Weighing only helps if the birds come through it calm. Here is how to get a real number from your flock without upsetting the house.
Halaal Farms Ghana team21 May 2026 · 11 min read
The hardest part of weighing broilers is not the scale. It is getting birds onto it without leaving half the flock panting, bunched in a corner and off its feed for the rest of the day. A weight that stresses the flock is a bad trade, so the job is to get a real number while disturbing the birds as little as you can.
A broiler is meant to reach market weight at around six to seven weeks, and on a well-run farm the bird takes roughly 4.2 kg of feed to get there. Those are useful figures, but they do not tell you how your own flock is doing. Only a weight does that. It tells you whether the batch is on the curve you planned, whether one part of the house is lagging, and whether the feed you are paying for is turning into bodyweight.
Targets differ by strain. We import Ross 308 and Cobb 500, and the target weights for each change with the age of the flock. Ask us for the current figures before you judge your birds against them, because the target and your house conditions both matter. We will not guess a number for you here.
Very little. A hanging spring scale that will take the weight of a loaded crate with room to spare, a clean crate or bucket that you weigh empty first, a helper who can hold the scale steady and read it out, and a notebook or tally sheet. A bathroom scale is not built for a moving crate, and it will not give you a number you can trust.
Check the scale before you need it. Hang something solid and clean of known weight and see whether the reading matches. Do this on a day when you are not in a hurry, so that the test is honest.
This is the method that disturbs the birds least. You do not handle each bird on the scale. Instead you weigh a crate of birds and divide.
Start by weighing the empty crate and writing the number down. Then, in a quiet corner, put a group of birds in the crate gently, a few at a time, so none is crushed. Lift the crate and weigh it again. Subtract the empty weight from the full one. That gives you the total weight of the birds in the crate. Divide by the number of birds in it, and you have the average for that group.
Keep the crate light enough to lift and the group small enough that the birds do not pile up. Weigh the same type of crate every time, and use the same method every week, so the numbers can be compared. A change in method is a change in the number, and it can look like growth when it is only a new habit.
An average taken from one corner tells you about one corner. Take birds from several parts of the house: near the drinkers, the middle, the door end and the back wall, where weaker birds often gather. Do not go for the biggest birds, and do not go for the smallest either. You are looking for what is typical, with a note of what sits at the edges.
Use the same spots each week, so that a change over time means the birds have changed and not the places you picked. Record the number of birds weighed, the average, and the range between the lightest and heaviest in your sample. A flock that is very uneven is telling you something about feed access, crowding or drinker height, even when the average looks fine.
Pick a cool hour and keep to it. Early in the morning, or later in the afternoon once the heat has dropped, is better than the middle of a hot day, when birds are panting and reluctant to move. In the harmattan, cold mornings can make the birds huddle and the house can be dusty, so give them a little time to settle before you start.
Note whether the birds had just eaten. A bird with a full crop weighs more than one that has been off feed for a few hours, and that is a real difference, not an error. Keep the same timing each week, so that a difference between weeks is about the birds and not the clock.
Avoid weighing in the rain. Wet feathers add weight, crates get slippery, and birds that are soaked do not feed well afterwards. Wait for a dry day, even if that means a day later than planned.
Catch in low light if you can, and do not chase. Chasing a bird around a house raises its stress and its body temperature, and birds that have been chased often go off feed for a while. Move slowly. Go to the birds, crouch low and let them come towards you.
When you pick a bird up, hold it with both hands, one around the body with the wings folded in, and the other supporting the legs. Carry it upright, not hanging by the legs, and keep it close to your body so it feels settled. Put it in the crate gently. Do not throw, drop or stuff birds in, and do not let one bird sit on top of another.
Work in the shade where you can, and keep the crates out of the sun. Return the birds to the house quickly after weighing. A flock that is weighed and put back fast is usually feeding again within the hour. A flock that is left in crates for half the morning is not.
Take out any bird that is clearly sick, lame or weak, and handle it on its own. Do not weigh it with the healthy birds, because it will pull the average down and tell you about one bird, not the flock.
The first few times you use the crate method, expect it to take longer than you think. Once you have done it a few times, it goes quickly and the birds settle faster too. Do not rush the first weigh-in to save time. A slow, careful session on a cool morning gives you a number you can trust, which is worth more than a quick guess taken in the heat.
Sometimes the scale is broken, or it is at the other end of the district, and you need a rough idea today. Pick up a few birds, one at a time, and feel the breast and the keel bone. A bird that is filled out across the breast is doing well. A bird with a sharp keel and little meat on it is behind. Compare birds from different corners and look for a pattern.
Hand feel is a rough guide. It will tell you that a flock is well behind, or that one corner is struggling. It will not tell you the weight a buyer will pay for. Use it to decide whether you need a proper weigh this week, not as the figure you write in the record.
The table below compares the usual ways of checking weight. Most growers use the crate method every week and rely on hand feel in between.
| Method | What you need | What it tells you | Stress on the birds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crate and hanging scale | Scale, empty crate, one helper | Average weight of the group, good for trend | Low, when birds go in quietly |
| Individual sample weighing | Hanging scale and a light sling or bag | The spread of weights inside the flock | Higher, since each bird is handled |
| Hand feel | Your hands and your experience | A rough sense of who is behind | Low, brief handling |
| Weighing at the buyer's | The buyer's scale | The figure the sale is based on | Depends on loading and waiting time |
Every weigh-in goes in the record the same day: the date, the time, the number of birds weighed, the average, the range, the part of the house, and anything you noticed while handling. Add the feed batch in use and any recent change to water, ventilation or medicine. A number with no context is hard to act on a month later.
When the average falls behind your target, do not start changing everything at once. Check the basics first: feed access and the feed batch, water flow and drinker height, house temperature and ventilation, and any rise in deaths. Make one change, then weigh again in a week. Changing several things at once tells you nothing about which one helped, and it leaves you guessing next time.
Over a batch, the record becomes the most useful thing on the farm. Put the weigh-ins side by side and you can see whether the flock is catching up, falling away, or running to the same curve as last time. That comparison is worth more than any single figure, and it is the basis for decisions on sale timing, thinning and feed.
Often enough to catch a problem early, and rarely enough that the birds are not stressed by it. Many growers weigh a sample each week. The early check in the first weeks is covered in our day-seven weight check guide, which is a good place to start.
Usually not. A sample average tells you how the flock is progressing, and the buyer will weigh or judge the birds at the point of sale. Agree in advance how the sale will be weighed, so nobody is surprised on the day.
Give them time in the shade with clean water, check the drinkers, and look at the birds closely the next morning. Do not weigh the same flock again that day unless you have to.
Low light helps you catch them calmly. The weighing itself needs enough light to read the scale accurately. Keep the crate in the shade, read the scale quickly and get the birds back in the house.
A good weigh-in plan starts before the birds arrive. Our day-seven weight check shows how an early sample can predict how the batch will finish, and the catching and loading guide covers the morning you take the birds out. If the flock is ahead or behind and you need to decide what to do with part of it, the thinning guide sets out the options.
When you are ready to start the next batch, look at our current price list, then send the order form on the site or call 024 915 1503. Email support@halaalfarmsghana.com if you prefer. We confirm the price, hatch date and delivery cost before any money changes hands.
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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