Keep chickens out of suburbs

Reading about families keeping chickens and roosters in suburban backyards brought back very bad memories. Several years ago, we were living in an unincorporated area near Lombard, and I was enduring a period of insomnia. Just as the spring weather got warm enough to have windows open at night, a rooster started crowing loudly every morning around 4:30 a.m. for a good half-hour. It was more than I could take, and I called the zoning department. Thankfully, our area was not zoned for farm animals, and the chickens and roosters were removed.

The city and suburban towns are no place for farm animals. We live too close to one another and keep greatly varied schedules. Not many people want to be awakened every morning at 4:30. Chicken coops are unsightly, and keeping chickens will lure wild animals into residential areas.

I was surprised to learn that St. Charles allows this, and certainly hope that other communities do not rescind the bans on farm animals that are in place for good reasons.

Christine Essenburg

Sugar Grove