Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) is the amount of feed needed to produce a unit of body weight. If a flock eats 1.6 kg of feed to put on 1 kg of weight, its FCR is 1.6. Lower is better.
Why FCR dominates everything else
Feed is typically 65–70% of the running cost of a broiler cycle. Nothing else on the farm comes close. That means a small movement in FCR swamps most other savings you could chase.
The arithmetic
On a 20,000-bird cycle at roughly 2 kg live weight, improving FCR from 1.70 to 1.60 saves about 0.1 kg of feed per kg of weight — roughly 4,000 kg of feed across the flock. At Indian feed prices that is a meaningful sum, repeated every cycle, for the life of the farm.
This is why FCR is the number integrators quote, lenders model, and experienced farmers obsess over.
What actually moves FCR
Environment
Birds have a thermoneutral zone. Outside it, energy that should become body weight is spent staying warm or cooling down. This is the mechanism by which environmental control converts directly into feed savings — it is not a comfort argument, it is a cost argument.
Feed and water management
- Feeder height and pan settings that leave feed on the floor are a direct loss.
- Water line pressure and hygiene affect intake; birds that drink less, eat less.
- Particle size and feed form change how efficiently birds can consume a ration.
Health status
A subclinical gut challenge can move FCR without ever producing visible sick birds. Flocks that look fine can still be quietly expensive.
Measure continuously, not at the end
The most common mistake is calculating FCR once, at the close of the cycle. By then the number is a post-mortem — you have already paid for it.
Tracking bird weight and feed intake through the cycle turns FCR into a control instrument. A rising trend at day 18 is something you can still act on. The same information at day 40 is only useful for the next flock.
What good monitoring looks like
- Weekly (or continuous) bird weights against the breed's growth curve.
- Feed consumed per house per day, not just per delivery.
- Mortality-adjusted figures, so culls do not flatter the ratio.
- A per-bird profit view that combines FCR with feed price and expected sale value.
Farms that watch these four things tend to find that FCR stops being a number they receive and becomes a number they manage.
