We just bought 10 acres near a Tyson Chicken Farm in the Lake of the Ozark area of Missouri. Does anyone live near one of these? They seem to be everywhere in southern Mo, so I figured someone here would know.

My questions are...Is there much noise or smell with them? If so how much. The traffic to them won't be a problem for us as our place is on the "other" side and not between them and the highway.

Also we are up hill from them with a creek bottom between us so it should not bother our well. Thanks

-- Lynette (fear_the_bear@webtv.net), January 05, 2002

Answers

the city of Tulsa Okla and some smaller governments in ne okla are suing tyson for water pollution. tyson has been dumping raw "stuff" into a creek/river and polluting the hell out of everything. it's the same-o same-o battle for the almighty dollar.

tyson has been asked and asked and warned and warned repeatedly over and over and over again to stop this and they never have. i hope they lose badly in court.

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), January 05, 2002.

Lynette,

I'm guessing the smell will be the worst problem. Did you check out your new place in the summer to see if it is down-wind? I've seen homes that were quite close, maybe you don't notice the smell after a while? There are two commercial houses of laying hens a couple miles from us. We have learned just how long to hold our breath while driving by in the summer. You say you are uphill, so that should help. Think about planting some quick growing trees or lots of honeysuckle on a fence between your place and the chickens.

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), January 05, 2002.

Chicken farm no. Turkey farm yes. Dose it smell? Dose a bear poop in the woods?

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), January 05, 2002.

i guess you will get used to the smell after a while, chicken houses stink to high heaven, makes me sick to drive past them in the summer when its hot....gags you to death and the windows up and ac on is no help..good luck

-- paul a coleman (wormfarmerone@yahoo.com), January 05, 2002.

No, we did not get to check out that particular lot during the summer, as we lived out of state. But we were in the area as late as May of last year and did not smell anything.

I asked the realtor about it..(and if you can believe realtors) he said he is around there alot in the summer and never smelled anything except 1 time...they had employee problems and had a big die-off.

There are other houses in the same proximity, and have lived there for several years.

The chicken farm is pretty much due west...so hopefully the south wind will help in the summer if there is any smell.

It seems like while looking for property these farms are more abundant than any other type in this area of Mo. You can't go out on the highway with out seeing 18 wheelers hauling either chickens or empty cages.

When I was a kid my grandparents had a laying hen operation with 4 houses. I never remember them smelling and they were really close to neighbors.

-- Lynette (fear_the_bear@webtv.net), January 05, 2002.

I live opposite a Sunkist chicken farm. There is the main road and a big field separating us, so I would say they are within 1/2 mile to a 1 mile of us. If the wind is blowing the wrong way you can really smell them but most days you wouldn't even know they are there. I've lived at my house for 9 years now. I don't consider it a problem.

-- Anita in NC (anitaholton@mindspring.com), January 05, 2002.

Yep, they have a plant here in Texas in my town. Nope, I'm not near it.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), January 05, 2002.

I have 26 within 3 miles of my house, and I say forget the smell, there is none. BUT Look out for flies! We can not stay out outside during the summer. The flies come from the dead birds that are not properly buried! ddt

-- ddt (troubled@ftci.net), January 05, 2002.

I live in N.E. Oklahoma and within 1/2 mile from chicken houses that are to the north of me. Most times I smell nothing directly from the houses but when it comes time for them to clean out the houses they will take the crap to a nearby field and spread it throughout the field and that will take your breath away for a week or two. Someone mentioned that Tyson was dumping the stuff into the creeks and rivers is not exactly true. The farmers and ranchers are spreading the stuff on pasture land and the rain is washing the stuff down into the small creeks in the area and the creeks empty into the larger rivers and lakes causing an overabundant supply of phosphate and nitrates which is depleating the oxygen supply and killing the marine life and creating a bad smell and taste in the tulsa, okla. water supply.

I had to go and do some electrical work in a fertilizer plant in southwest city, Mo. This plant makes fertilizer out of human waste that is shipped in from big cities. It is cooked and has other material added to it and then bagged up and put on the market. People buy this stuff and put it on the gardens. ( I don't know if people know just what this stuff is that they are putting on their roses.) My thoughts is why can't Tyson build a plant that will take in all the chicken crap it produces and do the same thing with it. I would rather be placing chicken crap on my tomatoes than human crap.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), January 05, 2002.

Good luck with your new place, Lynette, I hope it all works out for you.

We have family in the Springdale, AR area, and drive past a few chicken farms whenever we are over there. If it is warm and the wind is right, they are pretty powerful. I don't know about Tyson's legal problems, but I do know they are a lot more regulated than they used to be, so perhaps you will be in luck there.

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), January 05, 2002.

Lynette, First off welcome to the Ozarks . sure is pretty here huh . I too live in this area and although we dont have any (boss hog ) farms close by . I did in our previous residencs and smell was not a issue there . Drop me a e-mail if ya like mayby I can help with somthing local if ya like . You can also veiw our webpage if ya like . The site is http://www.geocities.com/sugarmountain . and happy homesteading !

-- Lee (sgrmtndrone@yahoo.com), January 06, 2002.

Usually there are state and federal regulations concerning the environment that make them clean out their houses on certain schedules....and sometimes they smell worse during or right after that cleaning process....

My son's little homestead is really near three major chicken houses (but not Tyson I don't think) and he hasn't seemed to really been bothered by the smell...

I think a lot of it is in your mental attitude too...

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), January 06, 2002.

We have a Tyson broiler farm with four broiler houses. We have close neighbors and they say smell is no problem for them. I don't know what you mean by "noise". There are trucks in and out to bring feed or pick up the chickens but that is certainly not an every day event. They do "smell" a little near the houses mostly because they must be vented and anywhere you have animals you will have some odor. As for pollution; maybe someone should check things out a little closer before they accuse. Tyson is regulated and regulates themselves and growers closly. A few years ago a study by the EPA showed that Tulsa itself dumped more heavy metals and phosphorus from sewage that Tyson was responsible for. Tyson does not dump anything and they have a system that cleans their water before its returned to the river. That process is closly monitered by the EPA also. As for the phosphorus..that comes from the litter used on pastures as fertilizer which they also moniter to make sure it doesn't reach undesirable levels. These days the soil is checked on a regular basis most places. Tyson employees a lot of people, feeds a lot of people, and tries to do their part for the environment so maybe we should remember that. There are a lot of people who don't grow their own chickens that don't even think about where those chickens come from but would sure miss them if they weren't in those super markets anymore. Hope you enjoy your new home and are good neighbors yourselves. Eve Lyn

-- Eve Lyn (evelynv@valuelinx.net), January 06, 2002.

I mean Tulsa itself dumped more heavy metals THAN Tyson was responsible for.

-- Eve Lyn (evelynv@valuelinx.net), January 06, 2002.

Thanks for all the info...looks like it depends a lot on how they are handled.

I am not a N.I.M.B.Y (not in my back yard) person, I think everyone should be able to do what ever on the land that you own. But I was curious about the smell..if I need to take that into account on where to put the house. And the noise from the venatlation fans.

After reading everything here...I don't think it will be that big of a problem, except maybe when they clean out the houses.

The realtor told us that various farmers around the area spred the manure on their fields and that, that stinks...as I am aware.

This place we found seems perfect in all aspects but perhaps this one and I wanted some imput from people that had some experience with them.

Thanks again.

-- Lynette (fear_the_bear@webtv.net), January 06, 2002.

I agree with eve about everybody missing chicken if it wasn't in our supermarket. But I believe I could live longer without chicken than I could without good water.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), January 08, 2002.

Kind of beyond me why anyone would want to want to live in the country and then live next to one of those unnatural stinking places. Of course thats just my opinion.

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), January 08, 2002.

We live about a quarter of a mile from a small broiler operation. It stinks when they clean out the barns but not too badly. It does attrack a lot of ravens which bother some of the neighbours. We find the ventilation system (REALLY big fans) noisy in the hot weather and they go all night destroying what little peace you have.

-- Kathy (homefarmbc@pacificcoast.net), January 10, 2002.

I hear the meat packers in Wi won't eat hot dogs. Maybe you could make a living selling organic chicken to anyone connected with the chicken places.

-- Bob (robertblessum@netscape.com), January 12, 2002.

I ate Tyson chicken once years ago & it was awful - tough & the coating tasted of pepper & nothing else. I think people need their taste buds educated with real chicken, then Tyson & all of their ilk would go broke.

But then, maybe not. My daughter has a friend who really likes McDonald's hamburgers & fries. Some people may never learn.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), January 15, 2002.