Housing dairy calves in groups allows natural social interactions between conspecifics. Many farms still house dairy calves individually and feed them milk by hand. Some dairy operations have implemented group-housing using an automated milk feeding system even if the initial set up is expensive. To evaluate the feasibility of using calf hutches in a novel, low input cost group-housing method, we compared individually- and pair-housed calves kept in hutches and examined differences in growth rate, activity level, and competition of paired calves at feeding. Individual calves were given a hutch with an outdoor area (total 6.87 m²); 2 hutches were placed side by side with a shared outdoor area for paired calves (6.87 m² total per calf). Eighteen Holstein heifer calves were purchased and arrived on farm between the ages of 5–12 d. Calves were assigned to treatments and balanced for age and weight within pairs and across treatments. Over 7 weeks, calves had free-access to milk (up to 16 L/day/calf), calf starter, water and hay. Activity loggers were used to record daily lying time and calves were weighed each week to monitor growth. To evaluate competition in pairs and use of space for all calves, behavioral observations were completed 1 d/wk (7 non-consecutive h/d) and included recording calf location within pen, and for paired calves: displacements at the nipple (indicative of competition between calves), cross sucking (sucking on conspecific), and social grooming (grooming/licking another calf). Over 7 weeks of milk feeding the average feed conversion was 0.10 ± 0.005 kg weight gain/kg milk intake (mean ± SE) for paired and individual calves. Social interactions by paired calves did not change across weeks (Wilcoxon sign rank tests; P > 0.1): 5.5 ± 1.62% social grooming, 1.4 ± 0.84% cross sucking, and 6.5 ± 3.60% displacements at the nipple. Data for growth, resting time, and space usage are being analyzed while milk and competition data are undergoing further analysis. A 6-week winter replicate of this research is in progress to determine whether the housing method can be utilized in various climatic conditions.