catch or the house.
| Fault on the day | What it costs the bird | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Catching by the legs in a hurry | Bruising and injured legs, bird off its feed for days | Catch by the body with both hands and take the full weight |
| Crowding the flock into one corner | Pile-ups, smothering and bruised breasts | Push slowly from one side and let birds move at their own pace |
| Packing crates too full | Heat build-up, trampling and dirty plumage | Fit fewer birds per crate and leave room to stand and turn |
| Loading in the midday sun | Heat stress before the vehicle moves | Load in the cool hours and keep crates in shade until the vehicle is ready |
| Birds waiting in crates for the buyer | Hours of heat and crowding inside the crate | Agree the time and have the vehicle at the gate before the first crate is filled |
| No count written down | Losses you cannot trace to a cause | Count in, count out, and note any dead birds on the day |
Use the table as a checklist and not as a blame sheet. Most of these problems come from speed and crowding rather than from careless people. Fix the pace first and most of the rest follows.
Usually not, if you can avoid it. Birds held in crates overnight carry more stress and heat than birds caught and loaded close to departure. If the timing forces a hold, keep the crates in a cool, shaded, ventilated place, keep water available, and agree the plan with your vet first.
For a short period, yes, but not by guesswork. Ask your buyer and your vet how long to hold feed for your house and your route. Keep water on until the catch, because birds that go dry in the heat arrive in poor condition.
Weigh a sample of birds on your own scale before the catch and keep the sheet. Agree on the scale in advance, and weigh a few birds from the load with the buyer present. A written sheet from your side protects both of you.
Handling matters for every breed, but a heavier bird has less margin for a rough catch. Support the body fully, move the flock slowly and avoid any running or pile-ups. Heavier birds reward the careful approach more than any other.
The catch goes better when the next flock is planned from the start. Send the order form on the site or call 024 915 1503, and we will confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost with you before any payment. Before you order, read our guide on feed and drug withdrawal before you sell so the records are ready on catch day. Then decide where the birds go once they leave the house with our note on farm-gate or market selling. You can see the ordering steps for the chicks themselves on the how to order page.
Written by the Halaal Farms Ghana team. We hatch and import day-old chicks at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and deliver to all 16 regions. This article is general guidance for farmers. For diagnosis and treatment of sick birds, speak to a vet or your district veterinary office.
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