Chicken Laws

If you are concerned about the chicken laws in your area you must check with local authorities.  Laws on chicken keeping vary greatly from one town or city to the next.

Some will allow only a certain number of hens to be keep in town with no roosters, others make it mandatory that coops and cages be 50 to 100 feet away from any other structures, whether they are residential or business.  Still other laws state that you cannot keep poultry if you have less than one acre of property.

A sampling of cities and their laws governing chicken keeping are:

• Dallas laws only specification on chicken keeping is that you can’t keep roosters.
• In Austin the coops must be 50’ away from any buildings other than those that are yours.
• Ft. Worth has a limit on the number of chickens you can keep based on your property size, and they must be 50’ away from any buildings.
• In Houston you must have a special permit that gives the number of chickens and their purpose, whether they are for personal use or commercial.
• Los Angeles allows for chicken keeping with minimal interference.
• Oakland, Ca allows hens but not roosters.
• San Diego allows chickens, but limits you to 25 birds, containers of chicken feed must be impenetrable to rats, and all droppings have to be cleaned out at least one time a week.
• Key West, Fl allows chickens, but you must clean the coop and cages every day and dispose of the waste to their guidelines which doesn’t allow for use as fertilizer.
• In Charlotte N.C. you can keep chickens with a 40 dollar permit and certain stipulations regarding number of chickens, size of pen, and number of feet away from buildings.
• Concorde N.C. has only one chicken law: chicken keeping is not permitted.
• In Columbus Ohio you must have a minimum of 5 acres if you want to keep chickens.  They must also be 100 feet away from roads or property lines.
• Huntsville Al allows chickens as long as you keep the 150 feet away from neighboring homes.
• In Homewood Al it is against the law to have chickens in the city limits unless they are 300 feet from neighboring residences and buildings, and 100 feet from any roads.
• In Denver Colorado you have to place 2 signs in your yard for one month to see if neighbors may object to you having chickens.  You must also pay a 50 dollar application fee, a 100 dollar permit fee, and an annual fee of 70 dollars.  Then your flock will be inspected for safe and sanitary enclosures.
• In Washington D.C. you have to get written permission from all your neighbors to keep chickens on your property.  Chickens must be at least 50 feet from homes.

As you can see chicken laws vary widely.  Some cities have no laws regarding chickens, but will site you for disturbing the peace if your chickens are too noisy for the neighbors.

You must always check you local chicken laws before beginning a flock in your area.