End of flock: when and how to sell

Deciding the date

Three signals tell you it is time: the weight reaches what the buyer wants (often 1.8 to 2.2 kg live weight for white broilers); the curve slows down while the feed keeps going; the market is ready (buyer confirmed, a festival approaching). The worst scenario is keeping white broilers “one more week so they get bigger”: beyond 6 weeks, each kilo of meat costs more and more feed, and sudden deaths increase.

For coloured chickens, the window is wider (3 to 4 months): you sell when the price is good, often before the festivals (Tabaski, Christmas, New Year, Easter). Telling the buyer one week in advance with the average weight from the weighing means negotiating from a position of strength.

The 24 hours before

• Fasting for 8 to 12 hours before catching (feed removed, water kept available): the birds travel with an empty crop and gut, get less dirty, and lose less weight during transport. No more than 12 hours, otherwise they lose condition.
• Last weighing the day before: that is the figure for the negotiation.
• Check the withdrawal period of any treatment given: you do not sell a bird that is still within its withdrawal period.
• Prepare the crates (clean, enough of them), the scale, the sales sheets, the money for the labour, the lighting.

Catching, weighing, loading

Catching is done at night or early in the morning, in dim light: the birds are calm, and it is cool. You close off part of the house with panels to catch the birds in small groups, by both legs, three or four birds per hand at most, without holding them by the wings or the neck. A bird that struggles breaks a wing or gets bruises that show at slaughter.

You weigh by crate (full weight − weight of the empty crate) or in batches of 10, in front of the buyer, and you record each weighing on a sales sheet signed by both sides. In the crates: 8 to 10 chickens of 2 kg per standard crate, fewer in the heat of the day. Never crates stacked without ventilation, never left waiting in the sun.

Transport takes place during the cool hours, in a ventilated vehicle, on the shortest possible route. Every hour in the sun in a closed lorry costs deaths and weight.

The tail end of the flock

The last 10 to 15% of the flock, the smallest, raise a simple question: sell them right away at a lower price, or keep them one to two weeks so that they reach the weight? Do the sum: 10 days of feed for these birds, against the difference in price. Often, selling quickly is the right choice, and freeing the house for the next flock is worth more than a few grams. There is a NEXTEKCI video on this subject in the Academy.

Layers: culling

A layer is sold at culling, at around 72 to 80 weeks, when laying drops below 60 to 65% and the shells weaken. Spent hens have a market (catering, households); you prepare them like the chickens: fasting, catching at night, clean crates. You take advantage of the empty house to clean thoroughly before the next flock of pullets.