Tamale is about 630 km by road from our hatchery at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and a bus needs 12 to 14 hours to cover it. That one fact shapes everything about buying day-old chicks here: the birds travel through the night, you meet them in the morning, and the brooder has to be warm before you leave the house. The rest of this page is about what comes after that, in a city that would rather eat guinea fowl than chicken and that sits in the middle of the northern maize and soya belt.
The road north and the hours it takes
From Kasoa the vehicle joins the Accra to Kumasi road, then follows the N10 north from Kumasi through Techiman and Kintampo. It crosses the Black Volta at Buipe and the White Volta at Yapei before the last run into Tamale. Coach timings from Accra to Tamale are around 11 hours, and the leg from Kasoa adds an hour or two depending on the traffic leaving the coast. Loading at stations, rest stops and slow sections can stretch that, which is why we give a range and not a promise.
A newly hatched chick carries a yolk reserve that keeps it going for roughly two to three days. That reserve is what makes a journey of this length possible. Hunger is not the danger on the Tamale road. Heat and stale air are. Fifty chicks in a box make their own warmth, and a vehicle standing in the midday sun is far hotter than they can bear.
So the sensible plan for Tamale is an evening departure where transport allows, with the chicks crossing the middle of the country in the dark and reaching the city in the cool of the morning. The departure time and the station are agreed with you before anything is boxed. Our page on how chick delivery works across Ghana explains the general arrangement, and the blog article on transporting day-old chicks safely covers what happens inside the box.
The morning you collect
The chicks have done their part by the time the vehicle pulls in. The next two hours are yours.
- Light the brooder before you go. The floor and litter should already be warm when the box is opened at home. A cold brooder after 13 hours on the road undoes the whole journey.
- Be at the station ahead of the vehicle. A box left on a station forecourt in March, when Tamale afternoons average close to 39°C, loses chicks quickly. Keep your phone on and charged.
- Carry the boxes flat, shaded and with air moving. Inside a car or a covered tricycle is right. If a motorbike is all you have, go early, tie the box level and never wrap it in cloth or polythene.
- Count at once. Open every box, count the chicks and note any that are dead. Chicks that arrive dead are replaced free in the next hatch, but you need to report it straight away on 024 915 1503.
- Water first, then feed. Chicks that have travelled this far are thirsty before they are hungry.
The chicks are vaccinated at the hatchery before they leave. Ask us what your batch has had, and take that to a veterinary officer in Tamale so the rest of the programme can be set locally.
Tamale prefers guinea fowl, and prefers it alive
A survey of consumers in the Tamale metropolis, published in an African food and agriculture journal, found that nearly every person asked ranked guinea fowl as their first choice among poultry meats, and taste was the main reason. More than three quarters of households wanted to buy the bird alive, and the schools, hospitals and offices in the survey leaned the same way. That fits a city where most people are Muslim and want to be certain the meat is halal. The commonest complaint was price that swings with the season: guinea fowl becomes scarce in the rainy months, and a good share of buyers switch to beef or chicken until supply returns.
Read as a farmer, that tells you three things. Live birds sold from the farm gate are what buyers ask for, so you do not need a cold room to begin. There is a gap in the rainy season that a farmer with birds of the right age could fill, though that is our reasoning from the survey and you should test it with your own buyers before building a plan on it. And chicken is what people already reach for when guinea fowl is short, so broilers and coloured dual-purpose birds have a place too. The article on guinea fowl farming in Ghana goes into housing, growth and selling.
Matching the bird to the Tamale buyer
| Bird | Starting price per chick | Where it fits here |
|---|---|---|
| Guinea fowl keets | From GH₵ 17 | The meat the city prefers, sold live. Slow growing and delicate at first, so begin with a number you can watch closely. |
| Sasso, Kuroiler, Noiler | Sasso from GH₵ 13, Kuroiler and Noiler from GH₵ 11 | Hardy coloured birds for compound and semi free-range keeping. They sell live in the same way local fowl do. |
| Broilers (Ross 308, Cobb 500) | From GH₵ 20 | Chop bars, hotels, caterers and festive sales. They need a full feed budget and careful heat management in March and April. |
| Layers | From GH₵ 23 | Eggs for homes, schools and food sellers. A long project: plan the feed for the months before the first egg. |
| White cockerels | From GH₵ 3 | The cheapest start. Slow to grow, and suited to a live sale timed for Eid or Christmas. |
These are starting prices checked on 2 October 2026 and they change, so see the current day-old chick price list or ask us. As an example sum only: two boxes of keets is 100 birds, which at the starting price comes to GH₵ 1,700 before transport. The transport cost to Tamale is confirmed before you pay. More detail on the keets is on our guinea keets, turkey poults and quail page.
One rainy season, then harmattan, then the heat
Tamale has a tropical savannah climate with a single rainy season. About 1,070 mm falls in an average year, nearly all of it between roughly May and October. From December to March the harmattan pulls humidity down to around 30 per cent, nights are the coolest of the year at about 19 to 20°C on average, and the air carries dust. Then comes the hottest stretch, with average afternoon highs near 39°C in March before the rains break.
Each season asks something different of a brooder. In the harmattan the gap between day and night is wide, so chicks need steady heat after dark and a screen of sacks or curtain on the windward side to stop draughts at floor level, without sealing the house. Dry air and dust dry chicks out, so drinkers must stay full and clean. It is also the season when dry thatch and a charcoal pot make a dangerous pair, so keep the fire well guarded.
In March and April the heat source may only be needed at night, and chicks crowding away from it are telling you so. In the rains, storms drive water through open sides and litter gets wet from the edges inwards. The chick brooding guide gives the temperatures week by week, and the article on brooding in the rainy season and the harmattan deals with both extremes.
Feed is the reason to keep poultry near Tamale
The districts around Tamale grow maize, soya beans, groundnuts and rice, and soya projects reported by the Ghana News Agency have covered Savelugu, Yendi, Karaga, Gushegu and other districts within reach of the city. Maize is the bulk of a poultry ration and soya is its main protein, so a Tamale farmer is closer to the raw materials than most farmers in the south. Tamale is also the biggest market in Dagbon, the place people from many towns travel to in order to trade, so grain from several districts ends up there.
Being near the grain does not make it cheap in every year. During the dry spell of 2024, poultry farmers in the Northern Region told reporters that a bag of maize had doubled in price. The lesson is an old one: buy maize soon after harvest when it is plentiful, dry it properly and store it, instead of buying month by month at whatever the market asks. The article on buying and storing maize and soya explains how.
We also sell poultry feed at Kasoa, and the price is given when you ask because it moves with the grain market, but bagged feed is heavy freight over 630 km. For most farms here it makes more sense to take chicks from us and find feed locally. What matters on the day is that chick starter is already in your store before the chicks leave Kasoa.
Savelugu, Tolon, Kumbungu and the towns that collect in Tamale
Long-distance vehicles from the south end their run in Tamale, so a station in the city is the meeting point for a wide ring of farming towns. Sagnarigu wraps round the west and north of the city itself. Savelugu is a short drive north on the Bolgatanga road. Nyankpala, where the University for Development Studies has its agriculture faculty, lies to the west on the way to Tolon, and Kumbungu is to the north-west. Yapei, on the White Volta, is on the road the chicks come in by. Farmers further east should read the Yendi page, because the extra 100 km changes the plan.
Whichever town you are in, work out before the day how you will get from the station to your brooder and how long it takes. Add that time to the 12 to 14 hours and tell us, so the departure can be set with your last leg in mind.
Booking a hatch for Tamale
Use the order form on this page. Give the type of bird, the number of boxes (50 chicks to a box, one box minimum), the week you want them and the town you will collect from. We reply with the price, the hatch date and the transport cost to Tamale, and nothing is paid until you have agreed all three. No payment is taken on the website. You can pay by cash, mobile money or bank transfer, and you can ring 024 915 1503 with questions before or after the chicks arrive.
Questions from Tamale
How long do chicks take to reach Tamale from Kasoa?
Allow 12 to 14 hours on the road. Coach timings from Accra to Tamale are around 11 hours and the leg from Kasoa adds an hour or two. Station stops and slow sections can add more, so we agree a departure time with you and you should be at the Tamale station before the vehicle is due.
Can I order guinea fowl keets for Tamale?
Yes. Guinea keets start from GH₵ 17 each and come in ventilated boxes of 50. Tell us on the order form that you want keets and when, and we will say which hatch dates have them. Keets are more delicate than chicks in the first weeks, so have a warm, dry brooder ready before they travel.
Which months are hardest for brooding in Tamale?
Two periods need extra care. From December to February the harmattan brings cool nights, very dry air and dust, so chicks need steady heat after dark and plenty of clean water. In March and April average afternoon highs are close to 39°C, so heat must come off by day and chicks need room to spread out.
I farm in Savelugu or Tolon. Where do I collect?
A station in Tamale is the usual collection point for Savelugu, Tolon, Kumbungu, Nyankpala and Sagnarigu, because long-distance vehicles from the south end their run in the city. Give your town on the order form. The exact station is agreed with you before dispatch, so you can plan the short trip home.
Should I buy feed from Kasoa as well as chicks?
Usually not for the bulk of it. We sell poultry feed and give the price when you ask, but bagged feed is heavy freight over 630 km. Maize and soya are grown around Tamale, so most farmers here are better off taking chicks from us and sourcing feed locally. Have chick starter in the house before the chicks leave Kasoa.