I was told once by a mutual friend that one of our buddies cleared right at $100,000 per year per house, and he has 4 houses. This guy was not wealthy to begin with, worked at the local army depot and bailed hay on the side, which grew to having a small "farm", then he borrowed just over one million dollars to build 4 chicken houses, and how they have 550 acres owned, lots of cattle, a big ol' house on the hill overlooking the place, a few other leases around the county for hay and cattle, drives a $70K GMC 3/4 ton, wife has newish Yukon, and they live really well. Supposedly about to build 4 more houses.

Crap, I'm just happy to insure the place!

Correct, very few look to be in use.

I can tell you the Farm Credit lenders are gung-ho trying to lend money for chicken farms.

A four house farm won't gross anywhere close to 400K, let alone net that.

This guy still isn't wealthy. He's in debt up to his eyeballs and everything he "owns" is dependent on each flock of birds.

May net 25 to 30k per house per year if beats feed conversion and all other classing.

I have several family members in the chicken industry in N. Alabama. I grew up across the road from my Aunt and Uncles chicken farm and spent many hours back in the day picking up eggs, dead chickens, taking out chitty slats and cleaning the chit out of the houses, mowing around the houses, working on feed bins, etc, etc…..It’s more than a full time job. It’s 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you ain’t got chickens, you’re busy getting ready to get them. If you don’t hire help then that’ll be all you ever do.

A lot of people get into the poultry industry thinking they can spend an hour per day in their houses, or hire somebody to look after them and get rich. Typically these folks don't last very long and bitch about how bad the poultry industry is. They are usually the ones you see in town eating breakfast and lunch everyday, and are everywhere but on the farm.

Those who go into it and are willing to work their houses like they should, and produce good chickens, do well. Just like any other business it takes hard work to be successful. These guys typically run cows and row crop also.

One thing people don't realize is that all growers are competing against each other for the price they receive with birds that sell within a week of each other. So the hard working guys who keep up with technology tend to do the best. The producer wants the grower to do well and is why they set guidelines and requirements, but some growers refuse to see it that way and just think they want them to spend their money.


I spent a lot of time in the industry, and know folks who work hard at it, pay their loans off in a very agressive manner, expand their farm if they want, and do well. I also know others who got in and got out very quickly with othing good to say about it.

I will add that most of the empty houses you see in this part of the world were let go by their owners to the point that they simply could not compete with the guys who constantly upgrade their houses, or the new house guys, and simply quit. Their contract may not have been renewed but it didn't come as a suprise to them.

I certainly don't know, so I'll defer to those who do, but all I can say is I don't know any poor chicken farmers! They all seem to have fine land, houses, and toys.

Free range is the way to go....

Farm Credit will stretch terms out to 20 years. Thats too long to build equity in the farm that can be used for upgrades when they are required in 5 years. But, that's the term that is needed to cash flow the poultry house construction and purchase the land. One bad flock and you may be underwater. The guy that owns the land/home is a step ahead. Poultry farmers can make a good living if they will work/maintain the farm themselves and live within their means.