Main Page
Welcome to the Urban Chickens Network Legal Resource Center
Can you keep urban chickens in your backyard where you live? The question's not always an easy one to answer since the municipal code pertaining to chicken-keeping varies greatly from one place to another.
This site is designed to help people wanting to know about the laws, ordinances and rules that allow for urban chickens: chickens kept within city limits for eggs and companionship, not for slaughter.
Not sure what the law is in your area, and you don't see your city listed below? See this page to learn How to research Urban Chicken ordinances online.
[edit] Places Where Urban Chicken Are Legal
These are the places where there are laws on the books allowing chickens in the backyard If you can't find a municipality (village, town, city) that currently allows chickens, please add it to the list below by clicking the "edit" link on the right. Ideally, we'll be able to provide detail to support the great list of urban chicken laws over at City Chicken (and copied elsewhere).
Even better, you can create a page yourself and link it from the list (Template for new city pages).
- Mobile, AL
- Anaheim, CA
- Bakersfield, CA
- Belmont, CA
- Berkeley, CA
- Campbell, CA
- Davis, CA
- Downey, CA
- Folsom, CA
- Irvine, CA
- La Puente, CA
- Long Beach, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Los Altos, CA
- Mountain View, CA
- Minneapolis, MN
- Oakland, CA
- Petaluma, CA
- Redwood City, CA
- Roseville, CA
- Santa Rosa, CA
- San Jose, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- San Mateo, CA
- Vallejo, CA
- Walnut, CA
- Woodland, CA
- Atlanta, GA
- Columbus, GA
- Roswell, GA
- Savannah, GA
- Chicago, IL
- Indianapolis, IN
- Munster, IN
- Ann Arbor, MI
- State College, PA
- Bellevue, WA
- Carnation, WA
- Des Moines, WA
- Duvall, WA
- Issaquah, WA
- Kirkland, WA
- Mercer Island, WA
- Redmond, WA
- SeaTac, WA
- Seattle, WA
- Shoreline, WA
- Woodinville, WA
[edit] Places Trying to Pass Urban Chicken Ordinances
If you know of ordinances that have been submitted to or are about to be considered by a municipality, please add them below in hopes they'll be promoted to "Existing" soon!
- Burnsville, MN (map; pop 59,000)
- Monona, WI (map; pop 8,000)
- Cedar Rapids, IA (map; pop 122,000)
[edit] Useful Responses to Arguments Against Urban Chickens
Fill out this section with a list of common arguments against urban chickens and effective responses to these points. (note: many arguments against are emotional ones, not logical ones)
- They poop too much! Nowhere near as much as a single dog does.
- The outlaw chicken patrol costs too much! The additional cost is negligible.
- You're spreading bird flu to your neighbors! Urban chickens help STOP the spread of avian flu.
- You're breeding salmonella in your coop! That's a hand-washing problem, not a coop problem.
This resource center is an adjunct to the Urban Chickens Network blog.
