Official BYC Poll: How Many Square Feet Per Chicken?

[Szack]

I have 12 birds and about 10sqft in the coop but they all roost on two roosting rails. They look very happy in there at night and plenty of room to lay eggs in the nesting boxes. They only sleep and lay in there. We have 3 acres for them to rain all day

 

[Quaicken108]

I’m not sure if my vote was right because I’m an Aussie and I use the metric system.
It also depends if I’m free ranging them or not so... yeah

 

[aart]

I’m not sure if my vote was right because I’m an Aussie and I use the metric system.
It also depends if I’m free ranging them or not so... yeah

Here ya go!
square meters to square feet

 

[DiveyChickens]

Opinions on various aspects of chicken-keeping vary greatly, and how much space to provide is no exception. How many square feet of space do you have per chicken in your coop(s)? Select an answer corresponding with your current situation, not with what you consider to be an ideal.

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

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

We have four 6-week-old Easter Eggers and three older Golden Comet hens. The big girls have 32sqft inside, and the little girls who are still separated in the coop have set up their temporary home in the run-extension, but they have a fenced-in grazing area... So, to answer for each set of chickens:

Older (temporary Setup):

1. Inside space per chicken - 10.6
2. Run space per chicken - 6.6
3. Free-range space per chicken - 24,684 (1.7acres /3chickens)

Babies (temporary setup):

1. Inside space per chicken - 3
2. Run space per chicken - 3
3. Free-range space per chicken - 16

 

[WallyG74]

Coop space, 24 square feet per bird
Run space, 145 square feet per bird

 

[Matilda Belle]

1. Inside space per chicken: 11
2. Run space per chicken: 40
3. Free-range space per chicken: N/A

This is currently. I normally have a couple more birds. I am very strict on the 4 sq. ft/10 sq. ft. rule with my flock.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

I have
Chickens (13 standard-size hens):
~14 square feet of run per chicken
~2 square feet of coop per chicken
-3 nest boxes for thirteen hens
~2 feet of roost space per hen

Bantams (2 bantam cockerels, 1 bantam pullet, 1 standard pullet):
~6 square feet of run per bantam/1 standard
~1.5 square feet of run per bantam/1 standard
-2 nest boxes for 1 bantam pullet, 1 standard pullet, and 2 cockerels
-1 foot of roost space per bantam/1 standard

 

[stavo]

Mine is a little unique. I started with a small coop (3x4) attached to a covered run (8x13) for seven hens, so that worked out to 1.7 sq ft per hen while sleeping and 16.5 during the day. After one year, I added 10 hens and expanded the whole thing by adding a second covered run (14x12) and an uncovered fenced-in "outside" run (20x20). Because the small coop was way too small for 17 hens, I added roosting bars to the first run, and now most of them sleep there with 2-3 in the original coop. So now at night they have 6.8 sq ft each and during the day around 40 per bird.

 

[Shadie77]

Our new coop which is for roosting and egg boxes only, is 4' x 4' for 3 hens. Their run is 12' x 12'. They spend all day in the run. Just added the 4x4 coop yesterday. One slept in it last night the others slept on a high perch in a covered corner even though the old coop is still open until they get used to the new one. Here in Central Florida it's hot throughout the night so I was kind of glad that the two slept on their protected outdoor perch instead of inside the tinier first coop. The hen that slept in the new coop slept in a nesting box, : / instead of up on a roost so I'm hoping in the next few nights she'll get the idea that she roosts on a bar not in the box. She laid an egg in the new nesting box yesterday which was the first full day of the new coupe being available. That made my heart smile.

 

[jlpierce45]

1. 10 sq ft
2. 39 sq ft
3. 0