Keeping chickens in your backyard is against the law in Sacramento…but people are doing it anyway.

"There were well over 400 complaints related to chickens in the last fiscal year."

Gina Knepp is with the city's Animal Care Services Department. She says those complaints include noisy chickens and unsanitary chicken coops.

Paul Towers is with the Campaign for Legalizing Urban Chicken Keeping - or CLUCK.

"People keep chickens for a variety reasons from being pets like a dog or a cat to producing those healthy eggs."

Those eggs, Towers says, are especially valuable to people struggling in a weak economy.

Knepp says city officials will have a lot to think about if they decide to draft an ordinance.

"For example will chickens be allowed for slaughter, the distance from the property line to the chicken coops. There are a number of things that need to be evaluated."

The City Council's Law and Legislation Committee will take up the issue Tuesday afternoon.