One box is 50 chicks. Whether to order one whole batch or split it into lots comes down to cash, buyers, hatch dates and house space.
Halaal Farms Ghana team26 May 2026 · 10 min read
A box is 50 chicks, and that is the smallest order we take. Everything else in this article is built on that number, because every choice about how to split a flock is really a choice about how many boxes you buy, when they hatch, and when the birds go to market.
A whole batch means one order, one hatch date, one delivery and one sale window. A split batch means the same number of birds arrives in two or more lots, either on different dates or in separate deliveries, so the flock is brooded, grown and sold in stages. Neither one is better in general. The right answer depends on your house, your cash, your buyers and how much work you can supervise in a given week.
Simplicity is the strongest case for one batch, and it is worth a lot on a farm that is still learning. All the birds share one brooding cycle, one vaccination timetable and one set of feeding phases. You clean the house once, you keep one set of records, and you deal with one delivery. If you are a beginner, one clean batch in one house teaches you more than two half-batches with confusing ages.
Buyers who want volume on one day also favour it. A caterer, a chop bar owner with a festive order or a trader buying for a market run may take a large lot in one go and pay a fair price for it. Selling one large lot takes less time than selling the same birds in small, repeated sales.
The downside is that the whole batch depends on one set of conditions. All the capital goes in at once, so the money is locked up from the day the box arrives. A heat spell, a disease or a bad feed delivery hits every bird together. And if the buyer pulls out or the market price drops in the last week, there is no earlier or later lot to fall back on.
Splitting spreads the money and the risk. If you order two lots of 250 chicks a few weeks apart, you pay for the first lot, sell it, and then use that money to pay for the second. The cash does not sit in feed bags and chicks for the whole cycle. A bad first lot also tells you something before you have spent the full budget, and you can change feed, house management or the vaccination plan before the second lot arrives.
Splitting also keeps the house working. A house that is cleaned and refilled twice in a year earns more than one that is filled once and sits empty for months. For a farmer with limited space, that can matter as much as the price per bird.
The cost is in the work and the logistics. Each lot needs its own brooding attention, its own feed plan and its own sale. Each order has its own delivery cost, which we confirm with you before you pay. And if the two lots overlap in the same house, you end up with birds of different ages, and age mix is one of the quickest ways to spread disease. Splitting works best when the lots are properly spaced and the house is cleaned between them.
Take a plan for 500 broilers. The chicks cost the same whichever way you order them, because the price is per box. What changes is how many deliveries you pay for, how many sale windows you have, and how long your money is tied up. The table below uses the Ross or Cobb box price of GH₵1,000 for 50 chicks as a planning figure. Confirm today's price with us before you commit, because the box price moves with the season.
| Option | Boxes of 50 | Chick cost at GH₵1,000 a box (GH₵) | Deliveries | Sale windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole batch of 500 | 10 in one order | 10,000 in one payment | 1 | 1 |
| Two lots of 250 | 5 and 5 | 5,000 each, 10,000 in total | 2 | 2 |
| Five lots of 100 | 2 each | 2,000 each, 10,000 in total | 5 | 5 |
The chick money is the same in every row. The difference is in what the table does not show. Two deliveries mean paying the delivery cost twice, and five deliveries mean five times. Each split also means a separate hatch date to plan and another brooding cycle to run. On the other side, the money you get back from the first lot can pay for the second, and a sale spread across five windows can smooth out a poor market week.
Put the delivery cost, the extra labour and the extra feed phases into the same sheet before you decide. A split that looks cheaper on paper can cost more once the trips are added. Our costing guide for a broiler batch goes through each line.
We hatch under 5,000 chicks a week in our incubators in Kasoa. That is a fixed capacity, and it means the date your order is hatched is part of the plan, not an afterthought. A large single order may need a hatch date set several weeks ahead, and a split plan needs two or three dates lined up before the first lot goes in the house.
Plan the dates on a calendar first. Mark the day the house will be empty and cleaned, the day each lot should be brooded, and the sale windows your buyers have given you. Then work back to the hatch date. Before you pay, we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost, so the date you agree is the one you get. Our step-by-step guide to ordering chicks walks through that conversation.
Leave a little room. A house that is still wet from the last batch, a delayed feed delivery or a rainy week that makes transport slow can push a lot back by days. Build the plan so one slipped date does not knock the whole year out of line.
A split batch in one house only works if the lots are separated in time. The second lot should not go in while the first is still on the floor, and the house needs to be emptied, cleaned and rested before the next chicks arrive. That gap is where you clean the litter, wash the drinkers and feeders, and deal with pests. Skipping it to keep the calendar tidy costs more later.
If you have two houses, the picture is easier. You can run two lots side by side, with the first lot a few weeks ahead, and keep the age groups apart. Keep the people and equipment moving from the older house to the younger one to a minimum, and use a footbath at the door. Our notes on foot dips and farm entry hygiene cover the basics.
Disinfectant use also matters between lots. Clean first, because disinfectant does not work well on dirt and litter. Then choose the product for the job, and follow the label on dilution and contact time. The guide to disinfectants on this site explains which one to use when.
Most of the decision is made by the buyer, not the farmer. A buyer who wants 300 birds on one festive date favours a whole batch, timed to be ready for that date. A buyer or shop that wants 50 birds a week favours a split plan, with lots spaced to match the weekly demand. Farm-gate sales, market sales and direct sales to chop bars each create different rhythms, and they change how many lots you can move without pressing the price down.
Think about the middlemen too. If you sell in large lots to someone who resells, you will often accept a lower price per bird. If you sell smaller lots directly, you may get a better price but spend more time on each sale. Our article on avoiding the middleman squeeze covers the trade-off, and the festive pricing guide shows how the calendar can help you.
When you are choosing between one order and several, work through these questions in order:
If you answer one lot, one house and one buyer, a whole batch is the honest choice. If you answer more than one buyer, limited cash and a house you can empty and clean between lots, a split plan with two or three lots usually earns more over the year. Most first-time farmers do best with one clean batch before they try to run two.
The chick price per box is the same either way, so the saving is not in the chicks. A single order usually means fewer delivery trips and fewer brooding cycles. Check the delivery cost for each order with us before you decide.
It is better not to. Birds of different ages in one house make disease harder to control and make feed and vaccination timing harder to get right. If you must, keep the lots fully separated with their own feeders, drinkers and attention.
One box, which is 50 chicks. That is the minimum for any order. Plan a split around boxes of 50 so each lot fits a whole number of boxes.
Book as early as your plan allows, especially for a large order or several lots. We confirm the hatch date with you before payment, so the date you agree is the one you get. Ask us for the current lead time when you call.
Whether you go with one lot or several, the first step is the same. Work out the house, the buyer and the cash, then choose the dates. Our guide on what a beginner should buy first helps if this is your first cycle, and the cash flow guide shows how to keep the money moving between lots.
When you are ready, send the order form or call 024 915 1503. We confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay, and you can pay in cash, by mobile money or by bank transfer. Every batch is vaccinated, and we tell you what was given. A chick that arrives dead is replaced free in the next hatch. Read the order guide for the full steps before you call.
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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