How Much Does a Chicken Eat Per Day?

A day-old chick, a growing pullet and a laying hen eat genuinely different amounts — age and growth stage matter far more here than one flat “chickens eat X per day” figure would suggest.

About 38g (chick), 60g (grower) and 113g (layer) per day

University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension data puts typical intake at roughly 38g/day for a chick or starter (0–6 weeks), 60g/day for a growing pullet (6–20 weeks), and about a quarter pound (113g/day) for a mature laying hen. That's the figure our feed cost calculator uses, as a stage toggle rather than one flat number.

Select your flock's actual stage in the calculator rather than assuming one stage for the whole flock — a mixed-age flock genuinely eats different amounts per bird.

Why stage matters more than weight here

Growth stage, not bodyweight, is the dimension University of Kentucky Extension's data is actually published by — feed intake roughly triples from chick to laying hen as birds grow and begin producing eggs, which a single flat figure would badly misrepresent at either end of a flock's age range.

Based on a lighter breed type, not every chicken

These figures are derived from the source's Leghorn (white-egg layer) data — the lighter of the two breed types it publishes, matching this site's existing “typical layer” framing. The same source also gives a dual-purpose/brown-egg column that runs higher, since those birds are heavier, plus a separate broiler (meat chicken) table not used here since this site's chicken figures are framed around laying hens rather than meat birds.

Feed cost doesn't fall when egg production does

Laying drops sharply in winter with shorter daylight, and again as hens age past 2–3 years — but feed intake stays roughly constant regardless. We haven't found a sourced adjustment for reduced intake during a winter slowdown, so budget feed as a steady year-round cost rather than one that shrinks alongside egg output.

Working out your own cost

Enter your flock's stage and headcount into the feed cost calculator along with your local feed price for a daily, weekly and monthly estimate, or use cost of keeping to combine it with a vet allowance and other costs. Water is a separate daily input worth planning for too — see our water guide.

Source: University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, “How Much Will My Chickens Eat?” (ASC-191, 2012), by Jacquie Jacob and Tony Pescatore. Layer figure uses the source's own stated rule of thumb (a quarter pound/day); starter and grower figures are derived from the source's cumulative weekly feed-consumption table for Leghorn pullets. Sources checked: September 2026.

Common questions

How much does a chicken eat per day?

It depends heavily on age: a chick eats about 38g/day in the first 6 weeks, a growing pullet about 60g/day from 6-20 weeks, and a laying hen roughly a quarter pound (113g/day) once mature — a genuinely different figure at each stage, not one flat number.

Why does chicken feed scale with age, not weight?

Because growth stage — chick, growing pullet, or laying hen — is the dimension the sourced guidance actually publishes data by, not bodyweight. A hen's age tells you far more about what she needs to eat than her weight alone would.

Does this figure apply to all breeds equally?

It's derived from Leghorn (white-egg layer) data, the lighter of the two breed types the source publishes — a dual-purpose or brown-egg breed column in the same source runs higher, since those birds are heavier. Treat this as a typical-layer figure rather than a breed-specific one.

Does laying less in winter reduce how much a hen eats?

Not by much, and we haven't found a sourced adjustment for it. Feed intake stays roughly constant through the year even as egg production drops in winter or as hens age past 2-3 years, so budget feed as a steady cost rather than one that falls when laying does.