Chicken Questions:
Why did the chicken cross the road in Omro? To avoid a conditional use permit. In order to provide an
ordinance on allowing chickens in the city limits, we need the Planning Commission to answer the
following questions.
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Interested in pursuing an ordinance allowing chickens in the city limits?
Should we hold a public hearing?
Which zones?
How many chickens? Different number in different zones? Or based on acreage?
Other fowl or agricultural animals? Turkeys, ducks, geese, potbellied pigs, pigeons, others?
Who handles complaints?
Who assures they are permitted? Fees?
State and county health codes?
Who determines if it is unsanitary conditions? Definition?
Distance from neighbors? Schools? Churches? Businesses?
Building permit requirements? Accessory Structure? Open vs. closed coops? Runs? Allowed
out of coop? (Keeps them quieter in morning.)
Odor? Cleaning? How often? Proper poultry waste disposal?
Removal of coop not in use?
Rodents?
Communicable Diseases?
Quarantine?
Annual inspections?
Noise at night? Enforceable?
To butcher or not to butcher?
Breeding, selling live chicks?
Sell eggs?
Too hot or too cold or too wet a concern? Neighbors will complain about lack of space, lack of
water, temperature, smell, look of chicken coop/run, loose chickens.
Insect control?
Loose chickens fine?
Neighbor permission? Neighborhood permission? 100%? New neighbor concerns?
Covenants?
Hearing? Conditional use?
Penalties?
Jason A. Reeves motioned and Rod Brusius seconded to direct staff to work on an ordinance allowing
chickens to be kept in the city and bring back before the council for consideration as presented. RESULT:
APPROVED [4 TO 2] MOVER: Jason A. Reeves, Alderman District 1 SECONDER: Rod Brusius, Alderman
District 1 AYES: Rod Brusius, Jason A. Reeves, Ken Cady, Gordon Garvens NAYS: Steve Jungwirth, Larry R
Wright Motion carried by [4 to 2] vote.
Fort Collins requires each hen to have two square feet of space. The proposed change would bump
that up to four square feet per chicken. So while chickens themselves have not been a problem so
far, the precedent set by allowing them in the city has had a ripple effect.
"I would caution that this will lead to opening the door to other agricultural livestock," Porter said.
"Now, we're looking at goats within city limits — potbelly pigs. But chickens are a non-issue."
Sioux Falls does require that uneaten food is removed on a daily basis and feed stored outdoors
needs to be kept in a closed, weather-resistant container.
Chickens are expensive to care for.
Pastured eggs are so expensive at the store, you think you'll save money by raising them yourself.
Indeed, hatchery chicks cost only a few bucks apiece, and they'll eat just about any food you give
them. But there are other costs. "Chickens attract flies, bird mites and lice, mice, yard birds,
squirrels, raccoons, dogs, coyotes, fox, mink, opossum, rats, owls, bobcats, hawks, snakes,
weasels, ferrets, fishers, martens, and vandals," says Britton Clouse. Also, a vet visit for a sick bird
starts at $50, assuming the vet even knows how to handle chickens.
Setting up a coop with maintenance, tools, cleaning equipment, heating and cooling appliances,
dishes, nets, food storage, a scale, fencing, security locks, lighting, motion detectors, monitors,
cameras, and a city permit to make sure the whole thing is legal costs about $5,000. Food, bedding,
supplements, utilities, and vet care cost about $300 more per bird, Britton Clouse says.
In a previous post, urban homesteader Jennifer Reese, author of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter,
estimated that after all of her chicken-keeping costs, she's spending $2.12 per pastured egg. You
could save on some of these costs, of course, by treating your chickens cruelly. Sadly, Britton
Clouse has seen chickens kept in freezing conditions, with missing toes from frostbite, or kept in tiny
coops no better than the battery cages.
Hens don't lay forever.
Humans have bred chickens to be egg machines. Wild hens produce a few clutches of eggs yearly
to replenish the flock, but starting at about six months, domesticated hens lay an egg daily. After
about 18 months, egg production slows down, and eventually stops.
That's when Chicken Run Rescue or Farm Sanctuary typically gets a call, or when the homesteader
kills the hen. Chickens can live for up to 15 years, same as a dog or a cat. Any homesteader serious
about being humane needs to ask herself this: Am I OK with being a retirement home for nonlaying
chickens? The chickens would surely prefer a yes.
How popular is raising backyard chickens?
“It’s not very popular,” said Drew Pennington, director of planning and building services for the city of Beloit, where
an ordinance allowing backyard chickens went into effect in January.
“It’s very popular,” said Sharon Hensen, humane officer for the city of Green Bay, which has been issuing permits for
backyard chickens for two years.
Pennington said he has been surprised by how few people applied for permits to have chicken coops in their yards.
Beloit’s ordinance limited the number of permits to 30 in the first year, but the city has only issued 10 or 11 permits.
Green Bay, on the other hand, has issued more than 50 permits, and Hensen said she expects neighboring suburbs to
follow Green Bay’s lead in allowing backyard chickens.
If Kenosha allowed backyard chickens, it’s hard to say how many people would actually put a coop in the yard. The
Kenosha Backyard Chickens Facebook page has more than 100 “likes,” but some of them could be just spectators.
Hensen and Pennington were in agreement on one thing: There have been very few complaints about backyard
chickens.
“We expected a lot more,” said Pennington. “We fought the ordinance vehemently, but the Council approved it. We’ve
only received a handful of complaints.”
One of the complaints, he said, was because of a rooster, which the ordinance does not allow. Another was because
someone was keeping ducks, not chickens.
Hensen said she has only received two complaints, both of which involved chickens running loose.
Neither Hensen nor Pennington reported complaints about chicken coops smelling bad, which, according to letters to
the paper and my email, is the main fear people have about urban chickens.
The reason for that, I think, is more people are familiar with chicken farms than backyard chickens. Kenosha County
had a chicken farm that actually became famous for its smell. Neighbors complained that the Quality Egg Farm in
Bristol, which had 110,000 hens, was a nuisance that caused them personal discomfort and reduced their property
values.
In 1980 a county judge ordered the egg farm to reduce the odors, but the farm fought the order and the contempt
citations that followed. According to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal in 1983, the dispute prompted the passage
of a right-to-farm law that exempted farms in areas zoned for agriculture from being sued for creating nuisance
conditions.
The egg farm eventually lost its appeals and was forced to close in 1983, all because it smelled bad.
That’s what city folks like me know about egg farms, but egg farms and backyard chicken coops don’t have much in
common. People who want to have chickens in their yard are usually content with four. Some cities allow six or even
eight, but four is the number I see most often.
There is a big difference between four chickens and 110,000 chickens in terms of olfactory impact.
“I haven’t had any complaints on smell,” Hensen said. “People want healthy eggs, so they stay on top of their pens.”
ames Healy
Village Administrator
Village of Richfield
Posted on 04-29-2014
In the Village (generally speaking) 66% of the land uses allow for the
keeping and raising of chickens for personal consumption and enjoyment
as either a Conditional Use Permit or as an accessory use. But, in the
33% where it is not allowed are those areas in platted residential
subdivisions or where the acreage is less than 4ac.
We currently have a small contingent of residents who are interested in
abolishing our zoning restrictions regarding chickens and making them
permitted uses in all the Village's residential properties regardless of
subdivision covenants, lot size, etc.
Does anyone have any positive/negative feedback on these types of
"urban chickening" ordinances that they would be willing to share?
Thank you in advance for any currently adopted ordinances or anecdotal
information about successes or failures your community has
experienced.
JRH
John Olson
Town Administrator
Town of Delavan
Posted on 04-29-2014
Hi James,
Attached is the Walworth County Ordinance allowing chickens in
residential zones and the Town of Delavan Ordinance restricting and not
allowing chickens in residential zones.
Attachments

John Olson
Town Administrator
Town of Delavan
1398804206_22135.doc
Posted on 04-29-2014
Walworth County Ordinance
Attachments

Daniel
Mahoney
Village Administrator
Village of Plover
William L.
1398804320_22136.docx
Posted on 04-29-2014
We had a request to create an ordinance allowing chickens within the
Village last year (a complaint was filed regarding a property owner who
illegally had chickens which led to the ordinance proposal). We held a
public hearing regarding a proposed ordinance. While not many attended
the public hearing, those that did were living next to those who illegally
had chickens. They testified about odors and noise. Based on those
complaints the Village Board did not approve the Ordinance. I would add
that the Village Board also felt pretty strongly that chickens should not
be allowed in an urban setting. Interestingly, Stevens Point, which is
located immediately north of us, has passed an ordinance allowing a
limited number of chickens to be kept on residential property.
Posted on 04-30-2014
Forrest
Owner
Forrest & Associates,
LLC
Gary Rogers,
Jr.
City Administrator
City of Fox Lake, WI
James, you might check ordinances in Appleton and Madison, which I
believe both allow keeping chickens in residential areas.
Posted on 04-30-2014
While in Iowa, the City of Cedar Rapids approved chickens in the
community (urban area over 120,000). I believe they allowed up to 6
birds and no roosters. For a controversial issue - they had no negative
impacts that was reported. The deed restrictions for newer developments
prohibited the land owners from having any kind of farm animal.
The issue is overblown. I also once thought chickens should not be in an
urban area - but they have less impact than a person with a noisy dog or
two. An ordinance that limits the number of birds and prohibits roosters the vocal character, seems to work.
Good Luck.
Scot Simpson
City Administrator
City of River Falls
Posted on 05-01-2014
I recommend planning the passage of your multi-million dollar CIP or
budget on the same night you review the chicken ordinance. You can
count on a large group of "peep"le showing up for the public hearing.
Although in the case of River Falls, they all left right after the Council
voted against allowing chickens.
We have a draft ordinance allowing up to 4 birds, no roosters, etc...
James Healy
Village Administrator
Village of Richfield
Posted on 05-02-2014
Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for the wealth of information! This whole week I've
been pretty 'cooped up' reviewing area ordinances so your insights have
all been 'Eggcellent'. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day!
JRH
Jim
Victoria
Henschel
Assistant
Administrator
Village of Bellevue
Posted on 05-06-2014
Jim~
You might want to contact the City of Wauwatosa. They have an
ordinance regarding the keeping of chickens in residential areas.
Linda:
We have not had complaints, but it’s more likely because we have had only a couple of applicants. Our
ordinance contained a provision that required residents to get the sign off from all of their adjoining
neighbors. I can’t say for sure that this has resulted in people not applying for the permits, but we
aren’t getting them. Some people theorize that residents have gone “underground” with their
chickens. With that said, if people have gone “underground,” I am not aware of complaints about
illegally housed chickens without a permit.
Hope this helps.
Mark
Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager
City of Oshkosh