Home to Roost Helping city folks raise chickens!

Home to Roost is back at the Chicago Botanic Garden for the following classes! Registration is not yet open, but stay tuned.

October 14, 2023, Sat. 10 am – noon: Basic Backyard Chicken Keeping, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022

October 14, 2023, Sat. 1:30 – 3:30 pm: Coops, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022

November 11, 2023, Sat.10 am – noon: Snow Birds –Winter Care for Chickens,Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022

We will be at the Oak Park Farmer’s Market – Go Green Days 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. We’ll be bringing a live chicken too!

The Oak Park Farmers’ Market is held rain or shine every Saturday through October in the Pilgrim Congregational Church parking lot at 460 Lake Street.

More information is at www.oak-park.us/farmersmarket.

Join me for my basic chicken-keeping class on Saturday, May 20 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 at the Indian Prairie Public Library, 401 Plainfield Rd., Darien, IL.

We’ll talk about choosing breeds, chick care, care of adult birds, legal considerations, and other important topics!

Register here: https://ippl.libcal.com/event/9898062

I look forward to seeing you there!
Jennifer

Have you thought about raising chickens in your backyard? Not every community allows that. Currently, it is against the law to raise chickens in Bolingbrook. However, the nearby communities of Downers Grove, Naperville, Lombard, Westmont, and St. Charles have updated their municipal codes to allow residents to raise chickens in their backyards.

Raising chickens can help your bottom line. If you have four egg-laying hens, they could produce as many as four eggs per day. Chickens eat grubs and other pests, and chicken manure is great as a fertilizer.

Lauren Matuszak has championed the raising of hens in Bolingbrook and will be featured at a town hall meeting on May 23, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at Bolingbrook Village Hall, 375 W. Briarcliff Road.

The goal of the meeting is a proposal to change the village ordinance to legalize chicken keeping in Bolingbrook. If you support this effort, please consider coming to the town hall meeting.