Budgeting Feed for a Laying Flock, Month by Month

Check the intake figure before the arithmetic

Every feed budget for layers rests on one number: how much a hen eats in a day. Get that wrong and the whole year is wrong with it. We do not have a verified layer intake figure to put in front of you, so we will not hand you one as if it were settled. Take it from your breed guide, from your feed supplier, or from your own weighing.

For the worked example in this article we use 110 grams per hen per day. That is an illustrative assumption, chosen to show the arithmetic clearly, and it is not a figure from our records. To get your own, weigh a week's ration put down for a sample of hens, subtract what is left in the trough, divide by the number of hens and then by the number of days. Intake moves with the breed, the rate of lay, the heat and the energy in the mash, so it is worth checking every few months.

The sum for one month

Take 110 grams and multiply it by 100 hens. That is 11 kilograms a day. Over a 30-day month it comes to 330 kilograms, which is 6.6 bags of 50 kilograms. Round up to 7 bags. Feed goes off, bags get torn and rats find their way in, so the extra part of a bag is your margin and not waste you plan to lose.

At the bag range of GH₵400 to GH₵470, seven bags cost between GH₵2,800 and GH₵3,290 a month. Multiply by twelve and the year comes to 84 bags, somewhere between GH₵33,600 and GH₵39,480. Those are feed costs only, for 100 hens at this intake. Confirm the price of the brand you plan to use with the seller before you order, because prices move between seasons and between shops.

Write the monthly figure on a card and pin it inside the store door. Anyone who opens a bag should be able to see what the month is meant to use, so that a bag going missing is noticed the same day rather than at the end of the quarter.

Three things move that sum away from the plan:

Intake. A hen eating 100 grams instead of 110 changes the bag count for the whole flock, so weigh it rather than guess.
Wastage. Feed spilt from open feeders, pecked into the litter or eaten by rats never reaches an egg. Every bag you lose this way is a bag you paid for and did not use.
Price. The same seven bags cost more in one month than another. Only the price you were quoted this week is the one to plan with.

A close view of brown laying hens in a pen — A laying flock eats every day of the year, which is why feed is the bill that never stops.

Twelve months at a glance

The table holds intake steady so the other moving parts stand out. Real intake will rise and fall, so use the last column to decide when to check your figures and your stores.

Month	Bags (50 kg)	Cost at GH₵400 a bag	Cost at GH₵470 a bag	What to watch
January	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Harmattan dust. Keep bags closed and check drinkers twice a day.
February	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Dry air and dust continue. Stand bags on pallets, off the floor.
March	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Afternoons warm up. Check ventilation in the house.
April	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Major rains start. Check bag moisture and the store for leaks.
May	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Peak damp. Look for mould, rats and weevils every week.
June	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Rains continue. Keep any damp bag apart from the dry stock.
July	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Short dry spell. Feed in cool hours and clear troughs before the heat builds.
August	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Dry spell in many areas. Recheck the bag price before you order.
September	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Minor rains return. Damp checks start again.
October	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Plan the festive stock now, before the price moves.
November	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Buyers often ask for more eggs before the festive season. Hold the buffer bag.
December	7	GH₵2,800	GH₵3,290	Festive demand and harmattan arrive together. Store dry, buy only what the store can hold.

Across the year that is 84 bags, or between GH₵33,600 and GH₵39,480 for feed alone. The price is the only figure in that total you cannot control, which is why the record you keep matters as much as the table.

When the numbers drift, and what it costs

Most feed budgets do not fail on one big mistake. They drift a little every week, and by the end of the month the bag count has grown without anyone noticing. A spill of 2 kilograms a day from a careless feeder looks harmless. Over a 30-day month it is 60 kilograms, which is 1.2 bags. At GH₵400 to GH₵470 a bag, that spill costs between GH₵480 and GH₵564 a month, and none of it reaches an egg.

Use the feed book to catch drift early. If the bins run down faster than the table says, look first at feeders, rats and damp bags before you blame the hens. Look at intake next, by weighing a week's ration again. Only then look at the price. Fixing a feeder costs little, while a month of drift can cost a bag or more, and in a dry spell that is the bag you cannot afford to be short of.

January to March: harmattan and the dry-season bag

Harmattan dust gets into feed bags, feeders and the hens' feathers. Keep the bags closed, sweep the store before each delivery, and hang feeders where dust does not settle into them every hour. Dry air also means the birds drink more, so check drinkers at least twice a day rather than once.

Buy the month's bags in one trip if you have dry storage. Fewer trips mean less handling and fewer chances for damage.
Check each bag for hard lumps or a stale smell before you open it.
Count the feed left in the bin on the first and the fifteenth of the month. A gap between what you expected and what is there tells you early.

April to June: the major rains

The rains bring damp, and damp is what turns a good bag bad. A bag stacked against a wet wall can take on moisture in days, and mould spreads through the top layers before most people notice. Lift every bag off the floor, keep it away from the walls, and open only what the next week needs.

Rats and weevils find damp stores quickly too. Our guide to storing maize safely through the rains covers the store in more detail. In these months, carry a little more than the bag count, because some of what you buy will be lost to damp, and the buffer bag is what keeps the hens fed while you deal with it.

July and August: the short dry spell

In the short dry spell the house runs hot in the afternoon, and feed left in open troughs warms up fast. Feed in the cool of the morning and again in the early evening, and take out leftovers before the heat builds. The bag count stays the same, but waste often rises when hens pick over stale mash, so the trough check matters more than usual.

Check drinkers as often as you check feed. Hot hours and dry air both push water use up.
Recheck the bag price with your seller before the month's order, since prices can move between seasons.
Write the eggs collected each day beside the feed you put in, so the cost of each egg stays visible.

September to December: minor rains and the festive run

The minor rains return in September and October, so the damp checks come back with them. Then the festive season arrives, and the flock often has to carry more eggs for more buyers at the same bag count. This stretch is where a feed budget earns its keep, because the mistakes made in the quiet months show up as a shortage now.

Plan the December bags before the price moves. If you have dry storage and the cash to spare, buying the festive bags in October or November can spread the cost. Do not buy far ahead into a damp store, though. A bag that sits for three months in a wet corner costs more than the price difference it saved you.

Keep a feed book you can check against the budget

A budget is only as good as the record behind it. Write down the bags bought, the date each bag was opened, the feed left in the bin on the first and the fifteenth, the eggs collected each day and any deaths. At the end of the month, compare the bags used with the eggs collected. That comparison tells you whether the feed plan is working on this farm, rather than on paper.

Use a plain notebook if that is what you have. A phone works too. What matters is writing it down on the day, not trying to remember it at the end of the month. Our guides to recording daily egg production and tracking feed used per batch show the simple layouts that work on a small farm.

Key takeaways

Feed for 100 hens at 110 grams a day, our illustrative figure, is 7 bags a month, or 84 bags a year.
At GH₵400 to GH₵470 a bag, that is GH₵2,800 to GH₵3,290 a month, and GH₵33,600 to GH₵39,480 a year.
Replace our intake figure with your own weighed figure before you rely on the bag count.
Harmattan dust and the rains both damage stored feed, so plan the store as carefully as the budget.
Keep a daily record of feed, eggs and deaths, and check it against the budget at the end of each month.

Common questions

What if my hens eat less than 110 grams a day?

Your bag count drops, but do not assume the saving. Weigh the ration you put down and what is left over a week, then divide it out. Lower intake can also signal heat stress, sickness or a feed problem, so a drop is worth checking before you celebrate it.

Should I buy three months of bags at once?

Only with dry, rat-proof storage and cash you can spare. For most small flocks, buying one or two months at a time keeps the stock fresh and leaves cash free for the other costs of the farm.

Does the budget change when the hens reach peak lay?

Intake can rise a little as lay rises and the hens grow, so check your weights every month and adjust the bag count. Keep the buffer bag so a change in intake does not leave you short in the middle of the week.

Where do I get today's price?

Ask your feed seller and confirm the current bag price before you order. If you are buying your chicks from us, the price list on our site shows from-prices, and we confirm the final figure with you before any payment.

Work the feed first, then send the order form or call 024 915 1503

Work out the feed budget before you choose the flock, because the bag count decides how many hens you can carry through a dry season without running short. When you are ready, send the order form on the site or call 024 915 1503, and we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay. For the wider numbers, read costing a layer flock through the first year. For the ration side, feeding layers from chick to first egg walks through each stage, and our current price page shows the chick options you can pair with this plan.

Written by the Halaal Farms Ghana team. We hatch and import day-old chicks at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and deliver to all 16 regions. This article is general guidance for farmers. For diagnosis and treatment of sick birds, speak to a vet or your district veterinary office.