Fast-Growing Chicken Breeds in Ghana: Which Reach Weight First

Why some birds reach weight sooner than others

Ask a broiler farmer how fast his birds grow and he will answer in kilograms. Ask a family keeping a free-range flock and they will answer in months. Both are sensible, because they are measuring different jobs.

A broiler has been bred over many generations for one thing: putting on breast and leg meat quickly from feed you pay for. It eats readily from the first day, turns feed into body weight efficiently and reaches a slaughter weight in five or six weeks, when an indigenous bird is still scratching for seed at four months. That speed is the whole point. It also means the bird has little time to build the bone, lung capacity and walking fitness that a slower bird gets for free, and it depends on you for heat, water and feed rather than finding them itself.

Dual-purpose and coloured meat birds sit between the extremes. Sasso, Kuroiler and Noiler were developed to give useful meat and eggs and to cope with less intensive housing. They grow, but more slowly, and they do not turn feed into weight as tightly. When this article says fast, it means the number of days to a market weight, not how quickly one bird puts on grams on one good day.

Whether a chick came from our hatchery or from an imported line, we see the difference in the box before we see it in the yard. Broiler chicks are busy and hungry straight away. Dual-purpose chicks settle a little slower, and that is worth knowing before you plan the brooder.

The timing table: how long each bird takes to reach market

The ranges below are typical for birds kept well, with sound feed and a sensible house. Your numbers will move with feed quality, the season and the mix of cockerels and pullets, so use the table for planning and then weigh a sample yourself every week.

These are the from prices we quoted on 18 October 2026. We confirm the price in writing before you pay.

Ross 308 and Cobb 500: fast, and unforgiving of a slack week

A fast broiler does not wait for you. If the feed bin runs empty for one afternoon, that is not a small setback. The bird is lighter at the end of the cycle, and you will not get that weight back by feeding harder later. We have seen farmers blame the chick for a weight shortfall that began with a delayed feed truck in week four.

Three things need to be tight. First, feed: the phase you give must match the age, with a starter for the first weeks and a finisher near the end, and it must be in the feeder through the whole light period. Second, water: a broiler drinks a lot, especially in the heat, and an afternoon shortage does more damage than one at night. Count the drinkers and check the line every day. Third, the house: a fast bird puts out more heat as it grows, so ventilation has to keep pace with the weight, not with the size of the chick on the day it arrived.

The two comparisons we are asked for most are Ross 308 and Cobb 500. Both are fast, both need the same discipline, and the choice between them usually comes down to the feed programme you already run and the buyer you are selling to. The head-to-head is in Ross 308 vs Cobb 500: which broiler to choose in Ghana, and the management detail for the Ross is in our Ross 308 guide. If you are ready to order, our broiler chick page lists what we can supply.

Sasso, Kuroiler and Noiler: slower, but they keep going

These three are the birds buyers ask about once they have seen the broiler numbers. The question is usually some version of why anyone would wait four months when six weeks is on offer. The honest answer is that you do not wait four months for the same money. You wait for a different kind of return.

A Sasso in a semi-intensive run will look for seed, insects and green shoots through the day and still take a grower mash from you. A Kuroiler or Noiler does more of the foraging, which cuts the feed bill per bird and suits a compound where the birds spend part of the day outside. Their chick price is lower, so the cash you put in at the start is smaller, though the feed across the whole cycle is not as small as the chick price suggests. The hens keep laying while the flock grows, so the house gets eggs as well as meat.

Of the three, Sasso is the most purposeful meat bird, and it sells well where buyers want a firmer, coloured bird. Kuroiler and Noiler are the ones to think about when the flock must earn most of its keep by scavenging and you do not want a broiler's level of care. Read the Sasso chicken guide, the Kuroiler guide and the Noiler guide for the detail on each. Chicks for all three are on our Kuroiler and Noiler page and our Sasso page.

The cost of speed, worked through with one box

The chick price is the easy part. Take a box of 50 Ross 308 at GH₵20 each. The chicks alone come to GH₵1,000. Feed is where most new growers get caught. Suppose a bird eats about 4.2 kg of feed over its cycle, a reasonable planning figure for a fast broiler, and that feed costs GH₵10 a kilo where you buy it. Those two figures are placeholders. Put in the price you actually pay at the shop, because that is the number that counts.

• Feed for 50 birds: 50 × 4.2 kg = 210 kg, which at GH₵10 a kilo is GH₵2,100.
• Chicks plus feed: GH₵1,000 + GH₵2,100 = GH₵3,100.
• If all 50 reach 2.5 kg, that is 125 kg of live bird, so chicks and feed alone come to about GH₵24.80 per kilo.
• Lose three birds and you have 47 birds at 2.5 kg, or 117.5 kg. The same GH₵3,100 now spreads over fewer kilos, about GH₵26.40 per kilo.

Then add vaccines, litter, fuel for brooding, labour, transport and the days the house sits empty between cycles. Those costs do not change much whether the bird is fast or slow. A fast bird spreads them across more kilos sold each year, and that is the real advantage of speed: more cycles through the same building.

Now run the same sums for a Sasso. The chick costs less at GH₵13, but feed per kilo of gain is generally higher over a longer cycle. The sums only work if your buyer pays enough for a slower, coloured bird and if you have the house or the range to carry birds for ten to fourteen weeks. Use your own feed price for that calculation, not ours.

Mistakes we see with fast birds

• Feeding by feel. Farmers top up the bin when it looks low, not when the bird needs it. Fast birds run out between top-ups, and those lost hours do not come back.
• Too few drinkers. A house that works on day 10 can run short by day 30. Recount the drinkers every week as the birds grow.
• Stocking to the chick, not the bird. Chicks look roomy on arrival. By week five they are not.
• Changing feed in a hurry. A sudden switch to a new phase or a new mill can knock intake for several days.
• No weights. If you do not weigh a sample, you find out at sale time that the flock is behind.
• A loose vaccine plan. We vaccinate at the hatchery and send the batch record. The later doses are your vet's call, and a missed booster is a problem a fast bird cannot absorb.

A checklist before you order fast birds

1. Have a house that is dry and sealed against draughts at chick stage, and able to open wide as the birds grow.
2. Confirm your feed supplier can deliver every phase on time, including in the rush before Christmas.
3. Count drinkers and feeders for the final weight, not the arrival weight.
4. Set up a daily check of water, feed, temperature and dead birds, written down.
5. Book a weighing day in the third and fifth weeks.
6. Agree a sale date and buyer before the chicks arrive, not after.
7. Ask your vet for the vaccination and biosecurity schedule for your area.

Matching the bird to your cash cycle

Fast birds give you more turns through the house, which is why many commercial growers choose them. Each cycle ties up cash for about six weeks plus clean-out time, so the money comes back sooner. A dual-purpose flock can tie up cash for four months or more, and you need a plan for feeding it through that wait.

Speed also punishes mistakes faster. A new farmer with one house and a limited budget can learn a great deal from a broiler cycle, but one bad week costs the whole batch and the feed bought for it. For a first-timer who can only run one house, we usually suggest a bird whose mistakes can be survived, then a move to a faster bird once the routine is settled. Our starting budget article works through a first house step by step, and broiler, layer or Sasso sets out the three main routes side by side.

What we would do in your place

If you have a tight house, a feed supplier you trust and a buyer lined up, start with the fast bird and keep a close record. If any of those is missing, start with a dual-purpose bird on a smaller scale. You will learn the routine, and nothing you learn is wasted when you move up.

Whichever you choose, send us your house plan on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503 before you order, with your target weight and sale date. We will tell you which breed we think fits. You can also place the order through the order form, and we confirm the price in writing before payment.

Questions farmers ask