Broiler Phase Feeding: Starter, Grower and Finisher Done Right

Two farmers collect 500 broiler chicks from our hatchery on the same morning, from the same hatch, vaccinated the same way. Six weeks later one is selling 2.3 kg birds and the other is still feeding 1.7 kg birds and wondering what went wrong. Nine times out of ten the difference is not disease, housing or genetics. It is feed: which type, when it was changed, and how much the birds actually ate.

Phase feeding sounds technical, but the idea is simple. A one-week-old chick is building a skeleton, organs and immune system, and needs a rich, high-protein diet in small crumbs. A five-week-old is laying down muscle and fat as fast as it can, and needs energy more than protein, in a large pellet it can gulp. Feeding each bird what it needs at each stage, and no more, is how you reach market weight on time without paying for feed the bird does not use.

What each phase feed is actually for

Starter (day 1 to about day 14) is the most expensive feed per bag and the least of it you will use. It typically carries 22 to 23 percent crude protein and around 3,000 kcal/kg of energy, usually as a fine crumb. The first two weeks set the ceiling for the whole batch. A chick that grows well now has more muscle cells, a stronger gut and a better immune response for life. Skimping on starter to save money is the most reliable way to produce small birds at six weeks.

Grower (about day 15 to day 28) drops to 20 to 21 percent protein and rises slightly in energy, often around 3,100 kcal/kg, in a small pellet. The bird is now growing fastest in absolute terms and eating hard. Protein is still important but it is now diluted across more feed, and the shift toward energy begins.

Finisher (day 29 to sale) sits around 18 to 19 percent protein and 3,150 to 3,200 kcal/kg, in a full-size pellet. Most of the weight gained in this phase is muscle bulk and fat, and the bird converts feed less efficiently than it did as a chick, so getting the energy right matters and the extra protein of a starter would simply be wasted (and would cost you more per bag).

A week-by-week intake and weight guide

The table below is the schedule we hand to farmers taking Cobb or Ross type chicks from our hatchery, adjusted for the reality of open-sided houses in Ghana rather than the cooler European sheds the breed manuals assume. Treat the weights as targets to aim at and the intakes as what to expect, not as guarantees. Hot weather, disease and feed quality all pull the numbers down.

Orientation figures for good-quality fast-growing broilers under reasonable Ghanaian management. Confirm against your own weekly weighings and the feed maker's recommendations.

Two things stand out. Nearly 40 percent of a six-week bird's feed is eaten in the last two weeks, which is where waste and heat-related loss of appetite cost the most. And a broiler at six weeks has eaten close to 4 kg for roughly 2.5 kg of live weight, a feed conversion ratio of about 1.6. If your birds eat that much and weigh far less, our guide to feed conversion ratio helps you track down where it is going.

When exactly to switch, and how

Do not switch by the calendar alone. Switch by weight and by how much starter is left. If the birds are behind target at day 14, keep them on starter a few more days; the extra protein helps them catch up, and there is no benefit in moving a small bird onto a leaner diet early. If they are ahead, move to grower on time or even a day or two early to save money.

Whenever you change phase, mix the two feeds for two to three days: roughly two-thirds old feed with one-third new on day one, half and half on day two, then mostly new. Broilers notice a sudden change in pellet size, smell and taste, and some will go off feed for a day if the switch is abrupt. In a six-week life, a lost day of eating is a lost 2 percent of growth. The same rule applies if you change feed brand or move from commercial feed to a home mix, which is discussed in our poultry feed making guide.

Managing feed in Ghana heat

Breed manuals were written for birds in climate-controlled houses. In Kasoa in March, a finishing broiler will not eat its 170 grams between noon and four in the afternoon no matter what you offer. It pants instead, and digestion itself generates heat that makes panting worse. The practical answer is to shift feeding to the cool hours: fill feeders fully at dawn and again after five in the evening, and either lift them or let them run down during the hottest part of the day. Birds that eat at night in a well-lit house catch up much of the intake they missed.

Water is inseparable from feed here. A broiler drinks roughly 1.8 to 2 litres for every kilogram of feed in normal weather and far more in heat. If the drinkers run dry for an hour, feed intake collapses for the rest of the day. Keep the water cool, store feed on pallets and use it within a month so pellets do not crumble or mould in the humidity, and see our article on heat stress in poultry for the electrolyte and vitamin C additions that help hot birds keep eating.

The mistakes that waste the most feed

Keep a record of every bag delivered and opened, because feed is 60 to 70 percent of your cost; the numbers here slot straight into our broiler feeding guide for the whole cycle. Feeding starter for too long is the first mistake. Starter costs more per bag than any other phase, and a bird past two weeks gets no benefit from the extra protein. We regularly meet farmers feeding starter to four-week-old birds "to make them big", and their feed bill shows it.

Feeding finisher too early is the opposite error and it is more damaging. A three-week-old bird on finisher grows a frame too small for the meat it will later carry, and the batch ends up with leg problems and uneven sizes. Save a few cedis in week three, lose many more at sale.

Over-filling feeders wastes an astonishing amount. A tube feeder filled to the top loses a good share into the litter as birds flick through it. Fill feeders no more than a third to half full, adjust the height so the lip is level with the bird's back, and top up more often instead. Buying cheap, unknown feed is worse still: a bag labelled 20 percent protein that really holds 15 percent costs far more in slow growth than it saved at the shop. Our guide to cutting feed costs goes through the full list of small savings that add up.

Frequently asked questions