Egg laying chickens and septic tank, septic field....

Question

I'm looking at buying "the perfect home", only thing is has a septic tank on a raised bed leach field (?).

I want to eventually keep a few backyard chickens for egg laying purposes. Is the yard safe for chickens? Would it be safe to eat the eggs?

The yard is 60x200 and the leach field is approx 40x100

Answer 1

It would be 'perfectly' safe for the chickens. Perfectly safe to eat the eggs. A properly installed septic field should be safe for children to play on. A septic field should be kept covered in grasses and trees should not be allowed to grow there. A raised bed system is one of the better ones except in extreme high altitude. They tend to freeze in the right exposures. A raised bed is better because it has a higher rate of atmospheric transpiration. If it is sized properly for the house it does not rely on putting all of the water into the ground but in the air. If I was a buyer of  the home I would look into just why it is a raised bed though. Is it a 'repair' system and this was the only way it could be redone? Is the water table extremely high or the ground extremely impermeable?  Is the system a pumped system relying on filtering media. There is always a reason and I just would want to know why and see the engineering for it. Even being a 'perfect' house can turn into a nightmare with having problems with the septic. I hope I am not being too negative but buy it informed and secure in your knowledge. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

  Ron G knows his p**p ,no pun intended  lol

Answer 3

I've got a raised bed leach field, because the hardpan is pretty close to the surface around here, and the raised bed is pretty common here. As Ron says, if the field is working as it should, there will be no sewage water coming out of the ground around the septic field. Just have it inspected by someone qualified specifically for septic fields before you buy so you know how it's working. If it needs work, use that as a bargaining tool.

Answer 4

As long as there is no standing water