Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat.
Ten-year-old Sully Coburn wishes Belleville residents could keep chickens in their backyards so they can have fresh eggs without having to spend money at the grocery store.
And Sully’s mom, Megan McCarron, wants to carry on the family tradition established by her great-grandfather who founded a poultry association in St. Clair County.
“It’s in my family history,” McCarron said. “I’d really like to be able to have chickens.
“I think everybody is interested in having fresh eggs, and I think it’s important to know where your food comes from.”
Sully and McCarron are part of a group of Belleville residents who have been attending City Council committee meetings this year in an effort to convince city officials to approve an ordinance that would allow families to have chickens in their backyards. In February, they formed a Facebook group called “Belleville, IL Backyard Chickens” and it has over 440 supporters.
On Wednesday night, they were happy to witness the Public Health and Housing Committee unanimously approve a motion by a 6-0 vote to recommend that the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee authorize a draft ordinance prepared for the full City Council to consider. The ordinance committee’s next meeting is scheduled for July 11.
Several other cities across the Metro East have approved ordinances in recent years to permit residents to keep chickens in neighborhoods.
If the ordinance committee approves the plan, the full 16-member City Council could authorize the proposal by September, according to an estimate by Ward 6 Alderman Chris Rothweiler, who chairs the housing committee.
Proposed chicken ordinance highlights
Members of the Public Health and Housing Committee spent over an hour Wednesday hashing out possibilities for a backyard chicken ordinance.
Highlights of the plan include:
- Residents could have a maximum of six female chickens, or hens.
- Roosters, known for their loud, early morning calls, would not be allowed.
- Only residents in owner-occupied homes would be allowed to get a permit.
- No commercial egg sales would be allowed in homes.
- Homes would be inspected each year.
- The annual fee would be $25.
- Residents would not be allowed to slaughter chickens in their homes.
Several residents spoke in favor of the plan, and no one spoke against it during public participation.
Ward 3 Alderman Kent Randle asked that inspections be conducted annually instead of every two years as initially discussed, and the committee agreed to recommend annual inspections.
Real estate agent Tricia Tialdo, a community member of the housing committee, asked that the limit be set at two hens but the other committee members did not support this suggestion. Tialdo said if someone was trying to sell a house next to a home with a backyard that has chickens, the sale could fall through because of a potential buyer’s concerns about having chickens next door.
In 2015, the housing committee rejected a request to allow backyard chickens in Belleville. Tialdo is the only current committee member who was on the board in 2015.
Support for backyard chickens
While concerns were raised about potential home sales being called off, supporters of the proposal said some home sales would actually increase because potential buyers look for neighborhoods where backyard chickens are allowed.
“I know several people who chose not to buy houses in Belleville specifically because of the chicken ordinance,” McCarron said in a recent interview.
“It’s keeping people from moving to our city,” she said.
Jenn Dean, who lives in Ward 7, said she previously lived in the city of St. Louis, where backyard chickens are allowed.
She told the housing committee members that her bedroom window was 6 feet from her neighbor’s chickens and their sounds never bothered her. But in Belleville, she said a neighbor’s dog is constantly barking loudly.
Dean said if Belleville allowed backyard chickens, it would draw new residents because it would give the city the “charm of a small town.”
Cody Baker said in an interview that he moved to Belleville last summer and that he thought it was legal to raise chickens in the city. Had he known it was not permitted, he said he may have sought out another city.
Baker, who raised chickens in his yard in Washington state for about five years, said egg-laying chickens can be prolific.
“The productivity of what you can get out of just a couple of chickens as far as eggs, I mean that’s a whole item off of your grocery list that you’re not going to have to get ever again if you have two chickens.”
A University of Illinois Extension backyard chicken webinar released in March displayed an industry fact sheet that showed one Barred Rock hen can produce 200 to 280 eggs a year.
However, production from hens is reduced after three years of egg laying, according to the extension service.
Metro East cities have allowed backyard chickens
Baker said he can’t think of any reason why people would oppose backyard chickens other than they just don’t want change.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do, especially given so many communities around us have already legalized it,” he said.
Swansea approved an ordinance for backyard chickens in 2016. Chickens also are allowed in Collinsville, Edwardsville and Shiloh.
In Madison County, residents can seek permission from the zoning board to keep chickens in neighborhoods. In St. Clair County and O’Fallon, chickens are not allowed in residential neighborhoods but they are allowed in rural residential and agricultural areas.
Louis Holm, a Belleville resident whose parents raise chickens in the Millstadt area, said he would like to keep chickens in his backyard to have a “bit of self-sufficiency.”
He said it was “shocking” to see the price of eggs skyrocket last winter, although the prices have been dropping since January, according to a June 16 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The average price for a dozen eggs was $4.82 in January but was down to $2.67 in May, according to statistics collected by the federal government.
Drew Tufto, self-employed Belleville carpenter, said he wants kids to learn firsthand about where eggs come from instead of seeing things on social media.
“We’re trying to bring back something my grandma and grandpa did,” he said. “It’s from the heart, you know.”
Along with the desire to collect fresh eggs in her backyard chicken coop, McCarron said she also would like to enjoy the companionship and interaction with the chickens.
“They apparently have pretty fun personalities,” she said.
Mike Koziatek is a reporter with the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
