Placing broilers for Christmas: the date that makes the money

Counting back from 25 December

Most people who ask me about Christmas broilers have already picked the date on the calendar. What they have not done is count backwards from it. A Ross 308 or a Cobb 500 needs roughly six to seven weeks in your house before it is heavy enough to sell well, and that is the number to start from.

Take the day you want to sell, subtract the growing period, and you have the day the chicks must be on your floor. The table shows three sale dates with the placement window and the latest sensible date to book with us. These are planning ranges, not promises. A bird sold a few days early weighs less than one held longer, and your feed, your house and your weather all move the timing a little.

If you are not sure how many weeks your own market will take, run the numbers through our broiler profit calculator first. It shows what each extra week of feed does to your margin, so you can see whether an early sale or a late one pays better on your own figures.

What happens to prices in December

Demand for live and dressed birds climbs in the weeks before Christmas. Households buy for the day, chop bars stock up, and a farmer with birds in the right weight range can often ask a little more than in a quiet month. How much more depends on your town, the week, and how many other growers sold into the same market. Anyone who gives you an exact figure is guessing.

What we can tell you is what the chick costs you. Our starting price for a Ross 308 or Cobb 500 day-old chick is GH₵ 20, and a box of 50 starts at GH₵ 1,000. The exact figure is confirmed in writing for each order. The full list is on our day-old chicks price list, and it is worth checking before you commit a budget, because these are starting prices and not fixed for the whole season.

The growers who do well in December are usually the ones whose money went into the house on time. The ones who panic-buy in the last week of October often pay more for later chicks and get less for their birds.

Why buy your December batch from Halaal Farms

We are a hatchery in Opeikuma, Kasoa, in the Central Region. Farm visits are by appointment, so if you want to see the operation before you pay anything, say so when you message us and we will arrange a time. Orders come in by WhatsApp or phone, and you can pay by mobile money, bank transfer or cash. We do not take online card payments. If a site asks for a card to reserve chicks, it is not us.

Ross 308 and Cobb 500 are both imported from hatcheries in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. That matters when you are placing birds for a fixed date, because you are not waiting on a local hatch that may run late. Every chick is vaccinated at the hatchery against Marek's, Newcastle, Gumboro (IBD), infectious bronchitis and coccidiosis, and a batch record comes with your order.

You can read more on the about page, or see how imported stock is handled on our imported day-old chicks page.

How many birds to place

Boxes come in 50s, so the sums are simple. A box of 50 Ross 308 chicks is GH₵ 1,000 at the starting price, and two boxes come to GH₵ 2,000 for 100 chicks. Growers usually plan for some loss over the cycle, and it is sensible to place a few more than you have buyers for. In good conditions losses stay small, but a bad week in the house should not leave you short for a sale you have already promised.

• Count your confirmed buyers and any regular customers first.
• Add a small margin for birds lost along the way or held back for a bigger weight.
• Round up to a full box of 50, because that is how we sell.

Use our day-old chicks cost calculator to turn a target number of birds into a box count and a budget before you send us a message. If you want to know whether the whole batch pays, the same numbers go through to a margin in the broiler profit calculator.

Booking early and how to order

Message us on WhatsApp or call with the breed, the number of boxes, the week you want the chicks and where they are going. We confirm the hatch date and the delivery cost in writing before you pay, so the full figure is known from the start. Settle by mobile money, bank transfer or cash.

Demand rises as the season approaches, so a message in the last week of October is more likely to get a later hatch date than one sent in mid-October. If your window is the first half of November, our pre-order page explains how reservations hold a date for you.

1. Message us with the breed, the boxes and the week you want chicks.
2. We confirm the hatch date, the box count and the delivery cost in writing.
3. You pay by mobile money, bank transfer or cash, and the order is held.
4. Chicks leave on the day they hatch, with the batch record.

Having the house ready before the chicks land

Chicks arrive a little tired and very hungry for warmth. They need a clean, dry house, fresh litter and water within reach straight away. Have the house ready at least a day before arrival. Check that the brooder lamps work, set out the feeders and drinkers, and block draughts at the sides while still letting air move. The first week is when most early problems start, so do not leave the preparation to the morning the birds come.

Feed and water should be in front of the chicks as soon as they are placed. If a few seem slow to find the drinkers, dip their beaks in the water gently and check again. Watch the birds through the first night. A cold flock bunches up in one corner, and a flock that is too hot spreads out and pants away from the lamp. Watch the birds as well as the thermometer.

What the vaccines cover and what the batch record gives you

Every batch from Halaal Farms is vaccinated at the hatchery against Marek's disease, Newcastle disease, Gumboro (infectious bursal disease), infectious bronchitis and coccidiosis. Those are the diseases that most often hit a broiler flock in its early weeks. Hatchery vaccination does not replace good house management, but it means you are not starting from nothing.

The batch record comes with your order, so there is a written record of the batch you bought. Keep it with your farm papers. When a vet or a neighbour asks what your birds have had, you can show them rather than guess. For the timing of follow-up doses on your own farm, our vaccination schedule calculator works out the dates from your placement day.

Delivery across the country and dead-on-arrival cover

We dispatch chicks on the day they hatch and deliver to all 16 regions. A day-old chick can travel about 48 hours on the yolk it absorbed before hatching, which is why same-day dispatch matters more than the distance. The delivery cost is quoted in writing before you pay, so there are no surprises at the end.

If a chick is dead on arrival, we replace it free in the next hatch. Open the box, count the birds, and tell us straight away with the count so we can sort the replacement. For how delivery works in your area, see the delivery page or our day-old chicks delivery guide.

Selling into the Christmas week

Sell most of your birds in the days before the holiday, not on the day itself. Buyers want their birds in hand while the market is still busy, and a rushed sale on the morning of the 25th rarely pays well. Agree pick-up or delivery dates with your buyers before the birds are ready, and do not promise a weight you have not weighed.

• Sell a portion early to the people who ordered before the rush.
• Keep a small reserve for walk-in buyers in the final days.
• Weigh a sample of birds a few days out, so your price talk rests on real numbers.

Keep the costs in front of you while you plan the sale. The broiler chicks for sale page sets out what to decide before you order, and it is useful if you are placing more than one batch this season.

Keep a simple tally of what each buyer has promised and what you have left in the house. A week before the holiday, that tally tells you whether to hold birds back or push the remaining stock, and it stops you from selling the same bird twice.

Mistakes that cost Christmas money

• Counting back from the holiday instead of from the sale day.
• Ordering too late and taking whatever hatch date is left.
• Placing one box short of a sale you have already promised.
• Starting to prepare the house on the morning the chicks arrive.

Most of these come down to one habit. Work out the placement date first, then book, then prepare the house. Do those three things in that order and December is a good month to sell birds. Leave any of them to the last week and the calendar decides for you.

Our frequently asked questions cover ordering and delivery in more detail, and the free poultry calculators are there to check your numbers before you pay anything.

Questions farmers ask