A farmer in Ashaiman once called me in a panic. He had bought 200 healthy chicks, done everything the agrovet man told him, and lost 60 birds in five days. When I got there the answer was sitting in plain view: the drinkers were empty, the litter was cold and damp, and the brooder lamp was hung so high it was warming the roof more than the chicks. None of it was bad luck. It was four ordinary mistakes stacked on top of each other.
Brooding is the make-or-break stage. Get the first two weeks right and the rest of the cycle is mostly feed and patience. Get them wrong and no vaccine, no fancy feed, no prayer will bring the batch back. The good news is that the mistakes that kill chicks are almost always the same ten, and every one of them is preventable with attention, not money.
Quick answer
Most first-week deaths trace back to cold or draughty litter, empty or dirty water, poor ventilation, overcrowding, or chicks that never learned to eat and drink in the first day. Fix the environment, watch the birds, and keep water clean, and you should hold mortality under 3–5% through brooding.
1. Not pre-heating the brooder before the chicks arrive
Chicks land, you switch on the lamp, and you think you are covered. But cold litter and cold block walls keep pulling heat out of the birds for hours. Pre-heat the pen for a full 24 hours before arrival so the bedding, the floor and the walls are warm, not just the air. This one habit alone prevents a good share of first-night losses, especially in harmattan.
2. Guessing the temperature instead of reading the chicks
The thermometer is a guide; the birds are the truth. Chicks piled under the lamp are cold. Chicks pressed to the walls panting are too hot. Chicks bunched on one side are sitting in a draught. Chicks spread evenly and busy are comfortable. If you want the exact targets by week, we lay them out in the brooder temperature chart for Ghana, but even without a thermometer you can brood well by learning to read the huddle.
3. Dirty, empty or badly placed drinkers
A chick can go without feed longer than it can go without water. Dehydration in the first 24 hours is a top killer and it hides in plain sight. Set out clean, room-temperature water before the chicks arrive, dip a few beaks so they learn where it is, and check the drinkers several times a day. Slime in the drinker by day three is a warning, not a normal thing. Our guide to clean water for poultry covers washing routines and why borehole and sachet water are not automatically safe.
Never let a drinker run dry
Once chicks find an empty drinker twice, some stop bothering to check it, then quietly dehydrate. In a hot pen this can happen inside a single afternoon. Space drinkers so no chick is more than a metre or so from water, and top them up on a schedule, not when you remember.
4. Cold, damp or caked litter
Litter is not just something to soak up droppings. It insulates the chicks from the cold floor and keeps their feet and bellies warm. Damp, caked litter chills birds, breeds coccidiosis and ammonia, and rots feet. Start with 5–8cm of dry wood shavings or well-dried rice husk, stir it daily, and lift out wet patches under the drinkers as they form. If you have never managed bedding before, our litter management guide is worth ten minutes of your time.
5. Overcrowding the brooder
Packing more chicks into a small guard to save on space is a false economy. Crowded birds compete for feed and water, foul the litter faster, pile and smother, and pass disease quickly. Start around 40–50 chicks per square metre in week one and expand the guard every few days. Give them room to find the warm zone and the cool zone both.
6. Poor ventilation, or sealing the room to keep heat in
There is a natural temptation, especially in harmattan, to close everything tight to trap warmth. Do that and ammonia and carbon dioxide build up, moisture condenses, and the litter goes damp. Chicks need fresh air even while they need heat. The skill is ventilating without creating a floor-level draught: air should move above the birds, not across them. If you brood with a coal pot or charcoal for backup heat, ventilation is not optional, it is life and death, because carbon monoxide is odourless and quick.
7. Skipping or wrong-timing the vaccinations
Chicks that survive the environment can still be wiped out by Newcastle, Gumboro or fowl pox if the vaccine programme slips. Timing matters as much as the vaccine itself. Keep to a written schedule, store vaccines cold, and use clean water without disinfectant on dosing days. Our Ghana vaccination schedule gives the standard timings, and the specific threat of Newcastle disease deserves its own read.
8. Feeding the wrong feed, or letting feeders run empty
Day-old chicks need a proper starter, not leftover layer mash or plain maize. In the first two days sprinkle feed on clean paper or egg-tray flats so chicks that cannot yet find a feeder still eat. After that, keep feeders two-thirds full and never bone empty; birds that fast even briefly in week one carry the setback for weeks. Cheap, low-quality starter is one of the quiet reasons a batch never catches up.
9. Ignoring biosecurity during brooding
Chicks have almost no immunity in the first weeks. Every visitor who walks in with dirty boots, every borrowed feeder from a neighbour's farm, every wild bird that gets into the pen is a route for disease. A footbath at the door, clean dedicated boots, and keeping casual visitors out cost almost nothing. Our low-cost biosecurity plan is built for exactly this stage.
10. Not watching the birds every single day
The farmers who lose batches are usually the ones who feed and leave. The ones who succeed stand at the pen twice a day and read it: who is eating, who is hiding in the corner, is anyone panting, is the litter damp under the drinker, does the room smell of ammonia. Problems in brooding move fast. A pasty vent, a limping chick, a quiet corner of birds, spotted on day two, is fixable. Spotted on day five, it is often a graph line heading the wrong way. If your birds are already dying, work through why chicks die and how to fix it.
The ten mistakes at a glance
When you are running the pen day to day, use this as a quick recap. Each mistake has a tell-tale sign you can spot and a fix you can do the same day.
| Mistake | What you notice | Same-day fix |
|---|---|---|
| No pre-heating | First-night deaths, cold litter | Warm the pen 24 hrs before arrival |
| Guessing temperature | Piling or panting birds | Read the huddle, adjust the heat |
| Dirty or empty drinkers | Slime, dull sleepy chicks | Clean water, dip beaks, top up on schedule |
| Cold or damp litter | Caked, smelly bedding | Stir daily, remove wet patches |
| Overcrowding | Fighting for feed, fast fouling | Expand the guard, thin the density |
| Poor ventilation | Ammonia smell at floor level | Vent above the birds, not across them |
| Vaccine slips | Disease outbreak | Follow a written schedule, store vaccines cold |
| Wrong or empty feed | Slow, uneven growth | Proper starter, feeders two-thirds full |
| Weak biosecurity | Disease arrives from outside | Footbath, dedicated boots, no casual visitors |
| Not watching daily | Problems caught too late | Read the pen twice a day, every day |
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal mortality rate during brooding?
Why do chicks pile up in a corner at night?
Can I use rice husk instead of wood shavings for litter?
How soon should chicks start eating and drinking?
Start with strong chicks and good advice
Half of brooding success is buying healthy, well-hatched chicks in the first place. Agro Prime Ghana hatches and delivers day-old chicks nationwide from Kasoa, and we coach first-time farmers through the critical two weeks. WhatsApp +233 24 915 1503, email support@halaalfarmsghana.com, or book a visit to get set up properly before your chicks arrive.
