Kane County may ban roosters

It might take a village to raise a chicken, but you need at least five acres to raise a rooster.

The Kane County Board’s Development Committee directed county staff to create an ordinance that restricts the ability of local residents to own and keep roosters on their property.

Several local municipalities allow residents to raise chickens on their property. St. Charles allows it. So does Chicago. And Batavia just made it legal last month, but banned the ownership of roosters in the process. Kane County’s potential law would only apply to the unincorporated areas of the county.

The onus for the potential law comes from a series of complaints committee Chairman Mike Kenyon received from a constituent who has a neighbor with a chicken coop 104 feet away from her home.

“She doesn’t object to the chickens; she just doesn’t like the noise,” Kenyon said. “She can’t sleep because the roosters are always out crowing. Roosters, all they do is eat and make noise.”

The details of the pending law are yet to be determined. But committee members already made it clear they aren’t interested in targeting the law at legitimate farms. Staff said an appropriate target would be a rooster ban from all properties of five acres or less. Committee member Drew Frasz said the committee should target properties of sizes where rooster crows would be most bothersome.

“In my opinion, three acres or less would be reasonable,” Frasz said.

County staff will craft a proposed law for the committee to review next month.