Recent content by Ameisen

Winfield is in DuPage County, and an unincorporated house would follow DuPage County rules.

When contacting Town A, I specifically asked about ducks. They stated that chickens were regulated due to complaints, but as there are no regulations about ducks, they would be allowed unless future regulations were added. The code doesn't mention ducks at all, and the chicken regulations...

If we were in a suburban house with not a huge backyard (relatively small, even) what would be an appropriate way to keep ducks while also not irritating the neighbors with smell/messiness? This backyard is roughly 5,600 sqft, and it's not a regular shape - it's on a neighborhood cul-de-sac...

Hi there. My wife and I have been looking into buying a house in one of two towns right now in Chicagoland. Town A is a further commute for us, and allows us to have 6 chickens and has no regulations on ducks (I've asked, they told me that I can have them as nothing prohibits it). Town B is a...

I'm more used to Chicagoland ordinances (Mt. Vernon is St. Louis area), but the only relevant thing in the code I could find is: SECTION 13.5 No person shall have or keep any cattle, hogs, sheep or goats or other animals within the City in such manner as to create any offensive smell or noise...

Turns out that for most towns we're looking at, to build a coop (either 'coop' style or 'shed' style) I would need a permit, a suitable design that is approved, and inspections at each stage... so I will have to flesh my design out further. I still don't know if building it off of vertical...

In the towns we are looking in, it's not legal to build a structure like that without concrete posts.

Hmm, perhaps I'm designing this wrong (I'm not a carpenter or a structural engineer). My thinking was that I would have 4 or 6 4x4s, about 8-9 feet tall. There would be 5 bearer beams (as the design is pentagonal), and I wasn't planning on having traditional floor joists (as I want to offer...

So, say I wanted it to be 10 feet wide and 6 feet long... 4 pressure-treated 4x4's on concrete posts would not be sufficient to hold that?

4x4 feet? That seems like a ridiculously tiny (and very skinny) coop. We don't have a good idea of counts yet. The likely town we will be moving to allows 6 chickens and has no limits on ducks, so at the start, 6 and 6. I've read up on keeping ducks and chickens quite a bit, though I am by no...

We are unfortunately going to be generally limited by local laws.

That is why I have not decided on a square footage - it will depend on how many fowl we want and also the yard of the prospective house we buy. Most towns only allow 6 chickens, but the towns we are looking at place no limit on ducks - thus why I may not place the center 'wall' in the center...

Hello, My wife and I are looking to buy a house soon, and to raise chickens and ducks. So, looking over extant designs, I've been trying to design a permanent coop that I can fit in standing (I am 6'2") which can house a variable number of hens/ducks (and can hold more if we so choose)...

Update (since I don't see an 'edit' button) -- Bartlett requires 10 acres or more.

Since it's relevant to this thread as well, I posted this thread which includes all of my research into the Chicagoland suburbs so far.