Elgin, IL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

08 of the Elgin Municipal Code lets residents keep hens, but only within a tightly bounded framework administered by the community development director. Sec. 020 caps each property at four hens and bans roosters outright. Sec. 040 restricts coops to a single-family detached dwelling in a residence or residence conservation zoning district, located in the rear yard at least twenty-five feet from any neighboring occupied residence and set back at least six feet from all property lines, and the structure cannot be visible from the street.

Sec. 050 caps the coop itself at fifty square feet and the attached pen at one hundred square feet, requires ten square feet per hen, and mandates that any non-fully-enclosed structure be screened to six feet. Sec. 030 requires hens to stay fully confined at all times, permits daytime use of a mobile 'chicken tractor' in the rear yard only, and bars keeping any chicken indoors except chicks under eight weeks old. Sec. 080 makes both a chicken-keeping license and a building permit mandatory before keeping any hens or erecting a coop, and Sec.

090 requires a completed application, a plat of survey, and the license and building-permit fees (the building permit fee equals a shed permit fee). Citywide availability is capped hard: Sec. 180 limits the city to no more than one hundred chicken-keeping licenses and one hundred coop building permits in total. Sec. 070 separately bans slaughtering chickens on-site and declares perceptible odor or disruptive noise from the flock a nuisance. Licenses and permits do not run with the land: Sec. 090(C) terminates them the moment the licensee stops occupying the property, and Sec. 160 confirms the chapter does not override a private covenant that bans chickens.