Would you buy a house near a chicken house?

[Livinzoo]

My husband and I found a house with almost 9 acres and are planning on going to look at it. The house was built in 1960. Need to find out about lead paint and asbestos. It is a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath. It has 2 inoperable chicken houses on the property that can be used for storage or my animals. But there are 4 big chicken houses behind it and 4 more not far from there.

How bad do you think the smell will be?

Having chickens I also worry about diseases from their birds, or their regulations. Anyone have ideas about this?

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I think I would ask to see the area as you are considering buying. If they have nothing to hide they should be glad to let see the chickens! Especially if you let them know you are a chicken lover too.

 

[tothemoon]

Some places do have regulations about owning chickens near a chicken farm, because they dont want wayward chickens to contaminate the entire chicken farm. You would have to check with your realtor about those restrictions. Also, if you have ever spent time near a chicken farm, it smells to high heaven! Smells like something dead, especially when they are cleaning them out. On one hand though, property near a chicken farm sells very inexpensively. We went to look at some property next to a chicken farm, 29 acres for an almost unheard of price (around here anyway) of just 97,000. We stepped out of our truck and promptly stepped back in. We were downwind of the chicken farm and we knew right then why it was so cheap, and why the people moved from there in the first place!!

 

[Big C]

Depends on which way the wind blows.
If these are commercial production facilities they follow regulations on fly control at a minimum.
A friend of ours lived within 1 mile of a large egg production facility and had a bad problem with flies during the spring/summer/fall. This is in rural Texas. This facility is south of his property and our prevailing winds are generated from the south.
He contacted our states ag dept and got the producer to finally enhance their fly control using organic methods. You may want to talk to any neighbors...

 

[Livinzoo]

Here is a pic

The house is at the green arrow and the red "A" is part of the property, with more out in front of the house. You can see the 8 chicken houses I mentioned.

 

[Katy]

It's gonna smell....badly. That many chicken houses, even if they have the best manure handling procedures possible are going to smell.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

A very good friend of mine has 4 chicken houses at the opposite end of his 110 acre farm. I can tell you this, your yard, inside your vehicles, inside your house(including the contents) are going to smell just like them barns. When I visit him I drive my pick-up due to the odor. I don't dare drive the Excursion or the DW's car. It takes about a week to get the smell out of the pick-up after the visit. In fact I have to change clothes when I get home due to the stench. I don't even go near the barns, the smell gets on me at the house. Funny thing is that he nor is wife can smell it any longer.

I do know when he put the barns in that there were restrictions about other chickens within a certain distance of the barns. I can't remember exactly what it is though. When I'm going to go visit I shower to protect his birds, then shower when I get home to protect my birds. Can't be too careful. I don't even park my truck on the same side of the yard that my coop is on until it is washed. He is also careful when he comes to my house.

Marty

 

[Tala]

I wouldn't.


But then again, some of you might say the same thing about living within hearing distance of 4 railroad crossings

I swear I really don't hear the trains!

 

[silkiechicken]

Well... I work with mice... hundreds of them... and I can't smell them anymore. I do know I smell like mouse urine all day though, because if I am not up there for a week or so, anyone who comes down from the mouse house smells so. If I have been away from the mice for like x mas break, I will smell them as soon as I enter the building... a week later, I need my face in a cage to smell it.

I personally would not get it, as resale, even if you are not planning on it, will be tough.

 

[Beekissed]

You will live your life in a noxious stench, especially in the spring and summer. And the flies from the manure piles will drive you insane!!! Millions of them in your house, car, food, on your animals, on your porch...you name it, it's like living in that movie "Lord of the Flies".

And the previous post about having chickens of your own close to the commercial ones....if they don't restrict you, they will have the state inspecting your coops all the time, especially when they have a big die off of their own flock. They always blame it on biosecurity issues, air flow from flocks that are exposed to wild birds, etc.

No matter how cheaply you may get the property, you can only sell it cheaply also....no resale value when close to commercial poultry operations.