Is broiler or layer poultry farming profitable in Kenya?

Kuku Calculator plans feed by phase, mortality, vaccines and other costs against your selling price to show cost per bird or per tray, the breakeven price and your margin — for both broilers and layers.

How much feed does a broiler chicken need?

A broiler eats roughly 4–4.5 kg of feed across starter, grower and finisher phases to reach market weight in about six weeks; the calculator totals the feed cost per bird.

How do I work out the cost per bird or per egg?

Add every cost (chicks, feed, vaccines, brooding) and divide by the number of birds that survive to sale — the tool does this and shows your breakeven selling price.

Kuku Calculator — broilers & layers: feed, costs and breakeven

Figures are typical mid-range defaults — adjust to your area, breed and season. Feed and chick prices move often; everything below is editable.

Batch

Number of chicks

Chick price (KES)

Mortality (%)

Vaccines + meds (KES / bird)

Brooding — charcoal / power (KES / bird)

Litter + misc (KES, whole batch)

Feed plan — per bird

Phasekg/birdKES/kgKES/bird

Feed per bird

Default plan takes a broiler to ~1.5–1.8 kg live in 5–6 weeks on ~4.2 kg of feed. Bags are 50 kg or 70 kg at your agrovet — divide the bag price by kg to fill this in.

Selling

Selling price (KES / bird)

Avg live weight at sale (kg)

Average live weight is used for the FCR figure — and for revenue when selling per kg.

Broiler vaccine schedule (typical)

Day 1Marek's — usually given at the hatchery; confirm with your chick supplier.

Day 7Newcastle + Infectious Bronchitis (eye drop or drinking water).

Day 10Gumboro (IBD), first dose.

Day 18Gumboro (IBD), repeat dose.

Day 21Newcastle booster.

Schedules differ by area and disease pressure — follow your vet or agrovet's programme.

How is this calculated?

Broilers

Total feed = kg/bird (all phases) × chicks placed. Feed is bought for the whole flock, so birds that die still count in the feed bill.

Total cost = chicks + feed + (vaccines + brooding) × chicks + litter/misc.

Cost per bird sold = total cost ÷ survivors, where survivors = chicks × (1 − mortality%). Survivors carry the cost of the birds you lost. This is also your breakeven selling price.

FCR = total feed kg ÷ total live kg sold. Lower is better; 1.6–1.9 is good for broilers.

Layers

Hens in lay = chicks × (1 − mortality%). Eggs/day = hens × lay%; trays = eggs ÷ eggs-per-tray. A month = 30 days.

Monthly margin = tray revenue − feed − other monthly costs. Cost per tray = monthly costs ÷ monthly trays (your breakeven tray price).

Breakeven lay % = daily costs ÷ the revenue your flock would earn per day at 100% lay.

Payback = rearing investment (chicks + rearing feed + vaccines + brooding) ÷ monthly margin.

Planning estimate with illustrative defaults — chick, feed and egg prices vary by region, supplier and season. Verify at your agrovet. Nothing is uploaded.