Thursday is hatch day at our Kasoa hatchery, and it is also the day the weekly batch report goes out. Many partners open it on a phone between other jobs, look at the photos and move on. That habit is understandable, and it is exactly where a lot of useful information gets missed.
A good report is a set of linked figures, not a set of pictures. The mortality count, the feed used and the weight sample are meant to agree with each other. When they do not, the report is telling you where to ask questions. This guide walks through each line in the order we would read it, using a 1,000-bird batch as the reference.
Start with the running total, not last week's number
Read mortality first, but read it as a running total. The figure that matters is the cumulative count since placement, set against the 3% to 5% band that a well-managed house should hold. Last week's count tells you what happened. The running total tells you where the batch is heading.
Here is how that works on 1,000 chicks. Suppose one report shows 6 birds lost in week two and 9 in week three. The cumulative count is 15, or 1.5% of the placed birds. That is ahead of the 3% floor, and it is a number to watch rather than a crisis. If the next three weeks also run at nine a week, the total by then is 42, or 4.2%, still inside the well-managed band.
Now keep the pace of nine a week through a six-week growing period. The total reaches around 54 birds, or 5.4%, which is above the band. Both pictures are useful, and neither should be read alone. The trend across the reports tells you more than any single Thursday.
Ask the farm what it does when a daily count jumps. A spike on one day is different from a steady climb across a fortnight, and the report should say which one it is and what was done about it. If the daily figures are given with dates, you can check them against the photos and the feed for the same days.
The person writing the report is also the person running the house
Every line in a batch report is written by the people managing the birds. That is normal, and most reports are fair, but it means you should ask for raw daily counts rather than rounded weekly totals. Check the photos against the mortality line before you accept the summary. A report that only shows its best week deserves the same questions as one that shows nothing.
Feed used, and the bag count
Feed is the line that ties the report back to the budget. Our plan assumes about 4.2 kg of feed per bird from day one to market, so 1,000 birds need 4,200 kg, or 84 bags of 50 kg. Compare the cumulative feed figure with that total, not with a flat weekly average. Birds eat more as they grow, so the early weeks will look light against an average, and that is normal.
Feed also tells you how efficiently the birds are turning food into weight. Using the plan figures, a bird that eats 4.2 kg and reaches 2.3 to 2.55 kg live is converting roughly 1.6 to 1.8 kg of feed into each kilogram of live weight. That is a figure worked out from the plan rather than a promise, but it gives you a yardstick. If the cumulative feed runs well ahead of what the weights support, ask why.
Check the bag price on the feed line as well. A bag bought at GH₵451 instead of the GH₵410 in the budget adds GH₵41 a bag. Across 84 bags, that is GH₵3,444 for the batch, which is no footnote. Our store sells the feed, vaccines and equipment we use, so ask us for the current bag price in writing whenever you want to compare it with the report.
Weights, and where the sample came from
The weight sample is the most honest line in the report, because it measures the birds rather than the paperwork. A healthy batch reaches market weight at six to seven weeks, usually around 2.3 to 2.55 kg live. Weights taken week by week should trend toward that range. A flat weight over several weeks is a warning sign, even when the photos look fine.
Two questions matter more than the number itself. How many birds were weighed, and where in the house were they taken? A sample of a dozen birds from one corner tells you much less than a sample spread across the house. If the batch is aimed at a festive sale, the timing of the weight line matters too. Our guide to the Christmas broiler market in Ghana explains why sale timing belongs in the plan from the start.
Photos, read last
Photos come last because they are the easiest to make look good. Look for birds spread through the house rather than bunched near the heat, active birds at the feeders and drinkers, and litter that is dry and loose. Compare each week's photos with the ones before. The change between them is more useful than any single picture, and a photo that looks perfect alone can still sit beside a rising mortality line.
Photos also make a useful check on the figures. If the mortality count is rising and the photos show a house that looks calm, ask about both. If the feed is ahead of plan and the weights are behind, the photos should show birds that look under-grown rather than over-fed. The lines are meant to point the same way.
A reading guide you can use each Thursday
The table sets out what a sound week looks like on each line, and the question to put to the farm when a line does not match.
| Report line | What a sound week looks like | Question to ask the farm |
|---|---|---|
| Mortality | Running total inside the 3% to 5% band, with daily counts and dates | What caused the deaths, and was any of it a disease event? |
| Feed | Cumulative total tracking the 4.2 kg per bird plan | Has the bag price changed since the budget was set? |
| Weights | Sample trending toward 2.3 to 2.55 kg by weeks six and seven | How many birds were weighed, and from where in the house? |
| Photos | Birds spread through the house, active, with dry and loose litter | What did the team change this week in response to what is shown? |
Put the table to work by reading the lines in this order: mortality, feed, weights, photos. If the first two lines agree, and the weights back up the feed, the week is probably sound. If they disagree, the disagreement is the thing to ask about, and a short written answer from the farm is enough to settle most of it.
Reading a bad week in order
Suppose a Thursday report shows nine birds lost, the cumulative total has moved from 3.0% to 3.9%, and the feed is on plan. The weight sample has not moved from the previous week. The photos show birds bunched near one end of the house. Taken on their own, each line looks manageable. Taken together, they point to a question the farm needs to answer.
Bunching near a heat source can mean the brooding temperature is wrong for the age of the birds, and that is a management question rather than a disease one. A flat weight with on-plan feed can mean the birds are not using their feed well. Only the farm can confirm which it is, but the report should make the question obvious. Ask for the daily counts, the house temperature range for the week and what was changed in response.
Know the plan before the first report arrives
A report is easier to judge when you already know the budget it is checking against. Read the batch budget and the reporting schedule on the partner page before placement, and keep a copy beside you for the first Thursday. If you would like to see the house, the farm welcomes visitors Monday to Saturday from 7am to 6pm.
Questions that belong in the Thursday message
Ask for the report to arrive in the same format every week, so the figures line up from one Thursday to the next. Ask for cumulative totals, not only the week's numbers, because the cumulative figures are the ones the budget was built on. Ask what changed since the last report, in one sentence. A farm that answers those questions quickly is making your review easy, and a farm that cannot answer them is showing you the limits of its reporting.
When you call about a line, give the figure, the date and the question in that order. "Week three mortality is 9, cumulative 15, what changed in the house that week?" gets a faster and more useful answer than a general worry about the batch. It also gives the farm a fair chance to explain.
It also helps to keep your own sheet. Write down the mortality total, the feed total and the latest weight sample each week, beside the budget figures. After four or five reports you will be able to see the trend without reading the whole report again, and the sheet will show you quickly whether a line is drifting.
What the report cannot tell you
A weekly report describes the house. It does not describe the market. Nothing in a Thursday report tells you what the birds will sell for, because that is only known when the final sale takes place. The sale summary, with the birds sold, the price achieved and the total cost, is a separate document, and you should ask for it before the payout.
It also cannot tell you how the batch compares with other batches run by the same farm, unless the farm chooses to share that record. A single batch on its own is a sample. Two or three batches read against the same sheet start to show a pattern, and that is when the reports begin to earn their keep.
Before the next Thursday
A weekly report is a tool for asking better questions. Nothing in it is a promise about the sale. Keep the running totals, keep the bag price in the file and keep the weights honest. Then set aside the time to read each report properly, before the next batch is planned or ordered.
