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Chicken feed cost per dozen calculator
Feed in, eggs out. Store-bought looks different once you price the bag.
Worked example: a dozen hens
Leave the form on the defaults: 12 laying hens, 0.25 lb of feed per hen per day, and 0.7 eggs per hen per day. That flock eats 3 lb of feed a day and lays 8.4 eggs a day. Feed per dozen is daily feed times 12, divided by eggs per day — (3 times 12) / 8.4 — which this calculator prints as 4.29 lb of feed per dozen.
The bag already on the form is 50 lb at $22. Dollars per dozen are that feed weight times the bag price divided by the bag pounds ($22 / 50). This calculator prints $1.89 per dozen. Example only. Punch your bag price in.
Why your cost per dozen jumps
The defaults assume hens that are already laying. Pullets that are not laying yet still eat, and they add no eggs to the dozen. A molt does the same thing for a stretch: the bag keeps going out while eggs slow down or stop.
Short winter days usually mean fewer eggs while the hens still eat, so the same feed is spread over fewer dozens. Summer heat can slow the lay the same way. This page does not add a winter or heat rate — if the birds are not laying at 0.7, lower Eggs / hen / day to what you are collecting and run it again. Feed waste and wild birds eat out of the same bag without laying an egg. If that feed is real, raise Feed lb / hen / day to what actually leaves the bin.
What this leaves out
This is feed only. The coop, bedding, chicks, labor, and water are not in the form. Drinking water for a laying hen is a separate planning number on the water calculator, which has a hen row.
Questions
How much does it cost to raise chickens for eggs per dozen?
On the defaults — 12 hens, 0.25 lb of feed per hen per day, 0.7 eggs per hen per day, and a 50 lb bag at $22 — this calculator prints 4.29 lb of feed per dozen and $1.89 per dozen. That is feed only. Coop, bedding, chicks, labor, and water are not in the number. Punch your bag price in.
How much feed does a laying hen eat a day?
The form default is 0.25 lb of feed per hen per day, a common layer clip. Twelve hens at that clip eat 3 lb a day. Feed per dozen is daily feed times 12, divided by eggs per day, which this calculator prints as 4.29 lb per dozen on these defaults. Type what you actually scoop.
How many eggs does a hen lay a day?
The form default is 0.7 eggs per hen per day. Twelve hens at that clip lay 8.4 eggs a day. Pullets, molt, short winter days, and summer heat move the rate. Type what you are collecting.
Is it cheaper to raise chickens than buy eggs?
This page prices feed per dozen only. On the defaults it prints $1.89 per dozen in feed and 4.29 lb of feed per dozen. It does not use a store egg price, and it leaves out the coop, bedding, chicks, labor, and water. Punch your bag price in and set it next to your own grocery receipt.
Why did my egg cost go up in winter?
Short winter days usually mean fewer eggs while the hens still eat. The same feed is spread over fewer dozens, so cost per dozen goes up. Molt does the same thing. This calculator does not add a winter rate — lower Eggs / hen / day to what you are collecting and run it again.
Does this include the coop or the chicks?
No. Feed only. The coop, bedding, chicks, labor, and water are not in the form. Drinking water for a hen is on the water calculator, which has a hen row.
Planning only. Defaults are a common layer clip (~0.25 lb feed and ~0.7 egg per hen per day). Pullets, heat, and molt will move this. Feed only — no coop or labor.
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