Book Your Chicks Before the Hatch Fills Up

What a pre-order actually locks in

A pre-order is a promise about a day, not a shelf. When you book, you reserve a place on a specific hatch, you agree the breed and the number of boxes, and we confirm the delivery region. The price and the hatch date go into the same written confirmation, so you are not left guessing which is which.

What it does not do is hold chicks that have already been hatched and waiting. Chicks come from eggs, and eggs come from a set schedule. That is why a date you lock now is worth more to you than a vague promise of "soon", and why you should book before you buy anything else for the house.

If you have ordered chicks from a seller who only takes orders on the day, you will know the frustration. A pre-order turns that uncertainty into a date on the calendar, and that date is what lets you plan feed, labour, space and money in the right order.

Why a hatch date is a fixed thing

Chicken eggs take about 21 days to hatch in a properly run incubator, and the eggs have to be set at the right time for the batch to come out on the right day. Once that timing is set, changing it is not simple. That is the whole reason pre-ordering matters for buyers who need a specific week.

The eggs for your hatch are chosen and set in advance. A hatch that is booked is a hatch we plan around, and the chicks are dispatched on the day they come out. If you want to understand the incubation side in more detail, our egg incubation calculator shows how the days add up from setting to hatch.

For you, the lesson is simple. A date you lock in early gives the hatchery room to plan. A date you ask for late might be possible, or it might not, and you will not know until we check.

Working backwards from your sale date

Start with the day you want to sell or eat the birds, then work back. Broilers are usually ready for market in around six to eight weeks in good management, and they need the house, feed and water ready before the chicks arrive. Layers take longer, with the first eggs usually coming around 18 to 20 weeks.

Here is a planning sequence you can copy into your notebook. Times are rough, so use them to set your own dates, not as a promise from us.

Once the hatch date is in writing, you can plan the rest. The poultry calculators hub has tools for feed, cost and profit that work from the date you lock in.

Festive seasons and the calendar problem

Every year, the same thing happens. Families want meat for a festive table, and they start looking for birds in the last few weeks. By then the good dates are gone, and the birds that are left arrive too late to reach market size in time. The solution is not clever. It is to book early.

Count back from the festival. If a broiler needs six to eight weeks to reach a useful weight, and you want it ready on the day, the chicks have to arrive on the right week, not the week before. Add the time to prepare the house, and the order date is earlier than most people think. Ask us for the latest hatch date that still works for your target day, and build the plan from that.

The same logic applies to layers that you want in lay for a particular season. Bringing pullets in at the right time means the eggs come at the time the market is asking for them, rather than months later.

Large batches and splitting an order across hatches

A large order is not just more chicks. It is more pressure on the house, the feed store and the water supply, and it needs more care in the first two weeks. Many keepers who want two hundred or more birds do better with a staggered plan than with one big arrival. Each box is a manageable group, and each group can be checked and fed in turn.

If you go this way, book each hatch date separately and write them into your calendar. A staggered plan also reduces the risk that one bad batch takes the whole project down. For larger buyers, our bulk day-old chicks page sets out how we handle bigger volumes.

When you split an order, keep the breed the same across hatches where you can. Mixed ages on one farm make it harder to see problems early, and they make the feed plan harder to manage.

Ross 308 and Hy-Line Brown: booking the right breed for the season

The Ross 308 is an imported broiler at GH₵ 20 a chick, or GH₵ 1,000 for a box of 50. Because it reaches market size quickly, it suits a festive target or a steady sales cycle, and it is the breed to book first if your date is fixed. Plan the feed for a fast growth curve and make sure the house can hold the birds at their heaviest.

The Hy-Line Brown is an imported brown-egg layer at GH₵ 23 a chick, or GH₵ 1,150 for a box of 50. It takes longer to pay back, because the hens need to reach point of lay first. Book it when your planning horizon is months, not weeks, and make sure you have the nest boxes and the layer feed ready before the pullets start laying.

Our imported stock is sourced from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. For the wider list of prices, see the day-old chicks price list, and for breed differences, the breed guide is the next stop.

What we need from you to hold a date

To hold a hatch date, we need four things from you. The breed, the number of boxes, the region where the chicks will be delivered, and a name and phone number for the person who will receive the box. Send them on WhatsApp or by phone, and we will reply with the date and the price in writing.

It also helps to tell us about the house. Say roughly how many birds it holds, whether it has a raised floor, and whether you have a lamp and drinkers ready. We will not judge the answer. The information helps us suggest a sensible batch size, and it stops you from ordering more birds than you can house.

Payment and written confirmation

Once the date is agreed, you will receive the confirmation in writing. It should show the breed, the boxes, the hatch date, the region and the price, along with the delivery cost quoted separately before you pay. Read it carefully and ask about anything that does not match what we discussed.

Mobile money, bank transfer and cash are all accepted, but we do not take online card payments. Ask us how payment is handled for your order before you send any money, so the arrangement is clear from the start. The FAQ page answers the most common payment questions.

When your date needs to move

Plans change. A sale falls through, a house is not ready, or the family wants the birds a week later. Tell us as early as you can. A small move is often possible, while a large move may mean a different hatch and a different date. The earlier you message, the more options we can offer.

What we will not do is promise a date we cannot keep. If the hatch is set and the date cannot be met, we say so and work with you on the next available slot. An honest reply in the first day is worth more than a promise that falls apart in the last week.

Why pre-ordering helps a small farm's cash flow

Money tied up in birds that are not yet needed is money you cannot use for feed, drinkers or a new lamp. A pre-order lets you pay for the chicks when the date is confirmed, and it lets you plan the rest of the spending around a known arrival. That is much easier than buying on impulse and finding the house is empty of feed.

It also helps the farm's records. A booked hatch goes into the notebook with its date, its breed and its cost, so the costs of the cycle are easier to track. Our day-old chicks cost calculator can help you total the first-cycle costs before you commit.

The week before the hatch

• Confirm the delivery address and a contact who will be there to receive the box.
• Clean and dry the brooder, lay fresh litter and check the lamp works.
• Set out the feed and water, and check the drinkers are reachable.
• Recheck the batch count with us if the number has changed.
• Plan the day so someone can open the box and count the birds straight away.

A calm first day is the easiest way to start a flock. The hatchery page explains what happens to your order from hatch to dispatch, so you know what to expect when the day comes.

Delivery on the hatch day

Chicks are dispatched on the day they hatch, and that is the main reason the hatch date matters. The birds travel while they are still fresh, and they can rely on the yolk reserve during the journey. We deliver to all 16 regions, and the delivery cost is quoted in writing before payment. The delivery page explains how we plan routes.

Because the date is fixed, the delivery is fixed too. That means you need to be ready on the day the box is due. A missed delivery is hard on the chicks and on the plan, so confirm the receiver and the arrival window when we confirm the order.

Questions farmers ask