Broiler Feeding Guide: Starter, Grower and Finisher

A broiler is basically a machine for turning feed into meat, and the whole game is doing that conversion efficiently before your money runs out. Six weeks, maybe seven or eight depending on your market. In that short window a chick goes from around 40 grams to roughly two kilos or more, and every misstep in feeding shows up on the scale and in your pocket. Ghanaian broiler farmers who make money are not the ones with the fanciest houses. They are the ones who feed the right thing at the right time and waste as little as possible.

This guide walks the three feeding phases, starter, grower and finisher, with the numbers that matter for our climate and our breeds. Whether you are running Cobb 500, Ross 308 or a mixed local batch, the principles hold, and the common mistakes are depressingly universal.

The three phases and why they change

A broiler's needs shift as it grows. Early on, the chick is building frame, organs and immune system, so it needs the richest, most digestible feed with the highest protein: that is starter. In the middle, the bird is putting on muscle and skeleton fast and needs plenty of energy and protein but slightly less than starter: that is grower. At the end, the bird is finishing weight and you are watching cost, so finisher trades a little protein for energy to lay on that final gain economically. Feeding the wrong phase at the wrong time either stunts the bird or burns money.

Starter phase: days 1 to about 14

The starter phase is where flocks are won or lost. A chick that eats well and grows evenly in week one will almost always finish well. Use a high-protein starter, ideally as a crumb, because tiny beaks handle crumb better than coarse mash. Make sure feed is available constantly; empty feeders in week one cost you finish weight you can never recover. This ties directly into good brooding, because a cold, badly lit brooder means chicks that do not eat, no matter how good the feed.

Weigh a sample of chicks at day 7. Good Cobb or Ross birds should be roughly four times their day-old weight by then. If they are behind at day 7, something is wrong with heat, water or feed access, and you fix it now, not later. Do not switch to grower just because the bag is finished; go by age and weight.

Grower phase: about days 14 to 28

Now the birds are eating seriously and growing fast. Switch to a grower feed, still high in protein but formulated for rapid muscle and bone development. This is the phase where daily feed intake climbs steeply, so your feeder space and management (see our feeders and drinkers guide) really matter; crowded feeders mean uneven birds. Keep water clean and abundant, because a broiler eating hard in Ghanaian heat drinks a lot, and dehydrated birds go off feed instantly.

Watch litter quality closely in this phase. Fast-growing broilers produce a lot of droppings and moisture, and wet, capped litter drives up ammonia and invites coccidiosis. Keep it dry and friable. A broiler off its feed for a day or two in the grower phase loses gain you cannot make up before market.

Treat those figures as an orientation for well-managed Cobb 500 or Ross 308 birds. Local conditions, heat stress and feed quality shift them, so weigh your own birds weekly rather than trusting the table blindly.

Finisher phase: day 28 to sale

In the finisher phase the bird is laying on its final weight, and this is where feed cost per bird peaks because they are eating so much. Finisher feed carries slightly lower protein and higher energy to pack on weight economically. Keep birds calm and cool; heat stress in the last two weeks is a silent profit killer, cutting intake exactly when you need birds eating hard. Feed in the cooler parts of the day, early morning and evening, when heat is high.

If you are targeting the Christmas market or another festive peak, time your batch so birds hit weight just before demand, not weeks early when you are still paying to feed them. A broiler held past its ideal sale weight eats more and more for less and less gain, which destroys your margin.

Feed conversion: the number that decides your profit

Feed conversion ratio (FCR) is kilos of feed divided by kilos of live weight gained. A good broiler flock in Ghana might sit around 1.6 to 1.9; the lower, the better. If your birds are eating 4 kg to reach 2 kg, that is an FCR of 2.0, which is workable but leaves money on the table. The way to improve it: quality feed, no wastage, clean water, comfortable temperature and healthy birds. We break this down fully in our feed conversion ratio guide.

Keep records. A farmer who weighs feed in and birds out knows their FCR and their true cost per bird; a farmer who guesses is flying blind. Simple record-keeping is the cheapest profit tool you have.

Common broiler feeding mistakes

The recurring ones on Ghanaian farms: staying on starter or grower too long because a bag is not finished; overfilling feeders and losing feed to the litter; letting water run out or go dirty; buying cheap, poorly formulated feed to save on the bag and paying for it in slow, uneven growth; and holding birds past market weight. Each of these feels small in the moment. Together they are the difference between a batch that pays and a batch that barely breaks even.

One more: ignoring feed storage. Feed stored in a damp store grows mould and loses nutrients, and mouldy feed can poison a whole batch. Buy what you can use, store it dry and off the ground, and rotate it.

Frequently asked questions