Urban chicken ordinance passed by Columbia City Council

The Columbia, Missouri, City Council approved an ordinance that allows residents to raise chickens within city limits. In passing its urban-chicken ordinance, Columbia joins Springfield, Independence, St. Louis, Kirksville and Kansas City, Missouri.

Here in Kansas City, property owners are allowed to have 15 chickens or 50 chicks (under the age of four months) as long as they are not within 25 feet of the property line or 100 feet of a neighbor’s house. Roosters that crow must be at least 300 feet from a neighbor’s home. In addition, the coop or enclosure must not create an “offensive, disagreeable or noxious smell or odor” that would cause “injury, annoyance or inconvenience of any inhabitants

of the neighborhood.”