When we started broiler chicken farming about ten years ago, we couldn’t find day-old chicks anywhere. We got so desperate that we bought from a seller we didn’t know, and we were sold male layer chicks. Male layer chicks are not made to grow for meat.
That flock taught us our biggest lesson: without quality day-old chicks, there is no broiler chicken farming. How to avoid our mistake has its own Guide: Day-old chicks: how to book, buy and receive good broiler chicks.
This Guide covers 15 more mistakes, the everyday ones that cost small-scale commercial farmers birds and money, flock after flock. It’s for commercial broiler chicken farmers with open-sided houses.
Each mistake comes with what to do instead, and the record that shows you the problem early. When we say “the guide”, we mean ECC’s 42-day guide, which gives a tip for every day of the flock in the Easy Chicken App. If you’re still planning your farm, start with how to start a small-scale broiler chicken farm in South Africa.
In short
- Keep the house in the comfortable range for the chicks’ age, and let the way the chicks spread out tell you if it’s right.
- Stock 12–20 birds per m² of growing area, and give the house 10 days to clean and rest between flocks.
- Plan about 3.5 kg of feed per bird, don’t let it run out, and mix the feeds when you switch.
- Record every day, and work out FCR and PEF for every flock so you can compare them.
- Contact buyers from day 33, weigh on day 35 and sell all your birds by day 42.
Housing mistakes
1. Getting the brooding temperature wrong
Chicks that are too cold huddle together, and chicks that are too hot move away from the heat, out to the edges. Either way they aren’t spread out around the feed and water. That matters most in the first week: as the guide puts it, early intake determines lifetime performance.
Do this instead:
- Warm the house before the chicks arrive.
- For days 1–7, keep the house thermometer between 30 and 33 °C. The comfortable range then comes down week by week, to 18–24 °C from day 29.
- Under the brooder on day 1, ECC’s brooding guidance is warmer: 32–34 °C at chick level, coming down 2–3 °C a week.
- Watch the chicks. Evenly spread means they’re comfortable; huddling means add heat and block draughts; crowding at the edges means less heat and more air.
Catch it early: Read a min/max thermometer every morning, write down the lowest and highest, then reset it. The Environment tab in the Easy Chicken App shows the readings against the comfortable range for the flock’s age.
If the night’s lowest was more than 2 °C below the range, the app says “The house is cold overnight. Consider heating”; more than 5 °C below, “The house is dangerously cold overnight. Heating is necessary”. See the first 7 days with day-old chicks and house temperature by age.
2. Putting too many birds in the house
A chick of about 40 g on day 1 weighs more than 2 kg by day 35, so a house that looks half empty in the first week is full by selling time. When the house is too full, the birds compete for the feeders and drinkers. The guide’s answer to uneven sizes is better feeder access (day 11), and to birds crowding the drinkers, more drinkers (day 12).
Do this instead:
- Work out your house’s capacity before you order chicks. Plan 12 to 20 birds per m² of growing area: multiply the area by 12 and by 20.
- A 70 m² house fits 840–1 400 birds, and a 105 m² house fits 1 260–2 100.
- Below 12 birds per m² you’re not using the space well. Above 20 you risk overstocking.
- Check again on day 32, as the guide does, and give the birds more space if you can.
Catch it early: When you add a house, the app shows how many birds fit (“Fits 840–1 400 birds” for 70 m²). When you add a flock or book a placement, it shows the density, for example “14.3 birds/m². Good use of space (12–20).”
3. Keeping the house shut
An open-sided house gets its fresh air through its sides. With the curtains closed, ammonia and heat build up: the guide checks for an ammonia smell on day 6, and for heat building up on day 23.
Do this instead:
- Open the curtains in warm, dry weather, and close them against cold, wind and rain.
- Let fresh air in without draughts on the birds.
- Smell the air on every walk. A strong smell means open the house more; poor air means open the sides.
- If you’re building, ECC’s guidance is to keep a naturally ventilated house no wider than 10 m.
Catch it early: House environment (temperature, ventilation and air quality) is one of the six areas you tick on Walk the house. When the day’s highest reading is more than 2 °C above the comfortable range, the Environment tab says “The house is hot during the day. Consider ventilation”; more than 5 °C above, “The house is too hot during the day. Ventilation is critical”.
Biosecurity mistakes
4. Placing the next flock without cleaning and resting the house
New chicks placed in a house that wasn’t cleaned, disinfected and dried start life in the last flock’s dirt. Rushing the next placement leaves no time to do the job properly.
Do this instead: Give the house 10 days between flocks: 2 days to clean it, then about 8 days to disinfect, rest and prepare it. Before the chicks arrive, the house should be clean, disinfected and dry, with litter in, the brooding area ready and the house warmed. Use disinfectants as their labels say.
Catch it early: Book my year, in the app’s Placement planning, leaves 10 days to clean and rest between flocks in every house. If you add a flock sooner, the app warns you, for example “Only 5 days to clean and rest CH01 since the last flock left (10 are needed)”.
5. Missing a vaccination, or giving it badly
A vaccination that’s missed, or that the birds don’t take in, leaves the flock unprotected. ECC’s guidance names four common mistakes: mixing vaccine into chlorinated water, which kills it; vaccinating in the heat, when birds don’t drink; skipping boosters; and poor mixing.
Do this instead: Follow the South African schedule the app uses.
| Day | Vaccination |
|---|---|
| 1 | Newcastle disease (ND) + infectious bronchitis (IB), usually given at the hatchery |
| 7–10 | Gumboro, in drinking water |
| 14 | Gumboro booster, in drinking water |
| 18–21 | ND booster, in drinking water |
| 10 | IB booster, only in high-risk areas |
For vaccines in drinking water, use clean, chlorine-free water, and make sure all the birds drink. Follow the vaccine manufacturer’s instructions and your vet.
This is South Africa’s schedule. Schedules vary with each country’s requirements and the disease burden in your area, so check yours with your vet. More in the broiler chicken vaccination schedule for South Africa.
Catch it early: The Health tab shows the schedule as a timeline (done, due, given late or not recorded), with a reminder when each vaccination is due. A missed one shows “Not recorded · high disease risk”.
6. Letting disease walk in
Disease can walk into your house on the boots, clothes and equipment of anyone who has been near other birds, including you.
Do this instead:
- Put a footbath at the door of every house, and change it every day.
- Keep overalls and gumboots that stay on the farm.
- Let visitors into the chicken house only when they need to be there.
- Keep a fence and gate to stop people and animals wandering in. A changing room or wash bay helps if you can build one.
Catch it early: Footbath water is the first job on each flock’s Daily → To do list. One tap records the change, and if you skip a day the app shows “Last changed 2 days ago. Change it today.”
Husbandry mistakes: feed, water and daily care
7. Running out of feed
From day 15, the guide’s rule is that feed and water intake must increase consistently. Running out breaks that. The guide warns about it on day 28, the day before finisher starts.
Do this instead:
- Plan the whole flock’s feed before the chicks arrive. As planning guidance, allow about 3.5 kg per bird: 0.7 kg of starter, 1.3 kg of grower and 1.5 kg of finisher.
- For 1 000 birds, that’s 14 bags of starter, 26 of grower and 30 of finisher, in 50 kg bags.
- Order more before you run low, and have finisher ready by day 28.
More in the broiler chicken feeding schedule by age.
Catch it early: Record your feed purchases and every feeding. Finances then shows the feed in stock and about how many days it will last at the rate your birds are eating it, and flags it when 2 days or fewer are left. On day 28, the bell reminds you to get finisher feed ready.
8. Letting drinkers get dirty or blocked
Dirty, slimy water is a disease risk, and a blocked drinker means birds drink less. When water intake drops, the guide’s first check is the drinkers (day 17).
Do this instead:
- Give clean water from the day the chicks arrive.
- Refresh the water and clean the drinkers, straight away if the water is dirty or slimy (day 4).
- When slime builds up inside them, scrub and disinfect them (day 24).
- When birds crowd the drinkers, add more (day 12).
Catch it early: Feed and water, and equipment (feeders, drinkers, brooders and fans), are two of the six areas you tick on Walk the house, so the drinkers get checked every day.
9. Changing feed overnight
A sudden switch can put birds off their feed. The guide watches for feed refusal when grower starts on day 15, and for a drop in intake when finisher starts on day 29.
Do this instead: Give starter on days 1–14, grower on days 15–28 and finisher from day 29. When you switch, mix the old feed with the new one instead of changing all at once.
Catch it early: The bell reminds you to start grower feed and mix it in gradually, to get finisher ready on day 28, and to switch to finisher. The Feed tab shows each day’s feed next to what chickens of that age usually eat, so a drop after a switch is easy to see.
10. Not walking the house every day
Small problems become big ones when nobody sees them. The guide says to walk slowly through the flock twice a day (day 5), because quiet birds that don’t respond can be a sign of illness.
Do this instead: On every walk, check how the birds behave (activity, breathing and how they’re spread), the feed and water, the house environment, the litter, the equipment, and anything else unusual. Litter should be dry, loose and clean: stir it, add dry material on wet patches (day 9) and break up caked litter (day 19). Count your losses every day (day 27).
Catch it early: Walk the house in the app: tick each area as you check it, and add a note if something was unusual. Record losses by type on the Losses tab.
If you lose more than 1% of the chicks placed in one day, the app says “Check the birds, water, feed and temperature.”; above 3%, “Get help now: ask MamaG or ECC support.” See how to keep your broiler chicken losses under 5%.
Farm management mistakes: records, FCR and PEF
11. Not keeping records
Without records, you can’t tell why one flock did better than another, or whether a flock made money. Remembering roughly how much feed went in, or how many birds died, isn’t enough to fix anything.
Do this instead:
- Keep records for each flock on its own.
- Every day: each feeding, any losses by type, and the night’s lowest and the day’s highest temperature.
- Every week: the birds’ weight.
- Every time it happens: each vaccination, purchase and sale.
Did your flock make money? shows how to turn these records into your cost per bird and gross margin.
Catch it early: Look at your records every day, not only when the flock is finished. Each one should tell you whether something needs attention.
In the Easy Chicken App
Every record gives you something back. Each flock has its own screen with the tabs Daily · Feed · Environment · Losses · Weight · Health, and a status (Healthy, Needs attention or Critical) with the reason. Feed shows against what chickens of that age usually eat, temperatures against the comfortable range, losses against the 1%, 3% and 5% lines, and weights against the guide’s range. The money card shows the costs so far and the estimated profit, so you know where you stand before you sell.
12. Never working out your FCR
You know how many birds you sold and how much feed you bought, but not how well that feed turned into chicken. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) tells you how many kg of feed made each kg of live chicken.
Do this instead: At the end of the flock, divide all the feed used by the total live weight sold. For example, 17 100 kg of feed for 4 750 birds sold at an average of 2.20 kg (10 450 kg) gives an FCR of 1.64.
Count all the feed, including what the birds that died ate, because you paid for it. During the flock, work it out at each weighing, and track feed against growth from day 22: if feed is high and weight is low, find out why.
Catch it early: The flock’s headline numbers show FCR at the last weighing. Above 1.80, the flock’s status changes to Needs attention, and above 2.20 to Critical. More in FCR and PEF explained.
13. Not comparing your flocks
A flock can have heavy birds and still do badly if it took longer, ate more or lost more birds. To see whether your flocks are getting better, you need one score that puts all of this together.
Do this instead: For each finished flock, work out its production efficiency factor (PEF): liveability % × average sale weight in kg × 100, divided by age in days × FCR. Liveability is 100 minus the losses %.
For example, a flock with 2.58% losses (97.42% liveability), sold at an average of 2.43 kg at 38 days with an FCR of 1.54, has a PEF of about 405. Compare it with your own earlier flocks: the higher the PEF, the better the flock did on weight, age, feed and losses taken together.
Catch it early: The Dashboard’s How your flocks compare shows weight, losses, FCR and PEF, with a bar for each flock.
Commercial mistakes: when and how you sell
14. Selling too late
Bigger birds don’t always mean more profit. From 6 weeks, feed costs more than the weight it adds: the guide’s last days read “Delay = loss” (day 41) and “Keeping = financial loss” (day 42). Selling late also eats into the 10 days the house needs to clean and rest, so your next flock starts late.
Do this instead:
- Start contacting buyers on day 33.
- Weigh on day 35 to plan your sales.
- From day 36, sell the biggest birds first, in batches.
- Day 40 is the target selling day. Sell every bird by day 42.
Catch it early: The bell reminds you to start contacting buyers on days 33–35, and to sell all your birds on days 36–42.
On the Live Broiler Map, people signed in to the Easy Chicken App can see how many of your birds are ready now (day 35 or older) and coming soon, and chat to you on WhatsApp or get directions. They never see your records or money. More in when to sell your broiler chickens.
15. Selling without weighing
If you guess your birds’ weight, you can’t plan your sales, and your FCR is a guess too.
Do this instead:
- Weigh every week, and on day 35 before you sell.
- At several spots around the house, weigh a few birds together in a crate and write down each spot’s total. Three or more spots give a good average.
- Add up the totals and divide by the number of birds weighed. On day 35, the guide’s range is 2.15–2.35 kg.
- When you sell, weigh the birds alive, even if you sell them processed.
Catch it early: On the Weight tab, enter the totals for up to 5 spots, and the app works out the average and shows it against the guide’s range for that day. When you record a sale, enter the birds and their total live weight, and it shows the kg per bird. See the broiler chicken weight chart by age.
Ask MamaG: “My chicks are huddling under the brooder at night. What should I check?” or “My flock shows Needs attention for FCR. Where do I start?”
Before your next flock: a checklist
- The house cleaned, disinfected, dried and rested for 10 days since the last birds left.
- Chicks ordered to fit 12–20 birds per m² of growing area.
- Feed planned at about 3.5 kg per bird, with finisher ready by day 28.
- A footbath at every door, changed every day.
- A min/max thermometer, read every morning.
- The vaccination days in your calendar, and clean, chlorine-free water ready for them.
- A weighing scale and a crate for weighing every week.
- Buyers to call from day 33, and every bird sold by day 42.
Read next: The first 7 days with day-old chicks · Broiler chicken feeding schedule by age
This guide gives general advice. It doesn’t replace a vet. For a sick flock, ask MamaG in the Easy Chicken App, or WhatsApp ECC support on +27 69 339 4013.