Iowa City advocates open discussion on backyard hens

IOWA CITY  - Urban chicken advocates have hatched a discussion about legalizing hens in city limits.

“We're just trying to get the idea out there,” said Shannon Gassman, 25, a web and graphic designer who moved to Iowa City two years ago.

Iowa City Citizens for the Legalization of Urban Chicken Keeping, or I-CLUCK, hopes a grassroots effort will have a better outcome now than a previous try shortly after the floods of 2008.

In 2009, more than 500 people signed a petition calling on the city council to allow backyard chickens, but a majority of council members said they weren't interested in the proposal.

As it stands, chickens are considered livestock and cannot be kept within city limits unless a property is zoned agricultural.

“I think the main thing that's different is the timing,” said Gassman, noting that the city council was still working on flood recovery the last time the change was proposed.

The Cedar Rapids City Council passed an ordinance in 2010 to allow up to six hens per household.

Gassman said an exact number has not been set for the Iowa City proposal, but it would be similar to Cedar Rapids, with a small number of hens and no roosters.

“That number is something we're flexible on,” she said.

The group is starting an online petition and plans to gather signatures at Iowa City farmers markets and other events.

Members have informally discussed the idea with one council member, but do not yet have a timeline for bringing the proposal before the city council.

KT Labadie, 32, said she would like to keep hens in town as she did in Albuquerque, N.M., where she lived before moving to Iowa City more than a year ago.

“I've definitely seen it grow across the nation,” said Labadie, who operates the website: urbanchickens.org

Gassman said she has never owned chickens, but she and her husband have a large garden and want to further their sustainability efforts with hens.

“We like the urban environment, but we want to live a lifestyle where we can produce our own food,” she said, noting that chickens have a symbiotic relationship with gardens. “It just makes sense – that whole circle of life.”

Find more information on I-CLUCK's Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/groups/ICLUCK/