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Kaleva

(38,384 posts)
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 07:51 PM Jan 2024

Town Board voted to allow me to have chickens

The vote was 5-0 in favour.

I've been going to every monthly town board meeting since February and have also attended several planning commission meetings. It all came to fruition earlier this week.

I'm allowed up to 4 hens.

I have up till October 31 to get the coop built and once that is done, a 1 year trial period will begin. No one else will be permitted to have chickens until the trial period is over. If there isn't any significant issues, then others will be allowed to apply.

It's quite possible I'd still have chickens but no one else could. I'd have to screw up bad to lose my permit

24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Town Board voted to allow me to have chickens (Original Post) Kaleva Jan 2024 OP
Clucky you!! True Dough Jan 2024 #1
Congrats! Now, where are my eggs? Hermit-The-Prog Jan 2024 #2
🐣🫶🏽🐣 blm Jan 2024 #3
Fabulous! We've had them for many years cilla4progress Jan 2024 #4
congrats! Kali Jan 2024 #5
My boys live in town and have chickens Seinan Sensei Jan 2024 #6
i just live in town. accross from me they have chickens. they say hens are quieter than rosters . not. esp when one lays AllaN01Bear Jan 2024 #24
Eggsellent! discntnt_irny_srcsm Jan 2024 #7
You must be very eggcited... surfered Jan 2024 #8
I'm torn between wanting to travel and wanting chickens. Phoenix61 Jan 2024 #9
My town legalized chickens over 20 years ago. They are not an issue. flashman13 Jan 2024 #10
Just so long as your neighbors don't mind the non-stop PoindexterOglethorpe Jan 2024 #11
My neighbor just kept hens Warpy Jan 2024 #14
The nearest neighbor's home is 120' away Kaleva Jan 2024 #19
Glad you were made an exception. ancianita Jan 2024 #12
I was the one who did all the work Kaleva Jan 2024 #16
Cool. ancianita Jan 2024 #20
Screw up: keeping roosters Warpy Jan 2024 #13
I plan on feeding the chickens just enough for the day Kaleva Jan 2024 #18
Don't forget to bury the fencing Warpy Jan 2024 #21
I plan on burying it at least a foot down Kaleva Jan 2024 #22
In our town anyone who wants to have chickens just needs to get their neighbors to agree to it. progressoid Jan 2024 #15
2 of my neighbors are very much against it. Kaleva Jan 2024 #17
Sorry to hear that. progressoid Jan 2024 #23

cilla4progress

(25,968 posts)
4. Fabulous! We've had them for many years
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 07:59 PM
Jan 2024

and gotten so much enjoyment from them.

Congratulations and have fun! 🐔

Kali

(55,829 posts)
5. congrats!
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 08:59 PM
Jan 2024

4 will keep a small household in eggs pretty well with some extra if you don't use them every day. I like to have 8 to 10 so we have enough eggs to give away to friends.

Seinan Sensei

(720 posts)
6. My boys live in town and have chickens
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 09:09 PM
Jan 2024

They are fun to watch. They eat bugs.
In addition to providing eggs.
City ordinance disallows roosters, but allows chickens.

AllaN01Bear

(23,194 posts)
24. i just live in town. accross from me they have chickens. they say hens are quieter than rosters . not. esp when one lays
Thu Jan 25, 2024, 03:36 PM
Jan 2024

an egg can hear them accross the street. i love the sound . look layen look layen . hehe. lucky you. had a duck that ate snails and bugs . missed her. good eggs too also.

Phoenix61

(17,704 posts)
9. I'm torn between wanting to travel and wanting chickens.
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 09:26 PM
Jan 2024

I soooo want a Silkie. The Dr Seuss version of a chicken.

flashman13

(859 posts)
10. My town legalized chickens over 20 years ago. They are not an issue.
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 09:28 PM
Jan 2024

Coops are all over the place. You just can't have noisy roosters.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(26,771 posts)
11. Just so long as your neighbors don't mind the non-stop
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 09:33 PM
Jan 2024

clucking and early morning crowing of the roosters.

Speaking as someone who has exactly that neighbor.

Warpy

(113,131 posts)
14. My neighbor just kept hens
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 10:02 PM
Jan 2024

and the clucking was minor and the squawking when an egg was coming out wasn't too annoying. Someone a block over had a rooster and my neighbor's hens would try to crow back at him.

Yes, chickens are fun to watch, even when they're not your own.

ancianita

(38,771 posts)
12. Glad you were made an exception.
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 09:33 PM
Jan 2024


fyi, a standing City of Chicago ordinance still says it's legal to have chickens on their property. Who knew!

Kaleva

(38,384 posts)
16. I was the one who did all the work
Sun Jan 7, 2024, 01:33 PM
Jan 2024

Not one other person , except for my wife who went to one meeting, who said chickens ought to be allowed or that they wanted to have some themselves made it to a single meeting in the past 11 months.

As for my wife, I told her to stay away when it got personal and people were yelling at me.

ancianita

(38,771 posts)
20. Cool.
Sun Jan 7, 2024, 01:44 PM
Jan 2024

Sorry you had to go through all that.

That's the thing about "trying something new."
People always seem to want to make it about the person and not the idea. I can't stand how good ideas are diminished by others' distrust of the person presenting them. It's a level of ignorance that most people can't even see they're stuck in.

Warpy

(113,131 posts)
13. Screw up: keeping roosters
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 09:51 PM
Jan 2024

Roosters are great in the country, especially when the hens are really, really free range. Predators show up, from hawks to foxes, the roosters kicu up a fuss, the hens flap their way up to some low enough tree branches, and the rooster follows them. He serves a function besides keeping them happy and the eggs fertilized, he keeps them safe.

In towns and cities, not so. A lot of people will complain bitterly that the little bastards wake them up between 4 and 5 AM every day--again, great if you're a farmer with cows that need milking. If you're an accountant or work second shift, not so much.

So stick to laying hens who will produce infertile eggs. They're remarkably inoffensive, especially if you keep the area tidy and spilled feed doesn't start drawing rodents.

(My gran kept roosters in the city. No one who had ever tasted what she turned them into for a Sunday dinner ever objected)

Kaleva

(38,384 posts)
18. I plan on feeding the chickens just enough for the day
Sun Jan 7, 2024, 01:39 PM
Jan 2024

The feed will be kept in a metal trash can with a tight lid

The fencing will be 1/4" 19 gauge hardware cloth and the run will have a roof.

Warpy

(113,131 posts)
21. Don't forget to bury the fencing
Sun Jan 7, 2024, 06:23 PM
Jan 2024

to discourage critters that dig under fences to get at their chicken dinners.

One of my neighbors years ago didn't put a roof on her chicken run, with obvious results. I loved to see the ladies pecking in my yard, I'd open the gate to the veg garden and they'd all run in. I never had to deal with hormorms or potato bugs and I had few cabbate loopers. Plus, they provided a side dressing of chicken shit for the plants. Win-win with happy chickens.

Kaleva

(38,384 posts)
22. I plan on burying it at least a foot down
Sun Jan 7, 2024, 06:26 PM
Jan 2024

And also have another 12 inches on the outside just below the surface perpendicular to the upright fence.

progressoid

(50,769 posts)
15. In our town anyone who wants to have chickens just needs to get their neighbors to agree to it.
Sat Jan 6, 2024, 10:52 PM
Jan 2024

We agreed, as did the other neighbors, so a high school girl across the street got a few chickens. She kept them for 3 or 4 years. No bother at all. We didn't even notice.

progressoid

(50,769 posts)
23. Sorry to hear that.
Sun Jan 7, 2024, 08:30 PM
Jan 2024

A couple weeks ago, I happened to be in another part of town when I saw 4 really pretty chickens nonchalantly walking around a neighborhood. I was about to take a picture when a postal carrier who was delivering mail showed up. She told me the person they belong to was on her route and she would let them know that their chickens had gotten out. It was all very cordial.

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