The brooder, water, feed and records to have ready before the box opens, and the bigger purchases that can safely wait until after the first week.
Halaal Farms Ghana team22 July 2026 · 10 min read
The box comes off the vehicle, and within the hour the chicks need warmth, clean water and a dry floor. Whatever you have not bought or set up by then, you will be buying in a hurry, and hurried buying is how a first week goes wrong. This guide works through the list in the order you will need it, so that the things that matter most are in place before the box is opened.
We hatch, vaccinate, box and deliver the chicks, so the list here is everything on your side of the gate. You do not need an incubator for a first batch. You do need a house that is ready, a heat source you can control, and a few plain tools that cost far less than the birds they serve.
Picture the moment the box opens. The chicks are a day old, they have been on the road, and they will be looking for warmth and water. If the brooder is cold, they huddle and pile up. If the water is out of reach, they do not drink enough in the first hours. If the floor is damp, they chill. Each of those problems is cheap to prevent on the day before the chicks come and expensive to fix on the day after.
So the test for your list is simple. Ask whether the brooder can be switched on, warmed and checked before the box comes in. Ask whether clean water and feed can be put within a few steps of the heat. Ask whether a dry floor with litter is down. If any of those is still a plan rather than a fact, you are not ready, and it is better to delay the collection by a day than to receive the chicks into a house that is not prepared.
Start with the house. Clear out the old litter, sweep, wash the walls and the floor, and let everything dry. Disinfect after you wash, not instead of washing. A disinfectant cannot work on a floor covered in old droppings, and a damp room will undo the good work in a few days. Check the roof for leaks, the walls for gaps, and the floor for holes that rats or snakes could use. A first batch lost to a rat is a lesson nobody wants to pay for.
For litter, use whatever is dry, clean and available near you. Wood shavings, rice husk and dry sawdust are all used in Ghana, and each has its own habits. Spread it evenly and deep enough that the floor does not show cold patches. Keep it dry. Wet litter in the rains smells, breeds problems and gets into the feed and water. Turn it or replace the wet patches as you see them, and do not wait for the whole floor to go bad.
Set up a chick guard or a ring around the brooder for the first days. It keeps the chicks close to the heat and the feed, and stops them wandering into cold corners. Take it away once the birds are confident and spread out. Watch them rather than the calendar, because a chick that is spreading across the house is telling you the house is warm enough.
The brooder is the item most first-timers underbuy. You need a heat source that you can switch on, adjust and see working, a thermometer that sits at chick height rather than on the wall, and a plan for the nights when the power goes. Power cuts happen, and a brooder that works only while the mains are on will fail on the night you most need it.
We are not going to give you a temperature here. The right warmth depends on your house, the age of the birds and the weather that week, and a number printed in an article will not know any of those things. Ask us for the brooding schedule that goes with your batch, and check it against what the chicks do. Chicks that crowd under the heat source are cold. Chicks that stand far from it and pant are too warm. Chicks spread evenly around the brooder are usually comfortable.
Plan for the power cut before it happens. A lamp with a generator on standby, or a battery backup for the lighting, is a practical answer. Our incubator backup guide goes through how to think about the same problem for eggs, and the logic carries over to a brooder. Know where your fuel or charging point is, and test the backup on a dry run before the chicks arrive.
Chicks have to find water and feed in the first hours, and they need to find them without climbing or wading. Use small drinkers at the start, placed close to the heat and to the feed, and put them on a flat base so that the water does not go into the litter. Once the birds are bigger, move up to larger drinkers and feeders, and spread them around the house so that no bird has to fight for a place.
Water is the first thing to check each time you come in. A drinker that runs dry for a few hours in the heat costs more than the cedis you save by not topping it up sooner. Check the water in the morning, at midday when you can, and again before dark. Keep the drinkers clean. Algae and droppings in the water are a warning sign that you should not ignore.
Feed on the floor for the very first days works well, usually on flat trays or sheets of paper so the chicks can find it easily. Move to proper feeders as the birds grow. Do not let feed sit wet or spoil in the trays, and do not leave a feeder empty overnight. The feed you buy has to reach the birds, and the feeders decide whether it does.
Have the starter feed in the store before the chicks arrive. Our figures put a 50 kg bag broadly at GH₵400 to GH₵470, depending on the brand and the season, so buy from a supplier whose price you have checked that week. Ask which brand the birds have been eating so that you can keep them on it at the start. A change of feed in the first days adds a stress you do not need.
Store the bags dry, raised off the floor and away from the wall. Keep a short note of how many bags you have and how many you open each week. In the first weeks, a bag lasts a shorter time than people expect, and a shortage on the Sunday night is a bad time to find out.
Every batch we hatch is vaccinated before it leaves us, and we tell you what was given. Our vaccines cover five diseases. Marek's, Newcastle, Gumboro and fowl pox are typical examples, and the record we give you names the vaccines in that batch. Keep that record with the batch, not in your head. You will need it when the vet asks, and you will need it when someone asks you what the birds were given.
Ask about the next dose and the date it falls due. A vaccination that is done at the hatchery does not always cover every step on the farm, and the schedule for any further dose should be confirmed with a vet or the relevant authority. Write the date in the notebook and tell the person who does the feeding what it is for. A missed dose that nobody remembers is easy to make and hard to explain.
A first batch goes better with a few plain tools that are cheap and easy to find. Buy them before the box arrives, and keep them for the batch rather than for the house.
The notebook matters most. A weight written down on Tuesday tells you whether the birds are growing on Friday. A number you have not written down is only a feeling.
Some things do not need to be bought before the chicks arrive. Larger equipment is the usual example. Battery cages, extra incubators and bigger house fittings are sensible purchases once you know the breed you are keeping, the number you are rearing and the buyers you will supply. Buying them before that is a common way to spend the money you planned to feed the birds with.
Ask for today's price on anything bigger than the list above, and confirm it with us or your supplier before you commit. A layer farm, for example, has a different set of needs from a broiler batch, and the Lohmann Brown and Australorp prices are given on request rather than listed. Hold off on the big purchases until the first week tells you what your birds and your house need.
| Item | Needed before the chicks arrive? | Why it matters | Cost basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heated brooder with a thermometer at chick height | Yes | Warmth from the first hour | Ask us or your supplier |
| Dry litter (shavings, rice husk or sawdust) | Yes | A dry, clean floor | Local price |
| Chick drinkers and feeders, placed near the heat | Yes | Water and feed within reach | Local price |
| Starter feed, one or more 50 kg bags | Yes | The first feed, without a gap | GH₵400 to GH₵470 a bag, broadly |
| Chick guard or ring | Yes | Keeps chicks near heat and feed | Local price |
| Power backup for the brooder | Yes, if your area has outages | Heat through a power cut | Check your options |
| Record notebook and vaccine record sheet | Yes | Counts, weights, doses and losses | Low cost |
| Battery cages, extra incubators, larger fittings | No | Only once the breed and volume are known | Ask for today's price |
No. We supply day-old chicks, so a first batch does not need an incubator on your side. What you do need is a brooder that is warm, dry and ready on the day the box arrives.
Use whatever is dry, clean and easy to get near you, whether that is wood shavings, rice husk or sawdust. The test is simple: keep it dry, keep it deep enough that the floor does not show cold patches, and replace the wet parts as they appear.
Every batch is vaccinated before it leaves us, and we tell you what was given. Keep that record, and ask a vet or the relevant authority when any further dose is due, rather than relying on memory.
Chicks that are dead on arrival are replaced free in the next hatch. Count them when the box opens, keep the box, and tell us as soon as you can.
Send the order form on our website, or call 024 915 1503. An order starts with a message, not with money, and we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer.
Do not wait until the brooder is finished to ask us for a date. Send the order form on our site or call 024 915 1503 with your breed and the number of boxes, and we will confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost with you. While you wait, read how to feed day-old chicks in the first 24 hours, which covers the first feed and water in detail, and our note on running a backup for power cuts, which applies to the brooder as well. When you are ready to choose a breed, the broiler day-old chicks page lists what we supply.
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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