Broilers for Christmas in Ghana: When to Buy Your Day-Old Chicks

Count backwards from the day you want to sell

A well-managed Ross 308 or Cobb 500 broiler reaches market weight of about 2.2 to 2.5 kg in five to six weeks. For planning, use six weeks. That gives you a margin for a slow start, a cold week or a day of sickness, and it is easier to sell a bird a few days early than to explain a late one.

Work backwards from the day you want to sell. The table below uses a six-week grow-out:

If you want birds on sale between 19 and 24 December, book your hatch by late October. Festive slots go first, and waiting until the last week of October is the most common way farmers end up with the wrong date.

Weigh a sample of birds twice a week from week five. If they reach 2.2 kg a week early, sell a week early rather than holding them into the heat.

A worked example: 300 birds for the festive week

Here is a full example for 300 birds. The chick price comes from our list. The feed, vaccine and other costs are examples, so replace them with your own numbers before you decide anything.

Now see what changes the answer. If losses rise to 10%, you sell 270 birds, and the margin falls to 13,200 (270 × 110 = 29,700, minus 16,500). If you miss the festive peak and sell the same 291 birds at an example price of GH₵ 90 after New Year, the margin falls to 9,690. The chick cost is the same in all three cases. Timing and losses are what change the result.

Split the flock into two batches

Do not put every bird on the same date. Split the 300 into two batches of 150, placed about a week apart. The first batch, placed between 31 October and 6 November, sells in the 12 to 18 December window. The second, placed between 7 and 12 November, sells from 19 to 24 December.

You sell in two rounds, your cash comes in twice, and one bad week on the market does not hit the whole flock. Keep the batches apart in time as well as in space. Clean and disinfect the house between them, so the second batch does not go onto the first batch's litter.

Plan the sale days as carefully as the placement dates. Agree a collection day and a rough weight with each buyer, and arrange transport before the birds are ready, not on the morning they need to leave. Birds that wait in crates in the afternoon heat lose weight and condition, so schedule the catch for the cool hours of the morning wherever you can.

Line up buyers before you buy chicks

The farmers who do best at Christmas have sold most of their birds before the chicks hatch. Talk to chop bars, churches, offices, schools and family groups in October. Ask how many birds they want, at what weight, and on which day. Take deposits for live or dressed birds, and write the list down with names and phone numbers.

A list of committed buyers tells you how many chicks to order. It is much safer than guessing, and it stops you from raising birds you cannot sell in the last week of December, when many farms in your area may be selling too. For chick details, see our broiler day-old chicks page.

Week-by-week plan for a Christmas batch

Once the chicks are in, the plan is the same whatever your market. These are the points we check with farmers who call us after a placement.

1. Two weeks before arrival: clean and disinfect the house, repair the walls and curtains, and buy starter feed. Our brooder setup guide has a full list.
2. Arrival day: keep the brooder at 32 to 34 °C at chick level. Give water first, with glucose or vitamins if you use them, and offer starter feed after two to three hours.
3. Weeks 1 and 2: starter feed. Follow your vet's Newcastle and Gumboro schedule, using the batch record we give you. Widen the brooder as the chicks spread out.
4. Weeks 3 and 4: grower feed. Add feeder and drinker space. From here on, ventilation matters more than heat.
5. Weeks 5 and 6: finisher feed. Confirm buyer orders and weigh a sample of birds twice a week.

Plan for harmattan and afternoon heat

November and December bring harmattan to much of Ghana, with cold, dusty nights and hot afternoons. Heavy broilers in their last two weeks suffer most in the afternoon heat, and that is when they eat least. Plan for it now, not after the first hot week.

• Open the curtains by day for airflow, and close them at night when the air turns cold.
• Make sure water never runs out. Check the drinkers twice a day, and more often in the heat.
• Feed in the cool hours, early morning and evening, so the birds keep eating.
• Reduce stocking density in the last two weeks. Heavy birds need space to move and cool down.
• Keep dust down around feeders and drinkers, and raise or cover them where you can.

Heat stress and respiratory trouble are common reasons weight gain slows in the final weeks, so walk the house at midday and again at dusk. Follow your vet's advice on any sick bird.

Mistakes that cost Christmas money

• Everything on 24 December. Spread sales over at least two dates.
• Booking the hatch in December. By then the festive slots are usually gone.
• Overstocking to chase numbers. Crowded birds grow more slowly and spread disease faster.
• No written deposits. Buyers who have paid nothing are the ones who change their minds.
• Changing feed on the calendar's whim. Move from starter to grower to finisher on the schedule, not on the day you run out.
• Waiting for slower birds. Cockerels and dual-purpose breeds will not make Christmas from a November start.

Cockerels, Sasso and turkeys for the festive season

Broilers are the only bird that can reliably reach the festive market from a November start. Cockerels take several months to reach a good selling weight, and Sasso and Kuroiler are slower to market than broilers. If you want a slower dual-purpose bird for Christmas, it should already be on the ground.

Turkeys need several months, so a turkey for December should have been started in the summer. Our turkey poults page has the details. For a slower but steadier option, see our cockerel day-old chicks and Sasso day-old chicks pages. For broilers, the same method, counting back from the sale date and splitting the flock, works for Easter and Eid as well.

How to order for a November placement

To order for a November placement, send us four things: the breed, the number of boxes, your town, and the date you want the chicks. You can WhatsApp or call us on +233 24 915 1503, or use the order form. We confirm the price and the delivery cost in writing before you pay, and you can pay by mobile money, bank transfer or cash.

If you are raising 1,000 chicks or more for the festive market, ask for an individual quote. Large orders are planned into one hatch, so tell us early. Our bulk day-old chicks page explains the process.

Chicks are dispatched on the day they hatch, in ventilated boxes of 50. They go to the station in your town, or you can collect them from our farm in Opeikuma, Kasoa. The delivery page covers all 16 regions, and our frequently asked questions answer the common first-week questions.

Questions farmers ask