Updated: 3 October 2026
A 1,000-bird broiler unit has been costed at about ₹1.11 lakh (shed and equipment only) to ₹4 lakh (with first-batch inputs and training), and a batch can swing from a loss to about ₹65,000 depending on chick, feed and bird prices. Those prices change every week, so treat every rupee figure below as an example of the method and put today's local rates into the sums.
Check chick, feed, live-bird and egg rates with your hatchery, feed dealer and local trader before you plan. For housing and vaccines see the poultry farming guide, which also has a worked batch at September 2026 prices.
1,000-bird broiler unit: two published models
| Item | NCDC sample DPR (file name suggests May 2020) | AgriFarming model (Dec 2023, secondary) |
|---|---|---|
| Chick, feed price | ₹25 per chick, ₹28 per kg | ₹37 per chick, ₹19 per kg |
| Mortality, batches a year | 5%, 6 batches | 2%, 5 batches |
| Sale weight and price | 2.0 kg at ₹73 per kg | 1.8 kg at ₹95 per kg live |
| Shed | ₹1,50,000 (1,000 sq ft at ₹150) | ₹90,000 |
| Equipment, electrical, store, misc. | ₹15,000 + ₹15,000 + ₹20,000 | ₹15,000 + ₹3,500 + ₹2,500 |
| Training, first-batch inputs, margin money | ₹37,500 + ₹1,30,000 + ₹32,500 | Not included |
| Total | ₹4,00,000 (loan ₹2.60 lakh, subsidy ₹1.00 lakh, own ₹0.40 lakh) | ₹1,11,000 (capital only) |
| Stated result | Year-1 sales ₹8.824 lakh, profit ₹0.163 lakh, DSCR 1.53 | ₹58,860 per batch as printed; see below |
The 25% subsidy in the NCDC DPR is labelled an LD (least developed) subsidy for a cooperative, so it is not a general rate. Its prices are about six years old.
The sums, shown
- Birds sold: 1,000 chicks, 2% mortality, so 980 birds. Live weight 980 × 1.8 = 1,764 kg.
- Income: 1,764 × ₹95 = ₹1,67,580, plus gunny bags ₹980 and manure ₹1,470 = ₹1,70,030.
- Cost: chicks 1,000 × ₹37 = ₹37,000; feed 980 × 3.5 kg = 3,430 kg × ₹19 = ₹65,170; other ₹3,000. Total ₹1,05,170.
- Profit: 1,70,030 − 1,05,170 = ₹64,860 a batch. The page prints ₹58,860, which is ₹6,000 lower. Five batches: 5 × 64,860 = ₹3,24,300 (page prints ₹2,94,300).
- Break-even: 1,05,170 ÷ 1,764 = about ₹59.6 per kg live weight, before by-products.
- Feed risk: each ₹1 per kg of feed moves a batch by 3,430. At the ₹28 feed of the NCDC DPR, cost rises by 9 × 3,430 = ₹30,870, and profit falls to 64,860 − 30,870 = ₹33,990.
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Backyard unit of 100 to 500 birds, low input
There is no costed official model for this size and no official chick, egg or live desi bird price. The table gives the published norms, so you can add local prices. ICAR-CARI advises only 5 to 25 birds on open scavenging, so 100 to 500 birds needs a large yard or orchard, or a semi-confined system.
| Per unit | 100 birds | 500 birds |
|---|---|---|
| Extra feed at 35 to 40 g a bird a day | 3.5 to 4.0 kg a day | 17.5 to 20 kg a day |
| Feed a year (× 365 days) | 1,277.5 to 1,460 kg | 6,387.5 to 7,300 kg |
| Eggs a year, if all are hens and Nirbheek lays 170 to 200 | 17,000 to 20,000 | 85,000 to 1,00,000 |
| Feed cost a year | kg above × your feed price | kg above × your feed price |
- Males of Nirbheek weigh about 1,850 g at 20 weeks, and ICAR advises selling them at 15 to 20 weeks. Income = eggs × egg price + males sold × weight × price − feed.
- ICAR reports a benefit-cost ratio of 3:1 for part-time backyard rearing and 4.64 for poultry in mango orchards (ICAR-CISH). Both are for small flocks, not proof for 500 birds.
500-layer unit and the National Livestock Mission size
| 500-layer model, Dec 2023, secondary | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Shed 800 sq ft | 800 × ₹90 | ₹72,000 |
| Equipment, power, electrification | 12,500 + 1,250 + 3,000 | ₹16,750 (capital total ₹88,750) |
| Chicks and medicines | 500 × 45 + 500 × 4.5 | ₹24,750 |
| Feed to 72 weeks, 23,500 kg | 15,000 + 37,500 + 2,80,000 | ₹3,32,500 |
| Income: eggs, broken eggs, culls, bags, manure | 4,32,400 + 30,268 + 82,250 + 6,700 + 705 | ₹5,52,323 |
| Gross profit | 5,52,323 − 3,57,250 | ₹1,95,073 (page prints ₹1,90,573) |
- Feed: ₹3,32,500 ÷ 23,500 kg = ₹14.15 a kg. That is far below the ₹27 to ₹30 used in the Sept 2026 layer sums in the poultry guide. Each ₹1 per kg moves the cycle by ₹23,500, so profit reaches zero if the average feed rate rises by 1,95,073 ÷ 23,500 = about ₹8.30, to about ₹22.45 a kg.
- National Livestock Mission size: a rural poultry parent farm of 1,000 female and 100 male birds. The 2020 component list has a 30 × 100 ft shed, 2 electric brooders, a hatchery for 3,000 hatching eggs a week (2,250 day-old chicks) and a mother unit that broods 2,000 chicks to 4 weeks. The guideline text gives no unit costs. A ₹25 lakh cap at 50% means the cap is reached at a ₹50 lakh project. Details on the loan and subsidy page.
Contract farming versus selling on your own
- Contract (integration): the company supplies chicks, feed and medicine, and pays a growing charge per kg of live weight. You provide the shed, labour, power and litter. AgriFarming (April 2026, secondary) quotes ₹18 to ₹35 per kg, and a profit of ₹20 to ₹40 a bird, against ₹50 to ₹90 a bird selling on the open market.
- Arithmetic: 1,764 kg × ₹18 = ₹31,752 and 1,764 kg × ₹35 = ₹61,740 a 1,000-chick batch. Shed loan instalments, labour and power come out of that.
- On your own: you buy chicks and feed and carry the price risk, as the break-even of about ₹59.6 per kg live weight shows. Your margin is the sale price minus that cost, times the kilos.
- Ask the integrator in writing: the rate per kg, whether it changes with FCR or mortality, who bears chick deaths, the payment date, and what happens if chicks arrive late. The ₹18 to ₹35 range names no company, so it is not an offer.
Before you spend
- Start with one batch and keep records of feed, deaths and sale weight.
- Test your loan with the EMI calculator and see poultry loan and subsidy, breeds and livestock farming.
Sources
- NCDC, sample project report on broiler farming unit for cooperatives (undated; file name suggests May 2020)
- AgriFarming, 1,000 broiler chicken farming model report, Dec 2023 (secondary source)
- AgriFarming, layer farming project report for 500 birds, Dec 2023 (secondary source)
- AgriFarming, broiler farming profit per bird, April 2026 (secondary source)
- ICAR, CARI-Nirbheek: Pride of Backyard Poultry Farming
- DAHD, amendment to NLM guidelines, 13 October 2020 (Annexure I components)
- KLDB, National Livestock Mission EDP guideline 2021-26 (Aug 2024 copy)