Chicken Feed Calculator
Estimate how much feed your flock eats per day, week, and month, how many bags that is, what it costs, and how long a bag lasts.
Free · no account · works on mobile · embeddable
Best for laying flocks, broiler growers, homesteaders, and anyone budgeting feed. Updated .
Your flock
Feed needed
Daily feed = birds × lb per bird per day. Month = 30.4 days. Presets are extension planning rates; replace them with bags used ÷ birds ÷ days from your own records.
About the chicken feed calculator
Feed is the biggest recurring cost of keeping chickens, and it is the easiest to estimate badly. This calculator uses extension planning rates for laying hens, heavy breeds, growing pullets, chicks, and broilers to estimate pounds per day, week, and month, then converts that into bags, monthly cost, cost per bird, and how many days a bag lasts. Pick a bird type, enter your flock size and feed price, and adjust the rate to match your own bag counts once you have them.
How much a chicken eats
University of Kentucky Extension's rule of thumb is that a laying hen eats about a quarter pound of feed a day, so 25 hens go through roughly 3 to 4.5 bags a month depending on breed size. Growing pullets ramp from under a pound a week as chicks to about 2 to 2.4 pounds a week near point of lay. Broilers eat far more per bird per day as they grow: about 10 pounds cumulative by the end of week 7, with the last weeks near 2.6 pounds per bird per week.
The calculator's presets use those figures. They are planning rates. Cold weather, free-range forage, feed waste, rodents, and treats all move real consumption, so the best rate is your own: bags used, times bag weight, divided by birds and days.
From pounds to bags, dollars, and reorder timing
Monthly pounds are birds × pounds per bird per day × 30.4 days. Dividing by your bag weight gives bags per month, and multiplying by bag price gives the monthly feed bill. Days per bag (bag weight ÷ daily consumption) is the number to hand to the reorder point calculator so you never open the last bag without the next one on order.
Worked example
25 laying hens at 0.25 lb a day eat 6.25 lb daily, 43.75 lb a week, and about 190 lb a month. In 50 lb bags that is 3.8 bags a month; at $22 a bag the flock costs $83.65 a month, or $3.35 per hen. A single 50 lb bag lasts 8 days.
Sources
- University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, How much will my chickens eat? (ASC-191). A quarter pound per laying hen per day; weekly pullet intake by age for Leghorn and dual-purpose birds; cumulative broiler intake by week. Accessed Sep 4, 2026.
- Oklahoma State University Extension, Simple budgeting and pricing calculations for backyard hens. Mature hens roughly 0.25 lb per day; chicks about 0.10 lb per day. Accessed Sep 4, 2026.
This calculator gives planning estimates from the numbers you enter. It is not accounting, tax, veterinary, or legal advice. Replace the defaults with your own farm records whenever you have them.
Frequently asked questions
How much feed does a chicken eat per day?
A laying hen eats about a quarter pound (4 ounces) of complete feed a day; heavier dual-purpose hens closer to a third of a pound. Chicks eat around a tenth of a pound, and finishing broilers well over a third of a pound.
How long does a 50 lb bag of chicken feed last?
Divide 50 by your flock's daily pounds. For 6 laying hens at 0.25 lb a day (1.5 lb daily) a bag lasts about 33 days; for 25 hens it lasts 8 days.
How much does it cost to feed chickens per month?
Monthly pounds × price per pound. At $22 per 50 lb bag, a laying hen costs about $3.35 a month to feed; a dozen hens about $40. Your feed price and rate change that quickly, which is what the calculator is for.
How much feed does a broiler eat to processing?
Roughly 10 pounds of feed per bird by the end of week 7, and about 16 pounds by week 9 for a Cornish cross, per Kentucky Extension's table. Slow-growing breeds take longer and eat more in total.
Why does my flock eat more than the calculator says?
Waste, wildlife, and cold. Open feeders spill and attract rodents and wild birds, and hens eat more in cold weather. Compare actual bags used with the estimate and enter your own rate in the custom preset.
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