Powell Mesa Chicken Farm

Dust/dander/moisture/manure being emitted by an ill placed 15,000 hen laying operation in the middle of rural residential Delta County, Colo. less than 900 feet from residences. Calculations of the tonnage of debris released is well over 1 ton per day. There are 11 fans on this 50X400 foot building. You are seeing only 3 of the fans on the South side.

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  News & Politics

[horsemaker1]

The calculations are based on what the applicants said they will clean out at the end of this cycle (between 175-200 tons) and what several poultry experts stated in articles submitted in the record. One of these poultry experts was the number one poultry manure expert from the University of Georgia. I believe their was another poultry article from Ohio State. You can get online and find charts almost anywhere to verify manure production from laying hens.

[Jaime P]

do the fans produce this 24 / 7? Or is this due to daily cleaning??

[horsemaker1]

They don't clean this daily. It is supposed to build up and at the end of the 14 month laying cycle, they depopulate then take a skid steer in to push the manure out the end of the building where it will be loaded to go????? This is temperature controlled so when the day gets hotter, more fans come on to cool the birds.....it is worse on the hot days although I have seen much come out even on a cooler day wondering if it has something to do with movement of the birds.

[Hotchkiss Cheryl]

I cannot believe the Delta County Commissioners allowed this in a residential community. Although a chicken farm might be technically agriculture, just the noise of these three fans is overwhelming, let alone 11 fans! Unbelievable the noise and pollution faced by the neighbors.

[Jaime P]

I'm confused. You said it releases "1 ton per day", but the applicants report 200 tons per every 14 month cycle. Your figures can't be correct. If you divide 200 by a 14 month cycle, you come up with a very small amount of debris being released on a daily basis.

[Jaime P]

Where did you get your calculations?