EGGSTRA: Aurora’s urban farmers hope to see hen limit go higher

AURORA | North Aurora resident Rebecca Stark knows one thing: six chickens are better than four.

“Four chickens are a good number for an introductory level, but for a lot of people, four chickens just don’t provide enough eggs” she said as she watched her Sicilian Buttercup Gina Lollochickada pick apart a pile of hay in her backyard. Stark has named three of her four hens after 1950s bombshell actresses. 

“I get three eggs a day with my four chickens, and it averages out to somewhere between 20 to 24 a week, depending upon production,” she said. “Most people I know who keep chickens in Aurora say it would be lovely if we could go up to six.”

It’s been over a year since backyard-chicken advocates filled council chambers to help pass a measure that finally allowed residents to have up to four backyard chickens with a city permit after decades of banning the practice.  Now Stark is part of a growing coalition of chicken owners who say they’re ready for the city to increase the number of backyard hens a resident can maintain.

“I’ve had no issues at all. In fact neighbors will bring the kids over to meet the chicken,” she said of her experience so far as a backyard chicken owner.

The measure to allow more hens is being considered by the city’s Housing, Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment policy committee. In June the committee met to discuss increasing the number of chickens in residential areas to six, and allowing people in residential areas that are also zoned for agricultural use to have up to eight hens.

Bob LeGare, a committee member who approved the measure to allow four backyard chickens, said it might still be too early to allow more.

“This ordinance has not been in place that long,” he said. “One and a half years is not a groundswell to double the number.”

A total of 151 permits for keeping chickens have been approved since the city started issuing permits, said Cheryl Conway, a spokeswoman for the city’s Animal Care division. She said out of the permits issued, the city has received 57 complaints.

Of those complaints, Jenee Shipman said that 35 were noise complaints about roosters.

She added that Animal Care will only visit a coop if the city receives a complaint about it.

Councilwoman Sally Mounier, chair of the committee, who worked with a local advocacy group to craft the ordinance to allow backyard chickens in Aurora, said the fact that the city has received so few complaints and has had no major issues with the birds means it’s a good time to increase the number.

“The chicken owners have proven themselves to be extremely responsible citizens and neighbors,” she said.

The revisions to the chicken ordinance would still require coops to be located at least 15 feet from the neighboring property line, which means 15 feet from a neighbor’s fence in most cases. If a coop is closer than that, residents would need written permission from neighbors. Renters would also still need to get permission from property owners as part of the ordinance. Permits would still only be awarded to people living in single-family residences. 

To obtain a permit, residents would also still be required to provide a drawing with dimensions of the chicken coop as well as dimensions for an adjacent outdoor enclosure, and how far both will be from fence lines with their applications. LeGare said the issue will come back to the Housing committee in the fall when city council receives more data on how well the current ordinance has been working.