Collingswood backyard chicken supporters think legalization is finally within reach

Collingswood chicken supporters say the borough is closer than ever to lifting its ban, with a proposed pilot ordinance and a backyard chicken forum now giving the campaign a real path instead of just another round of arguments. Residents have been pushing for years, and the current push is being framed as the strongest one yet after multiple earlier attempts to win approval.

The roadmap looks familiar to anyone who has watched backyard chicken fights in South Jersey. Gwenne Baile, 77, the Haddon Township resident known as the “Chicken Lady of South Jersey,” has spent about 16 years working town by town, starting with council meetings and research in her own borough before it took about five years to pass an ordinance there. Haddon Township launched a pilot in 2015, then later allowed residents to keep up to eight chickens and created a chicken advisory board after three years of success.

That same structure is now being pushed in Collingswood. Baile joined residents in proposing an eight-member Backyard Chicken Advisory Board to handle education, oversight and neighbor complaints before borough code enforcement gets involved. Under the plan, prospective owners would take a three-hour class, pass a quiz and undergo two site visits, with the first checking coop location and setbacks and the second making sure the structure is predator-proof. Baile also said 19 municipalities in Camden County already allow backyard chickens, and Haddon Township had just one complaint in 11 years.

The borough is still at the point where procedure matters. Collingswood held a backyard chicken forum on May 29 to discuss a proposed pilot ordinance and give residents a chance to speak for or against it, and Baile urged the Board of Commissioners at its June 1 meeting to allow hens in town. Supporters have been arguing for years that the answer is a regulated hens-only ordinance, with roosters left out to avoid noise.

For Collingswood, the remaining decision points are plain: whether commissioners keep moving the pilot ordinance forward and whether the advisory-board model survives in the final language. After years of testimony, organizing and repeat attempts, the campaign has reached the stage where one procedural turn can still secure backyard chickens or send supporters back to the mic.