Property with small commercial chicken house - Useful?

[Bellyman]

As many of you know, I'm looking for a place to set up a homestead. But I don't have a lot of $$.

I saw something show up on a realtor's website yesterday. It's 16 acres. A 400 ft chicken house stretches across the front with about 5 acres open just behind and the rest in woods on back with a small creek running through the back of the woods.

The chicken house appears to be in pretty good shape and has some feeding and watering equipment there.

I wasn't wanting to go into the chicken business. I might want a few dozen hens but nothing on the scale that building has likely seen.

One thing that building does very well , though, is make the land behind it very private. I like that. But what to do with a 400 ft chicken house??

Trying to decide if it's worth going a little farther.

Any thoughts?

[Kasota]

There are all sorts of things you can do with a big building like that. Some would depend on the location. Up north here there are people to pay someone to be able to store their boat or camper indoors over the winter. Is there a house on the property? I've seen horse and dairy barns converted into homes. You could convert part of it to living space and still have room for attached shops. You could one beautiful wood shop there and build things, if you are so inclined. That's even large enough to build sheds that you could sell. Lots of space to store goods if you want to flip items and sell them on Ebay or through other venues. Small engine repair shop?

[Alice In TX/MO]

I'd LOVE to have that for a barn.

What I would park in it:
1962 Willys truck
1948 Willys Overland

1991 Toyota Previa
1992 Toyota Previa

Toyota Tundra

Three lawn mowers

Yanmar tractor
bushhog, sickle bar cutter, and hay rake
stock trailer

I'd build a workshop and tool room in part of it.

Bathroom in one corner, complete with shower.

Goat housing, milk house, feed storage, etc.

Hay barn.

Where is it? Close by? I'll move.

[Bellyman]

It's in TN. Doesn't look like much from the road. Will probably never have road appeal as it stands.

Definitely room for a serious wood shop. And lots of storage.

Hope to have a look this weekend.

Thanks for the input!

[rambler]

Often the door size, ceiling height, general access, and so on of those buildings don't allow one to really make good use of them.

I would not pay much extra for it.

But, in a homesteading situation, they offer a whole lot of storage, a roof to work under, as you say water and critter space already there, etc.

So e get rented out for storage, a growing business in town might want to store extra pipe, metal, etc in the building, basically a warehouse.

Some rent out spots for boat storage.

Stuff like that.

Just make sure you look carefully at the door size, and how critters are tough on buildings, are the poles still good....

Paul

[Freya]

My only question is if it's surrounded by other chicken houses/farms in that area?

[Callieslamb]

Take 1/2 of it down and sell it to someone else needing a barn or storage

It might make a great greenhouse with some refurbishing. Place to store hay and feed.
Rabbits
Hydroponic operation

Basically it's a big building that you can use for anything

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by Freya

My only question is if it's surrounded by other chicken houses/farms in that area?

Surrounded, no. But there is another long building to the south of it that I see on a satellite photo. Definitely something I noticed. I'm waiting to hear from the realtor... She's a friend... So I wouldn't worry much about her not telling me stuff. She's just that way, which I like.

[billinwv]

See if the county taxes this building. Ours doesn't for ag use, other uses are taxed.

[johng]

I have a friend that had two chicken houses and a contract with one of the big chicken folks Tyson I think. Well they did not renew the contracts one year and he was left holding the bag so to speak. So he started raising Bobwhite quail to sell to hunting preserves. He's now doing better raising the quail than he was with the chickens.

But, as others have said you will never regret having extra covered space on a homestead. Most people never have enough covered space. The only limit would be your imagination.

[big rockpile]

Always Loved Large buildings. Had an Old Slave Barn where they would keep Slaves and Milked Cows below. I used it for loafing area for Cattle. Iron Cells were unused space but could have been storage. Up above I filled half with Hay, the other half had Combine and Haying Equipment in. Nice until some kids decided to set it on fire

big rockpile

[TnAndy]

Local gal here bought a property with one, turned it into horse stalls, and rents them out for 150mo/horse. That is just space....feed or anything else is extra.

[Bellyman]

Good input! And thanks everyone.

From what I can see of the pictures, it's a pretty nice building, not all ratty and falling down like a few I've seen in other places.

The realtor said she's gonna get back to me with particulars. I do want to know about the water, sewer and electric situation as I can't imagine a chicken house not having at least electric and water. I also want to know a little something about the land around it and whether it could have been contaminated in some way by the operation previous. The place has no other buildings that I'm aware of, just the chicken house. I suspect it was part of a the operation to the south of it but am not sure. It's possible that business dried up and this is what's being sold off. (? speculation on my part) There aren't a lot of close farms, and I do like that. Actually, there don't appear to be any close neighbors. It's pretty rural, also something I like.

Hoping maybe to do a drive-by at a minimum this weekend. If we like what we see, maybe we'll get our realtor friend to meet us over there and show us around. We'll see.

There are definitely possibilities... greenhouse, woodworking shop, automotive shop, maybe a section of it could be chicken house where they could be penned up at night but have access to outside. (I would only consider free range.) Maybe some of it could even be converted into living space. It is 16,000 square feet under roof so there are definitely possibilities. (At one time, I had a piano rebuilding shop. I enjoyed the work and it might fit in nicely. Who knows, even a refinishing area... would work out well for any furniture building I'd get into as well... Oh, and there's always the potential for a walk in refrigerator for those veggies going to market the next day. Yes, definitely possibilities! I'm sure I could think of a few more.

Proximity to the other long building to the south (and across a road) does make me pause to consider what might be going on there. I did live to the east of about 6 chicken houses in Mississippi for a while. And when the wind was right, it was pretty nasty. So I'm trying not to get too carried away just yet. I don't really know, it might not even be actively used for any livestock. Gotta find out.

It's definitely different from what most would be looking at as a "pretty" homestead like you'd see on a post card. But hey, I've seen a few examples of people doing some really neat things with old buildings like schools and churches that were converted into private homes. So why not?

Just have to see how this one plays out. Again, thanks for the input! I've appreciated reading all of your responses.

[haunted]

I would not live in it. There are too many potential health problems. Many people who work with commercial chickens develop staph infections. The staph gets in their bloodstream. Also respiratory problems. I know I could not clean one out enough to feel comfortable living in one. No matter how it's finished out on the inside, the dust from chickens past will still seep into the living quarters.
I would guess the house needed a lot of upgrades in order to keep the contract and the owner decided it wasn't cost effective to do them. There were some in my area that lost the contract because they could not, would not do the upgrade. One of the houses was converted into an equipment shed on one end, goat barn on the other. I don't know how they kept the goats from developing coccidiosis, but apparently they did. Most around here have been torn down and the materials either reused or sold.

[FarmboyBill]

How wide is it?
How tall are the side walls?
How tall to the peak?

Answer those questions, and maybe I can get a better idea of what to do with it.

[Spamela]

Originally Posted by haunted

I would not live in it. There are too many potential health problems. Many people who work with commercial chickens develop staph infections. The staph gets in their bloodstream. Also respiratory problems. I know I could not clean one out enough to feel comfortable living in one. No matter how it's finished out on the inside, the dust from chickens past will still seep into the living quarters.
I would guess the house needed a lot of upgrades in order to keep the contract and the owner decided it wasn't cost effective to do them. There were some in my area that lost the contract because they could not, would not do the upgrade. One of the houses was converted into an equipment shed on one end, goat barn on the other. I don't know how they kept the goats from developing coccidiosis, but apparently they did. Most around here have been torn down and the materials either reused or sold.

Because coccidia is host specific. There are many different types coccidia that infect goats, cattle, humans but they can't survive in another species. It is an old wives tale that chickens give coccidia to other livestock.

Just an FYI lol

[Dixie Bee Acres]

If that area would support the business end of it, it could make a nice indoor shooting and archery range.

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

How wide is it?
How tall are the side walls?
How tall to the peak?

Answer those questions, and maybe I can get a better idea of what to do with it.

It's 40 X 400, don't know about the other dimensions yet. Hopefully, this weekend.

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by haunted

I would not live in it. There are too many potential health problems. Many people who work with commercial chickens develop staph infections. The staph gets in their bloodstream. Also respiratory problems. I know I could not clean one out enough to feel comfortable living in one. No matter how it's finished out on the inside, the dust from chickens past will still seep into the living quarters.
I would guess the house needed a lot of upgrades in order to keep the contract and the owner decided it wasn't cost effective to do them. There were some in my area that lost the contract because they could not, would not do the upgrade. One of the houses was converted into an equipment shed on one end, goat barn on the other. I don't know how they kept the goats from developing coccidiosis, but apparently they did. Most around here have been torn down and the materials either reused or sold.

This is one area that I don't know a whole lot about, what pathogens and things of that nature could continue to exist long after the chickens are gone. Does there come a point at which nature takes care of those kinds of things? Months? Years? Or ever?

I hadn't really thought a lot about living in it. But I had thought of a workshop where I might spend some time. Hmmm. The biological end of things is important, as are potential health risks. I'm hoping to learn more about the details of what kind of operation was actually going on there.

Interestingly, a lot of the feeders and waterers are still there, at least in the pictures.

Thanks for the input!

[sassafras manor]

We bought an old hog barn at an auction and moved it over the course of 4 weekends to our farm 25 miles away. We set tall stubs in concrete and saddles the existing posts on to the stubs to give the barn a bit more height. Maybe sell off part of it and keep the other half for yourself then have a local artist paint a mural of a cornfield on the side so it doesn't stick out so much?