Official BYC Poll: How Many Square Feet Per Chicken?

[Aunt Angus]

1. 6 sq ft/bird in coop
2. 50 sq ft/bird in the run
3. 1000 sq feet/bird free range

HOWEVER, in about 2.5 weeks, I am moving and will have:

1. 10 sq ft/bird in coop
2. 50 sq ft/bird in the run
3. 4000 sq ft/bird free range

 

[Rose Quartz]

Uhh, i feel bad for my vote. I'm currently at 1 ish/bird. However...

Out of 55 birds 31 of them are 1 month or younger with a broody. They werent all hers but one of my broodies was done and those moved in with the other.(only 5 are girls in the 1 month olds). And 16 are 12 weeks and 10 will be gone within a couple days.

So... I mean once all the extra boys are gone it'll be back to better numbers. Also 8 of the adults are bantam....

I aim for 4 sqft per bird, they free range 3 acres all day every day and only use the coop for food water and sleep.

 

[Homesteadermomma6382]

I have about half an acre fenced in for my chickens and 3 goats. I have 2 converted rubbermade sheds for housing. Which the goats sleep on top of and the chickens only use when it is raining or freezing. They took over the giant pine tree in their yard to roost in. I also have a fenced in pen in the barn with a run leading out to a large enclosed 10×10 foot pen for my tweens.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Currently I have 5 square feet in the coop and 8 square feet in the run per bird.

To be fair I recently split my run in order to add my ducks. Long term those chickens will be sold or go in the freezer.

Prior to the split my chickens had about 17 square foot in the run per bird and 5 in the coop.

So far no one is squabbling or acting one bit "off".

Changed my vote to reflect COOP space only.

 

[Rooapalooza]

I used to have a 20'x 30' covered enclosure for about 20 birds, and it looked like a good enough amount of space for them. However, they did remove the grass in that section pretty quickly, even with me letting them out to free range for most of the day. Now they have like a thousand square feet per bird, and even more when they bust out into the neighbor's lawn, though I'm trying my best to stop that behavior.

I have basically 1 square foot in my coop per bird but they only sleep in there. I hope that's what the 40% of people who said they have less than 6 sqft per bird mean.

I know a lot of people say 10 sqft per bird is good, but I think doubling that is better to keep things cleaner, less crowded, etc.

 

[Neggative]

ive got 200 per bird!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

ive got 200 per bird!

In your coop?

 

[Ryguy3684]

Feel free to reply below with more detail, such as:

1. Inside space per chicken
2. Run space per chicken
3. Free-range space per chicken

1. 5/bird
2. 5/bird
3. 150/bird

 

[3mile]

Inside space : only 3ft per bird (low I know. Adding 5×5 on before winter)
Run space: 11.5 per bird
Free range: 4 acres but they dont use it all

 

[aart]

I voted 11+ as I counted ALL space not separating coop and run.

I found that confusing, but the thread titles says it loud and clear, so I went with that.
Wondering how many did as you did?
Makes the poll kind of moot, IMO.....but I guess it's just for fun.