Ordering & Payment (7)
How do I order day-old chicks?
Tell us the breed, the quantity and the week you want the chicks, and we will confirm which hatch date we can put you on. Orders are only held once a deposit is paid, because hatches are booked out well in advance and we cannot reserve stock on a verbal promise.
How far in advance should I place an order?
Give as much notice as you can. Chicks are not stock sitting in a warehouse; they are hatched to order, and hatcheries across the region are usually booked weeks ahead, especially before the festive season when everyone wants birds ready for December.
What is the minimum order?
Set out your own minimum here. Most sellers work to one that matches a full box or crate, because part-boxes travel badly and chicks in a half-empty container lose heat.
How do I pay for my chicks?
List the methods you accept, which typically means EcoCash, InnBucks, OneMoney, bank transfer, swipe or cash. Say which currency you price in and, if you accept both USD and ZiG, how the rate is set on the day of payment.
Do I need to pay a deposit?
State your deposit percentage and when the balance falls due. A deposit is what converts an enquiry into a booked place on a hatch, and it protects both sides: you know the birds are coming, and the seller is not left holding chicks nobody collects.
What happens if the hatch is short and you cannot fill my order?
Hatch rates vary and occasionally a batch comes out light. Say what you do in that case: whether you part-fill and carry the balance to the next hatch, offer a refund, or move the whole order forward. Buyers plan feed and labour around a date, so being clear here matters.
Do you keep a waiting list when stock runs out?
Explain how your waiting list works and how people are contacted when a place opens up. Demand tends to spike ahead of the festive season, and a clear list saves you fielding the same call twenty times.
Delivery & Collection (7)
Do you deliver, and to which areas?
List the towns and routes you cover, with the days you run each one. Buyers in Gweru, Kwekwe, Shurugwi, Zvishavane, Mvuma and Gokwe want to know whether they are on a route or whether they must collect.
How much does delivery cost?
State your charge and how it is worked out, whether by distance, by quantity, or free above a certain order size. Buyers costing a batch need this figure up front because it changes the price per bird.
Can I collect the chicks myself?
Yes. Give your collection point and the hours. Collection is usually cheapest and gives you full control over how the chicks travel, which matters more than most first-time buyers expect.
How should I transport chicks in my own car?
Carry them in a ventilated box on the seat, never in a sealed boot. Keep the car cool but not draughty, avoid the air conditioning blowing straight onto the box, and drive straight home without stopping for errands. Chicks die from overheating in parked cars faster than from almost anything else.
How long can day-old chicks travel safely?
A newly hatched chick still carries the yolk sac it absorbed at hatching, which sustains it for a day or two without feed. That is why chicks can be shipped at all, but it is a buffer, not a licence: aim to have them under a heat source within a few hours of collection.
Can I send chicks on a bus or with a courier?
Say whether you allow it and on what terms. Bus transport is common across the region but it is the riskiest way to move chicks, because nobody on board is watching the box for overheating or crushing, and delays are outside everyone’s control. Most sellers will not guarantee chicks sent this way.
What do you pack the chicks in?
Describe your packaging. Purpose-made chick boxes with ventilation holes and dividers are the standard: the dividers stop birds sliding into one corner and smothering each other when the vehicle turns.
Breeds & Stock (16)
What breeds do you sell?
List what you stock and who each one suits. Most sellers in the region carry broilers for meat, commercial layers for eggs, and a hardy indigenous or free-range type for buyers who want birds that forage and survive on less.
What is the difference between broilers and layers?
Broilers are bred to put on meat fast and reach table weight in around six weeks. Layers are bred to produce eggs and are much lighter birds that start laying at about eighteen to twenty weeks and keep going for a year or more. They are different animals with different feed, housing and economics, and you choose one based on whether you want a quick meat cycle or steady egg income.
What is a road runner chicken?
Road runner is the everyday Zimbabwean name for indigenous free-range chickens. They grow far more slowly than broilers, taking months rather than weeks, but they forage for much of their own food, tolerate heat and disease pressure better, and fetch a premium price because buyers prefer the taste and texture.
Which broiler breed grows fastest?
The commercial broiler strains used across the region, including Cobb, Ross, Arbor Acres and Hubbard, are all bred to similar growth targets and the differences between them matter far less than your brooding, feed and water. A good manager will out-produce a poor one on the same strain every time.
Which layer breed lays the most eggs?
The commercial brown layer strains such as Hy-Line, Lohmann and Amberlink are all bred for high output over a laying year and are close to each other in practice. What separates a good flock from a poor one is consistent feed, clean water, calcium and light, not the name on the box.
What are Boschveld chickens?
Boschveld is a hardy composite bred in Southern Africa from indigenous stock for free-range conditions. They forage well, cope with heat, need less input than commercial birds, and are dual purpose, giving both eggs and meat. They will never match a broiler for growth speed and are not meant to.
What is a Sasso chicken?
Sasso is a slow-growing coloured bird developed for free-range and organic systems. It sits between a broiler and an indigenous chicken: faster to market than a road runner, but with the firmer meat and foraging ability that buyers pay more for.
What is a Koekoek chicken?
The Potchefstroom Koekoek is a barred dual-purpose breed developed in South Africa. It lays reasonably well, produces a decent carcass, and handles free-range conditions far better than commercial hybrids, which makes it popular with smallholders across the region.
Should I keep broilers or road runners?
It depends on your cash flow and your market. Broilers turn money around in six weeks but need bought feed, tight brooding and a buyer ready when they finish. Road runners tie up money for months but cost far less to feed and sell at a premium. Many smallholders run broilers for cash and keep road runners alongside.
Are your chicks sexed?
Say what you supply. Layer chicks are normally sold sexed as pullets, since cockerels are of little use in an egg enterprise. Broilers are usually sold as hatched, mixed male and female, because both sexes are grown for meat anyway.
What is the difference between day-old chicks and point-of-lay pullets?
Day-old chicks are just hatched and need brooding, heat and several weeks of care before they are self-sufficient. Point-of-lay pullets are young hens at about eighteen weeks, ready to start laying within a few weeks of arrival. Pullets cost far more per bird but skip the riskiest stage and start earning much sooner.
Can I keep broilers and layers together?
It is not a good idea. They need different feeds, grow at completely different rates, and the fast-growing broilers will crowd the lighter layers off feeders. Keep them in separate pens if you want to run both.
Can I breed my own chicks from the birds I buy?
Not from commercial hybrids. Broilers and commercial layers are crosses, and their offspring do not come out like the parents, so hatching from them gives inconsistent, disappointing birds. Indigenous and composite breeds such as Boschveld or Koekoek do breed true enough for smallholders to reproduce their own flock.
How do I know the chicks I am buying are good quality?
A good day-old chick is alert, dry and fluffy, stands up cleanly on its legs, and has a healed navel with no string attached. Chicks that are wet, listless, splay-legged, or noticeably undersized against their batch-mates are a warning sign. Look in the box before you accept it.
Where do your chicks come from?
Name your hatchery or your own breeding stock. Buyers increasingly ask this because chick quality is set long before the chicks reach them, in the breeder flock and the incubation, and a seller who is vague about the source is worth a second look.
When do layers start laying?
Commercial layers usually come into lay at about eighteen to twenty weeks and build to peak production over the following month or so. Indigenous and free-range breeds take longer and lay far fewer eggs. Feeding a layer ration before the birds are ready, or too late, both cost you eggs.
Brooding & Chick Care (17)
What should I do the moment I get the chicks home?
Put them straight into a brooder you warmed up beforehand, and dip each chick’s beak in the drinker as you take it out of the box so it knows where the water is. Watch them for the first hour: how they spread out tells you immediately whether your temperature is right.
What is brooding?
Brooding is keeping chicks warm, dry and fed for the first few weeks, before they grow the feathers to regulate their own temperature. A day-old chick cannot keep itself warm at all, so you are standing in for the hen. Almost every serious loss on a smallholding traces back to something that went wrong in this period.
What do I need ready before the chicks arrive?
A cleaned and disinfected brooding space, a working heat source switched on hours beforehand, fresh dry bedding, drinkers filled with clean water, and starter feed. Warm the brooder before the chicks arrive, never after. Cold chicks huddle, stop eating and drinking, and you lose ground you cannot make back.
What temperature should the brooder be?
Start at roughly thirty-two to thirty-five degrees Celsius at chick level in the first week, then reduce by about three degrees a week until you reach ambient temperature at around four to five weeks. Measure at the height of the chicks, not up where a thermometer is convenient to hang.
How do I know if the chicks are too hot or too cold?
Watch the birds rather than the thermometer. Spread out evenly and moving about means they are comfortable. Huddled in a tight pile under the heat means too cold. Pressed against the walls away from the heat, panting with wings held out, means too hot. All crowded to one side usually means a draught coming from that direction.
How long do chicks need heat?
Usually about three to four weeks, longer in cold weather or if your housing is draughty. Stop when the chicks are well feathered and stay spread out overnight without seeking the heat source. Cold nights catch people out, so do not withdraw heat on the strength of a warm afternoon.
What can I use for heat if I have no electricity or there is load shedding?
Gas brooders are the usual answer and are worth the investment if you intend to keep going. Paraffin and charcoal are widely used but demand real care, because both consume oxygen and give off carbon monoxide, so the house must be ventilated even while you are trying to keep it warm. Never seal a brooding house to hold heat in with a burning fuel inside.
What bedding should I use?
Wood shavings are the standard, laid several centimetres deep so the floor stays dry and the chicks have grip. Avoid very fine sawdust, which chicks eat and which irritates their airways, and avoid anything treated or mouldy. Newspaper alone is a poor choice because it is slippery and causes splayed legs.
How much space do chicks need?
They need very little at first and a great deal by the end, which is what catches people out. Broilers finish needing roughly ten to twelve birds per square metre, so plan the house for the size they will be at six weeks, not the size they are on arrival. Overcrowding shows up as poor growth, dirty litter and disease long before you see birds actually suffering.
What is a chick guard and do I need one?
A chick guard is a low ring of cardboard or hardboard that keeps newly arrived chicks in a circle around the heat and feed instead of wandering into cold corners. It is cheap, takes minutes to set up, and prevents a classic first-night loss where chicks pile in a corner and smother. Widen it as they grow and remove it after the first week or so.
How many drinkers and feeders do I need per 100 chicks?
Enough that no chick has to queue or walk far to reach one. As a rule of thumb, plan several small drinkers and feeders per hundred birds spread evenly around the heat source, and increase the number as the birds grow. Feeders and drinkers grouped in one spot leave the birds at the edges underfed.
How much light do chicks need?
Chicks need almost continuous light in the first days so they can find feed and water easily, then a period of darkness introduced as they grow. Light also drives them to eat, so a dark brooder is a slow-growing one. If you are relying on a single bulb, make sure it lights the whole floor, not just the middle.
Why are my chicks piling on top of each other?
Piling is nearly always a temperature or draught problem. They pile under the heat when cold and away from it when the heat is badly placed, and they pile in corners when a draught is blowing through. Fix the cause immediately, because the chicks at the bottom of a pile suffocate.
How do I stop chicks drowning in the drinkers?
Use proper shallow chick drinkers rather than open dishes, and if you must improvise, put clean pebbles or marbles in the trough so a chick that falls in can stand up. Open buckets and deep basins kill chicks in the first week and it is entirely avoidable.
When can the chicks go outside?
Once they are properly feathered and the weather is settled, usually from about four to six weeks, and always in stages rather than all at once. Free-range and indigenous birds adapt sooner than commercial broilers, which stay clumsy and heat-sensitive their whole lives.
How do I keep rats, snakes, cats and hawks away from my chicks?
Predators take more chicks on smallholdings than disease does in some seasons. Close every gap a rat can pass, wire the ventilation openings, keep feed in sealed containers rather than open bags, and shut the house properly at night. Losing a few chicks each night for a week is usually a predator, not an illness.
How do I clean the brooder between batches?
Remove all the old litter and take it well away from the house, wash the surfaces down, disinfect, and then leave the house empty and dry for a period before the next batch arrives. That resting period is doing real work, breaking the disease cycle from one batch to the next, and running batches back to back without it is how problems become permanent.
Feed & Growth (14)
Should I put anything in the water when the chicks arrive?
Many growers give a glucose or vitamin and electrolyte solution for the first day to help chicks recover from the journey. It is helpful but it is not a substitute for clean water and correct temperature. Follow the product instructions rather than guessing the dose.
What feed do day-old chicks need?
Broiler chicks go onto a starter crumb from day one, and layer chicks onto a chick mash. Starter feed is higher in protein than anything that follows because the first two weeks set the frame the bird grows on. Buy proper compounded feed for this stage even if you plan to mix your own later.
When do I change from starter to grower to finisher feed?
Broilers usually run on starter for the first fortnight, grower through the middle of the cycle, and finisher for the last stretch to slaughter. Change over gradually across a couple of days by mixing the two rather than switching in one go, because an abrupt change puts birds off feed.
How much feed does one broiler eat before slaughter?
Plan on roughly three and a half to four kilograms of feed per bird over a six-week cycle, spread across the three feed types. Use your own records to sharpen that figure, because housing, temperature and wastage move it more than most people expect.
How much feed do I need for 100 broilers?
Work from roughly three and a half to four kilograms a bird, which puts a hundred broilers somewhere near three hundred and fifty to four hundred kilograms of feed for the cycle. Buy the starter first rather than the whole cycle at once, since feed stored badly in a hot shed loses quality.
What is feed conversion ratio and why does it matter?
Feed conversion ratio is how many kilograms of feed it takes to put on one kilogram of live weight. It is the single number that tells you whether a batch made money, because feed is by far your biggest cost. A rising ratio across batches usually means wastage, heat stress, disease or poor water access rather than bad feed.
How much water do chicks drink?
Roughly twice as much water as feed by weight, and considerably more in hot weather. Water is the input people watch least and the one that stops growth fastest: birds that cannot drink stop eating within hours. Check drinkers several times a day and keep them clean.
Can I make my own chicken feed?
You can, and many growers do to cut costs, but home mixes go wrong easily. Getting protein, energy, calcium, amino acids and vitamins balanced takes proper formulation, and a mix that looks fine can quietly cost you more in slow growth than it saved. If you are going to mix, do it for older birds and buy compounded feed for the starter phase.
Can I feed chicks maize meal or kitchen scraps?
Maize on its own is energy without enough protein, so chicks fed mainly on maize meal grow slowly and unevenly. Scraps are fine as a supplement for older free-range birds but should not form the diet of growing chicks. Broilers in particular will not reach weight on anything other than a properly balanced ration.
What weight should broilers reach at six weeks?
Around two kilograms live weight is the usual target for a well-run batch, though it varies with strain, feed and management. Weigh a sample of birds each week rather than guessing by eye: catching a shortfall in week three leaves you time to act, while discovering it at week six does not.
When are broilers ready for market?
Most growers sell somewhere between five and seven weeks depending on the weight their buyers want. Live-weight buyers and butcheries often want different sizes, so decide who you are selling to before you decide when to stop feeding. Keeping birds longer costs feed and the extra weight rarely pays for it.
What feed do layers need?
Layers move from chick mash to a grower ration, then onto layers mash once they approach point of lay. Layers mash carries the extra calcium needed for shells, and giving it too early to young birds can damage them, so make the change on age rather than guesswork.
What do road runners and free-range birds eat?
They forage for a good part of their diet, taking insects, seeds and greens, which is exactly why they cost less to keep. That said, foraging alone does not carry chicks through the first weeks, so brood them on proper starter feed and let them range once they are feathered. Supplementing in the dry season keeps them growing when there is little to find.
Why are my chicks not growing well?
Work through the usual causes in order: temperature wrong in the first week, not enough feeder or drinker space, water running out during the day, feed of the wrong type or stale, overcrowding, or a disease challenge. Uneven growth across a batch usually points to competition for feed and water rather than to the feed itself.
Health & Vaccination (15)
Are the chicks vaccinated before I collect them?
State exactly which vaccinations are given at the hatchery and which remain your responsibility afterwards. Marek’s disease vaccine is normally given at day old at the hatchery because it must be done before exposure. Being specific here prevents most after-sale arguments.
What vaccinations do chicks need, and when?
A typical smallholder programme covers Newcastle disease and Gumboro, each given twice within the first three weeks, with timings set by your local veterinary advice and the disease pressure in your area. Get a written schedule from your supplier or vet and stick to the dates, because a vaccine given late is often a vaccine wasted.
What is Newcastle disease?
Newcastle is a highly contagious viral disease and the biggest killer of village chickens across the region. It spreads fast, can wipe out an entire flock within days, and there is no treatment once birds are infected. Vaccination is the only real protection, which is why it is the one vaccine nobody should skip.
What is Gumboro disease?
Gumboro, also called infectious bursal disease, attacks the young bird’s immune system. Birds that survive it are left unable to respond properly to other vaccines and other infections, so the damage outlasts the outbreak. It hits chicks in the first weeks, which is why it is vaccinated for early.
What is coccidiosis?
Coccidiosis is a gut parasite that thrives in warm damp litter and shows up as slow growth, huddled miserable birds and sometimes blood in the droppings. Most commercial starter feeds include a coccidiostat to control it. Wet patches under drinkers are where it starts, so keeping litter dry is half the battle.
Why are my chicks dying in the first week?
First-week losses are usually management rather than disease: a brooder that was too cold or too hot, chicks that never found the water, draughts, piling and smothering, or drowning in an unsuitable drinker. Check the temperature at chick level and watch how the birds spread out. If deaths continue past the first week, get a proper diagnosis.
What is a normal death rate in a batch?
A small percentage across a broiler cycle is considered normal by commercial standards, with most of it falling in the first week. What matters more than the number is the pattern: a steady trickle points to management, a sudden spike points to disease or a predator. Count and record deaths daily so you can tell the difference.
How do I give a vaccine in the drinking water?
Withhold water briefly beforehand so the birds drink readily, use clean water free of chlorine or disinfectant which destroys the vaccine, mix only what will be drunk within a couple of hours, and keep the vaccine cool and out of sunlight until it is used. Most vaccine failures on smallholdings come from chlorinated water or a dose left standing in the sun.
What is biosecurity and does it really matter on a small farm?
Biosecurity is simply keeping disease out: limiting who walks into the poultry house, washing hands and changing footwear, not visiting another farm and coming straight back to your birds, and keeping wild birds and rodents away from feed. It costs almost nothing and it is the cheapest insurance in poultry keeping, small flock or large.
Can I put new chicks in with my existing chickens?
Do not do it. Older birds carry infections they have grown resistant to and which will overwhelm young chicks, and they will also bully them off feed. Keep new chicks in a separate house, work with them before you handle the older birds, and only combine flocks once the young stock is grown and vaccinated.
What causes pasty vent or sticky bottoms in chicks?
Pasting up is usually a sign the chicks have been chilled or stressed, often on the journey or from a brooder that was too cold. Gently clean the affected chicks so they can pass droppings, and then fix the temperature, because the pasting is the symptom and the cold is the cause.
Why are my chicks coughing, sneezing or breathing noisily?
Respiratory signs can come from dusty or damp bedding, ammonia building up in a poorly ventilated house, or an infectious disease. Check ventilation and litter first, because ammonia strong enough to sting your own eyes at chick height is damaging their airways. If the signs spread through the flock, get a diagnosis rather than guessing at a treatment.
Can I give my chicks antibiotics?
Only on veterinary advice and for a diagnosed condition. Routine dosing breeds resistance, costs money that rarely comes back, and masks a management problem instead of fixing it. If you do treat, observe the withdrawal period before slaughter so residues do not reach the people eating the birds.
Do chicks need deworming?
Broilers finishing at six weeks in a clean house generally do not. Free-range, indigenous and layer birds living much longer on the ground pick up worms and benefit from a programme worked out with your local veterinary officer, based on what is actually present in your area rather than a fixed calendar.
Who do I contact if my birds get sick?
Contact your nearest veterinary officer or the Department of Veterinary Services early rather than after you have lost half the flock. Sudden deaths across many birds are notifiable in most cases, and a real diagnosis is worth far more than trying remedies one after another while the batch dies around you.
Pricing & Bulk Orders (6)
How much is one chick?
Put your current price per chick here, by breed, and say plainly whether it includes delivery. Buyers compare on this number first, so leaving it off the site costs you enquiries.
Do you give a discount on bulk orders?
Set out your quantity breaks. Bulk pricing is worth publishing because it tells a buyer planning a larger batch that scaling up is worth their while, and it saves you negotiating the same discount over and over.
Why do chick prices change?
Chick prices follow the cost of feed for the breeder flock, imported inputs, exchange rates and the season. Prices usually firm up ahead of the festive season when everyone wants birds ready for December. Say how long a quoted price holds so buyers know where they stand.
Do you sell to resellers and agents?
Explain your terms for people buying to sell on: minimum volumes, pricing, and whether you protect areas. Resellers extend your reach into places you cannot deliver to yourself, which is worth structuring properly rather than handling ad hoc.
Do you offer credit or contract growing?
State your position. Some sellers supply chicks and feed on credit against an agreed offtake, which helps growers who cannot fund a batch up front. If you do not offer it, say so clearly so buyers stop asking.
How much does it cost to raise 100 broilers?
Work this out for your own area and publish it, covering chicks, feed for the full cycle, bedding, heating, vaccines and any labour. It is the single most useful thing you can put on the site, because most first-time buyers have no idea that feed dwarfs the cost of the chicks themselves.
Guarantees & Replacements (6)
What happens if some chicks die on the way home?
Set out your policy and the window it covers. Be specific about what you need from the buyer, usually a call on the same day and the dead birds kept for inspection. Vague replacement policies generate more disputes than strict ones.
Do you replace chicks that arrive dead?
State your dead-on-arrival terms plainly: what percentage is covered, how soon you must be told, and whether replacement is in chicks or in credit. Buyers accept a firm policy far more readily than an unclear one.
How do I claim a replacement?
Describe the steps: who to contact, how quickly, and what evidence you need. Asking buyers to keep the birds and send a photo the same day is reasonable and settles most claims without argument.
What is not covered by your guarantee?
Say so explicitly. Losses from cold brooding, drowning, predators, disease contracted after arrival and neglect are outside any seller’s control, and setting that out in advance protects you and sets fair expectations for the buyer.
Are your chicks guaranteed healthy?
Explain what you can and cannot promise. A seller can stand behind the condition of the chicks when they leave, and behind the hatchery vaccinations given, but nobody can guarantee an outcome that depends on the buyer’s brooding, feed and housing.
What if the sexing turns out to be wrong?
Commercial sexing is very accurate but not perfect, and every hatchery works to a tolerance rather than a certainty. Say what tolerance you work to and what you do if a batch falls outside it, since this only ever comes up weeks later when the birds start to show.
Starting Out & Profitability (12)
I am new to poultry, how many chicks should I start with?
Start with a batch small enough to manage properly and large enough to teach you something. The first cycle is really about learning your brooder, your feed supply and your market, and losing a small batch teaches the same lessons as losing a big one for far less money. Scale up once you have run a clean cycle.
What housing do I need to build?
You need a structure that stays dry, keeps draughts off the birds at floor level, keeps predators out, and still lets air move through. It does not need to be expensive; poles, mud brick and thatch or iron work fine. Face it to avoid the prevailing wind and give yourself room to walk in and work.
What equipment do I need for my first batch?
A heat source and a way to measure temperature at chick level, chick drinkers and feeders, a chick guard, bedding, and a thermometer. Everything else can wait. The commonest beginner mistake is spending on housing while skimping on the heat source and the drinkers.
Is broiler farming profitable?
It can be, but the margin per bird is thin and it lives or dies on feed cost, mortality and having a buyer ready when the birds finish. Work out your own numbers for a full cycle before you commit. Growers who lose money usually lost it to feed wastage, a bad first week, or birds finishing with nowhere to go.
How long does one broiler cycle take?
About six weeks of growing, plus a period afterwards to clean out, disinfect and rest the house before the next batch. Plan on the full turnaround rather than the growing time alone, because skipping the rest period is how disease carries from one batch into the next.
How many batches can I run in a year?
Once you allow for cleaning and resting the house between batches, most growers manage several cycles a year rather than one every six weeks exactly. Timing them so birds finish when demand and prices are strongest matters more than squeezing in an extra cycle.
Should I start with broilers or layers?
Broilers pay back in six weeks and suit anyone who needs money moving quickly, but they demand tight management and a buyer waiting. Layers tie up money for five months before the first egg and then pay steadily for a year or more. If cash is tight, broilers first; if you want a regular income and can wait, layers.
Do I need a licence to keep or sell chickens?
Small-scale keeping for your own use generally needs no licence, but selling meat commercially brings in slaughter, hygiene and sometimes local authority requirements, and these differ between countries and councils. Check with your local authority and veterinary office before you scale up rather than after.
How do I find buyers for my birds?
Line up your market before the chicks arrive, not in the last week. Butcheries, restaurants, tuckshops, church and workplace networks and neighbours all buy, and most growers sell a first batch on word of mouth alone. Birds that finish with no buyer eat your margin every day they wait.
What are the biggest mistakes beginners make?
Brooding too cold in the first week, running out of drinker space, buying more chicks than the house can hold at week six, mixing new chicks with old birds, and having no buyer arranged when the batch finishes. Every one of them is avoidable and every one of them is common.
What records should I keep for each batch?
Record the date and number of chicks in, daily deaths, feed used, weights from a sample of birds each week, vaccinations given, and what you sold and for how much. Without records you cannot tell a good batch from a lucky one, and you cannot see a problem building until it has already cost you.
Can I raise chickens in a small urban yard?
Yes, within limits. A small batch fits comfortably in a modest yard provided you can keep the house dry, control the smell by managing litter, and stay on the right side of your council’s rules and your neighbours. Odour complaints almost always trace back to wet litter rather than to the birds themselves.