A chicken house quandary

HighFlight

HighFlight

Dryer sheet aficionado
Joined
Feb 28, 2019
Messages
29
Location
Cleveland, TN
We moved to East Tennessee about a year ago-rural area but close to Cleveland TN. Nice little subdivision with about 20 homes. Over the summer and fall we've noticed a 4-house chicken farm going in across the road, past a treeline. We are about .2 miles north from the front of the complex, so the waste pits and the back of the houses are about a quarter mile from us. I grew up with a big caged layer operation and know the drawbacks of a big poultry complex.

So, what to do? We do not have a mortgage. We remodeled a bath (expected) and put on a new roof (unexpected) so we know we would lose money if we move. Talking with our neighbors it seems that the chicken houses are a surprise as no one knew about them before construction.

Trying to decide if we move soon (hopefully before the houses are in operation) or see what the impact is, with a possible decrease in home value due to odor, etc.

Thoughts? What am I missing?
 
How are you situated in relation to the prevailing winds?
 
Local airport runways are generally NE-SW, so the southerly winds would be a potential issue during the summer.
 
HighFlight said:
Local airport runways are generally NE-SW, so the southerly winds would be a potential issue during the summer.
Click to expand...

Ugh. Worst time of year.

First step is to get together with your neighbors and approach the city government and see what codes are in place to ensure that the smell is controlled.
 
I know nothing about this but we did have a 3 chicken coop at one time. That is why your post caught my interest. This link from Clemson might be helpful if you do approach the municipality with a concern (it could provide specific requests) or if the owner wants/needs guidance for reducing odors. Good luck.
https://www.clemson.edu/extension/camm/manuals/poultry/pch9_03.pdf
 
I would try to get the heck out of there. Living downwind of a chicken or pig farm is not "fixable". That stench will be in your house no matter what you try to keep it out. Once the farm is operating, your property values will tank, so being the first one out may be crucial. In fact, the previous owner of your house may have had insider knowledge and that's why they bailed - did you get an unusually good deal?
 
Move! Like put the house on the market today.

My brother worked for his inlaws running 6 chicken houses in the south and you could smell them from 2 miles away. I wouldn't let him get in the car.
 
Move asap.

Imagine your decision if it's not just this one farm, but more move in. I read a story about a man near where major chicken farms were installed (I think North Carolina?), and beyond the smell it also attracted vultures and made his wrap around porch basically a complete waste, impossible to enjoy the outdoors.
 
Just some facts here.

Each house holds about 25,000 chickens. The floor gets covered in about 3 inches of poop, which they dozer out and feed to cows. Imagine all of that on a nice 90 degree summer day.

Oh, and also about 20 to 30 chickens die each day in each house. They sometimes manage to find them.
 
HighFlight said:
... So, what to do? We do not have a mortgage. We remodeled a bath (expected) and put on a new roof (unexpected) so we know we would lose money if we move. ...
Click to expand...
One thing to remember is that with the house you basically have a sunk cost problem. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost) IOW, the effort and money that you have expended on the house is completely irrelevant going forward. Look only at the cost/benefit of prospective actions, which include keeping the house, working with the county, waiting for other opportunities, etc.

Good luck.
 
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Move, now, during the colder weather before it gets really bad. The sooner the better. Not only the smell, but the flies will be terrible.

City government can't/won't get involved unless the zoning is violated. Unless someone figures out how to change wind direction, there's no way to control the smell since the houses must be ventilated.

Be the first to leave before there are a glut of houses on the market a fire sale prices.
 
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Jerry1 said:
Ugh. Worst time of year.

First step is to get together with your neighbors and approach the city government and see what codes are in place to ensure that the smell is controlled.
Click to expand...

I would do this first, and while you are waiting, look at options to move. Hopefully, it is financially feasible for you. Any money you have put into upgrades may or may not impact the sales price. Hopefully, you can at least make your money back.

So sorry this has happened to you.
I can't imagine the smell that will be generated.
All I know is when I visited my Dads family farm in the mid west, the stench of the pigs and chickens was pretty bad! And the was only one farm.
 
I can relate. A relative owns a mobile home in a nice, over-50 park. The park was just sold to developers. The residents will have a year to move. There's nowhere to move a mobile home to in the area, and the value of their homes (which had been doing very well) has probably plummeted to near zero. Most of these people don't have the income, nor 30 years left, to take out a mortgage on a new place.
 
Our area is overrun by feral chickens. Not much odor as they disperse, but the noise of crowing roosters is a nuisance. Probably not an issue with a chicken house, but not pleasant in our condo when the roosters announce dawn.

I think I'd move in OP's situation - though, here, there are few places WITHOUT chickens. I didn't sign on for this, but there it is. I'm not moving.

Best of luck!
 
My dad lived next to a chicken ranch in... Los Altos CA as a kid! No house under $3MM there today.
 
And of course if you do sell, you'll have to disclose the chicken ranch to the new buyers. Tough situation to be in. I wouldn't want it either.
 
Drake3287 said:
And of course if you do sell, you'll have to disclose the chicken ranch to the new buyers. Tough situation to be in. I wouldn't want it either.
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Why do you have to disclose that? It isn't on your property. Wouldn't it be up them to do due diligence?
 
Fermion said:
Why do you have to disclose that? It isn't on your property. Wouldn't it be up them to do due diligence?
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Depends on local laws/regs. Could be required, I dunno.

I know we were looking at a house near power lines (didn't matter to me, other than any pros/cons of the view), and the realtor brought that up. I assume she was under obligation to mention it, or she wouldn't.

-ERD50
 
Fermion said:
Why do you have to disclose that? It isn't on your property. Wouldn't it be up them to do due diligence?
Click to expand...

This may depend on the state or county laws. When we sold our rental condo earlier this year, one of the standard disclosure forms (which I didn't think was a CA form, but maybe it was) asked about local nuisances including noise and odors. Our agent had already filled in that there is an alley behind the unit with businesses, including a currently vacant restaurant, on the other side. I asked him about it and he said the local agents always put that in writing, even though you can see across the alley from the back windows, so you wouldn't even need to do any due diligence to notice it there.
 
cathy63 said:
This may depend on the state or county laws. When we sold our rental condo earlier this year, one of the standard disclosure forms (which I didn't think was a CA form, but maybe it was) asked about local nuisances including noise and odors. Our agent had already filled in that there is an alley behind the unit with businesses, including a currently vacant restaurant, on the other side. I asked him about it and he said the local agents always put that in writing, even though you can see across the alley from the back windows, so you wouldn't even need to do any due diligence to notice it there.
Click to expand...

I would just put "do not know" on those forms as one person might have different sensitivities to odor than another lol.

Or you could always say you had covid and didn't notice the smell.
 
Chicken house isn't in operation yet so there are no odors to disclose at this time. Another reason to be one of the first to sell and move on.
 
Fermion said:
Just some facts here.

Each house holds about 25,000 chickens. The floor gets covered in about 3 inches of poop, which they dozer out and feed to cows. Imagine all of that on a nice 90 degree summer day.

Oh, and also about 20 to 30 chickens die each day in each house. They sometimes manage to find them.
Click to expand...



I did not know that chicken bedding gets fed to some cows. That's grossing me out.

To OP. The situation sucks. I think I would move. I've got one annoying rooster at the neighbors 150 yards away and no smell from half a dozen chickens, but a large operation...that's something else.
 
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