Ald. Lopez wants stricter regulations on backyard chickens in wake of bird flu outbreak

For the past five years, Jefferson Park resident Jesse Le-Seibert has raised chickens in her back yard, which has allowed her family to eat farm fresh eggs.

The city allows residents to keep farm animals like chickens and cows — which produce “edible byproducts" such as eggs or milk — without penalty as long as they aren’t slaughtered for food.

But as concerns over avian influenza have grown after a Louisiana man died from it earlier this week, there have been calls to ban or restrict owning farm animals in the city — most recently from Ald. Ray Lopez.

Lopez (15th) said he plans to resurrect his failed 2019 effort to tighten the rules regarding owning livestock. He stressed that he is not looking to ban chicken coops, but rather limit the number of chickens residents can have and outlaw roosters and other animals like sheep.

“We need to set humane standards that are acceptable," he said Tuesday. "Most people who live in the city, if they wanted to live on a farm, they’d live on a farm. They don’t want to be woken up by a rooster or see goats roaming around because you don’t have a lawn mower.”

While waterfowl seem to be the majority of bird species coming down with the bird flu, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has encouraged poultry owners to increase biosecurity measures and prevent contact with wild birds.

Le-Seibert keeps four chickens in an enclosed coop in her backyard. She is concerned about her animals catching bird flu, but she worries the city could ban them based on fears, even though no one locally has come down with the disease.

“I was always afraid because [the chickens] can catch [bird flu] from wild birds. But my chickens are in a coop that’s covered with plastic on top,” she said.

The coop also has plastic underneath it to keep rodents out.

“They eat food that is store-bought and are isolated from wild birds,” Le-Seibert said.

Le Seibert said she loves her chickens — named Fiona, Charlotte, Cinnabon and Dori — like pets. "I love them."

They can distinguish between strangers and friends, she said.

“They are very smart, they recognize your voice, they recognize your face and they know what they like and don’t like.” 

But “I’m now worried that neighbors will go into a panic attack and start harassing their alderman to make a change."

Lopez said he will likely try to get changes made to the city ordinance when the weather warms up in the spring.

“I haven’t lost faith in the effort, and I’ll be bringing it up again,” Lopez said, likely by introducing an amendment to the current ordinances governing livestock.