YO GEORGIANS! :)

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GAchickennewbie said:
You've come to the right place to get your flock. I'm just above you in Hall County. Personally, I stay with hardy, dual-purpose breeds, but they just appeal to me. Brown, blue, and green egg-layers. I'd advise doing research, seeing what breeds you like, then check on availability. There are so many options.
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You are so correct!!!! I like to have a variety! I have layers of brown and green. But I also like the rare and fancy breeds.
 
Most books say 4 sq feet for free ranging chickens, meaning they get to go outside and play during the day, and a minimum of 10 sq ft if they are confined to the coop. 2 sq ft is insane! The chicken itself will take up 1 sq ft! Imagine only having space to turn around in! Horrible! My coop has about 320 sq ft and it also has multiple roost and perches levels which gives the chickens not only the ground level to play in but all sorts of levels in between. My run is over 10,000 sq ft. It runs up into the shaded woods. There are downed trees that make fantastic natural roosts for them. But, I am lucky to have lots of acreage here. And, we live in the mountains with the closest neighbor being about 1/2 mile away. Since the run is so large and we do live in the middle of nowhere, we close all our animals up in the coop at night for protection. Bless God for creating chickens and ducks who put themselves up at night! Can you imagine trying to herd them all up every night?!!!
 
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Flowerbh said:
Most books say 4 sq feet for free ranging chickens, meaning they get to go outside and play during the day, and a minimum of 10 sq ft if they are confined to the coop.  2 sq ft is insane!  The chicken itself will take up 1 sq ft!  Imagine only having space to turn around in!  Horrible!  My coop has about 320 sq ft and it also has multiple roost and perches levels which gives the chickens not only the ground level to play in but all sorts of levels in between.  My run is over 10,000 sq ft.  It runs up into the shaded woods.  There are downed trees that make fantastic natural roosts for them.  But, I am lucky to have lots of acreage here.  And, we live in the mountains with the closest neighbor being about 1/2 mile away.  Since the run is so large and we do live in the middle of nowhere, we close all our animals up in the coop at night for protection.  Bless God for creating chickens and ducks who put themselves up at night!  Can you imagine trying to herd them all up every night?!!!
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thats a fantastic set up! And by 2 sq ft, that's in the coop only. They always have a run or free range. I have seen some that only had 5 sq ft total to live in. drove me crazy. I live in the middle of no where, so my chickens go wherever they please, and that's the only reason I can get away with 3 sq ft in the coops. The duck coop has 5 sq ft per duck, but I wish they had more... Sooooo messy
 
Here's one of my set ups. They're almost never in it, usually ranging around the woods or duck pen.
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PapaChaz said:
sounds like she may be getting arthritis in her hips, maybe some joint vitamins would help? are you giving her any vitamins at all?

and realizing that in dog years, she's 119.......she may be closer than you think
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She has straight up hip dysplasia. For years now. She's slowed down a bit but when my husband's around she's still really excitable. She's definitely 'his' dog. I think she forgets her age sometimes, especially when outside because she will still try to run and play but that doesn't last long. We do give her joint support supplements, but I can honestly say I'm not 100% consistent with it. They do seem to help her. The incontinence issue is mainly just stress related, getting up off the floor, things like that. A little leaky bladder after I let her out to pee. Very mild, but I know it will get worse with time. The most frustrating thing for me now, is she has really really bad separation anxiety. She always has displayed that, but it's getting worse over the last few months. Almost to the point of being irritating. But we love her so I try to just be patient as possible.I suspect she's also losing some of her hearing. I know getting old sucks, I just imagine it sucks worse in dog years. LOL

I did do the math on that, too. That is kinda why I'm asking what everyone else has experienced. My best friend had a Lab that lived to almost 18. The last 2 years of her life were miserable, loss of bladder control almost completely, she'd poo on herself toward the end, her legs would just give out on her and she'd fall down all the time. But my friend had her sooooo long I think she just couldn't let go of her. She has said that, in hindsight she felt horrible for letting it drag out that long. But Lucky is nowhere near that level of discomfort yet, as far as I can tell. I'm basically keeping a close eye on her to observe if she's giving any of the "letting us know" as @GAchickennewbie mentioned.
 
katiedarling said:
She has straight up hip dysplasia. For years now. She's slowed down a bit but when my husband's around she's still really excitable. She's definitely 'his' dog. I think she forgets her age sometimes, especially when outside because she will still try to run and play but that doesn't last long. We do give her joint support supplements, but I can honestly say I'm not 100% consistent with it. They do seem to help her. The incontinence issue is mainly just stress related, getting up off the floor, things like that. A little leaky bladder after I let her out to pee. Very mild, but I know it will get worse with time. The most frustrating thing for me now, is she has really really bad separation anxiety. She always has displayed that, but it's getting worse over the last few months. Almost to the point of being irritating. But we love her so I try to just be patient as possible.I suspect she's also losing some of her hearing. I know getting old sucks, I just imagine it sucks worse in dog years. LOL

I did do the math on that, too. That is kinda why I'm asking what everyone else has experienced. My best friend had a Lab that lived to almost 18. The last 2 years of her life were miserable, loss of bladder control almost completely, she'd poo on herself toward the end, her legs would just give out on her and she'd fall down all the time. But my friend had her sooooo long I think she just couldn't let go of her. She has said that, in hindsight she felt horrible for letting it drag out that long. But Lucky is nowhere near that level of discomfort yet, as far as I can tell. I'm basically keeping a close eye on her to observe if she's giving any of the "letting us know" as @GAchickennewbie mentioned.
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ok gotcha.......you're basically saying if she was human, she's to the point where she'd pee a little every time she laughed
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we had a cocker spaniel who would literally get mad
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if we went on vacation somewhere and didn't take her. We get one of the kids to keep her, or come check on her while we were gone, she'd mope around.
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Immediately when we'd get home, she'd be all dancin and shakin and wagglin around for a few minutes excited to see us all like
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then she'd ignore us for a few days
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she was a trip. She and I had an accident that took her away from us, we have no plans to replace her, although the grand daughter has been on a kick with my wife, "granna, when are y'all gonna get me a dog" BAHAHAHAHA
 
So I've never figured my max capacity in, say, my green coop before. (And by "coop" I mean an elevated, always-open coop within an enclosure/run area) The footprint of it is 8x12 feet, so 96 sq ft. By the "four square feet" rule, I could have 24 birds in there!?!? I have seven now and that's not too far from my limit. And that doesn't include the additional 4x8' enclosed coop.. I just couldn't imagine having enough to fill the rule? :idunno
 

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