Chicken Feed Calculator
Chicken Feed Calculator
How much feed will your flock get through — and how often will you be buying bags? Enter your bird count and stage for daily, weekly and monthly amounts in pounds and kilos.
A laying hen eats about 0.25 lb (110 g) of feed a day — the standard planning figure. Free-range birds with good forage may eat a little less bought feed in summer; cold weather pushes intake up.
Your feed bill of fare
At $22.00 a bag, that is about $33.00 a month in feed — $396.00 a year. Feed is the biggest running cost of a flock, so this is the number your egg costs hang on.
How it works
Each stage of life has a standard daily intake: chicks about 0.08 lb a day averaged over the first six weeks, growers about 0.16 lb, and layers about 0.25 lb — the planning figures used in extension poultry guides. The calculator multiplies by your birds, then by 7 for a week and 30 for a month, and divides the monthly total by your bag size for bags per month.
Worked example: 10 laying hens eat 2.5 lb a day, which is 75 lb a month — 1.5 fifty-pound bags, or about $33 a month at $22 a bag. Spillage and the local sparrow population are not in the maths, sadly; hanging feeders and rodent-proof storage close most of that gap.
Layer feed by flock size
Laying hens at 0.25 lb per bird per day, with 50 lb bags at $22 for the cost column.
| Layers | Per day | Per month | Per month (kg) | 50 lb bags / month | Cost / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 layers | 1 lb | 30 lb | 13.6 kg | 0.6 | $13.20 |
| 6 layers | 1.5 lb | 45 lb | 20.4 kg | 0.9 | $19.80 |
| 10 layers | 2.5 lb | 75 lb | 34 kg | 1.5 | $33.00 |
| 12 layers | 3 lb | 90 lb | 40.8 kg | 1.8 | $39.60 |
| 20 layers | 5 lb | 150 lb | 68 kg | 3 | $66.00 |
| 30 layers | 7.5 lb | 225 lb | 102.1 kg | 4.5 | $99.00 |
Frequently asked questions
How much feed does a chicken eat per day?
An adult laying hen eats about 0.25 lb (roughly 110 g) of feed a day — around 1.75 lb a week and 7.5 lb a month. Growers eat about 0.16 lb a day and young chicks about 0.08 lb a day averaged over their first six weeks. Appetite rises in cold weather and dips in heat.
How long does a 50 lb bag of chicken feed last?
For layers at 0.25 lb per bird per day, a 50 lb bag holds 200 bird-days: 10 hens finish it in about 20 days, 6 hens in about 33 days, and 20 hens in about 10 days. The calculator above gives bags per month for your exact flock.
How much does it cost to feed chickens per month?
With the defaults on this page — 10 layers and a $22, 50 lb bag — feed costs about $33 a month. Your figure moves with flock size and local feed prices; enter your own bag price for an exact number. Feed is typically the largest running cost of keeping chickens.
Do free-range chickens eat less feed?
A little, in the growing season. Hens with good forage — grass, insects, seeds — may get 10–20% of their intake from the range in spring and summer. Treat it as a bonus, not a plan: keep layer feed available free-choice year-round, because forage alone is short on the protein and calcium laying needs.
Should I restrict how much feed my chickens get?
No — layers are normally fed free-choice, with feed available all day. Hens regulate their own intake well; a healthy layer stops at roughly what she needs. Restricting feed reduces laying before it reduces weight. The exception is meat birds, which are sometimes limit-fed under a managed programme.