Cobb 500 grows fast, and that speed asks more of your water, airflow and feed. Here is how to judge it on your own farm.
Halaal Farms Ghana team24 July 2026 · 10 min read
Every fast-growing broiler is fast because a breeder chose it to be, and the bill for that choice arrives later, in feed, housing and the care the birds need. Cobb 500 is one of those strains. It is a good bird for some farms and a poor fit for others, and the difference is rarely the chick. It is the house, the feed programme and the buyer.
A strain comes with a breeder's guide. That guide gives the targets for growth and feed, but it gives them under a particular feed and management programme. A growth figure without its programme tells you very little, and a farmer who copies the number without copying the programme usually ends the crop disappointed.
This article sets out what Cobb 500 asks of a Ghanaian farm, where it tends to fit, and how to make the choice between it and Ross 308 without relying on a sales claim. We do not rank one strain above the other in this article, because our fact pack does not support a ranking.
Cobb 500 is an imported broiler strain, raised for meat and sold live or dressed. We supply it as day-old chicks from our Kasoa farm, and the price starts from GH₵20 per chick, or from GH₵1,000 for a box of 50. That is a from-price, and it changes. Confirm today's price with us before you order.
The minimum order is one box of 50 chicks. For a first crop, one box is often the right size. It lets you learn the house, the feed and the records on a manageable number of birds before you buy a larger batch.
Breeders describe a strain's strengths in their own guides, with the figures and the conditions behind them. We would rather point you to those guides than paraphrase numbers into our own words, because a number copied out of context is the easiest way to make a bad decision.
What a strength looks like on your farm is simpler than a table of figures. It is a flock that reaches the weight your buyer wants on the day your buyer wants it. It is a flock that turns feed into weight at a rate you can afford. It is a flock where the birds are close in size at the end, so the sale is even, and where losses stay inside the range you planned for. Those are the things to measure, week by week, against the breeder's figures.
Fast growth asks more of the house. A bird that puts on weight quickly needs more water, more airflow and more feed in the right phases, and it has less margin when any of those fail. The trade-offs are not hidden. They show up on the farm, usually within the first few weeks of a crop.
In hot weather, a heavy bird works harder to stay cool. That matters on a Kasoa afternoon, when the iron roof is warm and the air is still. Drinkers that run dry for an hour in the heat can cost more than a bad feed week. Lameness is the other trade-off to plan for. Weight on the legs, wet litter and a spill at the drinker all make walking harder. Our guide to lameness and joint infections covers the signs, and the guide to sudden death in healthy broilers covers the losses that come without warning.
Feed is the trade-off that shows up in the accounts. A heavier bird eats more, and the cost of getting it there depends on the feed phases and on the price of the bag that week. Our guide to broiler feed phases explained shows how the programme is split, and why changing the feed at the wrong age can waste money.
Cobb 500 has to be managed through the Ghanaian seasons like any other broiler. Dry, hot months bring heat stress. The harmattan, usually from about December to February, brings dust and cold nights, and a house that is sealed to keep out the dust can also trap ammonia from wet litter. Rainy months bring damp, and damp litter brings its own problems.
Power is the fourth variable. A long cut stops the fans, and it can stop the pumps that fill the drinkers. A house that depends on power for water and air needs a plan for the hours when it has none. Our guide to summer versus harmattan broiler batches compares how the same chick does across the two seasons, and brooding chicks through power cuts sets out what to do when the lights go.
The season you start the crop in matters as much as the strain. A batch that is hatched into a hot, dry month has a different set of risks from one that is hatched into the cool of the rains. Plan the house for the weather you will actually get.
We sell both strains, and our fact pack does not rank one above the other. The choice is yours, and it should be made with the breeder's figures in hand and your own house in mind. Four questions cover most of it.
If you can answer all four with figures, the strain choice gets much easier. If you cannot, the first crop is a good time to start recording, whichever strain you pick.
The table below turns the strain question into the figures you can actually check. Fill it in from your own records each week, and compare the result with the breeder's guide for the strain you chose.
| Question | What to look for | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Weight by age | Weight on the day you plan to sell | The breeder's guide for Cobb 500 |
| Feed to reach weight | Feed used per bird, by phase | Your feed bags, the breeder's programme, your merchant's price |
| Uniformity | Spread of weights across a sample of birds | Your weekly sample weights |
| Losses | Deaths against the 3 to 5 per cent planning range for a well-managed flock | Your own weekly records |
| Heat and water | Drinkers running, airflow working, birds not panting at rest | Your house and your power plan |
| Price | From GH₵20 per chick, from GH₵1,000 per box of 50 | Today's price on the price page, or with the farm |
One batch gives you one result, and it is easy to read too much into it. A good sale weight in one crop may come from a mild season, a careful week of feeding or a buyer who paid more on a particular morning. A poor result may come from a single bad week of power, a spill at the drinker or a feed bag that was wrong. The breeder's guide is the benchmark, but your records are the evidence, and you need enough of both to see a trend.
When you compare your results with the breeder's targets, look at the whole picture. Check weight, feed used, uniformity and losses together. A flock that is light on weight but used feed efficiently has a different problem from one that is heavy but wasted a lot of feed. Each points to a different fix, and the fix is usually in the house or the feeding programme, not in the chick.
Be honest about the season, too. A crop that ran through the harmattan or a long dry spell was managed in different conditions from one that ran through the rains. Writing the season beside the results makes the next comparison fairer, and it saves you from blaming the strain for a problem that came from the weather.
A simple batch record is the best tool a grower can have. Write down the hatch date, the arrival date, the number of birds received, the weekly weights, the feed used by phase, the water and power problems, and the losses with their causes. Keep it on paper and in one place. A record that is in three different phones and two notebooks will not be there when you need it.
At the end of each crop, add the sale weight, the number of birds sold, the price received and the feed total. Those four numbers tell you whether the strain, the house and the buyer worked together. Over several batches, the record shows you which changes helped and which did not, and it gives you real figures to bring into the next choice between strains.
Keep the comparison fair by using the same sampling method every week. Weigh the same number of birds, from the same parts of the house, on the same scale. A change in method looks like a change in the birds, and it can send you chasing a problem that is not there. Once the method is steady, the numbers will tell you more than any opinion, including ours.
Our fact pack does not support a ranking, and we will not invent one. Compare the two breeder guides at the age and feed programme you plan to use, then check your own figures after one batch.
Lameness usually traces back to wet litter, spilled water, stocking, weight or a mix of them. Check the litter and the drinkers first, then read our guide on lameness and joint infections for the signs to separate one cause from another.
One box of 50 shows you your house and your management, which is useful. It will not settle a strain question on its own. Keep records for every batch, and compare them across crops.
From GH₵1,000 for a box of 50, which is from GH₵20 per chick. That is a from-price, so confirm today's price with us before you order.
To order Cobb 500 chicks, send the order form on the site or call 024 915 1503. An order starts with a message, not with money. Before you pay, we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost, and you can pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer. For the current figures, see the day-old chicks price list, and for the breed page, see broiler day-old chicks. If you are still deciding between the two strains, the piece on Ross 308 in Ghana sets out the same questions from the other side. 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.
A weekly weighing routine for broiler farmers: how to pick an honest sample, the weights to compare against from day 7 to day 42, the average and uniformity sums, and what to do when the flock is behind.
Feed cost per kilo of broiler depends on how much feed each kilo takes and what you pay for it. These ten habits lower both without starving the birds or buying additives.
Heat kills the heaviest broilers in the last days before sale. This guide explains why, shows the signs in order, and sets out the house, stocking, water and feeding changes that prevent it, plus an afternoon emergency plan.
