I don't know anything about the business but I understand where your coming from 100%. My husband and I are feeling the same way and are in the process of trying to start a horse farm. Good Luck and never give up.

The real question is whether you want to work for yourself or somebody else? Signing a contract with one of the ag giants might provide financial stability . . . but then you owe your soul to the company store. They can/will tell you how to raise, what to feed, where to buy and how much to sell for; not my cup of tea.

Of course many people make a fine living with such an arrangement, but you need to determine why you want to farm. Money vs. lifestyle (or some happy medium).

My best advice it to talk with some current and former contract growers. Find out both sides of the story and make up your own mind. Good luck.

In addition to what Huckle already said, the ag giants tend to keep their contract growers at subsistence-level income; no one ever got rich signing with them, but plenty have gone broke. It takes considerable business skill, not just animal husbandry skills, to make this work.

Futhermore, neighbors may object to your building project - it very much depends on where you live and plan to operate this business.

What you consider wide open spaces and no close neighbors might not be viewed the same way by other residents ten miles away, or by next-door neighbors whose land appears to be vacant for the moment.

I think I can safely say no one wants to live on or own land directly downwind from a commercial chicken factory because the property value will immediately fall, vacant or not. An entire county may object to such enterprises simply because individual property owners don't want these operations getting a foot in the door, opening up the possibility of having such a thing in their own back yards.

That happened here, with a corporate hog operation. It took a couple years in court, but the community at large successfully killed it and any future ideas of building such a thing. The man who tried to do it was a long-established and well-liked conventional cattleman whose friends and neighbors turned on him the instant they found out what he was up to. There are some commercial chicken houses a few miles away too, but they can be smelled a mile away sometimes when you drive by, and it's a certainty the empty land next to them will have to stay that way for as long as those houses exist.

Unless you plan to own a lot of land in an area already known to welcome commercial chicken houses, you may be in for a fight with other property owners determined to stop you. They know you have private property rights, but they have them too, and corporate hog and chicken houses are no more welcome in some rural areas than toxic waste dumps.

Look at this Real Estate site. www.dpol.com Choose maryland public access and search for farms. Last time I looked there were at least a half dozen chicken operations for sale here in the Delmarva(Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) area.

Also if you do get serious, come to the eastern shore of Maryland and talk to some of the farmers, they will be happy to talk to you about the different producers here like Purdue, Allen Farms and Tyson.

Cheers,
Dean

Here is a link that might be useful: Coastal Realty MRIS

DPallas is right on the mark. I have lived on egg production, but it is best as only part of a wider range of enterprises. It has invariably been profitable, but never to excess, and I would prefer to have an operation in conjunction with some arable (even market garden scale) and grass land. You will probably find less hassle from officialdom and neighbours if egg production, and other poultry, are not the sole use of a property. Old McDonald.

Young guy was doing our electrical the other day. Said he was going to buy the chicken farm from his parents. Figured 10 million dollars over the next ?25 years would just about do it.
Or was it 25 million over 10 yrs.

The poultry processers here help the farmer get started. Sounds good!!! Yea right. Then they tell them that this has to be up-dated and that needs to up-dated and the poor farmer never gets out of debt to the big chicken processer. The farmer makes a living but most chicken farmers here in Mississippi also have cattle or some other job away from home or the wife works outside the home.

I (personally) would not sign up with any corporation because as Huckle said you'll owe your soul to the company store.

The reason I know about this is that I have friends and relatives that are into raising chickens for processing and some of them have egg farms and they have told how the large companies do. In fact, I have a cousin that sold his egg farm and bought a convenience store. LOL!!!!

Hate to be discouraging, just check with several different farmers in several different states or areas before making a decision.

I agree with the others about what they said regarding people not wanting a chicken farm near their residence. My sister was planning to put three or four houses behind where I live. Thank goodness, a person has to have 40 acres in order to build a chicken farm. They had 37 acres. :0) ! I would have been terrible to walk out my back door and all I could smell would have been chicken POOP!!!!

I wish you the best with whatever you decide.

Jan

We have just begun raising "pastured poultry" for meat and hope to expand our project into something much larger in the spring. We started 5 weeks ago with 51 day old Cornish X's. We had them in a brooder in the garage for two weeks until they completely outgrew their little space. We then put them outdoors in a hoophouse that my husband built with pvc pipes with rebar going through the hoops. He made closeable flaps on all sides and doors in the front and back.

We have electric mesh fence for their yard which is moved as needed so they always have fresh grass and bugs. We can't believe how easy and fun this whole adventure is. We feed the chickens organic feed and they have had absolutely no antibiotics. They are healthy and extremely active. (We were led to believe this strain was very lethargic and wouldn't forage and also were very prone to disease and leg problems.) Ha! NOT ONE PROBLEM.

Now, of course we have to do a good job of marketing them. I can see decent income from this venture in the future. We don't plan to raise them for a corporation or to sell them on the wholesale level. I am convinced that enough people want good clean food that we should be able to market organic chickens in the spring. (The current 51 will be eaten by us and our family and friends.)

Roberta, Care to give us some costings? What is your estimated profit margin on these 51? Quote "...I can see decent income from this venture..." How many a year do you need to raise to clear $1,000? How many thousand dollars a year is "a decent income"?

Where is your market? Never ever raise any livestock for sale unless you already have a market.

Please accept these questions in the right spirit. I am not trying to knock your dreams, but I have a very long history of farming experiences around the world, and whilst most ventures can be profitable if well managed - particularly the first few crops of anything (mushrooms and chickens being the best examples of the first crop being the most profitable) there is no single enterprise that produces a liveable income on a smallish scale. The quality of life is second to none, particularly if you move around the world a wee bit, but income is usually rather scarce if you are not handed down an already paid for farm. Old McDonald.

I started 15 Cornish Rocks in late feb. It was pretty cold. Most have died over a period of 5 weeks. I was down to 5. Several of them had the extended leg characteristic of the hybrid. Legs turning purple.

The other day a notice on one that obviously had been growing slower than the rest dark spots on his hind quarter. Appeared like peck marks. The bird was very weak so went ahead and butchered him. In process I noticed the meat in the areas that were dark or purple appeared rotten or granular. I obviously disposed of the bird.

What would be potential causes of this. I have never seen rotten meat in a live bird. Worms and insects were not visible.

Should this be a concern for the remaining flock that appears healthy?