One of the first questions new chicken keepers ask is deceptively simple: how much feed will I actually go through?

The planning number most keepers use is about 1/4 lb (roughly 115 g) of feed per laying hen per day. Scale that up and the monthly picture looks like this:

  • 4 hens: ~1 lb a day → ~30 lb a month
  • 6 hens: ~1.5 lb a day → ~45 lb a month (about one standard 40–50 lb bag)
  • 12 hens: ~3 lb a day → ~90 lb a month

That one number drives two useful things. First, your feed budget: multiply bags per month by your local bag price and you have your real monthly cost. Second, it feeds straight into your cost per egg — divide monthly feed cost by the dozens you collect and 'free' backyard eggs get an honest price tag (for a lot of small flocks it lands around $2–4 a dozen, feed being most of it).

I built free calculators that do this maths for any flock size, in lb or kg:

If your flock eats noticeably more or less than the 1/4 lb rule, I'd love to hear what breed and setup you're running — real numbers from real coops are what make tools like this better.