Roselle officials consider backyard chicken coops

Roselle officials are weighing whether to allow residents to keep up to five egg-laying hens - but not roosters - in their backyards.

Several village trustees have indicated they're generally in favor of the concept. The board is considering a range of possible restrictions to help smooth any ruffled feathers, but no final decision has been made.

The backyard chicken trend has taken off in many suburbs as families seek a steady supply of humanely raised fresh eggs. Hobbyists say raising your own chickens is healthier for the environment.

A growing list of towns have legalized backyard chickens, including Batavia, Bensenville, Downers Grove, Bartlett, Des Plaines, Grayslake, Lombard, Highland Park and Wheeling.

In Roselle, nearly a dozen residents spoke in support of backyard chicken coops during a recent public hearing, and four spoke against. Planning and zoning commissioners also were split on a proposal to amend municipal code to permit backyard chicken keeping.

If chickens were allowed, the commission recommended that the village prohibit roosters and selling eggs; require chicken owners pay a $50 annual registration fee; limit backyard chickens to fenced yards and the size of the coop and run to 120 square feet.

The commission also recommended that coops be located in the rear yard, no taller than 15 feet and set back at least 30 feet from a neighboring primary dwelling, among other conditions.

The board discussed how to regulate backyard chickens at the Oct. 23 meeting, but two trustees were absent. Officials expect the issue will be scheduled for further discussion later in November.

"I'm not against this chicken coop idea," Trustee Wayne Domke said. "There's been a lot of positive feedback about it being a good thing for kids to see and all that."

According to the village attorney, Roselle has the right under current non-home rule authority to require properties with chickens to register with the village and pay a fee. Domke supported the idea of annual registration.

"Then you can go and see if the conditions are still the way they're supposed to be," Domke said.

Trustee Dena Forsythe, however, said a yearly fee "was not necessary."

Some critics have expressed concerns that backyard chickens would attract predators.

"Chickens are easy and attractive prey for skunks," resident Carlo Chirchirillo wrote in a message to the Roselle planning and zoning commission last month. "Skunks dig holes to get under coops and wreak havoc on poultry that cannot defend themselves. Even if a coop is skunk proof, the smell and existence of chickens invite skunks to resident homes where they become a nuisance when they spray and make their dens under porches and decks."

Ordinances could come up for adoption on a village board agenda by the end of the year, though no date has been set yet.