Most disease arrives on somebody's boots, so the routine at the gate does as much work as any vaccine.
Halaal Farms Ghana team18 August 2026 · 11 min read
Walk into almost any poultry house in Kasoa after a week of rain and look at the ground outside the door. You will usually find a wet patch of manure, a line of boot prints from everyone who came to look at the birds that morning, and possibly a dog asleep on the step. Most of that traffic came from somewhere else first.
Disease seldom arrives on its own. It rides on boots, crates, feed sacks, tyres and the hands of a visitor who was at another yard the day before. A foot dip at the door costs very little. It only works, though, when people use it properly and the solution is still strong enough to do its job when the boots step in.
This guide sets out how we run entry at our hatchery in Opeikuma and what we advise customers who are setting up a flock. It is about prevention and good habits. If birds are sick, call a vet first. Nothing here replaces a diagnosis.
Many keepers spend carefully on feed and vaccines, then let anybody walk straight into the house in the same boots they wore to the market. That is a bit like locking the front door and leaving the kitchen window open.
Vaccination matters a great deal. Every batch we hatch is vaccinated, and the vaccines cover five diseases. We tell you what was given with each batch so your records are right from the first day. But a vaccine protects the bird that receives it. It does not stop a new germ from landing on your floor and finding a bird that is not covered for it. Keeping outside material away from the flock is the other half of the job.
The two halves support each other. A flock under less pressure from outside material copes better with the stress of a new batch, a change of feed or a wet week than one that is constantly exposed.
Count what arrives on a farm in an ordinary week: the feed lorry driver, the man who collects empty crates, the neighbour who wants to see the chicks, the children who come to feed the dog, and the egg seller who returns for his tray. Each of them has been somewhere before they reached your gate.
Boots and bare feet carry the most. Manure is where the organisms that matter live and multiply, and a boot that looks clean on top can still hold enough of it to start trouble. Crates, egg trays, feed sacks and buckets come second, because they sit on the ground and travel from yard to yard. Vehicles come third, particularly tyres that have just come through another farm's dirt track.
Animals bring their share too. Dogs and cats that roam between compounds do not respect a fence that only comes up to the waist. Wild birds drop droppings into an open feed store, and rodents slip through gaps that nobody notices. Rodents have a guide of their own on this blog, and it is worth reading alongside this one.
The best routine is one that people do without thinking about it. Ours is short, because a long routine is the first thing dropped on a busy morning. Pin it up at the door, and go through it with every new worker in the first week.
The last step is the one people skip, and it is the one that helps most when a bird goes off feed. Tracing back the week before a problem is much easier when the book is honest.
Order matters too. Scrape and brush before dipping, because a dip covered in mud or manure loses its strength quickly. Hands come after boots, so you do not carry dirt from the yard to the tap and then back to the feed.
A boot station does not need to be expensive. What it needs is a fixed place, a firm surface and a sensible drain. Many yards we visit have the dip sitting on bare soil in the lowest corner, which means every rain sends water and muck straight into it. Put the station on a raised or hard surface, away from drains that run past the house.
Keep a stiff brush and a flat scraper hanging close by. A bucket of clean water helps with the first rinse, and a bin for used wrappers and rags keeps the yard tidy. Tidy yards get used properly. Untidy ones turn the entrance into a dumping ground.
The dip itself should be a shallow tray or trough wide enough that both feet can step fully into it. A narrow bowl that a boot only dips the toe into is almost decorative. Make sure the trough has a cover that fits, so rain and dust do not run it down when nobody is using it. Use the table below as a checklist for the yard walk, and copy it onto a board at the gate.
| Entry point | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Farm gate | Keep it shut, with a sign asking visitors to report first | Stops casual visits and stray animals |
| Vehicle parking | Park outside the yard; drivers stay at the gate unless needed | Keeps tyres and undercarriages away from the house |
| Boots and feet | Scrape, brush, then walk fully through the dip | The dip only works on a clean sole |
| Hands | Wash at the tap before touching feed, water or birds | Hands move material between houses quickly |
| House overalls | Keep a set for the house, washed and changed when dirty | Keeps outside dust out of the pens |
| Visitor book | Record name, origin and any poultry visited in the past few days | Lets you trace a problem back quickly |
Ask your supplier for a disinfectant labelled for use on poultry premises, and read the label before you buy. Several products on the shelves in Kasoa and Accra smell strong enough to convince you they work. Smell is not a test. Strength and contact time are what count, and both are printed on the label.
We will not give a mixing ratio in this guide. The right figure depends on the product, its concentration and how you use it, and a number copied from a blog can be wrong for the bottle in your hand. Follow the dilution on the label exactly. If you are unsure, ask the supplier or your district veterinary officer before you mix anything.
Three habits do more than the chemical itself:
Store the concentrate upright, closed and out of reach of children, and keep it well away from feed bags. A spilled bottle near the store is a problem you do not want to find by accident.
Each season tests the entry in its own way. In the rains the yard turns to soup, boots arrive heavy with mud, and water runs into the dip faster than anyone expects. Empty and refill it more often in these months, even if it was changed yesterday, and cover it whenever you are not using it.
The harmattan works the other way. Fine dust comes in off the Sahel and settles on everything, including the surface of the dip. Sweep the approach before the first visitor, wipe the outside of the trough, and remember that dust on a boot can carry as much as mud does.
Festive periods bring a third problem. Around Christmas and at Sallah, relatives, buyers and delivery drivers come and go more than usual, and people who are not used to your rules walk straight in. Put the sign up at the gate, have one worker stand at the yard entrance for the busiest hour, and keep the visitor book open on the table.
Vehicles need their own rule. Keep feed lorries and bird transport out of the house yard where you can, and let drivers wait at the gate. If a lorry must come in, have its tyres washed or hosed off first, and do not let the driver walk into the house to sign for anything.
Any visitor who has been to another poultry farm that same day should stay out of the house. Ask the question at the gate every time. It can feel awkward to ask a relative or a fellow keeper, but it is the most useful question on the form. If someone must go in, give them clean overalls and walk them through the house from the cleanest area to the dirtiest, never the other way round.
Staff follow the same rules. A worker who keeps chickens at home should change clothes before coming on shift, and should not carry eggs, birds or equipment from home onto the farm. Explain why the rule is there. People keep rules much better once they understand what the rule protects.
Training is what turns a rule into a habit. Show a new worker the boot station with your own hands, watch them do it once, and check again after a week. Repeat it at the start of each rainy season. A written sheet in English and in the language your workers speak at home works well, because it stays on the wall after the training is over.
Even a good routine misses things. A worker has an off day, rain fills a dip overnight, or a visitor forgets the question. What matters is how quickly you notice and respond.
If birds slow down, go quiet, huddle in corners or leave their feed, do not wait for the routine to catch up. Stop all visits to the house, check the water and feed, and call a vet or the district veterinary office the same day. If you see a sudden rise in deaths, or birds gasping and struggling for breath, treat it as urgent and report it to the veterinary services without delay. Report early, while the problem is still small.
Keep a record of what came in and when. When a vet asks what happened in the week before, a clear book is far more useful than memory. Dead birds should be handled as the vet advises, which usually means bagging, marking and removing them. Never leave them in the yard or near the water.
A small flock is still a flock, and small flocks are often the first to suffer when a neighbour's birds fall sick. You do not need a full gate system. A shallow tray at the door, clean boots and a rule that visitors stay out of the pen will do most of the work.
There is no single schedule that suits every yard. Change it when it looks dirty, when rain has diluted it, and at the start of any day with a lot of visitors. Chalk the date on a board so everyone can see when it was last done.
No. The two do different jobs. Vaccination protects the bird that receives it, while entry hygiene keeps outside material away from birds that are already protected. A flock needs both, and neither one fixes a poor routine on its own.
Ask them to wait at the gate. Most people respect a rule that is applied to everyone, family included. If a visitor will not follow the routine, they should not go into the house.
Stop visits, check the birds closely, and call your vet or the district veterinary officer the same day. Do not wait to see whether the birds pick up.
The easiest time to build an entry routine is before the first box comes off the lorry, when the yard is empty and nobody has got into the habit of walking straight in. Put up the boot station, the dip, the tray and the visitor book now. Then check our current prices for day-old chicks in Ghana, and send the order form on our order page or call us on 024 915 1503 to talk through your hatch date and delivery. We confirm the price, hatch date and delivery cost with you before any money changes hands. If your floors are wet and dirty, read our guide on litter and footpad health as well, because a poor floor and a poor entry routine tend to show up together.
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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