Backyard chickens

While city or state ordinances still could bar chicken ownership, homeowners associations, deed restrictions or similar agreements cannot.

The wide-reaching legislation also includes provisions on electric vehicle charging stations, a land bank program and chicken ownership.

Up to 50 homeowners in Belleville will be allowed to keep chickens in their backyards under an ordinance adopted by the City Council on Monday night.

On Wednesday night, a city committee unanimously approved a recommendation to take the first step in the process for Belleville residents to own up to six female chickens for egg laying.

State officials and scientists are cautioning backyard flock owners to be on high alert for bird flu. The highly contagious disease has reached small flocks in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

On a recent sunny-side-up morning, Seth Jansen delivered two lively hens and a rental coop to Anne Miller’s home in Olivette.Miller smiled nervously as…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 11, 2013 - Twenty-two years ago, when Merryl Winstein began raising chickens in her own Webster…