What "feed cost per crate" really means
It is exactly what it says: the money you spent on feed, divided by the crates of eggs you produced in the same period.
Feed cost per crate = feed cost for the period ÷ crates produced in the period
Measure it over a consistent window — a week or a month — and always over the same window you use for feed cost and for crates, or the number lies to you. Track it per house where you can, because averages hide the house that is dragging you down.
Why it beats watching the feed price alone
The price of a bag of feed matters, but it is only half the story. A cheaper bag that produces fewer eggs, or that gets wasted, can cost you more per crate than a pricier one. Cost per crate captures both sides at once — what you pay and what you get for it — which is why it is the number to steer by.
The levers that move it
1. Measure feed per house, not just per farm
When feed is issued to the whole farm as one number, a house that is over-feeding or losing feed to spillage is invisible. Track intake per house and the outlier shows up quickly.
2. Cut waste and spillage
Overfilled troughs, damaged feeders and rodents quietly convert feed you paid for into feed the birds never eat. This is often the fastest saving available, because it costs almost nothing to fix.
3. Watch the flock's performance, not just its appetite
Birds past peak lay, or an underperforming batch, eat feed without returning enough eggs. Knowing your lay rate per house tells you when a flock is no longer earning its feed.
4. Buy and formulate deliberately
Consistent, good-quality feed at a fair price beats chasing the cheapest bag. If you mix or mill your own, small, tracked changes to the formulation — measured against cost per crate — are where the gains are.
5. Don't forget water and health
Clean water and a healthy flock convert feed efficiently. A disease or water problem shows up as feed going in and eggs not coming out — which is exactly what cost per crate will reveal.
Make it a weekly number
None of this works if you calculate cost per crate once a quarter. Total your feed cost and your crates every week, per house, and look at the trend. When the number moves the wrong way, you will usually know which house and which week — and that is most of the way to fixing it.