What a point-of-lay flock does in its first weeks on your farm, what is normal, and what to check each morning.
Halaal Farms Ghana team3 October 2026 · 11 min read
The first egg from a bought-in flock is rarely the one anyone photographs. It comes out small, sometimes with a soft or rough shell, and the nest box may stay empty for a day or two while the rest of the pen settles. Then one morning there are three eggs, and a few days later there are more. That climb is the thing to watch, and most of this guide is about keeping it steady.
Point of lay is the stage just before a pullet starts laying, or just after she has started. Buyers often treat it as a finish line, as if the birds arrive ready and the eggs follow the same afternoon. They do not. What you have bought is a young hen at the bottom of a laying curve, and that curve needs time, a quiet house and the right feed to climb.
What follows covers what the first weeks usually look like, what is normal, what is not, and what we suggest you check on the farm. We keep the numbers to what we can stand behind. Where a figure affects your budget, confirm it with us on the day you order.
Point-of-lay pullets are birds we sell at or just before their first egg. Our price list puts them in a range of GH₵1,000 to GH₵1,150, and that range is the first thing to confirm when you call. Ask whether the quote is for each bird or for a box on the day. A farmer who budgets on the wrong basis can run short before a single egg is sold.
Bringing in birds already at point of lay saves you the long rearing period. You do not spend months brooding, growing and feeding a flock that earns nothing yet. You pay for that saving at the start, and you also give up the chance to watch the birds grow, which means you know less about their early history. That trade is worth thinking through before you order. Our guide on whether to buy pullets or rear them sets the two routes side by side.
The breed matters too. Our imported brown layers include Hy-Line Brown, Hy-Line White, Bovans Brown and Lohmann Brown, and each one suits a different market and a different taste in eggs. Choose the breed for the customers you plan to sell to, not only for the price on the day.
Moving birds is the stress point, and most of the early trouble starts within a day or two of the move. The birds may have come by truck or by bus to a town outside Kasoa. Part of that journey was spent in a box, in dust and in heat. Then they meet new sheds, new people, a new water taste, new feeders and new light, all at once.
Prepare the house before the birds arrive. Set the nest boxes and clean them. Fill the feeders and drinkers, and check that the smallest birds can reach the water. Set the lights to the programme you plan to keep. Then keep the shed quiet. Do not spend the first morning moving things about, and do not let visitors crowd the pen, because a busy house stops birds from settling.
Water comes before feed. Birds off a long journey usually want to drink first, so make sure the water is clean and easy to reach. If you can, keep the water source the same as the one they came from for the first few days. A sudden change in taste can cut intake for a day or two, and a bird that is not drinking is the first warning you will get.
Walk the pen twice on the first day. Look for birds standing apart, birds that will not move when you approach, and birds gasping in the heat. A bird that stays off its feet, or sits hunched in a corner for long stretches, needs a closer look. Do not wait for the next morning to decide whether something is wrong.
This is where the first weeks look untidy. A few things are normal in a new laying flock, and a farmer who expects them will not panic over the first basket:
What is not normal is a flock that never reaches its pace, eggs that crack in the box most mornings, or birds that stop visiting the nests altogether. Those point to feed, calcium, heat, disease or a problem with the birds themselves. Check the simple things first, then call us or a vet if the picture does not improve.
Shell quality mostly comes down to calcium and grit. Our guide on calcium, grit and strong eggshells goes through the detail. In the first weeks, three questions cover most of it. Is calcium available to the birds at all times, on the side of the feed or in its own feeder? Is the bag in the shed the layer feed the flock is supposed to be on? Are the birds picking up grit when they need it?
Do not change feed on the day the birds arrive. If they came to you on a grower or developer feed, keep that feed for the first days so their digestion is not asked to adjust twice in one week. Then move onto layer feed on a plan, not because a bag is open and you want to finish it.
The reason the switch matters is calcium. Layer feed carries more calcium than grower feed, because a laying hen needs it to build an eggshell every day. A young bird still finishing its growth does not need that much, and too much calcium too early is wasted or can cause problems. A hen that stays on grower feed too long, on the other hand, can lay late and produce weaker shells. Read the bag. The label names the stage it is made for and lists what is in it. Our guide on reading a poultry feed label in Ghana explains the terms in plain language.
Money is another reason to be steady. A 50 kg bag broadly sells for GH₵400 to GH₵470 depending on brand and season. Spread over 50 kg, that is roughly GH₵8 to GH₵9.40 a kilo before transport, and feed is more than half of what a poultry farm spends. A feed change made on impulse, or a switch back and forth because a new brand appeared on the shelf, will cost more than the cheaper bag saves.
Weigh the bags you open and keep a note of how long each one lasts in the shed. Feed that runs out early tells you something, whether it is waste, spillage, birds eating more than you expected or a leak in the store. A plan you can check against real numbers is far more useful than one written from memory.
Keep the light programme steady. Changing the hours every few days confuses a laying flock. Ghana sits close to the equator, so the day length does not swing much through the year, and you have less to adjust than a farmer in a temperate country. The bigger lighting problem here is the power itself. A house that goes dark for a long stretch at the wrong time of day can stop laying for a while, and a flock disturbed at night can lose its routine.
Plan for the cuts. Know how long your light and drinkers can run on backup, and decide who on the farm will check the house when the power goes off. Our guide on a simple lighting programme for layers in Ghana covers the set-up and what to do about the gaps.
Nest boxes should be dark, clean and ready before the first egg. A pen without clean, dark boxes teaches the birds to lay on the floor, and then you spend weeks collecting dirty eggs. Clear droppings out of the boxes every morning. Do not let birds roost inside them at night, because they soil the boxes and make collection harder. Our guide on nest boxes that layers actually use goes further into box design.
In the first weeks a short morning routine tells you more than any chart. Walk the house before you do anything else. Count the eggs, look at the shells, check the water and feed, and watch how the birds move. Write the numbers down. The table below is the list we give farmers who buy from us, with the signs to look at first.
| Check | What normal looks like | What to do if it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Egg count | Rising from day to day, though not every bird lays every day | Flat or falling for several days: check feed, water, light and the birds |
| Shell quality | Mostly firm, with some small or rough eggs early on | Many cracked or soft eggs: check calcium and grit |
| Water intake | Steady, with drinkers reachable by every bird | Sudden drop: check heat, blocked or low drinkers and the water taste |
| Feed in troughs | Eaten through the day with little left in the morning | Feed left over each morning: check the feed type, mould, damp and pests |
| Behaviour | Birds moving, feeding and using the nests | Hunched birds, birds standing apart or birds laying on the floor: check the bird and the nests, and call us or a vet |
| Nest boxes | Used by most birds and kept clean | Eggs on the floor or dirty boxes: clean the boxes, then check light and bedding |
A morning with one flat count is not a crisis. Look at the trend across a week. If the line is going the right way, carry on with the routine. If it is going down, work through the table from the top and change only one thing at a time, so you know what made the difference.
The season you arrive in shapes the first weeks. A flock that comes in during the hot part of the year has to settle while the shed is hot in the afternoons. Shade, moving air and clean water do more for it than any extra feed. Watch for birds panting with their wings held away from the body, and for a drop in water use, because heat stress often shows up first as less drinking.
The harmattan brings its own problems. Dry, dusty air and cold nights make breathing trouble more likely, and a closed shed builds up ammonia from the litter. Do not seal the house. Protect the sides from the wind, but leave enough airflow to clear the smell and the dust. Our guide on keeping layers laying through the heat has the hot-season detail, and much of it applies to the early weeks too.
Call the farm if a bird is behaving in a way you cannot explain, or if the egg count and the feed do not add up. We will talk you through what to look at and what to change. Call a vet if birds are dying, if several birds stop eating on the same day, or if the flock changes quickly. A small change from one day to the next is usually not a crisis. A flock that loses its pace over a few days, or birds that die in the pen, need an answer that same day.
Mortality is a useful yardstick. The general Ghana benchmark is about 3 to 5 per cent for a well-managed flock, and 10 to 20 per cent for a poorly managed one. Those are benchmarks, not promises. They are also not a reason to shrug off a few birds going down on the same morning. Count them, note the cause if you can find one, and bring that record to the call.
It depends on the breed, the feed they came on, the house and the weather. Expect the count to rise over a period rather than jump to full production in a day. The breed guide and your own daily count will tell you more than any general figure, and we are happy to talk through the breed you chose.
Early eggs are small because the laying system is still settling. Size should grow through the first weeks. If the eggs stay small for a long time, check the feed, the birds' condition and water intake, then send us a message about the flock.
No. Keep the feed they came on for the first days so the birds are not asked to adjust twice. Then move to layer feed on a plan, reading the bag for the stage it is made for.
Our minimum for day-old chicks is one box of 50. For point-of-lay birds, ask us on the day you order which quantity and unit apply, and confirm the price before you pay.
An order starts with a message, not with money. Send the order form on our site, or call 024 915 1503 and tell us the breed, the number of birds and the town you are delivering to. Before you pay, we confirm the price, the date and the delivery cost. You can pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer. We do not take payment on the website.
If you are still deciding between buying birds at point of lay and rearing your own, read Point-of-Lay Pullets: Buy Them or Rear Them? If you want the feed planned from the start, Feeding Layers From Chick to First Egg sets out the stages. Our guide to calcium and shell quality covers the eggs themselves, and current prices are on our price page.
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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