Cost to Raise Meat Chickens Calculator
Add up chicks, feed, bedding, processing, and labor for a batch of broilers to get cost per bird, cost per pound dressed, and a price that earns your margin.
Free · no account · works on mobile · embeddable
Best for pastured poultry farms, homesteaders raising a batch of broilers, and anyone pricing whole chickens. Updated .
The batch
Batch costs
What each bird costs
Total cost = chicks × price + feed lb ÷ bag lb × bag price + brooding + processing × birds sold + other + labor. Cost per lb = total ÷ (birds sold × dressed lb). Target price = cost per lb ÷ (1 − margin). Feed is charged on birds that reach processing; presets are planning figures, your bag counts are better.
About the cost to raise meat chickens calculator
A batch of meat chickens has a real cost per bird, and most people who sell whole chickens have never worked it out. This calculator builds that number from the chicks you buy, the feed they eat to processing, brooding and bedding, processing fees, other batch expenses, and your labor. It divides by the birds that actually reach the freezer, not the chicks you started with, and turns the result into cost per bird, cost per pound dressed, and a target price per pound at the margin you want.
It is for pastured poultry producers, homesteaders wondering whether raising their own is cheaper than buying, and farm stands deciding what to charge for a whole bird.
How the batch cost is built
Chick cost is chicks started × price per chick, because you pay for every chick including the ones you lose. Birds sold is chicks × (1 minus mortality), rounded down. Feed is feed per bird × birds sold, priced from your bag size and bag price; the preset of 10.26 lb per bird is University of Kentucky Extension's cumulative intake for a Cornish cross through week 7, with 13.12 lb at 8 weeks and 16.23 lb at 9. Processing is charged per bird processed. Brooding, other batch costs, and labor hours at your rate are added once for the batch.
Feed is charged on birds that reach processing because most broiler losses happen in the first days, when a chick has eaten almost nothing. If your losses come late, use a custom feed figure from your own bag counts.
Cost per pound and the target price
Cost per pound dressed is total batch cost divided by birds sold × average dressed weight. The target price divides that by one minus your margin, so a 30% margin means 30% of the selling price is profit. Whole birds are usually sold by the pound, so the tool also shows what a bird of your average weight would cost a customer at the target price.
Ohio State Extension's meat chicken budget priced chicks at about $3.37, feed at about $25 per 50 lb bag, and processing at about $5.50 per bird. Those are the defaults' starting points; your hatchery, feed store, and processor set the real numbers.
Where the money goes
Feed and processing are usually the two largest lines, and labor is the one most often left out. Fifteen hours for a batch of 50 birds covers daily chores, moving pens, and processing day, and at $15 an hour it adds nearly $5 a bird. Leaving it out is how a $5 per pound chicken looks profitable and a $6 per pound chicken looks greedy.
One caveat: selling processed poultry falls under federal and state exemptions and inspection rules, and those decide where and to whom you may sell. This tool prices the birds; it does not settle that.
Worked example: 50 Cornish cross
50 chicks at $3.50 ($175) with 5% mortality leave 47 birds to sell. At 10.26 lb of feed each they eat 482 lb, 9.6 bags at $25 per 50 lb, or $241.11. Add $30 of brooding and bedding, $5.50 processing per bird ($258.50), $25 of other costs, and 15 hours of labor at $15 ($225) for a total batch cost of $954.61, of which feed is 25.3%. That is $20.31 per bird and, at 4.5 lb dressed (211.5 lb in total), $4.51 per pound dressed. A 30% target margin gives a target price of $6.45 per pound, about $29.02 per bird. At a planned $5.00 per pound the batch brings in $1,057.50, profit is $2.19 per bird and $102.89 for the batch, a 9.7% margin.
Sources
- University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, How much will my chickens eat? (ASC-191). Cumulative broiler feed intake by week: 10.26 lb per bird at 7 weeks, 13.12 lb at 8 weeks, 16.23 lb at 9 weeks. Accessed Sep 4, 2026.
- Ohio State University Extension, Raising meat chickens (ANR-0161). Budget figures of about $3.37 per chick, $25 per 50 lb bag of feed, $5 per bag of shavings, and $5.50 per bird for processing; Cornish cross butchered at 6 to 8 weeks. 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 does it cost to raise a meat chicken?
Many small producers report $15 to $25 per bird for a small batch once chicks, feed, bedding, processing, and labor are counted, or $12 to $18 without labor. Feed and processing are the biggest lines. The calculator shows your number from your own prices.
How much should I charge per pound for pastured chicken?
At least your cost per pound dressed divided by one minus your target margin. In the worked example that is $4.51 cost and $6.45 at a 30% margin. Compare it with what other local producers charge and decide whether to adjust volume, feed cost, or margin.
How much feed does a meat chicken eat?
Kentucky Extension's table puts a Cornish cross at 10.26 lb of feed by the end of week 7, 13.12 lb by week 8, and 16.23 lb by week 9. Slow-growing breeds eat less per week but for more weeks, so their total is usually higher.
Should I count the chicks that die?
Yes, on the cost side. You paid for them, so the chick cost is for every chick started, while the total is divided by the birds you actually sell. That is why a 5% loss raises cost per bird by more than 5%.
Is it cheaper to raise my own chickens than to buy them?
Rarely cheaper than grocery store chicken once labor is counted, but often competitive with pastured chicken from a farm. Run the calculator with processing at $0 if you process at home, and compare cost per pound dressed with the price you would otherwise pay.
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