Most pages on poultry in Ghana quote a profit. This one works out the number you can check yourself: what a single broiler costs from day-old chick to market, and the lowest price you can sell it at before you lose money, which depends mostly on how many of your chicks survive. The feed, chick and bird prices are from price lists with dates; the performance figures are from a USDA cost sheet, a MoFA model and a 2026 University of Ghana trial; the calculator takes your own numbers.
First written 19 September 2026. Updated 8 October 2026: sources read are De Heus Ghana's September 2026 price list (PDF), Cluster Farming's 2026 price list, USDA GAIN report GH2024-0002 (8 Feb 2024), MoFA's Tamale broiler model, a University of Ghana broiler trial in Livestock Research for Rural Development 38(1), 2026, and Citi Newsroom (14 Apr 2026). Feed prices change monthly.
At a made-up GH₵ 73.77 to raise each chick placed, a 5% loss puts break-even at about GH₵ 77.65 a bird sold, a 20% loss at GH₵ 92.21, and a loss near a third of the flock erases the profit at GH₵ 110. The calculator below does this on your own numbers.
| Item | Price | Source (read 8 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Broiler starter, 50 kg | GH₵ 433 | De Heus Ghana market advice pricelist, Tema, effective 1 Sep 2026; other depots GH₵ 1 to 10 more per bag |
| Broiler grower pellet, 50 kg | GH₵ 427 | |
| Broiler finisher pellet, 50 kg | GH₵ 422 | |
| Day-old broiler chick (Ross 308) | GH₵ 20 each, minimum order 50, booked 3 weeks ahead | Cluster Farming 2026 price list, farm-gate prices |
| Live broiler, 2.5 to 2.6 kg | GH₵ 110; GH₵ 10 more dressed and frozen | Cluster Farming, same list |
| Maize, guaranteed farm-gate | GH₵ 450 per 100 kg | MoFA via Graphic, 29 Sep 2025 |
Per kilo, those bags are GH₵ 8.66 (starter), 8.54 (grower) and 8.44 (finisher): the bag price divided by 50. For comparison, USDA's Accra office recorded broiler starter at GH₵ 422 and finisher at GH₵ 420 a 50 kg bag in 2023, GH₵ 360 and 345 in 2022, and GH₵ 110 in 2019 (USDA GAIN, 8 Feb 2024, table 1.2). So against 2023 the starter is up about 3% and the finisher about 0.5%; the big jump was 2021 to 2022. The same report found live birds sold at an average GH₵ 150 for 2.8 kg on the market in 2023, a different channel and a different weight from Cluster Farming's GH₵ 110 for 2.5 to 2.6 kg at the farm gate, so do not subtract one from the other.
Changed on this page since 19 September: the earlier line that feed "rose again this month" is removed (the lists above show it nearly flat since 2023), and the layer chick and PoultInn prices are removed because their pages carry no date.
| Source | Cycle | Feed per bird | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDA GAIN, Accra, 2023 prices | 8 weeks, 4 cycles a year | 5,000 kg for 1,000 birds, so 5 kg | Return on investment about 27%; "still more than 20 percent" if 5% die (survey of industry players) |
| MoFA Tamale broiler model (undated, old prices) | 7 weeks | 4.58 kg (2.02 kg in weeks 0 to 4, 2.56 kg in weeks 5 to 7) | Buys 1,100 chicks to sell 1,000, about 9%; the page states no rate |
| University of Ghana trial, LRRD 38(1), 2026, 240 Cobb-500 chicks, research station | 8 weeks | Control diet 119 g a day, feed conversion 1.98, final weight 3,366 g; 119 g x 56 days is about 6.7 kg | None in any group (research conditions) |
The spread matters more than any one row: 4.6 kg to about 6.7 kg of feed per bird is about GH₵ 18 of cost at GH₵ 8.50 a kilo, and the trial's 0% loss is what a controlled station gets, not what a family house gets. Use your own weekly bag count, not these.
Example (made-up numbers, replace with yours). The chick price is Cluster Farming's 2026 price; the 5 kg is USDA's per-bird feed; GH₵ 8.50 a kilo is the De Heus bag prices above, rounded; the GH₵ 11.27 is the sum of USDA's 2023 per-bird lines for housing depreciation (0.60), medication (1.475), vaccines (0.39), electricity (0.40), charcoal (1.00), water (2.75), shavings (0.25), a farm hand (1.80) and transport (2.60), at 2023 prices. It leaves out USDA's GH₵ 20 farm manager and GH₵ 5 dressing, because a family farm selling live may have neither.
| Per chick placed | GH₵ |
|---|---|
| Day-old chick | 20.00 |
| Feed, 5 kg x 8.50 | 42.50 |
| Other costs (USDA 2023 lines, above) | 11.27 |
| Cost per chick placed | 73.77 |
| If this share of chicks dies | Break-even per bird sold | Left per bird at GH₵ 110 |
|---|---|---|
| 5% (USDA's assumption) | 77.65 | 32.35 |
| 9% (MoFA's allowance) | 81.06 | 28.94 |
| 20% | 92.21 | 17.79 |
| 30% | 105.38 | 4.62 |
The sums assume the birds that die ate a full ration, a cautious choice. They show why the first thing to count is dead birds: with these inputs, losing 33% of the flock is where GH₵ 110 stops covering the batch. To start with 50 chicks, the chicks and feed alone are about GH₵ 1,000 plus GH₵ 2,125 at the same numbers, before housing. USDA priced a deep-litter house for 1,000 birds at GH₵ 36,000 over 15 years in 2023.
Put in your own numbers; the grey placeholders are the figures above. Nothing leaves your phone.
Put in how many chicks first.
| Line | USDA, Accra, 2023 | MoFA, Tamale (undated) |
|---|---|---|
| Chicks | 20,000 | 11,000 |
| Feed | 42,100 | 23,230 |
| Everything else | 36,275 | 9,740 |
| Total cost | 98,375 | 43,970 |
| Revenue | 124,800 | 50,200 |
| Margin on cost | about 27% | 14% |
Chick price is the clearest change: MoFA's sheet has GH₵ 10 a chick and the USDA 2023 sheet and Cluster Farming's 2026 list both have GH₵ 20. USDA's revenue is dressed birds at GH₵ 124.80; the 2026 dressed price on Cluster Farming's list is GH₵ 120.
The price that moves layer farms is the crate: GH₵ 50 to 55 at Koforidua Central Market in April 2026 after Burkina Faso restricted egg exports and left Ghana oversupplied for more than two months (Citi Newsroom, 14 Apr 2026). Write the crate count and the price per crate in the same line of the record.
The break-even above needs four counts you can only get by writing them as they happen: chicks placed, birds that died, bags fed, and the price per bird actually paid. The daily record keeps them in one place; a customer who takes birds on credit goes in who owes me, and the tax side of a farm that sells is on the tax calendar. For pigs, which run on a different cycle, see cost per sow and per farrowing.
| You say | CountMy writes |
|---|---|
| "Bought 50 chicks, 1,000 cedis" | Stock, chicks, 50 × 20, GH₵ 1,000 |
| "Feed 433" | Cost, feed, GH₵ 433 |
| "Vaccine 60" | Cost, vaccine, GH₵ 60 |
| "Sold 20 birds, 2,200 cedis" | Sale, birds, 20 × 110, GH₵ 2,200 |
| "Kwame dey owe me 440" | Kwame owes you GH₵ 440 |
| "How much this month?" | It answers out loud |
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It can be, and the margin depends on how many chicks survive. At a made-up GH₵ 73.77 to raise each chick placed, break-even is about GH₵ 77.65 a bird sold at 5% losses and GH₵ 92.21 at 20%, against a 2026 live price of GH₵ 110 at Cluster Farming. USDA's Accra survey (2023) found about 27% return on a single cycle, MoFA's older Tamale model 14%.
For a first batch of 50 broilers, chicks at GH₵ 20 and about 5 kg of feed each at about GH₵ 8.50 a kilo come to roughly GH₵ 3,100, before housing, heat, vaccines and labour. USDA priced a deep-litter house for 1,000 birds at GH₵ 36,000 in 2023.
Cluster Farming's 2026 list has Ross 308 broiler chicks at GH₵ 20 each, minimum order 50, booked three weeks ahead and paid in full at booking.
De Heus Ghana's list effective 1 September 2026 (Tema) is GH₵ 433 for a 50 kg bag of broiler starter, GH₵ 427 grower and GH₵ 422 finisher, with other depots GH₵ 1 to 10 higher.
Seven weeks in MoFA's Tamale model and eight weeks in USDA's Accra sheet and in a 2026 University of Ghana trial, to about 2.5 kg live in the cost sheets.
USDA's sheet uses 5 kg a bird, MoFA's model 4.58 kg over 7 weeks, and a 2026 University of Ghana station trial recorded 119 g a day, about 6.7 kg over 56 days, with a feed conversion of 1.98.
GH₵ 50 to 55 at Koforidua Central Market in April 2026, during an egg glut after Burkina Faso restricted exports (Citi Newsroom, 14 April 2026). Check your own market the same day.
Cluster Farming's 2026 farm-gate price is GH₵ 110 for a live bird of 2.5 to 2.6 kg, GH₵ 10 more dressed and frozen. USDA recorded GH₵ 150 for a 2.8 kg live bird on the market in 2023.
Every figure is quoted from the linked source with the date it was read (8 October 2026) or its own date; the calculator uses only what you type, and the worked example is labelled as made up. Removed from this page for focus: the import-volume figures and the Nkoko Nkitinkiti and Feed Ghana programme details. General information, not farming or financial advice. Questions: message us on WhatsApp.