How do I calculate the break-even price for broilers?

Add up the total cost per bird — chick cost, feed cost (feed consumed per bird × price per kg), and other costs like medicine, litter, labour and power — then divide by the average live weight at sale. Example: a cost of 180 per bird at 2.2 kg live weight breaks even at 81.8 per kg.

What share of broiler production cost is feed?

Feed is typically 60–70% of total broiler production cost, followed by the day-old chick at 15–20%. That is why FCR and feed price movements dominate broiler profitability.

Broiler Break-Even & Profit Calculator

Break-even price per kg = cost per bird ÷ live weight at sale. Cost per bird is the chick, the feed it ate, and everything else (medicine, litter, labour, power). Feed is typically 60–70% of a broiler's total production cost, so feed price and FCR dominate the result.

Chick cost per birdFeed consumed per bird (kg)Feed cost per kgOther costs per bird — medicine, litter, labour, power (optional)Average live weight at sale (kg)Sale price per kg live weight (optional)

Enter chick cost, feed per bird and feed price to calculate

How the calculation works

Cost per bird = chick cost + (feed per bird × feed cost/kg) + other costs. Divide by the average live weight at sale to get the break-even price per kg — the farm-gate price at which the batch neither makes nor loses money. Anything above it is margin: profit per bird = (weight × sale price) − cost per bird.

Reading the number

Work per bird, then multiply by birds sold (not birds placed — mortality already ate that cost). If your break-even is above the prevailing farm-gate rate, the levers in order of impact are: feed price, FCR (see the FCR calculator), chick price, and mortality.

Methodology

Standard broiler costing: per-bird direct costs divided by live weight at sale. Currency-agnostic — use any currency consistently. Cost-share ranges cited (feed 60–70%, chick 15–20%) are typical for commercial broiler production; your structure may differ.

Also try the Broiler FCR calculator, the Feed per Egg calculator and the Hen-Day Production % calculator, or see how CloudPoultry tracks batch costs and FCR automatically.