Official BYC Poll - How Many Square Feet Per Chicken?

[RaZ]

​

We've got thousands of members and thousands of very different setups for our chickens, so here is an official poll:

Main Poll: How many square feet do you CURRENTLY have per chicken?​

You can also reply with more detail, specifically:

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

Looking forward to your replies!!!

1. 8.5 x 11 foot indoor coop. (7.75 ceiling height) 15.6 sq ft / bird
2. 12 x 20 foot tent-shelter "run". 40 sq ft / bird
3. Varies because I move 150 feet of portable fencing around the yard. (plus the tent above)

 

[Marcia1969webb]

I have a 10x12 coop with 18 chickens but they're only closed up overnight and free-range all day over five acres so square foot per chicken might not apply for me.

 

[mommissan]

Well, I did only have 2 per bird, but I built a temporary greenhouse to double the 20 sq. ft. space a eleven birds had to squeeze into. The greenhouse is 3'x9' and is their favorite place to spend all day.
It's great for now. A bigger coop is in the plans fro spring. Oh, and more chickens too. hee hee
They do have a run that is 330 sq. ft. but right now, that doesn't count since they don't do deep snow.

So, for 11 birds:

Main coop: 20 sq. ft.
Greenhouse: 27 sq. ft.
= 47 sq. ft. is 4.27 sq. ft. per bird

Run: 300 sq. ft. (less the greenhouse)
= 27 sq. ft. per bird

Free Range: 1/2 acre, surrounded by woods.
= 3,960 sq. ft. per bird

 

[Cass]

I currently have 6 sq feet each inside and another 5 sq feet outside run space per bird.

HOWEVER I just got 10 more birds and have 12 more ordered....they will go in the main coop and into the small side (1/2 the space of main coop); sorted by either size (banties vs LF) or breed specific on small side and mixed on large side.

Sooo 22 more birds....eat the extra roos..give away 3 - 4 of the 12 on order to a friend's daughter...so back to 12 - 14 new hens....that will put me at about 4 sq feet per bird using both sides of coop....Now to build the run higher so I can walk inside it (my only mistake when planning my set up) and add another roost to both sides and I am GOOD TO GO.

I have a upside down laundry basket mounted on the back wall of my coop at a height only the smallest can get under to escape pecking and the same arrangement in my run with a milk crate, enabling me to add different size birds with little to no pecking of the little ones.

 

[Jaxon4141]

Currently have 100 sq. ft./chicken for both run and coop. This number will come down to 39 sq. ft./chicken by summer's end.

 

[brandislee]

I have 7 sq feet of inside space per chicken (19 standard and 3 bantam) and, for my climate (snow on the ground normally for 4+ months) there is NO WAY I would ever go less than that. In fact, I think it was too little and I lucked out because we had such a mild winter. Next winter I plan on keeping 15 max in the coop I have now and housing an additional 25 or so in the much larger shed loft.

My fenced run is roughly 30 by 30, which makes, uh, um... (pauses to use calculator...) 40 square feet per bird. But I free range them on my 3 acre yard whenever I'm home and there isn't snow everywhere (because I could try to free range them when it's snowy, but they would just laugh at me...). Again, I would have a larger run if I could and am glad I can free range. Sometimes there are several days in succession when I can't let them out of the run for some reason or other and they get cranky after about three days. Perhaps it's because I free range them, they know what they're missing!

 

[lala]

The coop itself is small, but it is enclosed by a 6x12 dog kennel as a run, for 6 chickens. So that's 12 sq per chook. Then they have a 'chicken yard' which is prolly 18 x 36 or so. Assuming my math is right.

 

[Kassaundra]

1. 2.5 sf coop space/ bird (they are only in it overnight and to lay)
2. 20 - 400 sf run space / bird depending on how many gardens are open or currently growing out.
3. 1/2 acre for 10 chickens free range (not sure of square footage)

 

[Uncle Will]

1. Inside space, 6 hens, 40 sq feet total, so that's -uhm- you're going to make me do long division here aren't you --- 6.66 sq ft per hen.

2. Run space: 13.33 sq ft per hen (8'x10')

3. Free-range space per chicken: 1066.66 sq ft per hen, (+/- 80'x80' or about 6400 sq ft fenced)

They're in the coop only for roosting and laying. In the mornings they're in the little run until full light when we go open up the gate to let them range all day.

 

[Illia]

In the coops, if the birds were all on the floor, it would probably be from 1-2 sq ft per bird. The room is all up in the perches.

The run and "free ranging" are the same, each bird easily gets far over 11 sq ft. Most of my chickens share a 2+ acre pasture, but some have smaller "sections" that still are at least 11 sq ft per bird. I like leg room for them. Enough that greens, shrubs, possible trees can grow in their area and not get destroyed in fast enough time to never grow back.