Illegal chicken ....

[chickenguy19]

Hello I'm from northern Illinois. And I want to have chickens. They are legal n mchenry county in the unincorporated area. Should I just get chickens anyway or what cause like all of y'all I LOVE CHICKENS LOL

 

[birdwrangler057]

So your saying that your county allows chickens to be kept, but your still worried about getting them.

 

[birdwrangler057]

So your saying that your county allows chickens to be kept, but your still worried about getting them.

If your so worried about it, go to your county's website or office and find out personally.

 

[Blooie]

Hello I'm from northern Illinois. And I want to have chickens. They are legal n mchenry county in the unincorporated area. Should I just get chickens anyway or what cause like all of y'all I LOVE CHICKENS LOL

Um, I confess....I'm a little confused. If they are legal, why would you need to be worried about getting them "anyway"? Are you saying that you are in a different area than the unincorporated area where they are legal? Not trying to be difficult, just trying to understand your question.

 

[birdwrangler057]

Um, I confess....I'm a little confused. If they are legal, why would you need to be worried about getting them "anyway"? Are you saying that you are in a different area than the unincorporated area where they are legal? Not trying to be difficult, just trying to understand your question.

I agree.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I see in another thread you're saying they're illegal in your area.

Obviously you're going to do what you're going to do, and there are people who successfully keep them illegally (usually bribing their neighbors with eggs or by talking to them ahead of time about it) but I personally don't feel it's fair to the chickens. If you get reported and animal control or code enforcement comes out, what will you do with them? Are you willing and financially able to move to an area where they are legal in order to keep them, or do you have someone who could legally keep them for you instead?

I too wanted chickens for years. I recently moved, and one of my top requirements was that chickens had to be legal in the area. I did all my research ahead of time so I knew what cities were not chicken friendly, and what the restrictions were for each area, and only considered homes in chicken friendly areas. But if the regulations ever change here I guess I'll have to move!

 

[Blooie]

Like @rosemarythyme , I see that you have posts in other threads saying that in your area chickens are illegal. I'm usually public enemy number one for saying this, but if chickens are illegal in your area, don't get them. Period. Oh, I get all the "they can't tell me what to do on my own property" and "I should have a right to have chickens if I want them" arguments, but the bottom line is if you aren't supposed to have them, this will not end well. Then you'll be back here crying that the evil officials made you get rid of your babies. Not worth the hassle for anyone, including the poor, uprooted birds. Right here on BYC are threads after threads of people who either knew they couldn't have them and got them anyway, or didn't check at all and didn't know they couldn't keep chickens. Then we have the folks who figure that if Suzy Sunshine down the street has them, they must be legal and don't bother to check.

This is usually the point where someone comes back advising you to get them anyway, while praising "civil disobedience." But we can't pick and choose which laws we want to follow and which ones we will disobey. If you run a stop sign because it's in a weird place, it's not "civil disobedience", it's a ticket waiting to happen. If you are offended by someone, you can't punch them in the nose. That's not civil disobedience, that's simple assault. If your area doesn't allow chickens but you get them anyway because you "love them", that's not civil disobedience, that's defiance and simply wanting to get your own way.

Instead why not do your research? We research breeds, their housing, feeding, and their illnesses and injuries for hours, but won't take a little time to research whether we can even have them where we live. And if they're not allowed, find out why not and learn how you can band together with others and get the ordinance changed first. If you are successful, but they put limitations on chicken keeping, be sure you follow those guidelines. Being allowed to keep 5 hens doesn't mean you keep 3 hens and 3 roosters. If you are unsuccessful, chalk it up to a learning experience but for goodness sake don't put yourself through the anger at officials and the heartbreak of losing the chickens - and don't put the chickens through having to be yanked from where they live to some other place they don't even know.

That's my advice. It ain't popular, but do a search on this forum to see how many other people thought they'd just "sneak a few chickens in" and then check out the results of that thinking. And take a minute to put the shoe on the other foot....if you didn't want chickens in your area, you knew they were against the rules, and someone sneaked them in anyway, wouldn't you want something done by the very public officials you are going to condemn when you get caught with chickens? There's an old saying, "My rights end where your toes begin."

 

[birdwrangler057]

Like @rosemarythyme
,  I see that you have posts in other threads saying that in your area chickens are illegal. I'm usually public enemy number one for saying this, but if chickens are illegal in your area, don't get them.  Period.  Oh, I get all the "they can't tell me what to do on my own property" and "I should have a right to have chickens if I want them" arguments, but the bottom line is if you aren't supposed to have them, this will not end well.  Then you'll be back here crying that the evil officials made you get rid of your babies.  Not worth the hassle for anyone, including the poor, uprooted birds.  Right here on BYC are threads after threads of people who either knew they couldn't have them and got them anyway, or didn't check at all and didn't know they couldn't keep chickens.  Then we have the folks who figure that if Suzy Sunshine down the street has them, they must be legal and don't bother to check.

This is usually the point where someone comes back advising you to get them anyway, while praising "civil disobedience."  But we can't pick and choose which laws we want to follow and which ones we will disobey.  If you run a stop sign because it's in a weird place, it's not "civil disobedience", it's a ticket waiting to happen.  If you are offended by someone, you can't punch them in the nose.  That's not civil disobedience, that's simple assault.  If your area doesn't allow chickens but you get them anyway because you "love them", that's not civil disobedience, that's defiance and simply wanting to get your own way.  

Instead why not do your research?  We research breeds, their housing, feeding, and their illnesses and injuries for hours, but won't take a little time to research whether we can even have them where we live.  And if they're not allowed, find out why not and learn how you can band together with others and get the ordinance changed first.  If you are successful, but they put limitations on chicken keeping, be sure you follow those guidelines.  Being allowed to keep 5 hens doesn't mean you keep 3 hens and 3 roosters.  If you are unsuccessful, chalk it up to a learning experience but for goodness sake don't put yourself through the anger at officials and the heartbreak of losing the chickens - and don't put the chickens through having to be yanked from where they live to some other place they don't even know.

That's my advice.  It ain't popular, but do a search on this forum to see how many other people thought they'd just "sneak a few chickens in" and then check out the results of that thinking.  And take a minute to put the shoe on the other foot....if you didn't want chickens in your area, you knew they were against the rules, and someone sneaked them in anyway, wouldn't you want something done by the very public officials you are going to condemn when you get caught with chickens?  There's an old saying, "My rights end where your toes begin."  

Great advise!

 

[JayColli]

Take Blooie's advice - do your research and submit a summary of your findings to your county's elected governing body for review along with a request to have the county bylaws changed to allow for a reasonable number of hens (normally 4 or 5). I'm not sure how county governments works in Illinois but in Canada if county council doesn't initiate a bylaw amendment internally based on your presentation of evidence FOR keeping hens then you can pay a fee to have planning staff initiate a bylaw amendment for you but it's never a guarantee.

For example, the town I work for (approximately 5000 full-time residents, mostly retirement age and well-off) has this subsection in it's land use bylaw under general requirements for residential zones pertaining to chickens:

"No lot in any residential zone or designation shall be used for the rearing or keeping of farm animals except for a maximum of four laying hens contained within the lot."

Alternatively, you may not be allowed to have chickens but sometimes quail are specifically exempt or simply forgotten about and that leaves a grey area for you to work in if they interest you? If the bylaws prohibit "fowl" then you're pretty much out of luck.

 

[chickenguy19]

Ok I will do some research. Thank you all for the advise. And it's true that it would be scrappy to go through that's anger and grief