Writing a Simple SOP Manual for Your Poultry Farm

The question a new worker asks on day one

The question came on a Tuesday, two weeks into a new worker's first batch: where do the spare feed bags go? Nobody had written it down. The answer was whatever the last person had done, and the last person had left the bags on the damp floor by the door.

Most of the losses farmers describe to us are not caused by bad workers. They are caused by a job nobody wrote down, done differently by three people in one week. A standard operating procedure, or SOP, fixes that. It is a short written instruction for one routine job, short enough that a new worker can follow it at the house door without ringing you.

What an SOP is, and what it is not

An SOP tells someone how to do one job, step by step, and what to record when it is done. It is not a policy about hiring, a book about the history of your farm, or a legal contract. A manual is simply a folder of SOPs that a worker can find when they need them.

Keep the scope narrow. "Receiving day-old chicks" is an SOP. "Running the farm" is not. The narrower the title, the easier it is to test whether the page is complete. Ask yourself: if I handed this page to someone who has never been here, could they do the job correctly on the first try? If the answer is no, the page is missing a step, a number or a picture.

We see the best manuals on farms where the owner walks the job with the worker first, then writes what the worker actually does. A manual written from memory at a desk usually describes the way the owner wishes the job were done, and the worker quietly ignores it.

Which jobs to write first

You do not need to write thirty SOPs in one weekend. Start with the jobs that happen most often, and the ones that cost the most when they go wrong. The table ranks the jobs we would write first on most farms.

Once those six are written and in use, add the ones specific to your farm: how you handle eggs, how you dispatch birds, how visitors are signed in, how the generator is started. Each one earns its place when a mistake in it has cost you before.

The one-page layout that works

Every SOP we would hand to a worker has the same layout, so the worker learns where to look. The layout is not fancy. It is a title with a number, followed by a few fixed headings, all on one page where possible.

• Number and title. For example, SOP-03 Feed store handling. The number makes it easy to refer to on the phone.
• Purpose. One sentence on why the job matters, in plain words.
• Who and when. The role that does it, and the time of day or the trigger, such as the arrival of a delivery.
• What you need. The tools, the record sheet and any materials, listed so nothing is missing on the day.
• Steps. Numbered, each one a single action, written in the order the job is really done.
• Done looks like. The end state a worker can check, such as the sheet filled and the feeders full.
• What to record. The exact fields and where they go.
• If something goes wrong. Who to call and when, including the vet's trigger.
• Version and date. So you can tell an old copy from a new one.

Before you print a page, run it through this checklist. A page that fails two or more of these should go back for another pass.

1. Every step starts with a verb the worker can act on.
2. Every number has its unit, such as kilograms or birds.
3. The record the job produces is named, with a place to write it.
4. Someone who has never done the job could find the start and the finish.
5. The page has a date and a version number in the corner.

Worked example one: receiving day-old chicks

This is the first SOP we would write for any farm that buys chicks. It is short on purpose, and it is built around the things we ask every farmer to do on the day the boxes arrive.

1. Before the vehicle arrives, check that the brooder is warm and dry, the feeders have feed in them, and the drinkers are full and within easy reach of the chicks. Check the temperature with a thermometer at chick height, not at the roof, using our brooder temperature chart as the guide.
2. Have the count sheet ready with the batch number, the date, the supplier and the number of boxes expected.
3. Count the boxes as they come off, then count the chicks in each box. A box of day-old chicks holds fifty, and a box of turkey poults holds ten.
4. Record dead-on-arrival birds on their own line of the count sheet, never in the house figure. Keep the dead birds in a sealed bag until the count is signed.
5. Take a clear photo of the dead birds and the box label on the day, and send it with the batch number to the hatchery on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503. Replacement depends on the same-day photo.
6. Move the chicks to the brooder in small groups, and show each group where the water and feed are by gently placing them near the drinker.
7. Watch the group for thirty minutes. Chicks spread evenly under the heat source are comfortable. A pile in one corner means they are cold, and a crowd pressed away from the heat means they are too warm.
8. Record the arrival time, the condition of the birds and the vaccines listed on the batch record in the house file.

Done looks like: the count matches the sheet, the chicks are spread and drinking, and the photo has gone. If you are still planning the brooder, our brooder ring setup guide explains the layout, and our delivery page explains how the boxes travel to you.

Your count on arrival is the number that matters most in the first week. We would rather see a farmer write "six dead, photo sent, batch 14" than a note that says "a few lost on the road".

Worked example two: the morning check

The morning check is the job that prevents most of the small disasters. It should take the same route, at the same time, every day, so a worker notices the change in a bird or a pipe rather than the average of the week.

1. Put on the house boots at the door, and step through the footbath if your farm uses one. Visitors and workers from other houses follow the same rule.
2. Walk the house in one direction every morning, starting at the end furthest from the door.
3. Check the water lines for leaks, low flow and dirt. A wet patch under a drinker is a warning, not a detail.
4. Check the feeders for level, cleanliness and damp feed. Feed that clumps or smells sour comes out and goes in the record.
5. Check the litter. It should be dry on top. If the smell of ammonia is strong enough to make your eyes water, the ventilation or the litter needs attention that day.
6. Watch the birds for how they move and rest. Look for birds standing apart from the group, birds gasping, and birds with discharge from the eyes or nostrils.
7. Remove dead birds and handle them according to the dead-bird SOP below.
8. Check the thermometer, the curtains or fans, and the power supply, and note any change.
9. Enter the daily line on the sheet before breakfast, or send it in the fixed format.

Done looks like: the sheet is complete, every problem is already on the phone with a photo, and the worker has written one line about anything that looked strange, even if it was nothing. Our biosecurity guide covers the hygiene side of the same walk in more detail.

Worked example three: the feed store

Feed is the largest running cost on most farms, and it is the easiest thing to lose through neglect. Bags on a damp floor, old stock at the back and a torn seam by the door can cost more in a month than a new fan. This SOP is short because the failures are simple.

1. Stack bags on pallets, never on the bare floor, and keep the stack away from the wall so air can move between the bags and the damp.
2. Write the delivery date on each batch of bags with a marker, so the age is visible from across the room.
3. Use the oldest batch first. Move the newest bags to the back, and never put a fresh delivery in front of old stock.
4. Check each morning for damp bags, torn seams, insects, droppings and any sign of rodents.
5. Close the store door after every visit, and close bags after use. During the harmattan, cover the stock to keep the fine dust out.
6. Weigh the day's feed out for the house and record it in kilograms, not in bags.
7. Report any sour smell, clumping or colour change to the supplier before the feed goes into the house.

Done looks like: the oldest batch is at the front, every bag has a date, and the day's kilograms are on the sheet. The feeding plan that goes with this store is in our broiler feeding schedule, and it is much easier to follow when the store is in order.

Worked example four: removing and recording dead birds

Dead birds are the one routine job where the worker has to think about disease. The SOP keeps the handling simple and the count honest. It also gives the vet a clear trigger, agreed in advance, rather than a call made in a panic on a bad afternoon.

1. Put on clean gloves before you touch a dead bird, and keep a bag or a lidded bin at the house door for them.
2. Remove dead birds at least twice a day, and record each count against the house and the time.
3. Seal the bird in the bag, and write any visible reason on the record, such as swollen joints or a gasping bird before death. If there is no obvious reason, write "unknown".
4. Dispose of the birds in the way your district assembly or your vet has advised. Do not leave them where other birds or dogs can reach them.
5. Change gloves and wash hands before you touch the feeders or the drinkers.
6. Agree a number with your vet in advance: if deaths rise above that figure on two days in a row, call the vet the same day. Write the number on the SOP itself.

Done looks like: no dead bird is left in the house, the count is on the sheet, and the trigger is written down. Our avian influenza guide explains why a sudden rise in deaths should never be treated as ordinary, and what to tell the vet when you call.

Worked example five: vaccination day

Vaccination day is where a small mistake costs the most, because it cannot be undone in the flock. The SOP below is general. The products, the schedule and the method come from your vet, and you should follow their advice on each one.

1. Check the vaccine's batch number and expiry date against the record before you open anything. Never use a product past its date.
2. Keep the vaccine cool as the label says, using a cool box with cloth-wrapped ice packs, and keep the box out of direct sun on the way from the store to the house. Our vaccine cold chain guide covers the handling in more detail.
3. Mix only what you will use within the time the label allows, and write down the time you mixed it.
4. Work through the flock calmly and at a steady pace. Rushed handling injures birds and causes stress that shows up in the record later.
5. Record the product name, the batch number, the date, the method and the number of birds vaccinated.
6. Dispose of used vials and sharps safely, and keep empty vials if your vet asks to see them.

Done looks like: the number vaccinated matches the number on the record, and the cool box is empty of anything not used. For the programme itself, our vaccination schedule guide explains what a typical calendar looks like, and the batch record we send with your chicks lists the vaccines given at the hatchery, so your field programme can build on it.

Language, pictures and the workers who read slowly

An SOP only works if the person doing the job can read it, or can understand it when someone reads it aloud. Many farms have workers who are excellent with birds and slow with paper. The manual should be written for them as well as for you.

Use short sentences with one action each. Put the critical numbers in bold and keep them in the same place on every page. Add a simple picture of the feeder level, the drinker, or the label on the bag next to the step where it matters. Where your workers speak Twi, Ga, Ewe or another language more easily than English, write the same page twice, and keep both versions on the wall.

On the first day, read every SOP aloud with the worker, and ask them to show you the job. Ask them to repeat the critical steps in their own words. Then sign the page together, with the date, and keep the signed copy in the house file. A signature is not a legal device here. It is a record that the worker saw the instructions and understood them.

Keeping the manual alive after the first batch

A manual that is not reviewed goes out of date within one batch. The fix is to put a review into the routine. After each batch, read each SOP that was used and ask three questions: did anyone skip a step, did a step take longer than written, and did anything go wrong that the page did not cover. Change the page, update the version and the date, and sign it again.

Keep one current copy on the wall in the house, in a plastic sleeve, and one copy on the phone as a photo or a PDF. Remove the old copies from the house. Old pages on a shelf are harmless, but old pages on the wall are the ones a new worker will follow.

Use the record to find the SOPs that need work. If the same problem appears in the sheet every batch, the SOP for that job is either missing a step or being ignored. Our record keeping guide explains which figures to watch, and the KPI guide shows how to turn those figures into a weekly review.

How we would start your SOP binder

Start with three SOPs this week: receiving chicks, the morning check and dead-bird handling. Those three cover the points where most of our calls come from. Write them on one page each, walk the job with your worker, and put a signed copy on the wall before the next delivery arrives. Add the feed store and the vaccination day once the first three are routine.

Do not try to make the manual perfect before you use it. A useful manual on day one, corrected after each batch, beats a beautiful binder that nobody opens. If you want a second pair of eyes on the chick arrival page, message us on +233 24 915 1503 with the batch details. Our frequently asked questions cover the dead-on-arrival and replacement rules that the page depends on, and when you are ready for your next batch you can place your order.

Questions farmers ask