Broiler Weight Chart by Week in Ghana: Targets and What to Do

Why a weight chart beats a feeling in the house

Most farmers who call us about slow birds describe the flock the same way: “they look fine.” That is the trouble. A broiler house can look fine for weeks while the average drifts ten or fifteen per cent behind target, and by the time the birds look thin, the feed has already been wasted and the market window is closing.

A weight chart turns that feeling into a number. It tells you where the flock should be at the end of each week, so a short week shows up on day seven instead of on the day the buyer complains. The figures below are the planning targets we work to for fast white broilers in Ghana, the same type of bird as the Ross 308. Treat them as a checkpoint. Your house, your water supply and your feed will move the numbers, sometimes by a lot.

The weekly targets, with the range you should accept

Each row gives the average live weight to aim for at the end of the week, and the band either side of it. The band is about 8 per cent either way. A flock inside the band is on track. A flock outside it for two weeks running needs a look at the house, the feed and the water, in that order.

Read the gain column before the averages. Weeks three to five are when the flock should put on the most weight, roughly half a kilo a week. A week that adds only 0.35 kg when it should add 0.50 usually shows up as a shortfall at the next weigh-in, even if this week’s average still looks respectable.

The first row is the one people ignore, and it is the one we watch hardest. A day-old chick weighs around 40 grams. By the end of week one it should be about four times that. If it is not, the problem is almost always in the brooder, the water or the first 48 hours, not in the feed bag. Our guide to the first 48 hours covers what to check when the chicks land.

How to weigh a sample without stressing the flock

A weight chart is only as honest as the birds you weigh. Most bad numbers come from a sample taken in the wrong place, at the wrong time, or from the same few birds every week.

1. Check the scale against something you know weighs what it says, such as a 1 kg bag of sugar. Do this before the first weigh-in and whenever the scale is moved.
2. Choose birds from at least four spots in the house: near the feeders, near the drinkers, along a wall and in the middle. Do not take them from the feeder alone, where the strongest birds gather.
3. Catch birds quietly, early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the house is cooler. Do not chase the flock around the pen. A stressed bird loses intake for a day.
4. Weigh 20 birds for a house of up to 2,000 birds, and 30 above that.
5. Write every weight in the log before you do anything else. Work out the average, the lightest and the heaviest bird.
6. Put the birds back gently and close the gate. Do not weigh the same birds twice in a row, because they are no longer a random sample.

Keep the weigh-in at the same time of day each week. Weights swing with the gut content, so a bird weighed after a big feed round will read heavier than the same bird weighed at dawn. The gap is small, but it is enough to make a week look better or worse than it was.

Reading the average and the spread together

The average tells you where the flock is. The spread tells you what the flock is doing.

A uniform flock has most of its birds close to the average. A rule of thumb many tropical growers use is that at least 80 per cent of birds should sit within 10 per cent of the average. If your average is on target but only half the birds are near it, the flock is splitting into winners and losers. The strong birds keep eating while the weak ones stand back.

Three patterns come up again and again in the calls we take:

• A wide spread with a heavy top end usually means feeders or drinkers are short. The confident birds take the spaces and the rest fall behind.
• A cluster of very light birds in one corner points to a draught, damp litter, or a patch of the house that runs hotter or colder than the rest.
• A flock that splits into two clear groups, one heavy and one light, often has mixed sexes that were never fed to a plan, or birds from two different batches housed together.

When you see the spread widen, go and look at the birds on the floor before you change the feed. Walk to the light end of the flock and watch what those birds do for ten minutes.

Males, females and the mixed flock

Male broilers outgrow females, and by week four the gap is usually clear to the eye. The chart is written for a mixed flock, so a straight-run batch should land close to it. An all-female flock will sit below the chart, and that is normal, not a fault. An all-male flock should beat it.

The mistake we see is a farmer who weighs a flock of mixed birds, gets an average well below the chart, and starts changing feed and medicine when the birds were fine. Work out the expected figure for the sex you actually have before you worry. If the flock is sexed, keep a separate column for each group in the log so the two never blur together.

A worked example: week three runs short

Take a 50-bird batch of Ross 308-type chicks. At the end of week three you weigh 20 birds and get an average of 0.78 kg. The target is 0.90 kg, the lower edge of the band is 0.83 kg, so the flock is out of band.

Before you panic, run the checks in order. Look at the feed first. Did you move to the grower on the calendar date, or when the birds were ready for it? Then the drinkers. Is every line running, and is the water cool and clean? Then the house. Did the birds have a hot afternoon or a cold night? If all three come back clean, look at the birds themselves. A shortfall at week three with good feed and water is often the first sign of a health problem, such as coccidiosis or a respiratory infection. Call your vet before you change any medicine programme.

Now the money. The shortfall is 0.12 kg per bird, or 6 kg across 50 birds. The live broiler price on our list is GH₵110 for a bird of about 2.5 kg, which works out at roughly GH₵44 per kilogram of live weight. If the flock never catches up, that is about GH₵264 you will not see at the sale, and that figure leaves out any extra feed you spend chasing the target.

One chart per breed, never a mix

This chart is written for a fast white broiler. A Cobb 500 flock is planned on its own curve, and slower birds such as the Sasso or the Kuroiler take much longer to reach market weight. Pick the chart from the breed you ordered and write it at the front of your record book, so nobody in the house has to guess.

Slow-growing and dual-purpose birds will look alarming on a broiler chart. A week-six weigh-in that reads 1.5 kg is a planning error when the birds were never meant to be at 2.35 kg by then. If you are unsure which bird you have, check your order before the chicks arrive. Our broiler chicks page lists the fast growers, and the Sasso page and the Kuroiler and Noiler page set out the slower birds. The Ross 308 and Cobb 500 comparison is worth reading if you are choosing between the two fast growers.

The record that makes the chart useful

A chart on the wall does nothing on its own. What makes it useful is a log that sits beside it, with one row each week and enough columns to explain a bad number when you come back to it a month later.

The sample rows above are illustrative. Write the figure down before you compare it with last week. Farmers who compare first tend to find the number they expected, and a log written after the fact is the easiest one to bend.

Starting the curve right: what arrives in the box

The chart assumes a flock of uniform, healthy chicks. You control what happens after the chicks land, but the hatchery controls what is in the box. Every batch from Halaal Farms is vaccinated at the hatchery against Marek’s disease, Newcastle disease, Gumboro, infectious bronchitis and coccidiosis, and each batch comes with a batch record. Read that record when the chicks arrive, and keep it with your weigh-in log, because it tells you what protection the flock started with.

Count the chicks in the buffer zone, not in the house. If any are dead on arrival, send a photo on WhatsApp the same day, and we replace dead on arrival in the next hatch. Chicks that come in light and stay light are often an early-life problem, and the weigh-in log is how you prove the difference later.

Chicks ship the day they hatch, in ventilated boxes of 50. Our delivery page covers how we send them across Ghana, and the imported chicks page explains how our European-parent and imported stock compare.

A weekly weigh-in checklist you can print

1. Check the scale against a known weight before you start.
2. Choose birds from four or more spots, not just the feeder.
3. Weigh 20 birds, or 30 if the house holds more than 2,000.
4. Work out the average, the lightest bird and the heaviest bird.
5. Compare the average with the accept range for that week.
6. Compare this week’s gain with last week’s, and with the gain column in the table.
7. Count how many birds sit within 10 per cent of the average.
8. Walk the house. Note wet litter, huddling, and any feeder or drinker that the birds cannot reach.
9. Count deaths since the last weigh-in and write down the likely cause next to each one.
10. Choose the one thing you will change this week, and write it in the book before you leave the house.

The last item is the one that matters. A chart that sits on the wall while nothing changes is only a record of a problem. One change a week, written down, is how a flock comes back on the curve. If you want to go deeper on the flock’s feed, the broiler feeding schedule sets out the amounts behind each phase, and the heavy broilers guide covers the levers that move the average.

When the chart says act, and the order to act in

A flock that falls outside the band for one week is worth a look. A flock outside it for two weeks needs a plan. The order matters, because it is cheap to check water and it is expensive to start treating birds before you know what they have.

• Water first. Count drinkers against the list in your equipment notes, check the flow at the far end of each line, and make sure the water is not warm or dirty.
• Feed second. Check the store for damp or mouldy bags, confirm the phase on the bag matches the phase in your plan, and count the feeders against the birds.
• House third. Check the litter with your hand, walk the house at the hottest hour, and look for birds crowded into one corner.
• Birds last. Open a bird that is sick but not yet dying, and call your vet. A vet can see what a chart cannot.

Write down what you changed and on which day, so the next weigh-in tells you which change helped. If the next weigh-in improves, you will know which change to keep.

Where to buy chicks that will hit the chart

If you are planning a batch, start from the chart and work backwards. A 50-bird Ross 308 batch needs a house ready before the chicks arrive, feed for the whole grow-out, and a buyer lined up for the week the birds reach 2.2 kg or more. Our day-old chick prices page shows current starting prices, and the order form lets you confirm breed and quantity before you pay. For a one-to-one talk about your house, WhatsApp +233 24 915 1503. Farm visits are by appointment.

Questions farmers ask