Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Chicken Farm

Does any one know of any real negitive impact to having Broiler houses or chicken houses in the water shed of a lake or pond? Could this mess up the water balance too much?

Yes, big potential negative...nutrient overload....excess algae....insufficient Oxy..fish kills...all are possible. I have a cattle operation that is in my drainage plain and have to watch for those things constantly...chickens are worse because of concentration of nutrients.

Yes it could depending on how many chickens and the distance from the pond. Chicken manure is extremely high in nitrogen. If there aren't that many chickens and there is enough of a buffer to absorb the waste before reaching your pond it probably will be ok. The high nitrogen can and will burn existing vegetation and you could be left with large bare spots that will be prone to erosion. if the waste makes it to the pond I see an uncontrollable problem with alge and other aquatic vegetation. Water quality will suffer.

Don't rush to judgement though. The farmer may be required to do things to keep nutrient runoff to a minimum or none at all. At least in the aquacuulture business they are on us like stink on a skunk.

However if there are excess nutrients heading for your pond you should have people you can talk to and resolve it.

The high nitrogen content will keep filementous algae from dominating. The nutrient load, size of your pond and the flushing rate all make a difference. If you are worried about it I would get a sechi disk and begin to monitor and record your water clarity. This could give you evidence for filling a complaint.

There is a HUGE potential for water (and other) contamination problems from a large chicken operation (I hate to refer to anything as big and industrialized as a major chicken business a "farm").

One of the largest chicken laying operations in the country is located a half a county away from me. At one time they had over 20 million chickens - due to penalties from numerous EPA violations their size has been reduced down to something like 10 million.

This many chickens produce a very large amount of chickens*** (Okay, manure). There have been several instances of large fishkills in the streams in that corner of the county from "accidentally" dumping of dozens of tons of manure into streams as well as from the runoff from storage areas. The proper procedure is for all the manure to be spread on corn, bean, etc fields, but this isn't supposed to be done when there is snow cover. Not being able to spread because of the weather is one of many causes of large manure buldups(work stoppage, equipment problems, etc.) It's hard to handle that much manure and find places to put it all, but if anything in the manure-handling process causes a stoppage the chickens keep right on putting it out. Even if handled correctly, the fields involved get a lot of nutrients put on them as frequently as possible.

I am sure it is possible to handle huge numbers of chickens better than the way it has been done near me, and hopefully nowhere near this many chickens will be involved near you, but the potential for lots of problems exists. That, and the smell.

On the plus side, the number of flies within a couple of miles can be unbelieveable. One of those bug-zap feeders like Ted Lea has could work overtime and provide beau coup protein for your fish.

Thanks Guys this was a big help....I gues I will re-think going into the Chicken farming business.
Thanks again..

Theo, you got me laugh'n out loud on the buglite part of your post. May have to make a heavy duty model on 440 volt for anyone within 2 miles of a bird operation. (Always opportunity I guess)Ted

Hey you could call it the Supa Fly Model 440 bro!