- ✓Know your customers and the chicken each one is looking for
- ✓Prepare even lots, per bird or by weight, live or oven-ready
- ✓Place your flocks in the year to sell at the right time, especially for festive occasions
Selling starts before the chicks are ordered
The coloured chicken is popular for its firm meat and its look close to a village chicken. To get the most out of it, start from your buyers, then choose the type of chicken and the selling age (lessons 1 and 3 of this track).
Before ordering, ask yourself these questions:
- Who will buy? Maquis, restaurants, market traders, families, ceremonies, neighbours.
- What weight? A 1.5 to 2 kg chicken, a 2 to 2.5 kg one, or a large festive chicken of 3 kg and over.
- What look? Red, barred grey or black plumage, yellow or white skin, naked neck or not.
- How? Per bird or by weight, live or oven-ready.
- How many and when? The number of chickens and the selling date.
Each customer has their own expectations
| Customer | What they often look for | What to plan |
|---|---|---|
| Maquis and restaurants | Even chickens, of consistent weight, delivered often | Ask for the size that matches their portions; deliver small lots on fixed dates |
| Market traders and resellers | Lots to resell | Lots sorted by weight, catching early in the morning |
| Families for festive occasions | A large, good-looking chicken, for a set day | Heavy red broiler, bookings in advance |
| Ceremonies: weddings, christenings, funerals | A large quantity on a fixed date | Number, weight and date confirmed in advance |
| Neighbours and private buyers | One or two chickens per bird | Sale at the farm, chickens already sorted |
Record your customers in a notebook or contact list: name, number, chicken wanted, quantity, dates of their purchases. One loyal customer is worth more than ten passing ones.
Per bird or by weight, live or oven-ready
Per bird, the customer compares your chickens with each other: you need even lots. Weigh and sort before the sale. Remember that males are heavier than females:
| At 70 days | Females | Males |
|---|---|---|
| Red broiler | About 2.69 kg | About 3.35 kg |
| Hybrids | About 1.82 kg | About 2.27 kg |
Indicative Hubbard Premium performance. The same flock can therefore supply heavy chickens for festive occasions and medium chickens for the maquis.
By weight, use accurate scales, checked regularly, and weigh in front of the customer.
Oven-ready, count the carcass yield: a 70-day red broiler gives about 70.5% of its liveweight, that is about 2.1 kg of oven-ready chicken for a 3 kg live chicken. Slaughter is done cleanly, with drinking water, and the meat is chilled without delay.
Never sell without knowing what your chicken cost you: chick, feed, care, labour, losses. Set your prices from your real costs, with the profitability calculator on the NEXTEKCI website.
The festive calendar
To sell on a set date, count backwards from the selling date:
| What you sell | Indicative selling age | Chicks placed |
|---|---|---|
| Large festive red broiler (3 kg and over) | 70 to 84 days | 10 to 12 weeks before the sale |
| Red broiler or barred grey of 2 to 2.5 kg | 56 to 63 days | 8 to 9 weeks before the sale |
| Hybrids of 1.5 to 2 kg | 56 to 70 days | 8 to 10 weeks before the sale |
Example for Christmas: you want to sell large red broilers from 20 December. At 84 days, the chicks are placed around 27 September; at 70 days, around 11 October. In an open-sided house, in strong heat, weights are often 10 to 25% below target: for a 3 kg chicken, aim for 84 days rather than 70.
- Christmas and New Year: fixed dates, easy to prepare for.
- Easter: in March or April depending on the year.
- End of Ramadan and Tabaski: their dates move about 11 days earlier each year; check the calendar for the year before placing the flock.
- National Day: 7 August.
- Weddings, christenings, funerals: all year round; keep in touch with families and organisers.
Before festive occasions, many farmers order at the same time: book your chicks several weeks in advance.
One flock at a time: placing it well in the year
Do not place new chicks next to a flock in progress to spread your sales: the older birds pass their germs on to the younger ones. The rule remains a single age group per farm, then cleaning, disinfection and a rest period.
Instead, do the sums over the year: length of the flock, plus cleaning and the rest period. Place one flock so that its sale falls on a festive occasion, and sell the others to your regular customers.
The coloured chicken has one advantage: its flexible sale. The same flock can be sold in two or three goes: first the heaviest for the festive occasion, the rest a few days later. But each extra week costs more feed per kilo gained (lesson 3 of this track): do not let the end of the flock drag on.
Preparing your buyers
- 2 to 3 weeks before the sale, let your customers know and show them the flock (photos on WhatsApp).
- Take bookings in writing: name, number of chickens, weight wanted, date, live or oven-ready.
- For a festive occasion, sell a few days before: families rarely buy on the day itself.
- Organise crates, the catching team and transport in advance, at the cool times of day.
Even chickens, well fed, accurate scales and deliveries on time: that is what brings a customer back, flock after flock.
For the entrepreneur
- ›Before each flock, list the buyers, the weights wanted and the selling dates.
- ›Place at least one flock a year on a major festive occasion, counting backwards.
- ›Set your prices from your real costs, never at random.
For the technician
- ›Weigh and sort the chickens into weight lots before each sale.
- ›Prepare crates, scales and the catching team the day before.
- ›Record for each sale the customer, the number of chickens and the weight sold.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- How many chickens do we have in each weight lot this week?
- Which customers have booked, for what date and what weight?
- Were the scales checked before the sale?
Key points
- •You know who you will sell to, what weight and on what date before ordering the chicks.
- •Per bird: even lots, sorted by weight; males are heavier than females.
- •For a festive occasion, count backwards: 10 to 12 weeks for a large red broiler.
- •End of Ramadan and Tabaski move about 11 days earlier each year.
- •A single age group per farm: you place your flocks in the year, you do not overlap them.