Kumasi is about 260 km by road from our hatchery at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and a bus usually covers it in 5 to 6.5 hours. Chicks that leave Kasoa in the evening can be under your brooder before sunrise. A Kumasi buyer needs that fact first, because this city has chick suppliers of its own and you will want to compare us with them on equal terms. This page covers how the journey works, how to work out your true cost per chick, what the Ashanti rains do to a brooder floor, and who buys chicken and eggs in the city.
Kasoa to Kumasi: about 260 km on the Accra road
Vehicles leaving Kasoa join the Accra to Kumasi highway, the N6, near Nsawam and follow it through Suhum, Nkawkaw, Konongo and Ejisu into the city. A vehicle that goes into Accra first adds roughly 20 km. On a clear road a car does the distance in about three and a half hours. Buses and cargo vehicles take longer because of stops along the way and the slow approach from Ejisu into town, which is why we quote 5 to 6.5 hours and not the car time.
For day-old chicks this is a comfortable trip. A newly hatched chick carries a yolk reserve that feeds it for roughly two to three days, so six hours on the road does not starve it. Heat and stale air are the real dangers. A box that rides through the middle of the day warms up at every stop, so travel in the cool of the evening or the very early morning is kinder to the birds. We agree the dispatch time with you before the boxes leave. Our article on transporting day-old chicks safely explains what goes on inside a chick box on the road.
Pick the station by the side of Kumasi you farm on
The hardest stretch for the chicks can be the last 15 km. Crossing Kumasi from one side to the other at a busy hour can take well over an hour, in a taxi that is hotter than the bus was. When you order, tell us where the farm is: towards Ejisu, on the Mampong road, the Offinso road, the Sunyani road, or out towards Bekwai. The station is agreed with you before dispatch, and choosing one on your side of town is the cheapest thing you can do for the birds.
Before you leave for the station: light the brooder heat and put out feed and water. Carry the boxes home in a vehicle with air moving through it, never in a closed boot. Open every box at the station, count the chicks, and call 024 915 1503 at once if any are dead. Chicks that arrive dead are replaced free in the next hatch.
Kumasi has hatcheries of its own, so compare the landed cost
Ashanti has long been one of Ghana's two biggest poultry regions. Figures for 2009 put it at about 28 per cent of national poultry output, just behind the old Brong Ahafo Region, and hatcheries with their own parent flocks have operated around Kumasi for many years. You do not have to buy from Kasoa, and we will not pretend otherwise.
There are three sensible reasons to look beyond the city for chicks. The local hatch may be booked for the date you need, which is common in the weeks when everyone is stocking for Christmas. You may want a bird that is hard to find nearby. Or the sums may simply come out better. We hatch chicks and we also import foreign day-old chicks. The list covers Ross 308 and Cobb 500 broilers, Hy-Line Brown, Hy-Line White, Lohmann Brown and Bovans Brown layers, Sasso, Kuroiler, Noiler, white cockerels, guinea keets, turkey poults and quail.
Whichever suppliers you are weighing up, compare the landed cost: the chick price plus transport, divided by the chicks that reach you alive.
| Item | Example: four boxes of broiler chicks |
|---|---|
| Chicks ordered | 200 |
| Chick price | from GH₵ 20 each, so from GH₵ 4,000 |
| Transport to the Kumasi station | quoted for your order before you pay |
| Your own trip to the station and back | your cost, often forgotten |
| Landed cost per chick | all of the above, divided by the chicks alive at the station |
That table is an example sum, not a quotation. The starting price was checked on 2 October 2026 and prices change, so read the current day-old chick price list. Then put the same four questions to every supplier: the hatch date, the strain, which vaccines the batch has had, and what happens to chicks that arrive dead. Our chicks are vaccinated at the hatchery before they leave, and we tell you what a batch has had when you ask.
Two rainy seasons and a wet brooder floor
Kumasi lies about 250 metres above sea level in the forest zone. The main rains run from about March to July, and a shorter season follows from September to November. In the wet months the air is often close to saturated. Humidity is what separates brooding here from brooding on the coast or in the north.
Damp air cannot dry litter. Chicks spill water, droppings add more, and within a week the floor under the drinkers cakes and starts to smell of ammonia. Wet litter is also where coccidiosis builds up, and that is a matter for your vet or the district veterinary office, not for guesswork. The defences are plain work:
- Lay a deep bed of dry wood shavings. Kumasi is a major timber-processing city, so shavings are easier to find here than in most towns. Refuse any that are damp, mouldy or mostly fine dust.
- Raise the drinkers as the chicks grow and shift them a little each day, so that no single patch turns to mud.
- Hang curtains on the side the rain drives from, but leave a gap at the top. A sealed brooder in June is a wet brooder.
- Fork out caked patches as they form and top up with dry shavings.
From December to February the harmattan reaches Kumasi in a milder form than further north. The air dries, the nights cool, and chicks need steadier heat in the small hours. Our chick brooding guide gives the temperatures week by week, and the article on keeping the floor dry from day one goes further into litter.
Who buys chicken and eggs in Kumasi
Greater Kumasi holds more than three million people, and Kejetia is one of the largest markets in West Africa. Buyers exist at every level: households, chop bars and restaurants, hotels, schools and universities, bakers who use eggs by the crate, and the traders who move eggs and live birds through the markets. A survey of poultry farmers in neighbouring Ejisu found that every one of them sold at the farm gate, about half also supplied local markets and retail shops, and a little under half sold through wholesalers. Around Kumasi, birds and eggs are sold mostly through people who already know the farm.
What follows is our reasoning from those facts, not a market survey.
- Layers suit a farmer who wants sales all year. Kumasi's egg trade has swung between shortage and oversupply in recent years, so settle two or three regular buyers before the pullets start to lay. See our layer day-old chicks.
- Broilers suit a farmer with buyers fixed in advance: caterers, chop bars, and the funeral weekends that keep Ashanti cooks busy. You compete with frozen imported chicken on price, so sell on freshness and a firm date. Broilers are ready in about six weeks, which tells you when to order. See broiler day-old chicks and our note on when to order for Christmas, Easter and Eid.
- Sasso, Kuroiler and white cockerels suit the live-bird trade around the festivals. They grow more slowly, but the chick is cheaper (Sasso from GH₵ 13, Kuroiler from GH₵ 11, white cockerels from GH₵ 3) and many buyers prefer a firmer bird for soup.
Feed is the bigger bill, and Kumasi is well placed for it
The same Ejisu study put feed at 60 to 70 per cent of the cost of producing poultry, so the chick price is the smaller decision. Kumasi's position helps. The city sits south of the maize country around Ejura and Techiman, and feed mills and input shops have grown up here because the farms are here. If you mix your own feed, buy maize at harvest and store it dry. Our Ejura page explains the two harvests and why the grain from each is different. We sell starter, grower, finisher and layer feed as well, but feed is heavy, and a Kumasi farm should compare our quote with mills closer to home before deciding.
Ejisu, Konongo, Mampong and other towns that collect in Kumasi
Konongo and Ejisu are on the N6 itself, so a vehicle from Kasoa passes them before it reaches Kumasi. If you farm there or at Juaben, say so on the order form, and we will tell you whether the boxes can come off at your town or must be collected in the city. Mampong, Offinso, Bekwai, Nkawie and Kuntanase each mean a further road trip beyond Kumasi. Farmers in those towns can collect at the Kumasi station and carry the boxes on, keeping that second leg short, shaded and well aired.
Placing an order for Kumasi
Fill in the order form on this page with the bird, the number of boxes (the minimum is one box of 50), the date you want them and the part of Kumasi you will collect in. We reply with the price, the hatch date and the transport cost. You pay only after you have agreed to all three, by cash, mobile money or bank transfer. You can also call 024 915 1503 or write to support@halaalfarmsghana.com.
Questions from Kumasi
How long do chicks take to reach Kumasi from Kasoa?
The road distance is about 260 km. A car needs roughly three and a half hours on a clear road, but a bus or cargo vehicle usually takes 5 to 6.5 hours with stops and the slow approach from Ejisu. Add the time you need to cross Kumasi from the station to your farm, which at a busy hour can be more than an hour.
Why would a Kumasi farmer order chicks from Kasoa when Kumasi has hatcheries?
Usually for one of three reasons: the local hatch is booked for the date you need, you want a strain or bird that is hard to find nearby, or the landed cost works out lower. Compare suppliers on hatch date, strain, vaccines given, replacement terms and the chick price plus transport, not on the chick price alone.
Can my chicks come off the bus at Ejisu or Konongo instead of Kumasi?
Both towns are on the Accra to Kumasi highway, so the vehicle passes them before the city. Write your town on the order form. We will tell you before dispatch whether the boxes can be collected there on that vehicle or whether they must go on to the agreed Kumasi station.
How do I keep litter dry when brooding in the Kumasi rainy season?
Start with a deep layer of dry wood shavings, which are easy to find in a timber city like Kumasi. Raise and shift the drinkers daily, hang curtains on the rain side but leave the top open for air, and fork out caked patches as they form. If droppings turn bloody, call your vet.