A broiler batch spends six to seven weeks costing you money before a single bird sells. Plan the gap on paper before it reaches your account.
Halaal Farms Ghana team16 July 2026 · 11 min read
A broiler batch takes six to seven weeks to reach market, and for all of that time the money only goes one way. The chicks are paid for before they leave the box. The feed bags arrive every week. The first cedi from a bird comes at the very end. Most farmers who get into trouble are not losing money on the birds. They run out of cash in week four, when the sale is still two or three weeks away.
This article is about the gap between spending and selling. We will go through what goes out, when it goes out, and how to see the gap on paper before it arrives in your account. The figures here are illustrative. Use them to build your own sheet, then replace every number with what you actually pay in your own town.
Start with the timing, not the total. A box of 50 day-old broiler chicks is paid for before any of them grows a feather. From the figures we quote, Ross 308 and Cobb 500 chicks start from GH₵20 each, which is GH₵1,000 for a box of 50. That price is a starting point. Confirm today's price with us when you order, because it changes with the season and the import cost.
Feed comes next, and it keeps coming. Feed is more than half of what a broiler costs you. It is bought in 50 kg bags, and a bag of poultry feed sits broadly between GH₵400 and GH₵470, depending on the brand and the season. The bag you buy in the first week is not the last one you will pay for. You will be back at the feed store every week until the birds go to market.
Keep money owed separate from money earned. If a buyer promises to pay after the sale, treat that money as not yet in your hand. Put it in the calendar only on the day it arrives, or you will plan next week's feed around cash that has not come.
Then there are the costs people forget, because they do not come in a bag or a box. Litter, electricity for the brooder lamp, water, cleaning materials, medicines, and the fuel for every trip to town. None of these is large on its own. Together they arrive at the same time as the feed, so they put pressure on the same account.
Lay out the batch on a calendar before you buy anything. Write each week in its own row, then fill in what leaves your pocket that week. For a broiler batch the pattern usually looks like this:
When you see this on paper, the trouble shows up in the weeks before the sale. Week four is where most people feel it, because the feed bill is growing and the birds are still a month from market value. If the calendar shows a negative balance in week four, you know now, when you still have time to act.
Here is a rough example for one box of 50 Ross 308 chicks. It uses the from-price of GH₵1,000 for the box and the feed planning figure of about 4.2 kg per bird to market. Treat it as a method, not a forecast. Your house, your weather and your management will move every number.
| Cost line | How it is worked out | Illustrative amount (GH₵) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 day-old chicks | One box, from the list price. Confirm today's price. | From 1,000 |
| Feed to market | 50 birds x about 4.2 kg = about 210 kg, which is about 4.2 bags of 50 kg at GH₵400 to GH₵470 | About 1,680 to 1,975 |
| Subtotal before the rest | Chicks plus feed only | About 2,680 to 2,975 |
| Litter, power, water, cleaning, medicines, transport | Your own receipts. Add them in from your records. | Your figure |
| Birds lost in a well-managed house | 3 to 5 percent of 50 is about 2 to 3 birds. Each chick is GH₵20 at the from-price. | About 40 to 60 in chicks, before feed |
| Birds lost in a poorly managed house | 10 to 20 percent of 50 is about 5 to 10 birds | About 100 to 200 in chicks, before feed |
Read the last two rows carefully. A loss of 5 birds at 10 percent is not a small thing. Those are five chicks you paid for and will never sell, and the feed they ate is gone too. The gap between a well-managed house and a poorly managed one can easily be the gap between a profit and a loan. That is why the cash calendar and the mortality record belong in the same notebook.
Keep the subtotal in view. Before labour, litter, power and transport, one box of 50 can cost you somewhere near GH₵2,700 to GH₵3,000 in the first seven weeks, using the figures above. If you only budget for the chicks, you will be short every time.
You do not need software for this. A school exercise book and a pencil will do. Here is the method we would use on our own books:
Keep your feed records alongside the cash page. If you know how much feed each week really took, the feed line becomes accurate. The guide on record-keeping with a simple notebook shows the layout we find easiest to keep up.
Sometimes the calendar shows a gap you cannot close. Before you borrow, check these options in order.
Borrowing is not wrong in itself, but borrow against a known repayment date. Money from a relative with no date attached often becomes the most stressful part of the batch.
The sale date controls when the cash comes back. Christmas, Easter and the big religious festivals push demand for birds up, and the calendar for your batch should aim for that window if your market supports it. Our guide on planning your batches around the festive calendar works through the dates.
Do not plan around a festive price you have not seen. Ask your buyers what they paid last year, check what the market is asking now, and keep a margin for a bad week. A sale that slips by one week can push a loan from one week to three.
Harmattan is also a factor. Cooler, dusty weeks change how much the birds eat and how fast they grow, so the feed line can move even if the plan stays the same. The guide on how weather changes feed and water needs covers what to expect from one season to the next.
Three mistakes come up again and again. The first is treating the chick price as the whole cost. The second is buying all the feed for the batch on the first day, then having nothing for the medicines. The third is counting birds as money before they are sold. A bird in the house is an asset only in the sense that someone may buy it. Plan as if the sale has not happened until the cash is in your hand.
Price changes need the same treatment. When the feed price moves between batches, put the new figure into the next batch's column, not the one you are already running. A batch planned on last month's bag price is the one that surprises you in week five. Use the bags you actually bought in your records, not the number you planned to pay.
Write your figures down. The notebook is not there to impress anyone. It is there so that in week four you already know what week six will cost.
The fact pack does not set a reserve figure, so work it out from your own sheet. A sensible starting point is the cost of your next box of chicks plus two weeks of feed for the current flock. Adjust it once you have a full batch of real records.
Payment is by cash, mobile money or bank transfer, and nothing is paid on the website. Before you pay, we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost. If you need a payment arrangement, raise it when you order so it is clear before the hatch date is fixed.
Chicks that are dead on arrival are replaced free in the next hatch. Keep the box and tell us when you receive it, so the replacement can be arranged.
Sometimes, but only if the rest of the flock can still grow to its target weight. Selling early without a plan can leave the remaining birds underweight and harder to sell. Check the thinning guide first.
When your cash calendar balances, the next step is the order. Send the order form on our site or call 024 915 1503. An order starts with a message, not with money. We confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay, and you can pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer. For the current figures, see the day-old chicks price list, and read how to order day-old chicks for the steps. For the full cost breakdown of a batch, the guide on costing a broiler batch line by line goes further. 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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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.
