23 Cities

Last summer, almost six months ago now, I shared several resources that looked at chicken ordinances in other cities.

One of these resources was a survey of 23 cities with ordinances conducted by Dr. Hugh Bartling's Green Urban Policy class at DePaul University.

The survey consisted of 8 open ended questions. The respondents were city staffs with a small number of elected officials.

The questions asked about problems with enforcement, chickens at large or getting loose, abandonment; things of that nature.

Chicken ordinances, as it turns out, were not difficult, expensive or time consuming to enforce. States the report:

In general we found that most cities were satisfied with their ordinances, major complaints and infractions were rare, and the adoption of chicken ordinances have been looked upon positively.

 You an read the entire report here:

The cities were:

• Ann Arbor, MI
• Baraboo WI
• Belmont, MA
• Boise, ID
• Bozeman, MT
• Buffalo, NY
• Duluth MN
• Durham, NC
• Eugene, OR
• Fort Collins, CO
• Gulfport, FL
• Huntington, NY
• Lawrence, KS
• Madison, WI
• Missoula, MT
• Moab, UT
• New Haven, CT
• Portland, OR
• South Portland, ME
• St. Paul, MN
• State College Borough, PA
• Wake Forest, NC
• Ypsilanti, MI

That's a respectable list. Pierre will be in good company. Chicken ordinances are fairly mainstream anymore.

Moving Forward

First, we will NOT be going before Commission this Tuesday Dec 3 for the public hearing despite the Dakota Voices piece on 11/27 in the Capital Journal.

That piece was submitted before we withdrew the ordinance. My apologies for any confusion.

That said, we ARE moving forward with the ordinance. We will revise the ordinance and we will start the process of getting it before Commission. Soon.

The concern about the ordinance as we originally intended to submit it was that it was too open. Most people who have first hand experience with chickens did so on a farm or acreage where 20, 30 or even 100 chickens including roosters were the norm. When you say chickens, they are thinking noise, smell, and other unpleasantness.

For this reason, an ordinance that will permit chickens in town will have to insure that chickens will be kept within the parameters of what is acceptable for animals in a neighborhood. A small flock of urban chickens is not the same as a flock on an acreage. We know that and the vast majority of urban chicken owners will know that. As we revise the ordinance, we will be thinking about the best way to craft it so that responsible chicken keepers will be able to keep a flock of six hens while making it clear that urban chickens are not the same as even as a hobby farm flock.

Your input is welcomed. Please go to our Facebook group to share your suggestions.