Broilers for the Festive Season: Timing Your Batch
Raising broilers for the festive season is the most rewarding and least forgiving batch of the year. December is the best selling window in Zimbabwe, and it is the one deadline in poultry that cannot move. A batch that finishes on 28 December has missed it.
The whole exercise is arithmetic done backwards, and most people start it a month too late.
When should you order broilers for the festive season?
Decide the week you want birds ready, then count back six weeks for the growing cycle.
| You want birds ready | Chicks must be placed | Book the hatch by |
|---|---|---|
| Second week of December | Late October | Early September |
| Third week of December | Early November | Mid September |
| Christmas week | First days of November | Mid to late September |
Then count back further for the order itself. Chicks are hatched to order rather than held in stock, and November hatches are the most heavily booked of the year.
Placing that order in September or early October is not early. It is normal. See ordering chicks in Gweru.
Build in slack
Six weeks is the plan. Batches run late for entirely ordinary reasons: a cold spell slowing growth, a disease setback, a week when feed ran short.
Aim to finish a week before you need to sell.
A bird held an extra week costs feed but can still be sold. A bird that is not ready has missed the market entirely, and the price drops sharply once the holiday passes.
Why do chick prices rise before December?
Chick prices follow feed costs, imported input costs, exchange rates and the season — and demand on hatcheries rises steeply as growers position for December.
Zimbabwe’s chick supply has also historically been sensitive to import policy. Statutory Instrument 245 of 2020 suspended duty on imported hatching eggs, and its expiry in March 2021 immediately tightened supply. Anything affecting hatching egg availability lands hardest in the pre-festive window.
This is not a reason to wait for a better price. Waiting usually means paying more and losing the hatch slot you needed. If December is your plan, book early and treat the price as part of the cost of hitting the window. For a national reference, ChickenPrices.co.zw tracks day-old chick prices by category.
Plan the feed as carefully as the chicks
A batch placed in early November needs feed through November and December, when feed supply and price also move with the season.
You will need roughly 350 to 400kg for a hundred birds across starter, grower and finisher.
Buy the starter first, but do not leave the finisher to the last week. Being unable to buy finisher in mid-December, when every other grower is also buying, is a real risk — and it hits precisely when you cannot afford a growth setback. See the broiler feed guide and the cost of raising 100 broilers, costed at festive-season prices rather than today’s.
Brooding in the hot months changes the problem
You are brooding in October and November. The risk shifts from chilling to overheating.
Chicks pressed against the walls away from the heat, panting with wings held out, are too hot. Reduce the heat and make sure the brooder has a genuinely cooler area they can move to. A brooder with no temperature gradient gives the birds no choice.
Through the growing weeks:
- Heat stress cuts growth without cutting feed intake — the most expensive combination in poultry
- Ventilation and shade matter far more than in a June batch
- Water matters most of all. Birds drink about twice as much water as feed by weight, and considerably more in heat. A batch that runs dry in the afternoon loses that day’s growth
See brooding day-old chicks in Zimbabwe and chicken housing in Zimbabwe for ventilation that works in the hot months.
Line up buyers in October
Everyone is selling chicken in December. That is why the price is good, and also why an unprepared grower can still fail to sell.
Talk to butcheries, restaurants, tuckshops, workplaces and church networks in October, not the week before. Take orders in advance where you can.
A buyer who has committed to a number is worth far more than a buyer who might turn up. See selling broilers in Gweru.
Decide your sale weight first
Live-weight buyers, butcheries and households buying a bird for the table all want different sizes.
Decide who you are selling to before you decide when to stop feeding, because that determines whether you finish at five weeks or seven — and therefore when the chicks must be placed.
Do not overreach on batch size
The temptation is to double the usual batch because the market is good.
The constraints do not double with it. Same house, same brooder, same amount of your attention. Broilers need about 10 to 12 birds per square metre at finishing, and that figure does not bend for Christmas.
An overcrowded festive batch grows unevenly and finishes late, which is the one failure December does not forgive.
Grow your batch size across seasons, not in a single jump into your most important window.
After the holiday
Prices soften and demand drops sharply in January. Do not plan a batch to finish in early January expecting festive prices.
The quiet months are, however, the cheapest time to buy chicks and a sensible time to run a learning batch before the next big window. See starting broiler farming with 100 chicks.
What we see on our own farm
[Replace this block with two or three sentences of your own, specific to this article’s topic. Something you have actually observed in your own batches: a figure from your records, a mistake you made and fixed, what a Midlands customer told you, what changed between one batch and the next. Two honest sentences here outweigh five hundred words of general advice, and it is the one part of the page nobody else can copy.]
Frequently asked questions
When should I buy chicks for the December market?
Count back six weeks from your selling week. Birds wanted mid-December must be day-olds in early November, which means booking the hatch in September or early October.
Why do chick prices rise before Christmas?
Demand on hatcheries rises sharply as growers position for December, on top of feed, import and exchange rate pressures. Waiting for a lower price usually means paying more and losing your hatch slot.
What changes when brooding in November?
The risk shifts from chilling to overheating. Ventilation, shade and water access matter far more, because heat stress cuts growth without cutting feed intake.
Should I increase my batch size for December?
Only gradually. The house, brooder and your attention do not scale with the order, and an overcrowded festive batch finishes late, which is the one failure December does not forgive.
Sources and further reading
- ChickenPrices.co.zw — day-old chick price guide — Regularly updated Zimbabwean chick prices by category and province, plus a breeder directory.
- Poultry industry plunged into crisis — Covers Statutory Instrument 245 of 2020 and how hatching egg import quotas move chick supply.
- Boom times for poultry farmers — ZPA commentary on chick prices, unmet demand and seasonal supply pressure.
- Cobb Broiler Management Guide — The breeder’s own management guide: chick quality checks, brooding temperatures, stocking density and lighting.
