It has come to the board’s attention over the last number of months that there are multiple violations of the chicken ordinance. In fact at least one or two of them are going to court at this time.

Make no mistake that we would rather not do anything regarding the ordinance. But the permit for chickens is not expensive. The village doesn’t make any real amount off of these permits. They are a formality to have something on file. What we cannot abide is having to spend money chasing violators and paying attorney fees for people that cannot follow the rules. Those rules are very simple. You can have up to 4 hens and NO ROOSTERS. These rules aren’t negotiable and you can’t skirt around them with… odd claims. You sign a permit stating that you will remain in compliance with section 5-4E of the village code which will be quoted below and in return the village allows you to keep a limited amount of hens. Those permits are also revocable at any time by the village board for any non-compliance. They also expire at the end of the year (12/31) and we can simply choose not to renew them.

When we have repeat offenders and more people in non-compliance than are actually complying with the ordinance… When we have to spend village money on attorney fees well in excess of any permit fees collected… Well that just doesn’t make sense on many levels. So this is notice to those offenders and unfortunately those who ARE in compliance as well. If people who aren’t in compliance continue to remain in non-compliance… The board will take up the matter to remove the ordinance entirely and NO chickens will be allowed as it was prior to 2014. We don’t want to do this but as they say… one bad apple, or in this case multiple bad apples are going to spoil the whole bunch.

So if you have more than 4 hens; if you have more than ZERO roosters; if your runs/coops are not up to snuff… Get in compliance so you don’t make the law abiding chicken owners suffer as well.

Following is the text of Section 5-4E of the village code: