How many chickens do you own?

How about your neighbor?

Or do you get eggs at the grocery, like most folks?

Colorado Springs residents are allowed to keep 10 chickens on their property. That’s true in Fountain, too, but people with less than five acres in unincorporated parts of El Paso County can only have two chickens.

County officials haven’t addressed the chicken counting case in decades. County commissioners performed a juggling act with the topic at their Thursday meeting but won’t take action until next month.

“I’m pro chicken,” commissioner chairwoman Amy Lathen said, fighting to keep a straight face.

The county has gotten some complaints: a rooster was crowing in the Park Vista area, a neighbor’s chickens were staining the sidewalk with what chickens tend to leave behind, and some other fowl tales.

The county has chosen not to enforce the two-chicken limit for years, said Mark Gebhart, deputy director of the county’s development services department. They’ve looked the other way as long as the number of cluckers was 10 or less.

Commissioners didn’t discuss how many chickens to allow but will in January. They did agree that roosters shouldn’t be allowed on properties less than five acres.

“Commissioners want to make it formal,” Gebhart said. “They’ll get into what is common sense for this.”