Hubbard Broiler Guide for Ghana: Growth & Performance

Why a broiler that takes ten or twelve weeks makes sense at all

Most farmers buy broilers to sell fast, so a bird that needs ten or twelve weeks sounds like a mistake on paper. Feed goes in every day, the house stays full for longer, and a fast line will reach table weight while a slow one is still in the brooder's shadow. We understand the doubt, and for a farmer chasing the quickest turn on the market, a slow bird is the wrong tool.

There are three situations where it makes sense. The first is a free-range plot, where a bird that walks and forages eats less of the ration than a caged or house-bound broiler. The second is a buyer who pays for flavour and firmness, and who knows the difference between a six-week bird and a ten-week one on the plate. The third is a farm that wants fewer leg and heart problems in the house, because a bird that grows steadily often gives you fewer losses in the final weeks.

The Hubbard sits in that third group. It is a slower-growing meat line, and the figures below are what we hand a customer who asks how much a slow batch should weigh at each stage. They are typical values for a well-kept flock, and your breeder's performance guide is the figure you should work to.

If you are still choosing between broiler types, the best meat chicken breeds guide lays out the options, and the broiler day-old chicks page lists what we currently offer.

The slow-growth table we plan from

The table runs to ten weeks, because that is where most slow-line batches are processed. Read the feed conversion column as a warning light. It climbs steadily from the first week, and the bird is never going to look cheap on feed beside a fast line. What you are buying is a longer grow-out with a different kind of carcass at the end.

Compare the week-five row with a fast line and you will see the difference at once. A slow bird weighs about 1.3 kilograms at five weeks and has eaten about 3.1 kilograms of feed by then. Keep that in mind when a neighbour tells you his birds are ready at five weeks. His birds are a different line, and the feed bill is a different size.

Weigh a fixed sample of ten birds every second Monday. Use the same ten birds where you can, and mark them on the leg or the wing so you can track the same bird across the weeks. A slow line that is on its target at week eight is doing well, even if it looks small beside a fast bird of the same age in a different house.

Feed days and the feed bill on a ten-week grow-out

The biggest difference between a slow broiler and a fast one is not the chick. It is the number of days you feed it. A fast line can be processed at five or six weeks, and a Hubbard at ten needs roughly twice as many feed days to reach the same kind of decision. Every one of those days is ration, labour and litter.

Here is a worked example for 60 birds taken to ten weeks at the target weight of 3.25 kilograms. That is 195 kilograms of live meat. Each bird has eaten 12 kilograms of feed, so the batch used 720 kilograms. We have used GH₵8 a kilo here so the arithmetic is easy to follow, and it is not a quote. The feed bill comes to GH₵5,760.

The live price is the other side. Our live broiler price of GH₵110 for a bird of about 2.5 kilograms works out at about GH₵44 a kilo live. If a buyer paid that rate on all 195 kilograms, the revenue would be GH₵8,580, which leaves GH₵2,820 before you pay for chicks, vaccines, litter, labour and the vet. A tight margin is what slow birds look like. That is why the buyer comes first, the chick second.

Put the same feed price against a faster line and the feed cost per kilo of gain drops by almost half. Read the feed conversion article before you decide, because the FCR is the number that changes the sum more than any other.

A protein step-down for a bird that is not in a hurry

A slow-growing bird on a high-protein ration will not grow faster. It will get fat, and a fat bird on a long grow-out is a bird with heavier legs and more fat in the carcass than the buyer wants. We step the protein down more gently than we would for a fast line, and we let the bird's weight, not the calendar, decide when to move.

• Starter, days 0 to 21: about 21 to 22 percent crude protein, and water within reach of every chick in the first hour.
• Grower, days 22 to 56: about 18 percent crude protein, enough to build frame and muscle without pushing fat.
• Finisher, day 57 to processing: about 16 to 17 percent crude protein, chosen on purpose for a slower bird.

Check the feed label and ask your supplier to confirm the protein and energy, because the figures vary by mill. If the birds start to look round and sluggish in the grower phase, step down earlier. If they are small and hungry at the end of the grower phase, check the feed intake before you raise the protein. Raising protein to fix a feed intake problem is the most common mistake we see on slow farms.

Water matters as much as feed here. Our broiler water management article covers the flow rates and drinker height that keep a long-grow bird drinking through the hot months.

Perches, shade and range for a bird that moves

A slow-growing bird uses its legs for much more of the day than a fast one. It walks to the feeder, scratches at the litter, explores the corner and goes back to the perch in the evening. That movement costs it some growth rate, but it pays back in sturdier legs across the grow-out.

Give the birds low perches and something to climb onto. A bale, a stack of crates or a wooden perch at about knee height will keep them active and spread the bird's weight across its legs. Put a few tiles or flat stones at the drinker, so the birds do not stand in wet litter all day. Provide shade at the range door, and keep water in the shade where it stays cool.

If you run birds on range, the rule is simple: the range should be fenced, the birds should be counted in and out every day, and the bird should always have a shelter it can reach in a hurry. Indoors, plan for about 6 to 8 birds per square metre for a slow line, which is lighter than the density we give for a fast bird, and set the feeder and drinker space to match.

• Low perches at about knee height, with room for every bird.
• Shade at the range door and cool water inside it.
• A fenced range, counted in and out each day.
• Indoor density of 6 to 8 birds per square metre.

The first weeks take longer on a slow line

A slow line needs a longer brooder. The chick is small for longer, and it stays sensitive to cold and draughts well after a fast chick would have grown past the first risk. Plan for the heat to come down over four weeks rather than three, and check the chicks' spread every hour in the first day rather than every few hours.

The chick's first week is still the riskiest, so the details matter. Feed and water should be within a short walk of the brooder, the litter should be dry before the chicks arrive, and the chicks should be standing and walking within the first hour. A chick that huddles in one corner for a day is cold, and a chick that sits in the water is in trouble.

By week three the birds need more room than a fast line would, because they are walking more and they are not yet heavy. Move the feeders up a little each week, so the birds learn to reach them without crowding the same spot.

Selling at ten weeks: flavour, firmness and the buyer

A ten-week bird and a six-week bird are not the same food. The older bird has more fat under the skin and a firmer bite, and cooks with more flavour in the pot. Some buyers pay for that, and some will not. The point is to find the buyer before you buy the chicks, because a slow bird sold to the wrong buyer loses money on the first week of the sale.

Ask the question directly: will the buyer pay for a bird that is older and firmer, or do they want a soft, young carcass that cooks in twenty minutes? Your answer decides the processing age, and the processing age decides the feed bill. A farmer who sells to a restaurant or to a household that cooks a whole bird for a Sunday meal will usually find the older bird worth the wait.

Keep a record of each batch: the weight at sale, the price per kilo, the buyer's name and the cost of the feed. After two batches you will know whether the slow line pays on your buyers, and you will know which buyers to keep.

If your buyers want a fast turnover and a light bird, our when to sell broilers guide explains the timing for the faster lines, and that is the better fit for them.

Where the Hubbard sits beside Ross and Cobb on our list

The broilers on our current price page are Ross 308 and Cobb 500, with a from-price of GH₵20 a chick for each, and the Ross 308 is sold in a box of 1,000. The Hubbard does not appear on that page. If you want one, ask us what the hatch holds through our WhatsApp line, +233 24 915 1503, before you plan a house.

The comparison is simple. The Ross and Cobb reach table weight much faster, and their feed conversion is far better at the same age. If your buyer wants a light bird in six weeks, they are the lines to use. The Hubbard is for the farm that has the time, the range and the buyer for a slower bird. Our Ross 308 guide and Cobb 500 guide show the fast-line numbers, and the Cornish Cross guide sits between the two in growth and in the way it carries its weight.

For the full set of starting prices, the day-old chick prices page is the right place to check, and the order form is where you place a confirmed order once the price is in writing.

Mistakes that turn a slow broiler into a loss

A slow bird forgives less than a fast one. It has more days to get things wrong, and each mistake shows up later in the weight. These are the errors that cost the most on the farms we hear from.

• Buying slow chicks and selling them as if they were fast birds, then wondering why the weights fall short of the buyer's expectation.
• Raising the protein on a slow bird that is short of feed, rather than fixing the feed intake first.
• Keeping the house too full, so the birds that want to walk cannot get past their neighbours to the feeder.
• Leaving the range without shade by mid-afternoon, just when the birds are most exposed.
• Processing too early because the buyer is paying by the kilo and the farmer wants the cash, then selling a light bird that the market does not want.

Our stocking density article covers the house rules for fast lines, and the slow-line density above is the adjustment to make for a Hubbard.

A four-week checklist for the Hubbard brooder

Print this list for the brooder wall. The first four weeks decide how close the batch will get to its target at ten weeks, and most of the steps are cheap if you do them on time.

1. Count the chicks at the gate, and photograph anything wrong before the driver leaves.
2. Set the brooder heat, then look at how the chicks spread every hour on day one.
3. Put feed and water within a short walk of the brooder, and keep both topped up.
4. Weigh ten birds at day 7 and compare with the target table.
5. Step the feed to the grower at day 22 once the birds are eating the starter cleanly.
6. Move the feeders up each week and check that every bird can reach them.
7. Walk the house each morning, and remove any bird that cannot stand.
8. Write the four-week weights on the house wall and compare them with the target table.

The brooder temperature chart sets out the heat the chicks need, and the imported day-old chicks page explains how chicks arrive from our import channels.

Questions farmers ask