Ruffled feathers: Group seeks to allow chickens in DeKalb backyards

Sean Koester didn’t know much about chickens before he moved out to a farm in rural Waterman that had a chicken coop.

“The coop was existing on the property when I bought it, so I thought, ‘Why not give it a try?’” Koester said. “So I watched some YouTube videos and read some books and now have a flock of chickens.”

Koester has about five chickens and plans to purchase more in the spring. He sells eggs and chickens to passersby or to people through Facebook.

“I give them fresh water every day, feed them a pellet mix of grain and clean their coop at least once a week,” Koester said. “Their waste goes into my compost and I use it in the garden. Keeping chickens is fairly easy and not too much work.”

Koester lives in rural DeKalb County, where owning backyard chickens is legal. However, if he lived six miles north in the city of DeKalb or four miles south in the village of Waterman, his chickens would be prohibited.

A group of concerned citizens has formed the group Backyard Chickens DeKalb and are drafting an ordinance to change DeKalb city code to allow chickens. Locally, backyard chickens are prohibited in Sycamore, Cortland, Malta and Waterman, but are allowed in Genoa and Shabbona. Aurora, Naperville, Downers Grove, St. Charles, Batavia and Chicago also allow backyard chickens.

The current city code lists chickens under prohibited animals.

Matt Anderson and his wife Brittany Schaefer of DeKalb helped form the Backyard Chickens DeKalb group. Half a year ago, when they bought a house in DeKalb, they started a garden. They said they were then “unpleasantly surprised” to discover that they could not raise chickens in the city limits of DeKalb.

“For us, it’s a matter of freedom and having a choice,” Anderson said. “We want to know where our food comes from. When you buy eggs from a store, you don’t know how the chickens are cared for or what antibiotics they’re given. I want to know that the chickens are not kept in tiny cages and are treated humanely.”

The founders of Backyard Chickens DeKalb held a meeting Feb. 19 at the DeKalb Public Library to discuss the proposed ordinance.

The draft distributed at the library event states that the proposed ordinance is for a three-year trial period, with a maximum of 20 licenses available for individual households and eight licenses for establishments, such as churches. Annual licenses would cost a proposed fee of $25. Members of DeKalb’s Citizens' Environmental Commission “will be responsible for the monitoring and recording the practices of the initial license-holders per adherence to the requirements of the ordinance.”

According to the proposal, prior to the initial license being granted, applicants must notify the adjacent landowners of the intent to raise chickens and a city enforcement officer would inspect the coop. Only two to six hens would be allowed and no roosters.

On Sept. 6, 2018, the drafted ordinance change to approve backyard chickens in DeKalb was passed by DeKalb’s CEC, but the matter has not been brought to the City Council.

William Oleckno, a member of the CEC for 10 years and professor emeritus in public health at Northern Illinois University, was the only commission member to vote against the ordinance.

He also voted against a similar ordinance drawn up in 2011. At that time, the CEC discussed the idea but did not support it. In 2011, the topic was brought forth to the DeKalb City Council, was discussed, rejected and was not formally voted on.

Oleckno said allowing chickens in the city of DeKalb has very little upside but considerable drawbacks.

"Since DeKalb is committed to protecting the health, safety and welfare of its residents, it seems that allowing a practice that could seriously jeopardize community health and safety, such as disease transmission, increased predator attraction, infestations with rodents, as well as chicken health, safety and welfare, due to predators, improper care or neglect, abandonment, etc., without significant benefits that sufficiently offset these risks would be a very foolish idea,” Oleckno said.

“Each community needs to do their own due diligence in deciding on this issue. For me personally, I favor facts over opinions and assumptions,” he said.

Dave Lehman of DeKalb also has concerns about allowing the raising of urban chickens.

“I’m not a fan of thinking of having chickens as my new neighbors and all the issues and problems they’d bring with them,” Lehman said. “There’s a distinction between living in the city and the country, and my initial reaction is of dismay. Chickens are different from cats and dogs, they are not pets. They are a part of production agriculture and a food source.”

University of Illinois Extension Poultry Specialist Ken Koelkebeck said that if people interested in owning chickens know what they’re doing, there are very few concerns. However, he does recommend thorough research before deciding to house chickens in your backyard and that proper rules and regulations must be in place.

“Hens make little to no sound, they do defecate, but not any more than two or three dogs, if you clean coops regularly, there is not much smell, and if you wash hands before and after feeding, cleaning or handling chickens and use disposable gloves, there will unlikely be any concerns,” Koelkebeck said.

“I think it all boils down to common sense," he said. "It all depends on the community, their preferences and the rules and regulations they want to go by.”

Backyard Chickens DeKalb’s next steps for the proposed ordinance include collecting signatures of people who support the freedom to have backyard chickens. The group will then approach the DeKalb City Council, which has the final vote about the ordinance and changing the city code. The group can get the council’s initial thoughts and decide to either have the ordinance voted on or not.

Concerned citizens looking for more information about the proposed ordinance can contact their alderman, the City of DeKalb at 815-748-2000 or the Backyard Chickens DeKalb group at www.facebook.com/dekalbchickens.