Henquiry: “How much space do chickens and geese need?”
This question was submitted through Henquiries and first answered on the Roots, Roost & Rafter Facebook page.
Chickens
Chicken Coops:
For standard-sized hens, allow at least 4 square feet per hen inside the coop. For bantam hens, allow at least 2 square feet each.
I double that allowance for roosters: 8 square feet for a standard rooster or 4 square feet for a bantam rooster. It isn’t because he’s twice the size of a hen though. Adding a rooster changes how the flock uses the space and interacts, so I give him extra room in the calculation.
For a real-life comparison, my most crowded coop works out to 8 square feet for the rooster and 4.8 square feet per hen. My roomiest provides 10.6 square feet per hen, with the others falling in between.
Chicken Runs
If the birds won’t be free-ranging or pasturing, I’d aim for at least 20 square feet of run per standard-sized bird or 10 square feet per bantam. Double the allowance for a rooster.
If they also have regular access to pasture or free range, my minimum for the run itself is 10 square feet per standard-sized bird or 5 square feet per bantam, again doubled for a rooster. This smaller run figure depends on the birds actually having that additional pasture or free-range space to use.
My own chickens have pasture space or free range for much of the year. My most crowded run works out to 26 square feet for the rooster and 14 square feet per hen; my roomiest offers 32 square feet per hen. The others fall somewhere between.
If your birds will spend a lot of time in their run, give them as much room as you can. More run space is ALWAYS better. A large amount of the issues you will encounter when keeping chickens stem from or are intensified by crowding.
Geese
I don’t teach goose care typically because I am much more experienced with chickens but, since I do have geese, I’ll answer the goose part of the question too.
Goose Coops:
For their shelter, I’d allow at least 8 square feet per goose. Here, Baxter and Sam have 16 square feet each. This gives them room to walk around a bit or flap their wings if they need to. It also allows room for food and water to be placed in the coop with them overnight.
Goose Runs:
For a run used for temporary containment, I’d allow at least 48 square feet per goose. That’s what my goose run provides, but they aren’t normally confined there. During the day they have about 550 square feet each (roughly 1100 square feet in total) of fenced space, and in the evenings they free range around the property.
With geese, I wouldn’t think of the run figure as a substitute for grazing space. Yes, sometimes you need to be able to contain them but a run with the minimum square footage requirement should not be their main living area. I have to contain my geese for Baxter’s sake during the coldest winter months and 48 square feet really only barely feels large enough for them. It would not be much of a life if that was all the space they ever had.
Give them as much land and grass access as you reasonably can. Chickens appreciate the extra space but I would argue that geese require it.
Final Thoughts
The question I always come back to is: How much of the day and how much of the year will the birds actually have access to each space? A run used alongside regular pasture access has a different job from one that has to meet all their outdoor needs.
Winter matters too. If your birds will be confined to the run from the time the ground is heavily covered in snow until it melts, give them more space than you would if they could roam beyond it year-round.
