Sustainable New Jersey believes so strongly in backyard chickens that they allow 30 points to municipalities allowing backyard chickens. You might want to bring that up if you were to apply for a change in the code.
If you live in an R2 zone, you can have chickens, but you need at least 5 acres. So they basically write the code to restrict everyone.
PERMITTED USE:
A building used for horticultural, agricultural or dairying purposes, poultry or domestic animal-raising, provided that no building for the...