Rabies, Toxoplasmosis, Toxocariasis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ringworm, Cat Scratch Disease, Campylobacter......Oh darn this is my list of diseases that CATS and DOGS can pass to humans. I'll get back with the chicken list later. I think it is so funny that when people have no knowledge that make comments such as chickens carry disease. Sure they do, but no more than any other animals.

I am looking forward to being able to raise my own chickens. Thanks to the village trustees for their forward thinking.

I applaud the board for keeping their minds open and supporting this. The planning department presented some ordinances passed in other local areas that spell out how the coop must be constructed, how it can be located on the lot, and how enforcement will take place. This is a wonderful opportunity for Plainfield to support an environmentally friendly, sustainable, healthy way of living. Thank you, Trustee Racich, for bringing this to the board.

Oh, one more thing. The average dog creates 275 pounds of waste per year. Dog waste can carry way more parasites that are able to be passed on to humans. (For those of you that need more explanation...dogs and humans are both mammals) Chicken waste is able to be composted and used as fertilizer.

Yay, Doug and Sara Soika for fighting this and bringing about this change! Good for you!

Shannon - you have been a busy person writing all these articles and do a tremendous job. I hope you give strong consierdation to start attending the Plainfield FIre Protection District meetings to provide the same level reporting as Village matters. The overspending and mistreatment of the FF/PM needs some serious attention and public awareness. Next meeting tonight at 6pm at the 17 million dollar stone and glass facility on 135th street.

I know a guy that lives in the area who sells baby chickens...so ya'll let me know if you need the chicken hookup!

100 yards is crazy, and obviously intended to so that almost no one will be able to have chickens. They will have to be an entire football field away from everything. No good.

I hope this passes and that Romeoville follows suit!

Thank you for taking the time to right this article and giving a voice to individuals who are passionate about raising chickens on a backyard scale in the Village of Plainfield. This new ordinance will benefit our entire community because I trust that our Village board will take time and effort to write up a solid ordinance that will protect individuals who want to own chickens and those individuals who do not. Thank you for finally seeing this issue from both sides of the discussion. I look forward to this passing and ending the lack of education on this matter.

Yes, please put chickens in every backyard so they can drive the number of dogs barking from painfully high to just completely insane just so people can have fresh eggs. If you want to live an agrarian lifestyle, move to rural America!

I have not known too many dogs that bark at birds. They tend to bark at cats that roam from yard to yard mostly. Backyard chickens are confined to their own yards and the dog that would bark at a bird in his neighbor's yard would bark at the person who lives in that yard also making the dog the problem. Hen's aren't noisey, and don't bother their neighbors as dogs and cats do

I desperately want to give the picture above "five".

Let me tell you how out of tune some Plainfield transplants are on chickens. A while back I was purchasing some eggs at a small farm west of town. A woman asked me what I was going to do with the eggs. I was puzzled for a second but replied that I was going to eat them. She looked at me and said, you cant eat those eggs if those chickens didnt have their shots. She was dead serious. I told her that chickens do not need shots. She argued the point and said Its been nice to know ya. That is the kind of shortsight this anti crowd has. Shots? Really? Maybe for factory birds(and they dont get shots either) but not barnyard birds. So all the paranoid delerium about howling dogs, rampant disease and the mass hysteria that a few hens will cause is nothing more than hot air from some uninformed blowhards that should have stayed in their northern suburb.

Great! So now we will live in a community that has a bankrupt school district, night shootings, drug deals and backyard chicken.
What else can be done to destroy property value in this place?

The regulations would have to be completely idiot-proof. Is that possible? Chickens WILL get loose, dogs WILL bark, people WILL NOT keep the coops clean, neighbors WILL be complaining, other wildlife WILL be attracted into neighborhoods- such as coyotes, racoons, opposums, etc. even more than currently. Trustees cannot expect everyone will maintain thier coops and chickens as the perfect examples they visit.

Its nice to hear that Plainfield is moving toward sustainability and allowing some freedoms to their residents. However, Plainfield is mostly run by HOA and many run their subdivision as if they were living in Stepford- Everyone look and act the same...or else. Many residents wishing to leave the throat gripping hold if their HOA can not because of loss in home value. So, as nice as it would be to see families adopting a few chickens..I'm afraid it will be very few.
It is comical to hear the ignorance in people about chickens....you should only be so lucky to have a neighbor who could supply you and your family with fresh, healthy, organic eggs.

If I wanted chciken running around my backyard I would live in a farm. If I wanted somebody else's chicken running around my backyard I would live in somebody else's farm.
I never thought I would be thankful for a HOA but now I see the value it has!

With all the neighborhood associations, I would assume chickens may still be restricted.

I think I'll buy a falcon on the way home.

Thank God that even though I have a Plainfield mailing address, I really live in Joliet. They don't tolerate such things here.

Man, between the drug dealing and the chickens....what next, drug dealing chickens? Then we are ALL in trouble. Nobody every expects the drug dealing chicken. Bunch of angry, young chickens, dealing drugs, angering the neighbor's dogs.

I prefer chickens over pitbulls.

Dogs won't bark at chickens?!?! I just now witnessed a dog barking at its own shadow. I have seen dogs bark at trees hours after a squirrel last appeared.

And chicken coops smell in the summer. No matter how diligent my in-laws are (they live in rural Illinois next to a farm), their chicken coop SOMETIMES smells terrible. The beauty there is that the coop is 100 feet from their house. And they have dogs. Those dogs bother the chickens. A lot.

Does everyone really think that the entire village population will go out and get chickens? What would the actual percentage be? Twenty maybe? Chickens running around your backyard? Get a grip RB. I never thought I'd see so many people afraid of a few chickens. What are ya "chicken"? Just hide in your vinyl castle and your giant suv and dont come out until night because the terror chickens will have gone to roost by then (if that term confuses you, read a bit about chickens as you could use it). That is unless your afraid of the dark also.

JD. You are absolutely right. I see the same thing. I think the next door neighbors are vampires. As for the chickens I'm looking into getting "hengalis". This rare breed of laying hen can also hyptonize unsuspecting victims rendering them to a helpless zombie like state. Of course you'll never know the difference around here anyway. Speed, brake, text, speed, brake, text...close garage door and hide in house. By the way, they lay an egg a day also.