The cheapest chick is not always the cheapest flock. Here is how to work out what one box really takes, and how to start small safely.
Halaal Farms Ghana team28 March 2026 · 11 min read
Start with the money you can afford to have tied up, and then ask what it has to do. That order matters. Most farmers who are short of cash begin by asking which chick is cheapest, and that is a fair question, but it is the second question. The first is how much you can put into feed, heat and vaccines before the first sale comes back, because a cheap chick you cannot feed is the most expensive chick in the shed.
This guide works through the choice the way we would talk it through at the counter in Opeikuma. It uses our current price list, a feed figure that is commonly quoted for broilers, and simple arithmetic you can check on paper. Where we do not have a number, we say so and ask you to confirm it, rather than offering a guess.
Our from-prices are per chick and per box of 50. Read them as the price of the chick and nothing more. The cost of the flock is the chick, plus everything it eats and needs until it leaves your hands, plus the birds you lose along the way. The table below sets the groups side by side on the points that matter to a small budget.
| Group | Box of 50 (from) | Cash out before feed | When the money comes back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth / Barred Rock (local hatch) | GH₵350 | Lowest of our range | Slower, as a dual-purpose bird |
| Kuroiler / Noiler (local hatch) | GH₵550 | Low to middle | Between a broiler and a slow bird |
| Sasso (local hatch) | GH₵650 | Middle | Slower than a broiler, with free-range sales |
| Broiler Ross 308 / Cobb 500 | GH₵1,000 | Highest of the meat birds | Around six to seven weeks |
| Layer Hy-Line Brown | GH₵1,150 | High, imported stock | Eggs once the hens reach lay |
All of these are from-prices. Confirm today's figure with us before you pay, along with the hatch date and the delivery cost. Those three things are confirmed before any money changes hands, and that rule protects a tight budget more than anything else on this page.
Take the broiler, because it is the easiest to put numbers on. A box of 50 broiler chicks costs GH₵1,000 at the from-price. A broiler takes about 4.2 kg of feed to market, taken over six or seven weeks. Work it through for 50 birds and you get about 210 kg of feed in total.
At the usual range of GH₵400 to GH₵470 for a 50 kg bag, that is roughly four and a bit bags, or somewhere between GH₵1,680 and GH₵1,975 of feed. Add the chick cost and you have roughly GH₵2,700 to GH₵3,000 committed before heat, vaccines, water, labour or transport. This is an illustrative estimate built from our figures, not a quote. Feed is planned by stage, and your own bags, prices and losses will change the total. Use it as a floor to plan from, not as a budget you can spend to the cedi.
Now run the same exercise for a Plymouth Rock. The chick costs GH₵350, which is GH₵650 less than the broiler box. The feed bill runs for longer because the bird takes longer to reach a sale weight, so the feed total is the part you have to build yourself. We do not have a single feed figure for a Plymouth Rock that we would stand behind, and we will not guess one. Work out the feed for the weeks you plan to keep the birds, and set the total beside the chick cost before you decide.
Mortality is where a tight budget gets hurt. A well-managed house runs at 3 to 5 per cent, and a poor one at 10 to 20 per cent. On a box of 50, the gap between those is the difference between losing two or three birds and losing five to ten. At a broiler from-price of GH₵20 each, ten lost chicks is GH₵200 gone on the chicks alone, and every one of them has also eaten feed up to the day it died.
So the cheapest breed is not the cheapest flock if it dies in the brooder or sickens in a damp corner. Keep the brooder warm, dry and draught-free from the first hour, and check the birds at dawn and dusk. Our note on feeding day-old chicks in the first 24 hours covers the start, and a good start is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
Think about the weeks as well as the cedis. A bird that sells sooner returns your money sooner, and money that comes back early can pay for the next box. A slower bird ties up cash for longer, even if it looks cheaper on the day you collect it. Choose the bird whose timing fits the money you actually have.
Brooding heat is a running cost that many budgets leave out. A bulb, a gas brooder and a charcoal brooder each have a different set of costs: the electricity or the gas or the charcoal you buy, the risk of a power cut, and the labour of feeding and cleaning the heat source. The right choice depends on your power supply and on how often you can be on the farm at night. Our article on bulb, gas or charcoal for brooding sets out the trade-offs honestly.
Do not buy a box you cannot brood properly. Two boxes you cannot keep warm will cost you more than one box you can. If the brooder you can build only holds one box comfortably, that is your starting size, whatever the plan says.
Litter, drinkers and feeders are the small costs that disappear quietly. Dry shavings, rice husk or whatever clean, dry material you can get near you must be bought or collected every week. A set of drinkers and feeders sized for the first weeks belongs in the budget from the start, not as an afterthought in the second week. Our note on drinker height and water access shows how to set them up so the chicks can reach them.
Several of the protections that matter most are part of how we sell. An order starts with a message, not with money. You send the order form or call 024 915 1503, and we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay. Payment is by cash, mobile money or bank transfer, and no payment is taken on the website.
Chicks that are dead on arrival are replaced free in the next hatch. That protects the box you have paid for, but only if you check the birds on the day they arrive and tell us straight away. Keep the box, take a photograph of the chicks as they come out, and call us the same day rather than waiting until the next week.
The minimum order is one box of 50. If the budget will not stretch to a full box, the honest answer is to wait and save for the box, rather than to split a box between two breeds, which doubles the setup and halves your ability to watch each group. Start with one breed, one box and one brooder you trust.
Delivery is the cost people forget. Birds bound for a region outside Kasoa carry a transport charge, and that charge is confirmed with you before you pay. Ask for it by region when you call, and put it in the budget next to the chick price. A box that arrives late, or that has to be collected from a bus park in a hurry, can also cost you in heat and stress, so plan the day of arrival as carefully as the order itself.
Your own time is a cost as well. A brooder that needs checking at two in the morning takes hours from a person who may also be working a salaried job or running a shop. If you cannot keep those hours, a smaller box you can watch closely will do better than a larger one you visit once a day.
Keep a note of every payment and every cedi you spend on feed, heat and vaccines. A tight budget is easier to manage when you can see where each cedi went, and the same notebook becomes the basis for your next box.
If the aim is quick cash, a broiler box is the fastest route to money coming back, but it needs the most cash up front and the most attention to feed and litter. If the aim is a steady small income, a local hatch bird can serve both the household and the market, at a lower chick cost, and it takes longer to pay you back. If the aim is eggs, a layer chick is the cheapest way to get there only if you can wait out the weeks before lay and keep the flock healthy through them.
Point-of-lay pullets sit in a higher price range again, and they skip the rearing period. If that is the question you are weighing, ask us for today's figure. It is not the same decision as a chick box, and it should be compared on its own terms.
Whatever you choose, match the breed to the sale you can actually make. A bird that sells well in your town is worth more than a bird that sells well in a city you cannot reach. Our guide to choosing your first flock size helps you test that before you commit the money.
One box of local hatch chicks, such as Plymouth Rock at the from-price of GH₵350, with a brooder you can keep warm and dry. Confirm the current figure with us before you pay.
No. No payment is taken on the website. Send the order form or call us, and we confirm the price, hatch date and delivery cost before you pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer.
Chicks dead on arrival are replaced free in the next hatch. Deaths after arrival are a management question, so check your brooder heat, water and feed, and call a vet if the birds are sick. Our guide on when to call a vet lists the signs.
Not always. It returns cash sooner but needs more feed and more attention, and a tight budget can be strained by a bad week of mortality. Work through the feed figures for your own plan before you decide.
If you have a box of cash, a brooder you trust and a sale in mind, send the order form on our site or call 024 915 1503. Tell us what you can afford to put in, and we will help you match the box to the money before anything is paid. We deliver to all 16 regions. Before you call, read how to order day-old chicks and our current prices page, so you can ask the right questions. You can also write to support@halaalfarmsghana.com.
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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