Free tool
How much feed does my flock need?
Enter how many hens you keep and how much each eats. See feed per day, week and month, how many bags to buy, how long a bag lasts and what it costs you. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Hens eat more in cold weather and less when they free-range on good pasture. Treat this as a budget, then watch the feeder.
A sealed metal can keeps the bag dry and away from rodents. The feed itself is usually cheaper at your local feed store.
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How much does a chicken eat?
A standard laying hen eats roughly ¼ pound (about 115 grams) of complete layer feed a day, which works out to about 1¾ pounds a week or 7½ pounds a month. Bantams eat about half that. Large and heavy breeds, and any hen in cold weather, can eat a third more.
The calculator multiplies feed per hen by your number of hens for the daily amount, then scales to a week and to an average month of 30.4 days. Bags per month is the monthly amount divided by the bag weight, and the monthly cost is bags times price. "A bag lasts" is the bag weight divided by the daily amount, so you know when to buy the next one.
Tips from the feed room
- Kitchen scraps and foraging stretch feed but do not replace it. Layer feed has the calcium and protein that eggs need.
- Store feed in a sealed metal can. A 50 lb bag goes stale in about two months once opened, and sooner in humid weather.
- If you are going through far more than the estimate, look for waste: spilled feed, wild birds, or rodents at night.