A treatment record is the only proof you have when a buyer asks what a bird was given. Here is a layout that holds up.
Halaal Farms Ghana team25 August 2026 · 10 min read
Three questions come up when a buyer or a processor is standing at the gate. What did you give the birds? When did you give it? Can I see the pack? If you can answer all three in under a minute, the sale goes on. If you cannot, the birds may stay on the farm, however well they look.
This guide is about the paper and the habits that answer those questions. It does not repeat our withdrawal guide, which explains what the withdrawal period is and why it matters. This one shows you how to keep the record that proves you followed it, for every product, on every batch, without a long ledger or a spreadsheet you will never open.
A buyer does not want a lecture on how medicines work. They want to know that a bird is safe to eat and that you know what happened on your farm. A clear record gives them both. It also protects you if a sale is questioned later, by a buyer, a processor, an inspector or yourself, when you are trying to remember a date from six weeks back.
Memory fails in a predictable way. You remember the bad week, not the day you gave the second dose. You remember the product name you were told, not the one printed on the pack. A record written on the day is the only version of events that does not change with the telling.
Keep one line per event. An event is any treatment, any vaccine, any feed or water additive, and any bird that was culled or set apart for treatment. Write each line the same way every time, so you can read the whole page in a few seconds. The table below lists the fields we would not do without.
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Day, month and year of the event | 3 October 2026 |
| Batch | The flock or house the birds belong to | Batch 2, house A |
| Product | The name exactly as printed on the pack | Copied from the label, not from memory |
| Pack batch number | The manufacturer's batch code printed on the pack | The code on the box or bottle |
| Route | Feed, drinking water, injection or another route | Drinking water, all birds in the house |
| Reason | The sign that led to the treatment | Several birds with swollen feet |
| Birds treated | How many birds, or which pen | 12 birds in pen 3 |
| Given by | Who gave it, so the line has an owner | Owner, or the worker on duty |
| Withdrawal period | The number of days on the label, or the figure your vet gave | As printed; confirm with the vet |
| Earliest sale date | Last dose date plus the withdrawal period | Worked out the same day |
Write the earliest sale date at the moment you write the treatment, not later. If the withdrawal period is not on the label, do not guess. Ask your vet, write their answer in the record with the date you asked, and leave the sale date blank until you have it.
The best record is the one written standing beside the birds, while the packet is still in your hand. Keep a pen and a notebook where the medicine is kept, and make it a rule that no product leaves the store cupboard without a line in the book. Tying the pen to the notebook with string sounds silly until the pen goes missing for a week.
Write in ink. Pencil smudges and gets rubbed out. Do not use the back of a feed bag or a loose sheet that will blow away when you open the house door. A bound notebook with numbered pages costs less than the mistake it prevents.
If you miss a day, write the date you are writing, the date of the event and the word "late" beside it. An honest late entry is better than a neat one filled in afterwards from memory. A buyer will trust a record that shows a few corrections far more than one that looks too perfect to be true.
Keep the pack, or a clear photo of its front and its leaflet, until the flock is sold and the record has been checked. Take the photo the day you open the pack, not later. Note the pack batch number in your record, because that is the number the manufacturer and your vet will use if there is ever a question about the product.
Store each product in the box it came in, with the label facing out, and keep it away from the feed store and the chicks. Mixed-up bottles cause more errors than wrong doses do. A bottle with no label does not get used. Ask the shop to take it back or dispose of it safely.
Check every pack against the record once a week. Look for a product that has run out without a line in the book, a line in the book for a product you cannot find, and any pack past its date. Fix the gap that week, while you still remember the story.
A treatment record that ignores the feed is only half a record. A withdrawal question can turn on a medicated feed that went into the house weeks earlier, and the buyer will ask about it. Keep these in the same book, in the same format, so you can read the batch from start to finish.
For the vaccination side in more detail, read how to keep vaccination dates. The two records should agree with each other, and when they do not, the vet will want to know why.
Work out the earliest sale date as soon as the withdrawal period is known. Write it on the front page of the book, next to the batch name, so it is visible every time you open it. Then check it twice: once when you write the treatment, and once a few days before the planned sale, against the pack and the record. A date that lives only in your head is the one that gets missed.
When a bird is in treatment, mark it in the house with a coloured band or mark its pen, and keep it out of the sale pile. The mark is a reminder to you, not a substitute for the record. Remove it only when the record says the period has ended.
A short sale check should cover four lines: the batch name, the last treatment date, the earliest sale date, and the number of birds going to sale against the number still inside a window. If any line is blank, the birds stay.
A record is only useful if you can read it months later. In the wet season, damp gets into everything, and a notebook left in a store can swell and go mouldy before the flock is sold. In the harmattan, fine dust settles on the pages. Keep the book in a plastic bag or box, on a shelf above floor level, away from the feed and away from the rodents that come with it. Our note on rodents and feed covers the store side of that problem.
Take a photo of every page at the end of each batch, and keep the photos on your phone and in a second place. If the book is lost or damaged, the photos are the next best thing. They are a backup, though, not the record. The record is the ink on the page you wrote at the time.
When the batch is sold and the sale check is done, keep the book. Keep it until your buyer and your vet no longer need it, and longer if you are not sure. A simple book on a shelf is worth more than any tidy system you set up and stop using after a month.
Do not guess. Ask your vet, or the shop that sold the product, to give you the label information in writing, or to show you the leaflet. Write the date you asked and leave the earliest sale date blank until you have a confirmed figure. The birds stay on the farm until then.
Yes. A treated bird that died still belongs in the record, with the date and the cause if known. It is part of the story of the batch, and it helps your vet spot patterns across the house.
A clear photo of the front and the leaflet is a strong backup, and it is worth taking on the day you open the pack. It does not replace the line in your book, because phones get lost, cracked and wet, and the book does not run out of battery.
Keep them until your buyer and your vet no longer need them, and for longer if there is any question about the batch. A book kept on a dry shelf costs very little to store, and it is the first thing you will reach for when someone asks.
A clean record is easiest to keep when the batch starts on firm dates. If you are planning your next batch, send the order form on our site, call 024 915 1503, or email support@halaalfarmsghana.com. We confirm the price, hatch date and delivery cost before any payment, and a chick that arrives dead is replaced free in the next hatch. An order starts with a message, not with money.
Before the first treatment, read our guide to withdrawal before you sell and the simple farm records that pay, so the book is set up before you need it. Once the chicks are in, the order page explains each step from 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.
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