Chicken Feed Guide
Chicken Feed Per Month: How Much Feed Do Chickens Eat?
A laying hen eats about 0.25 lb of feed a day — roughly 7.5 lb a month — and that one figure unlocks everything else.
The daily rates everything is built on
Ask a feed store how much feed your flock will eat and you will get a shrug. But chicken appetites are remarkably predictable. Feed use is quoted per day because that is how hens experience it, and it scales cleanly. These are the same rates the FlockCalc calculators use:
| Stage | Age | Feed per bird per day | Feed per bird per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicks | 0–6 weeks | about 0.08 lb | about 2.4 lb |
| Growers | 7–17 weeks | about 0.16 lb | about 4.8 lb |
| Layers | 18+ weeks | about 0.25 lb (110 g) | about 7.5 lb |
The layer rate is the only one most keepers live with for long, and it is steady: about 1.75 lb a week, 7.5 lb a month, roughly 90 lb a year per hen. Appetite is not perfectly flat — it rises in cold weather, when birds burn more energy staying warm, and dips in heat — so your real monthly use will wobble a little around the planning rates rather than landing exactly on them.
Monthly feed by flock size (layers)
Multiply the layer rate up and the feed-store trips plan themselves:
| Laying hens | Per day | Per month | 50 lb bags per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 lb | 30 lb | 0.6 |
| 6 | 1.5 lb | 45 lb | 0.9 |
| 10 | 2.5 lb | 75 lb | 1.5 |
| 12 | 3 lb | 90 lb | 1.8 |
| 20 | 5 lb | 150 lb | 3 |
The most common backyard flock — 6 hens — gets through 45 lb a month, which is just under one standard 50 lb bag. That is a useful rhythm: roughly a bag a month, every month, whether the hens are laying well or taking a winter break. Hens eat about the same in the months they lay badly, which is why feed is a fixed cost and eggs are the variable one. In metric, the layer rate is about 3.4 kg per hen per month, so 10 hens need about 34 kg a month.
How long does a bag actually last?
Bag life is the same maths seen from the other end. A 50 lb bag of layer feed holds about 200 bird-days at 0.25 lb per bird per day:
- 6 hens finish a 50 lb bag in about 33 days
- 10 hens finish it in about 20 days
- 20 hens finish it in about 10 days
If your bag is emptying noticeably faster than that, the feed is going somewhere other than into hens: spillage around the feeder, wild birds and rodents helping themselves, or feed that got wet and was thrown away. If it lasts much longer, check the birds are actually eating well. Either way, expected bag life is a cheap health-and-waste monitor you get for free. Smaller bags change nothing but the trip count: a 40 lb bag holds 160 bird-days, so 6 hens finish one in about 27 days.
Worked example: 10 layers for one month
The Chicken Feed Calculator defaults make a clean worked example:
- Birds: 10 laying hens at 0.25 lb a day each
- Per day: 10 × 0.25 = 2.5 lb
- Per week: 2.5 × 7 = 17.5 lb
- Per month: 10 × 7.5 = 75 lb
- Bags: 75 ÷ 50 = 1.5 bags per month
- Cost: at $22 for a 50 lb bag, 1.5 × $22 = $33 a month
Run the same flock as growers instead and the month looks different: 10 growers at 0.16 lb a day eat 48 lb a month — about one 50 lb bag. Ten chicks average 24 lb a month across their first six weeks. And what does the layers’ $33 buy in eggs? At the standard rate of 4.5 eggs per hen per week, 10 hens lay about 45 eggs a week — roughly 195 eggs a month. The Cost Per Egg Calculator divides the feed bill by those eggs if you want the per-egg figure.
The mistakes that make feed maths lie
Restricting feed to save money. Layers are normally fed free-choice, with feed available all day, and healthy hens regulate their own intake well — a laying hen stops at roughly what she needs. Restricting feed reduces laying before it reduces anything else, so the “saving” costs eggs.
Budgeting on free-range. Hens with good forage may get 10–20% of their intake from the range in spring and summer. Treat that as a bonus, not a plan: forage alone is short on the protein and calcium laying needs, so layer feed stays available free-choice year-round.
Losing feed after you buy it. Spilled, wet or rodent-eaten feed is feed you paid for that made no eggs. Raised feeders, sealed dry storage and not overfilling are usually the single biggest saving available to a small flock — bigger than any price difference between brands.
Feeding the wrong stage. The three rates exist because the feeds differ, not just the amounts. Chicks, growers and layers each get a feed mixed for that stage; the amounts in this guide assume the right feed in the hopper.
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 much feed do 6 chickens eat per month?
About 45 lb — just under one standard 50 lb bag. Six layers at 7.5 lb each per month is the standard planning figure, and it holds whether the hens are laying well or taking a winter break, because hens eat roughly the same all year.
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 Chicken Feed Calculator gives bags per month for your exact flock.
How much does it cost to feed chickens per month?
With the defaults used on this site — 10 layers and a $22, 50 lb bag — about $33 a month. Your figure moves with flock size and local feed prices; enter your own bag price in the calculator 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 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.
The bottom line
One hen, 7.5 lb a month. Everything else is multiplication: 6 hens need 45 lb, 10 hens need 75 lb, a 50 lb bag holds 200 bird-days, and bags per month is just your flock’s monthly total divided by the bag size. Feed your birds free-choice, store the bags dry and sealed, and put your own flock size and bag price into the Chicken Feed Calculator — then check the result against your real bag life once, and you will know whether the difference is waste, weather or wild birds.