Ideas on what to do with commercial chicken houses
 

We raise commercial chickens for a large well known company (hint: starts with T) and it is very likely we will not renew our contract with them due to being fed up with their BS and them wanting to keep us in debt. We then would be faced with the prospect of having (4) 500x40ft houses not earning us money. We are brainstorming what we could use them for. We have been contemplating raising quail--that seems to be getting more popular around here.

If you had these chicken houses what would you do with them? Ideas? I know you guys are very resourceful and will help us come up with something.

Depending on the Area. You might get to do Storage of Equiptment. Big bucks.

Our friend did the chicken farm thing long time ago, he turned his chicken house into a cow dairy!
We live in a chicken farm area, many sell their properties with business in tact to get out from under it. And there are people that are looking for chicken business properties for sale.

Quails or rabits or any other thing that needs housing. You can grow dairy cows ofpring. It only depnends on how hard you realy want to work.

How about raising chickens, but not for T.

Check out this article.

You're ahead of the game already.

http://www.farmanddairy.com/1editori...-token.subpub=

I've been to a flea market that was once a chicken farm. They just cleaned up (somewhat) and laid out stall spaces and set up trestle tables.

.....Alan.

Earth worms I'll see if I can find the link. Fertalizer from worm excriment and worms to local fishin suppliers.

It seems like I have heard people talking about "The Pigeon King" on here before? Is this the one that is basically the pyramid scheme. You buy expensive ones and sell all the babies back to "The Pigeon King". Could be good for a while, but I don't know about something that you continue to sell back to the same person you buy from???

This is very interesting...

Here's the company link www.thepigeonflyer.com

I smell a rat here, though. Why would anyone want to raise pigeons? It reminds me of the alpaca deal several years ago. The company site didn't give any real info on what they are actually doing with the birds. I bet they "sell" you a high priced pair and get you going only to end up with worthless PIGEONS!!?? They pay $25 per bird??? Yeah right. Mike Tyson paid $50,000 for one pigeon?

ETA: I didn't see your post before I posted ebook

Well, I suppose Farm and Dairy could have not done their homework on it... '

That said... I've never bought or sold pigeons, but my uncle raised them (independently) and its a big dollar deal if you find the right buyers. There are a lot of pigeon racers out there.

Like anything... you have to research it.

Turkey operation?? there are 2 on my road and they do quite well.

Raise fish......aquaponics!

Is there a company that is local that is a buyer/processor or they independent? We don't have any turkey farms around here.

Before anyone gets into this one, you might want to check this out:

http://www.discovervancouver.com/for...OPIC_ID=196925

We have 2 old turkey sheds next to us, about the same size. The neighbor raises beefers in one. Has pens along the sides with an alley down the middle for feeding. Knocked out some of the sidewalls so they have access to a small pasture area. Easy to keep them grouped by age/weight.
The other one he uses to store his round bales and some machinery in.

I guess I would say that Farm and Dairy did try to do their homework, but they said that the Pigeon King wouldn't release any financial details or much of anything else. It does sound like it is working for the company, but would a wall come? I guess I don't know...

I'd bet that Georges would offer you a contract in a heart beat. Georges being the number one competitor for "T". Their chicken houses are popping up all over Arkansas. Maybe you could negotiate a non-BS contract with them.

You could also try doing a chicken operation where you wholesale organic to health food stores and food coops. It is always better to stick with what you know and have experience doing instead of trying something that is unfamiliar to you.

JMHO.

donsgal

diversify the 4 buildings into different integrated units for supplying markets for the following.
one building for growing mushrooms. don't need light for that like a greenhouse.
one building for propogating earthworms under rabbit bins (thus both rabbits, too)
one building for propagating quail as you mentioned is a good idea
one building with sectioned off breeding areas for heritage turkeys. sell the hatching eggs and/or keep hatching them for chicks that sell for a premium

that's a great idea...all of the major suppliers tend to sell out before the season ends

Yeah, I really don't know, I just read about it and Farm and Dairy is pretty legit...

Like I said, I don't/wouldn't invest in anything without research.

In this particular instance it seems that the only investments needed would be breeding stock though. Who knows how much that is?

I would bet that you could contact those folks down there who are doing it and ask them.

yeah, I read that.

Then I did a little research on "crimebustersnow".

You can help them out by donating $25.00 according to their homepage... LOL.

I guess everyone has an angle.

lol, check this out about the "crimebustersnow" guy: http://injusticebusters.com/2003/Thornton_David.htm He is writing it about himself.

This is too convoluted to follow...

mink, black mink have averaqged $54 USD each over the last 25 years. They raise em in Yexas, so why not where u are?

mink, black mink have averaqged $54 USD each over the last 25 years. They raise em in Texas, so why not where u are?

Store hay.

Just reading that article made my radar go up. How many times can you say easy money? Most folks don't advertise that unless they are also selling some....

And although Mike Tyson is not known for his intellect, $50,000?

could you modify your operation to do organic or "hormone free" chickens? I would call the animal specialist in your states Extension system. They usually know about things that are going on in your area. In VA and NC there are several processing facilities built with grant money for people who are doing alternative meat production.

their contracts are through windham farms. both these families do very well with the turkeys

I agree with RH - raise fish. You could get quite a few pools in buildings that large. There is a huge market for non imported (lead free) fish - and every day that we get tainted imports of all types of goods the demand goes up.

My 2 cents,
Anne
CGR

There is so much you can do with the buildings - depending on how close you are to a bigger town/city. Is there a need for a storage facility? Are there any industrial plants or factories around you? Can you start a kind of consignment store with furniture and stuff like that? One guy here did that and is a huge success. He also started a greenhouse in another building.... He's so far off the beaten path and you'd have to get lost to find him - but people drive for miles to get there! Dirt road and all! Amazing....

As for raising chickens in them - could you free range and use the buildings for coops? The thought of something that spends weeks walking around in it's own crap doesn't appeal to me! Growing mushrooms is tough to do - it's very precise and technical as for the temperature, type of dirt etc,etc, etc.

There's a shortage of bobwhite, they're on the endangered list here....and you're not that far away from me......

There's a demand for herbs and stuff.... But again - it depends where you are, and what you want to do, how hard you want to work, etc. Koi are a big priced item too.... I've thought about raising them but I am so far away from any big city that it doesn't seem feasible........

Good luck with your decisions - can you get out of the contract easily without a financial penalty? How does that work? Are the buildings paid for?

i have a fried who changed his to greenhouses he tore off the roofing and uses plastic like in the hoophouses.
He is slowly changing them over to the hard plastic corrugated stuff that is clear.
He grows heirloom tomatoes in them.
Hes thinking of getting a certified kitchen so he can sell salsa and other tomato related products.

Could you elaborate a bit on the "BS keeping you in debt" aspect of your T contract.

I've heard locals that thought about raising chickens, looked into it, jumped in, made a 'fortune', expanded to three or four houses, then "poo" hit, either bad weather, disease, price fall, whatever...... then they lost their 'fortune', and ended up in debt, and worked at slave wages (a few dollars an hour) to pay off the infrastructure debt. The wife would end up doing most of the regular work, and hubbie would have to take an outside job.

The old chicken houses around here end up being junk barns, or hay barns, if the person had enough pasture for cattle.

Goats....

We have had these houses 15 years. (They were built by my dh before we got married).

It is always something with T. They were built as tunnel houses per T's instructions (lots of 0's), not too long into it T said we had to convert to regular non-tunnel houses (again lots of 0's).

They made us buy a de-caker (anyone who doesn't buy one won't get chickens)--6 months after we get the 15,000 decaker we aren't allowed to use it. There is upteen examples like this I could give you.

We finally get out of debt and they want us to convert them back to tunnels (they won't work as well as how we have them now) (they have given us a deadline of Jan. '09)--last estimate--it is going to cost us over 100,000 for this conversion. They are ALWAYS wanting us to change, buy stuff that we don't need. They really do want to keep us and all growers in debt.

T is the only producer in our area--we do what they say or "we won't bring you chickens".

The thing with the converting--there are new chicken houses being built that are all computerized costing more than 250,000 each (almost twice what one like ours cost). We can see in the future them wanting us to convert again to these newer type houses.

If they would just quit this mess we would do well. Dh loves growing chickens--he can't see doing anything else. We grow out almost 3/4 million chickens a year. It is a good business--we just don't trust T enough to sink so much money into something that won't work as well and their whim pass- only to move onto something else we will have to do or buy. It is neverending and we are getting tired of these expensive hoops we have to jump through.

Dh thinks they are bluffing--he can't see all the growers complying. We are going to call their bluff and we may end up losing. They said they will not renew our contract if we don't convert.

I'm sure those with experience have already thought of this, but what about egg production? If not what would be the downside?

[QUOTE=TennesseeMama23]We have had these houses 15 years. (They were built by my dh before we got married). .....



.....The thing with the converting--there are new chicken houses being built that are all computerized costing more than 250,000 each (almost twice what one like ours cost). We can see in the future them wanting us to convert again to these newer type houses.

QUOTE]

If your houses are 15 years old they are obsolete and probably won't make enough money. If you want to stay in the chicken business you might consider new chicken houses.

Can you still raise chickens, but only organic?

Is there no money to be made by selling to T?

Would like to hear the good and bad about the chicken biz.

Clove

What exactly do you think is obsolete about them? There are houses around here that are more than 50 years old. As long as the operating equipment inside working well you can raise chickens. This conversion T wants isn't some new technology that is going to improve our houses or make more money for us or them.

As for the new computerized ones--I haven't ever seen one and there are none in our area. I just figure that will be what will eventually be required. As for making money chickens grown in regular chicken houses are worth the same as one grown in houses that run by computer. Also, they have even said a new house won't even pay for itself--you need an old type house (already paid for) in addition to pay for building a new one.

We can't sell to T if we aren't contracted--they own the chickens, we grow
them.

I saw one operation that raised crawfish in tanks inside a building. Low expense and great profits.