Mixing your own broiler feed can cut the bill, but only if you weigh every ingredient, check every lot and watch the birds.
Halaal Farms Ghana team2 June 2026 · 11 min read
Feed is more than half of what it costs to grow a broiler, so it is the first place a careful grower looks for a saving. A 50 kg bag of ready-made feed sits broadly between GH₵400 and GH₵470, depending on brand and season. Mixing your own can bring that cost down, but only if you count everything: ingredients, transport, your time, the risk of a bad lot and the cost of a flock that grows slowly.
This guide walks through a simple broiler mix that a small farm can make by hand. It covers what goes in, how to weigh and blend it, how to check it against the birds, and when to stop mixing and buy ready feed instead. It does not give a proprietary formula. The exact protein and energy levels for your strain should come from your feed supplier or a poultry nutritionist, and any change to a live flock should be confirmed with your vet.
The honest answer depends on the size of your flock and the quality of your store. A grower with a few hundred birds, a dry room for the ingredients and a notebook to record what goes in can often make a saving. A grower with a damp store, no scale and no time to blend properly will usually spend more than the ready feed would have cost, and the birds will show it in their weights.
For a first batch, ready feed is the safer choice. Many growers mix for one batch, weigh the birds against a batch on ready feed, and then decide. That way the birds tell you whether the mix works, not your hopes or the seller's promises.
A broiler needs energy, protein, minerals and vitamins. Energy usually comes from maize, with a smaller share of wheat bran or another light fibre source. Protein comes from soya meal, with a smaller share of fishmeal if you can get it clean and low in salt. Minerals and vitamins come from a premix bought from a reputable supplier, and the premix label tells you the dose for each tonne or each bag. Read it and follow it.
Keep the list short. The more ingredients you add, the harder it is to be sure of what the birds eat each day, and the harder it is to trace a problem back to its cause. A simple mix with good, dry, tested ingredients is easier to control than a long list of local materials you cannot check.
Do not add amino acids, feed enzymes or medicines to the mix on your own. Those are where a little guesswork does real harm. If your birds need them, a nutritionist or your vet should set the dose and tell you how to blend it in. Our guide on withdrawal periods explains why medicines in feed need a clear end date before birds go to market.
Broilers change quickly. A chick needs dense, finely ground feed in the first weeks, when its gut is small and its protein needs are high. As it grows, the mix can get coarser and lower in protein, and the finisher feed brings the birds to weight without waste. Our article on broiler feed phases goes through these stages in more detail.
You do not need three separate mixes if your flock is small, but the protein should come down as the birds age, and the way you feed should change with them. Most growers switch in steps over a few days, so the birds do not refuse a sudden change. The exact age points and protein levels depend on the strain and the conditions in your house, so confirm them with your supplier or vet before you set up your mixing schedule.
The mixing itself is simple. Most of the mistakes happen in the weighing and the blending, so take those two jobs seriously.
Hand mixing is slower than a machine, but it works well for small batches. The main risk is an uneven blend, where some birds get a richer feed than others. The colour check and the weight checks on the birds will tell you whether the mix is working. A flock with a wide spread of weights is often a feeding problem, and our guide on broiler uniformity explains how to read it.
A well-managed broiler reaches market at around 4.2 kg of feed per bird, over six to seven weeks. That figure is a planning guide, not a promise, but it lets you work out how much feed a batch will need, what it should cost and whether your mix is wasting feed. The table works through a batch of 50 chicks, using the bag prices above. Treat every number as an estimate that assumes the birds that reach market eat the average amount.
| Batch check | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Feed needed for 50 birds to market | 50 × 4.2 kg | 210 kg |
| Number of 50 kg bags | 210 ÷ 50 | 4.2 bags |
| Feed cost at GH₵400 to GH₵470 a bag | 4.2 × GH₵400 to 4.2 × GH₵470 | about GH₵1,680 to GH₵1,974 |
| Feed cost per bird started (50 birds) | GH₵1,680 ÷ 50 to GH₵1,974 ÷ 50 | about GH₵33.60 to GH₵39.50 |
| Birds left at 5% mortality | 50 × 0.95 | 47.5, so about 48 birds |
| Feed cost per bird reaching market at 5% mortality | GH₵1,680 ÷ 47.5 to GH₵1,974 ÷ 47.5 | about GH₵35.40 to GH₵41.60 |
| Birds left at 10% mortality | 50 × 0.90 | 45 birds |
| Feed cost per bird reaching market at 10% mortality | GH₵1,680 ÷ 45 to GH₵1,974 ÷ 45 | about GH₵37.30 to GH₵43.90 |
Read the table with a clear head. A 5 per cent loss barely moves the feed bill, but it changes the cost of every bird that reaches the scale. Poor management, with losses of 10 to 20 per cent, means you are paying for feed that never turns into a bird you can sell. Use 3 to 5 per cent as the benchmark for a well-managed flock, and compare your own numbers against it at the end of every batch.
The only way to know your real feed figure is to record it. Note the bags you put in, the birds you started with, the birds you sold and the weight at sale. After two or three batches you will know whether 4.2 kg is your number or whether your birds, your house and your mix need a different figure.
A mix can look right on paper and still underperform. Weigh a sample of birds every week, and do it the same way each time. Pick ten birds at random, weigh them one at a time and write the figures down. The average tells you about growth, and the spread tells you about uniformity. A wide spread usually means the feed is not reaching every bird equally, or that the house has problems with crowding or water.
Look at the droppings and the litter too. Droppings that change suddenly in colour or texture after a change of feed are a reason to slow the switch and call your vet. Water intake matters as well, and our guide on water intake by age shows what to expect as the birds grow.
If the weights fall behind and the mix has not changed, check the stock. Feed that has been stored a long time, or that sits near rats, can lose quality without any obvious sign. Our article on storing feed to stop spoilage covers how to keep bags in good condition from the day they arrive.
Most home-mix problems come from a short list of habits, and they are easy to avoid once you know them.
Mixing is not a badge of honour. Stop mixing for a batch if the weights have fallen behind for two checks in a row and you cannot find the cause, if the local ingredients cannot be had at a steady quality, or if the time it takes is costing you sales or sleep. Buying a bag or two of ready feed for one batch is a sensible way to compare. Keep the records for both, and let the birds decide.
A well-managed broiler reaches market at around 4.2 kg of feed over six to seven weeks, which is the figure we use for planning. Your own number depends on strain, weather and management, so record your feed and sales for every batch and use your own result.
Usually not. Protein and texture need to change as the birds age, and most growers switch in steps. Confirm the change points for your strain with your supplier or vet before you set up the schedule.
Buy from a reputable feed supplier, follow the dose on the label, and ask them to confirm it suits broilers. Keep the bag sealed and dry, and log every batch you use.
Slow the switch and go back a step for a few days. Before you blame the birds, smell the feed, check for damp and dust, and look for signs of rancidity in the bran. Refusal is often the first sign of a feed problem.
A home mix only works as well as the birds in the house, so start with good chicks. Send the order form on our site or call 024 915 1503, and tell us the batch size and the date you need. An order starts with a message, not with money. We confirm the price, hatch date and delivery cost before you pay, and you can pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer. The minimum order is one box of 50 chicks, and chicks dead on arrival are replaced free in the next hatch.
Once the chicks are settled, the feed guide for 100 broilers will help you plan the bags. The broiler chick page sets out the breeds we supply, and how to order day-old chicks walks you through the steps from first message to delivery.
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.
