Layer feed calculator: daily and monthly feed for laying hens
A commercial laying hen in production eats roughly 110–125 g of feed a day. Multiply by your flock size for a daily requirement, by 30 for a monthly order, and divide by eggs collected to get the number that really matters: feed used per egg.
Calculator
The values below are the worked example. Change them to match your own farm — the results update as you type, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.
- Feed per day (kg)
- 23
- Feed for the period (kg)
- 690
- 50 kg bags (bags)
- 14
- Eggs per day (eggs)
- 160
- Feed per egg (g)
- 143.8
- Feed per dozen eggs (kg)
- 1.725
What the house consumes daily. Compare against feed actually issued to spot wastage early.
The order quantity for your planning window.
Rounded up to whole bags.
Flock size x lay percentage. Use your real collection figures once you have them.
The efficiency number. Around 140–155 g per egg is normal at good lay rates; a rising figure means lay is falling or feed is being wasted.
Useful when you sell by the tray or dozen and want a direct feed cost per unit sold.
Method, assumptions and limits
What this tool calculates
Estimates daily, weekly and monthly feed for a laying flock, and converts it into feed per egg and per dozen.
Who it is for
Layer farmers planning feed orders and checking whether their flock is eating efficiently.
Inputs it needs
- Hens in the flock — Birds currently in the laying house.
- Daily intake per hen — Commercial layers in production typically eat 110–125 g. Check your strain guide.
- Lay percentage — Eggs collected per 100 hens per day. A good flock in peak lay reaches 90% or more.
- Planning period — How far ahead you are ordering.
Formula
daily feed (kg) = hens x daily intake per hen (g) / 1000period feed (kg) = daily feed x dayseggs per day = hens x lay % / 100feed per egg (g) = daily feed (g) / eggs per day
Worked example
200 hens eating 115 g each consume 23 kg a day, or 690 kg over 30 days — 14 bags of 50 kg. At 80% lay the flock produces 160 eggs a day, so each egg costs about 144 g of feed, or 1.73 kg per dozen. If lay fell to 65% with intake unchanged, feed per egg would jump to 177 g, and the feed cost of every tray would rise by roughly a quarter.
Assumptions
- Hens are in lay and on a complete layer ration.
- Intake is per bird per day at a normal house temperature; hot houses reduce intake and cold houses raise it.
- Lay percentage is entered as eggs collected per 100 hens per day.
- No allowance is made for feed lost to rodents or spillage — add it to daily intake if that is a known problem.
Limitations
- Pullets before point of lay eat a different ration in different quantities; this page covers hens already in production.
- Feed per egg rises naturally at the end of a laying cycle as lay declines. A gradual rise is expected; a sudden one is a signal.
- It does not model calcium or protein levels; it is a quantity tool, not a ration formulation tool.
Feed per egg is the number to watch
Total feed tells you what to buy. Feed per egg tells you whether the flock is working. Because it combines intake and lay rate into one figure, it catches problems that either number alone would hide — a flock that keeps eating while lay quietly slips, or a flock whose lay looks acceptable only because you forgot how many hens are in the house.
Track it weekly. A slow rise across a laying cycle is normal as hens age. A sharp rise over a few days is not, and usually points to one of four things: a water problem, a disease challenge, a sudden feed change, or heat stress.
What changes how much a hen eats
| Change | Effect on intake | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| House temperature above about 30 °C | Intake falls | Ventilation, shade, cool drinking water, feeding in cooler hours. |
| House temperature below about 18 °C | Intake rises | Draughts and litter condition; birds eat to keep warm. |
| Lower energy density in a new feed batch | Intake rises | Feed specification and supplier consistency. |
| Feeder space too small | Intake falls for timid birds | Feeder length per bird; check for bullying at the feeder. |
| Water restriction | Intake falls sharply | Drinker flow, blockages and water quality — always check water first. |
What happens to the numbers you type
The calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is submitted, saved server-side, or encoded into a URL. Egg production and feed records that you want to keep belong in your own Poultrix Hub account, behind your login.
Sources
Spotted something wrong on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.