Standing near a bright red chicken coop in unincorporated Cook County near Lansing, Adam Barker collected a fresh egg and cleaned it while four chickens walked around the 8-by-4 foot coop.
Barker, who lives in Lansing, keeps his chicken coop on a friend’s property because the village does not allow chicken coops on residential properties. Since last year, Barker has been working to change that.
In backyard chicken coops, Barker said the chickens stay inside the coop the whole time, unless they slip out when the door opens. If they do slip out, Barker said, they are easy to catch and put back inside.
The eggs that chicken lay in a home setting are thought to be healthier and chickens provide fertilizer for gardens and compost, Barker said. Chickens are also fun and educational for young children, he said.
“There’s at least four or five reasons that we’re suggesting are great reasons to allow chickens,” Barker said. “We’re pretty convinced that there are basically no good reasons not to. It seems like a clear cut case that has been made, but that’s not the feedback we received.”
A year ago, Barker asked the Lansing Village Board to allow chicken coops on residential property. But the board unanimously approved an ordinance Sept. 6 that states wild animals, including chickens, are not allowed.
While some residents want backyard chicken coops, there are also residents who spoke out against them, said village administrator Dan Podgorski.
“I think the overriding issue was just that Lansing is a suburban community not a rural community. I think everybody just feels like chickens are best left in more of a rural setting than a suburban setting,” Podgorski said.
Barker said last year he gave board members a petition signed by 170 people, the majority from Lansing, who supported chicken coops on residential property.
He said in February, Podgorski went with him to Highland, Indiana to visit a backyard chicken coop. Barker said he felt optimistic chicken coops would be approved so he bought a chicken coop with four chickens.
Barker said during village meetings, concerns were raised about the noise and smell, but he said the main argument was that Lansing is a suburban community.
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While that is true, he said backyard chicken coops would allow people to be sustainable by having fresh eggs and feeding chickens food scraps.
Barker said he’s not requesting roosters, which can be loud, only hens or female chickens. Hens don’t make noise louder than human conversation or the bark of a dog, he said.
He said research into other south suburban ordinances that allow chicken coops and found there aren’t many complaints.
In Tinley Park, ordinances state live poultry can’t be kept within 75 feet of a school or church, or within 75 feet of another residence or public street. The ordinance states chickens have to be held within a coop and only four female chickens are allowed, no roosters.
Assistant village manager Hannah Lipman said Tinley Park has had 20 complaints since 2017, most pertaining to people building coops without a permit.
In Homewood, the personal poultry ordinance requires chickens are kept within the coop overnight and within a closed area during the day. The coop, which has to be in a backyard, has to be 24 square feet in area, 6 feet tall and elevated 1 foot off the ground.
Homewood executive assistant Nancy Adams said there has only been one complaint since the ordinance went into effect, and that was against a resident who had a rooster, which isn’t allowed.
The Homewood ordinance states a chicken coop must be 3 feet from the lot line and at least 30 feet from neighboring homes. It also must be 10 feet from the owner’s home and 5 feet from other structures.
Residents have to receive a permit to build a chicken coop and since the ordinance went into effect in 2014 the village has issued 36 permits, said Homewood spokeswoman Antonia Urbanski.
In Deerfield, the village implemented a 1-year pilot program in 2011 and has allowed backyard chicken coops since, said assistant village manager Andrew Lichterman. There have been no complaints since the program started, he said.
After talking to Deerfield officials, Barker said he would like Lansing officials to consider following the same approach of instituting a pilot program to see how owning backyard chickens would look.
Mayor Patty Eidam said in an email all village trustees have told her or Podgorski they don’t want to amend the ordinance “nor are they in favor of opening a discussion on any sort of pilot program from chicken keeping.”
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Lansing resident Roger Brooks said he grew up on a farm and that he’d like his children to experience growing up around a few chickens. After attending the meetings, Brooks said it’s clear village officials aren’t interested in talking about the issue.
“What’s irritating me to this point is that this won’t go forward. What we’re hearing in the back channels is, well the mayor doesn’t like it,” Brook said. “I get that, but at least come back to us and say here are the well thought out reasons why this is not a good idea to allow it.”
There has been little discussion and feedback from the village during meetings, Barker said. He said he wants to hear village trustees explain why they oppose backyard chicken coops.
“This has been the biggest disappointment of the whole process, bigger than the disappointment of not being able to have chickens has been the complete lack of real discussion or dialogue around the issue,” he said.
Barker said he kept his coop in Highland, Indiana thinking he’d be able to move them to his home by the end of the year. Now he’s moved them closer to a friend’s house outside village limits.
Given the trustees’ vote, Podgorski said the conversation is closed.
“They’ve entertained the topic. They’ve discussed it and they voted on it. I’m not sure what else there is for them to do,” Podgorski said.
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