We’ve seen the Bears choke in the city, but what about the chickens? We’re of course talking about the feathered variety. In a suburb southwest of Chicago, a group of hens were recently given an eviction notice. According to the Sun-Times, the mayor of Summit, IL, ordered a resident to shut down his henhouse, where he was keeping chicken as pets. Neighbors reportedly complained that the hens were noisy and smelly.

Keeping chickens is legal in America’s three largest cities, including Chicago. But local chicken-lovers nearly lost that right. For The Environment Report, Shawn Allee tells how some of Chicago’s urban chicken-keepers were almost caught off guard, and how they plan to keep their chickens from being forced to flee the coop.

No one’s sure how many chickens are in Chicago’s backyards. But honestly, few people thought about it until last year.

That’s when one woman showed up at a city hearing.

CAVANAUGH: Hi. My name is Edie Cavanaugh, and I’ve lived in Chicago, since 1968.

Cavanaugh told aldermen she’d caught messy, noisy chickens clucking around her neighborhood.

She was stunned the city wouldn’t round them up.

CAVANAUGH: I was told chickens are permitted as pets in Chicago, and I said 'That’s impossible, this is a city.'

Cavanaugh’s story ruffled plenty of feathers. You see, even some aldermen didn’t know that keeping chickens as pets or for eggs in Chicago is okay.

ALDERMAN: I was riding down the street, and I seen a rooster. I was like, ‘What is this?’

For a month, it seemed Chicago’s city council would ban chicken-keeping. People who already had chickens worried their birds were destined for the stew pot.

But Chicago aldermen kept chicken-raising legal. Chicago’s pro-chicken contingent saw the fight as a wake-up call. Some figured, if they wanted to keep birds, they’d better police themselves.

BOYD: So, welcome everybody for coming to the first-ever Chicago backyard Chicken workshop.

Martha Boyd is starting seminars about urban chickens.

She’s part of the Angelic Organics Learning Center, a group that promotes urban agriculture.

Boyd is confident city-people can raise more of their own food if they’re neighborly about it.

BOYD: So the idea of the backyard chicken workshop is so we can have this thing grow without creating more problems and potentially, then, having the backlash to the backyard chickens.

For this first seminar, Boyd invited chicken-raising veterans to a church basement. One is Tom Rosenfeld.

His advice to urban chicken lovers? Talk to your neighbors. And, hey, if they cringe, get creative.

ROSENFELD: It also helps to bribe them, because if they think they’re going to get some eggs out of the deal or they think they’re kids come over and pet them or whatever, then of course they’ll be a little more understanding when one day you leave the door open and there’re chickens running around the yard or other issues.

Rosenfeld says those "other issues" arise pretty quickly. In fact, just a few hours after chickens eat.

ROSENFELD: A lot about chicken keeping is about poop because they do it a lot. They do it in surprisingly large quantities at a time.

Rosenfeld says you can literally get ankle deep in the stuff if you’re not vigilant.

But bribery helps here, too. Rosenfeld says chicken poop makes excellent garden compost.

ROSENFELD: Our neighbors love it. They’ll come by with a bucket and that’s their way of participating.

Rosenfeld says the last issue that ticks off neighbors is noise

There’s no such thing as a chicken muzzle, but there’s still a solution - and there’s no bribe necessary. You see, male chickens are the noisy bunch, so if you just want eggs…

ROSENFELD: You don’t need a rooster. It’s a sad reality as a male chicken keeper to realize that roosters aren’t necessary. They’re only necessary if you want chicks.

Rosenfeld says urban chicken-raising could catch on where it’s legal, if people keep a lid on noise and smells.

As for places where it's not legal?

You might want to change the law at city hall – just don’t try to bribe your alderman with fresh eggs.

For The Environment Report, I’m Shawn Allee.

Music Button: Rufus Thomas, “Do the Funky Chicken” from the CD Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration (Stax records)