And I took the trash out last night, and headed down the alley to go to my Wednesday knitting group, and as I happened to glance from side to side as I walked, there in the neighbor's yard...
Was it another cock? If so, the neighborhood could need your help to stop a cockfighting ring. Catch it and consume it.
If not, may I suggest you google "backyard chickens" sometime and have a read. It's legal to keep as many in Chicago as you want as long as they're for eggs or pets and not for the pot. However, you ought not to keep roosters unless you want the neighbors from many blocks around to complain about you. Roosters are not necessary to get eggs.
This one was obviously a hen, as it happens. I know it's legal -- the only thing that's been stopping me looking into it myself is we're already in enough trouble with the condo association for being weirdoes :) -- but the "free-range = Chicago alley" part of it is a little funky. Especially since the gossip on the neighborhood email list seems to suggest that there may be multiple sources involved here...
Strangely enough, there is a random reference to Owen Vs Backyard Chickens in the journal Andy was keeping in 1918, if I ever do manage to finish that fic (or anything, at this rate)...