Site Selection Factors for new Poultry Facilities (2024)

Today, poultry farmers must be aware of concerns related to (1) environmental issues like water quality, odors and flies, litter applications on fields and high soil phosphorous levels; (2) nearby neighbors and public areas like churches, parks and businesses; and (3) laws and regulations that affect farming operations.

Future poultry farmers must place greateremphasis on farmstead planning than has been donein the past. Considerations in site selection forbuildings must include utilities, roads, topography,prevailing winds, existing buildings, neighbors,public areas, setbacks, and state and federalgovernment laws and regulations.

Neighbors – The location of nearby homesshould be the number one consideration whenevaluating potential locations for poultry facilities.Good neighbors can quickly become enemies if thebuilding site is too close to nearby homes. Somepoultry companies require prospective poultryfarmers to discuss building plans with their neighborsbefore construction starts. Even if discussions withneighbors are not required, this practice isrecommended. Reaction from neighbors may forcealternate sites to be chosen.

Setbacks – How far should poultry houses be setback from residences, property lines, public areas,public roads, streams, wells, sinkholes and flood plains?

Currently, Tennessee does not have any laws or regulations that govern setbacks for agricultural building sites. However, most poultry industry companies have self-imposed setback guidelines that need to be considered. These guidelines will help reduce problems associated with odors, dust, feathers, noise and water quality.

Topography – Whether the site is level, gentlyrolling or hilly will determine the amount of gradework that must be done to get a level area for thebuildings. Grade work can add substantially to thetotal construction cost. Avoid low-lying areas nearstreams with flooding potential. Preferably, thetopography will allow the long axis of the poultryhouse to be located in an east-west direction. Thishelps to minimize the amount of direct sunlight thatwould enter through the sidewalls of the houses.Storm Water – Adequate drainage for stormwater control must be considered because of the largeamount of roof area. Storm water runoff should notbe allowed to create erosion problems around thehouses. Grass-covered water run-off ditches will helpreduce potential erosion problems. The immediatearea outside the buildings must have sufficient slopeto keep runoff water out of the buildings.

Prevailing Wind – Prevailing wind directionmust be considered when wind currents flow fromthe chicken house toward any residence. Odors frompoultry houses must be given adequate time anddistance to dissipate before reaching a residence.The distance from the poultry house location to anyresidence would need to be greater if prevailingwinds were toward the residence. Since poultrycompanies require mechanical ventilation in allpoultry houses; locating the poultry house to takeadvantage of prevailing wind direction for naturalventilation is no longer important.

Wind Shed – Wind shed is a term which describeswind flow pattern on the downside of an existingbuilding (Figure 1). To help minimize complaints byneighbors, strong consideration must be given to keepnearby homes out of the windshed area.

Utilities – Some questions about utilities must beanswered to help determine building site location. Iselectricity readily available or will the local electricutility run new lines at a reasonable cost? Is wateravailable from wells or a municipal water system orboth? It is important to have a backup water system.Is the quality and quantity of the well water suitablefor a poultry operation? Is propane and/or natural gasavailable at competitive prices?

Roads – The condition of public roads must beadequate to allow feed trucks, chick- deliveryvehicles and live-haul trucks access to the buildingsduring all times of the year. Are there any weightlimits or bridges that would restrict access to thefarm? How much will it cost to construct an accessroad from the public road to the buildings? Can theheavily loaded trucks travel easily on the access roadin all types of weather?

Future Expansion – Does the potential buildingsite allow the possibility for further expansion? Oftena poultry farmer will start with two houses and wantto build an additional two houses at a later time.

Other Buildings – The building site needs tohave adequate land area available for otherbuildings, such as dead-bird composting and litterstorage. These buildings should be out of publicview if possible. The buildings need to be locatedclose enough to the production facilities tominimize travel time, but far enough away to reducepossible disease transmission. A distance of about100 feet is a reasonable compromise.

Litter Utilization – Is there sufficient landavailable on the farm to properly utilize the litter asfertilizer, or will some of the litter be moved offsite?Approximately 300 tons of litter will be produced eachyear on a 50,000-bird capacity broiler farm. A nutrientmanagement plan will help determine if adequate landarea is available for litter utilization. If not, plans mustbe made to remove excess litter offsite.

Proper siting of new poultry facilities isextremely important. Problems can result if facilitiesare built in unfavorable locations. The best time tohandle potential problems is BEFORE they occur.Proper planning will help prevent environmentalproblems from occurring, and will save time, moneyand headaches in the long run.

Source: Agricultural Extension Service, University of Tennessee - September 2005