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Gay-Ellen Stulp and Stephany Miskunas are lobbying the Lafayette City Council to allow them to keep pet chickens at their homes in the historic Highland Park neighborhood.
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Stulp said she wanted city council members to amend the ordinance that forbids having chickens in the city. The city council’s Public Health Welfare and Safety Committee plans to consider the matter.

“It’s been a blast,” Stulp said of her quest. “I can’t believe the discussions I’ve gotten as I go around with my petition.

“It’s a little hobby. They are pets. I guess I’m now part of the chicken underground.”

Melanie Lucroy, president of Highland Park Neighborhood Association, said the group hasn’t taken an official stance on the issue.

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Many cities allow urban chicken farming, including Indianapolis, St. Louis, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Madison, Wis.

Restrictions are placed on the chicken lovers in most of those cases, though. For example, in most cases, hens are allowed but not roosters, only three or four chickens are permitted at each household, and chickens must be kept from leaving the property.

The urban chicken movement has businesses that sell equipment and offer tips for raising the birds.

“There are even ‘stealth’ chicken coops that look like trash cans,” Stulp said.

She said that the city’s animal control department last May ordered her to part ways with her four hens. Miskunas had chickens in her backyard for a year and she said most neighbors knew it. But this summer, a young hen escaped into a neighborhood yard and authorities were called.

Several Highland Park neighbors declined to comment about the situation or about legalizing chickens in the city.