The water, house, weighing and feed errors that cost a first batch the most birds, with the sums behind each one and what to do instead.
Halaal Farms Ghana team9 July 2026 · 10 min read
The costliest mistake in a first batch is usually one you could have seen on day two. A dry patch that was never noticed, a drinker that ran empty overnight, a weighing that never happened because the scale was in the wrong room. None of these looks dangerous on its own. Together they decide how many birds reach the market and how much they weigh when they get there.
This guide goes through the mistakes that cost the most in a first batch of broilers or layers in Ghana. For each one it says what the mistake does to your numbers and what to do instead. The illustrative sums use our figures and are estimates, not quotes, so check the feed and chick prices on the day you buy.
A drinker that is empty at dawn is the first mistake most beginners make, and it is rarely the result of carelessness. It happens because the drinker was filled in the evening, the birds drank more than expected in the heat, and nobody came back until morning. A flock that goes without water for even part of a night loses growth, and the weak birds are the ones that show it first.
The fix is a routine rather than a hope. Check the water in the morning, at midday when you can, and again before dark. Fill the drinkers before you leave for work, not after you return. Keep a second drinker near the feeder for the hot afternoons, so that the birds at the far end of the house are not fighting for a single drinker. Clean the drinkers, because algae and droppings in the water make birds drink less, and that is the last thing you want on a hot day.
The second costly mistake is a house that is still being cleaned on the morning the box arrives. Damp litter, a brooder that has not been switched on, or a draught from a gap in the wall all show up in the chicks within hours. They huddle, they pile on top of each other, and the ones at the bottom are crushed or chilled. That is a loss you can avoid completely by readying the house a day ahead.
Switch the brooder on at least a day before the chicks come, and check the temperature at chick height rather than trusting the setting. Walk the house in the evening and look for holes, gaps and wet patches. Lay the litter, set the drinkers and the feeders, and then leave the house alone for a while so that it settles. When the chicks arrive, the house should already be doing its job.
Many first-timers weigh their birds for the first time when the buyer does. By then it is too late to change anything. A bird that is growing slowly looks the same as one that is growing well until you put it on a scale, and the only way to find the slow ones early is to weigh a sample each week, at about the same time of day, and write the figures down.
Take a sample from different parts of the house, not only the birds nearest the feeder. Weigh the same number each week so the figures compare. Use a scale you trust, and keep it in a dry place. A weekly sample is the cheapest early warning system you will ever have, and the notebook is where the warning is kept. If the average falls behind the figure you expected for the age, look at the feed, the water and the house before you blame the birds.
Dead birds are a source of information, and most first batches throw that information away. A bird found dead and thrown behind the house leaves no trace in your records, so you cannot tell whether the losses are rising, falling or clustering on one day. A rising pattern is the signal that something in the house, the water or the feed needs attention.
Write down each loss with the day, the age of the bird and where it was found. Count the losses every day, not once a week. Our figures say a well-managed flock loses roughly 3 to 5 per cent, and a poorly managed one loses 10 to 20 per cent. If your losses are above the good range, look at the house, the water and the heat before you blame the chicks. If losses keep rising, call a vet or get advice from the relevant authority rather than guessing, because some causes move quickly through a flock.
Chicks dead on arrival are a separate case. They are replaced free in the next hatch. Count them when the box opens, keep the box, and tell us as soon as you can, so that the replacement is arranged properly rather than argued about later.
Every batch we hatch is vaccinated before it leaves us, and we tell you what was given. Our vaccines cover five diseases, and Marek's, Newcastle, Gumboro and fowl pox are typical examples. The mistake is to file that information away and never look at it again. A missed or forgotten follow-up dose is a gap in protection that nobody sees until a bird gets sick.
Put the vaccine record on the wall of the store, or keep it with the batch notebook, and mark the date of any further dose on your calendar. Confirm any follow-up with a vet or the relevant authority, because the right schedule depends on your flock and on the local disease picture. A record that you can find in a minute is worth more than a good memory on a busy week.
Feed is more than half of what a broiler costs you, so feed mistakes are expensive. The two common ones are running out and storing badly. Running out means a gap in the birds' feed, and that gap costs growth that does not come back. Storing badly means damp bags, spoiled feed and birds that will not eat it, which is money thrown away at the same time as the growth you wanted.
Buy the feed ahead of need, and keep a note of how many bags you have and how many you open each week. Store the bags dry, raised off the floor and away from the wall, with the lids closed. Do not buy a stack that you cannot keep dry through the rains, however good the price looks that week. Our figures put a 50 kg bag broadly at GH₵400 to GH₵470, depending on the brand and the season, so check the bag price on the day you buy rather than the price you remember.
Mortality sounds like a small number until you turn it into birds and cedis. Take a flock of 100 broilers and compare two outcomes. In the first, 3 birds are lost and 97 reach market. In the second, 15 are lost and 85 reach market. The gap is 12 birds.
Each bird that does not reach market has a chick cost and a feed cost behind it. The lowest broiler chick on our list is GH₵20. A bird that would have eaten 4.2 kg of feed costs about GH₵34 to GH₵39 in feed at the bag prices of GH₵400 to GH₵470. Put those together and each lost bird is roughly GH₵54 to GH₵59 of money already spent. Across 12 birds that comes to roughly GH₵645 to GH₵715, before any medicine, labour or lost time. That is an illustrative estimate worked from our figures, and the real figure on your farm will depend on when the birds died and what they ate.
The lesson is not that every loss can be prevented. It is that the numbers are worth watching every day, because a few percentage points on a 100-bird batch can cost more than the chicks themselves.
A first batch that finishes on a date with nobody to buy it is a costly one. Birds that wait longer than planned eat more feed, and a broiler that goes past its best weight starts to cost you without adding value. Before you hatch, know who will buy and on what date, and work backwards from there. Our flock size guide covers the same logic in more detail, and it is worth reading alongside this one.
| Mistake | What it does to your numbers | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Water runs out, especially at midday or overnight | Slower growth, more losses among the weak birds | Check water morning, midday and before dark; add drinkers for hot afternoons |
| House not ready when the box arrives | Chicks huddle, pile and chill in the first hours | Switch on the brooder a day early and check the heat at chick height |
| No weekly weighing | Slow birds are found at market, not in time to help them | Weigh a sample weekly at the same time of day and write it down |
| Dead birds not counted or recorded | A rising loss pattern goes unnoticed | Record each loss with the day and age; count every day |
| Vaccine record filed and forgotten | A follow-up dose is missed and protection has a gap | Keep the record to hand and confirm any further dose with a vet |
| Feed bought late or stored damp | Growth gaps and spoiled feed | Buy ahead, store dry and off the floor, track bags used each week |
| Mortality above the good range (3 to 5 per cent) | At 10 to 20 per cent, a 100-bird batch loses 10 to 20 birds | Look at the house, the water and the heat first, then ask for advice |
Water and the house. Make sure the drinkers are full and checked on a fixed routine, and that the brooder is switched on and warm a day before the chicks come. Those two steps prevent the losses that are hardest to recover from in the first week.
Some loss is part of any batch. Our figures put a well-managed flock at roughly 3 to 5 per cent, and a poorly managed one at 10 to 20 per cent. If your losses are above the good range, look at the house, the water and the heat before you conclude the chicks were weak.
Record it with the day and its age, and keep the count daily. If losses are rising, do not keep guessing. Call a vet or get advice from the relevant authority on what is happening and how to dispose of the birds safely.
Chicks that are dead on arrival are replaced free in the next hatch. Count them when the box opens, keep the box, and tell us as soon as you can.
Send the order form on our website, or call 024 915 1503. No payment is taken on the website, and an order starts with a message, not with money. We confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer.
If you have read this far, you already know which mistakes to plan around. Send the order form on our site or call 024 915 1503 with your breed and your number of boxes, and we will work out the hatch date with you. While you prepare the house, read our guide on how much water a broiler flock drinks by age, which will help you size the drinkers, and our note on why our chicks are vaccinated at hatch, so the record means something when you read it. When you are ready, the order page sets out the steps.
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.
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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.
