How much space do geese need?

Geese need 15 sq ft of coop floor space per bird — and as large a run as you can give them.

Figures reviewed against university extension guidance · Last reviewed July 2026

Geese need the most indoor space of any common backyard bird — about 15 square feet per goose, which Poultry Extension describes as roughly three times a duck's requirement. As with ducks, there's no published per-bird run figure, so the guidance is simply to give them as much outdoor room as you can.

The saving grace is that geese are grazers that spend most of their day outside on grass, so the shelter is more of a night-time and bad-weather refuge than a place they live in. A simple, roomy, draft-free house is usually enough — but it still has to be big, because geese are large birds that produce the same 90-percent-water waterfowl droppings as ducks, and moisture management indoors matters just as much.

Like ducks, geese are ground birds: no roosts, no elevated nest boxes. Plan for open, dry, deeply-bedded floor space and a generous grassy area outside, and they'll spend very little time indoors anyway.

Work out your flock's space

Multiply 15 sq ft by your bird count for the coop floor, and give as much run as your yard allows. Want to try different flock sizes, switch to metric, or compare species side by side? Use the Poultry Coop Space Calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How much coop space does a goose need?
About 15 square feet of indoor floor space per goose, per Poultry Extension. For six geese that is 90 square feet of coop floor.
How big should a goose run be?
There is no published per-goose run figure — extension guidance says only that the larger the run the better. Give them as much outdoor room as you can rather than building to a fixed number.
Do geese need roosts and nesting boxes?
No — geese are ground birds that sleep on the floor and lay in ground-level nests, so there is no roost length or elevated nesting box to plan. Focus on clean, dry, well-ventilated floor space instead.

More space guides

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