Oxford Village residents hoping to one day enjoy fresh eggs laid by fowl raised in their own backyards are one step closer to realizing their dream.

Last week, council voted 5-0 to direct village attorney Bob Davis to draft an ordinance allowing for the keeping of chickens and bring it back for review at the next regular meeting.

Village President Joe Frost originally brought the issue to council.

He favors having an ordinance that allows for the keeping of up to four hens – no roosters – for personal use only and prohibits slaughtering the birds on-site.

Davis told council “there are many communities that have (these types of) ordinances” and he’s “gathered together six or seven of them” as part of researching what could work best for the village.

One of the issues Davis has to examine is should this proposed language be part of the village’s code of ordinances or its zoning ordinance.

Under the current zoning ordinance, “the keeping, raising or breeding of animals, poultry or livestock, including farm animals and non-domestic animals” is “prohibited.” The village defines livestock as “horses, cattle, sheep, goats and other domestic animals normally kept or raised on a farm.”

Davis suggested limiting the keeping of chickens to the single-family residential (R-1) zoning district.

But, Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth didn’t know if she was comfortable excluding multiple-family dwellings.

“So, I live in a duplex, I can’t have a chicken?” she said.

Davis noted the proposed ordinance should incorporate language regarding best management practices for raising chickens. He said how to properly deal with the waste chickens generate is an issue that needs to be addressed, “so it doesn’t get out of control.”

That being said, Davis noted, “I don’t think that’s a real concern here with four or less hens (per household) only.”

In light of this potential ordinance change, Councilwoman Allison Kemp inquired as to how the village plans to deal with residents who are currently violating the prohibition.

“There are people in the village who have chickens already . . . Do we have to enforce the ordinance now?” she said. “I would hate for us to tell someone to get rid of their chickens and then a couple months from now roll out a program to allow chickens.”

Davis, who handles prosecutions for the village, said there could be “an informal moratorium of a sort on prosecuting current violations while we’re working on an ordinance.”

“We’ve done that in the past,” he said.

Davis did question the proposed prohibition regarding the on-site slaughtering of chickens because he assumes part of the reason to have these birds is to eventually eat them.

“I think that if an individual would like to do that, they should take it somewhere else (to have it butchered),” Frost said.

But, Helmuth noted it’s not a difficult task to do at home.

“It’s very easy to slaughter a chicken. It doesn’t take anything but a pair of hedge clippers,” she said.