Cold Spring Considers Backyard Chicken Ordinance Allowing Up to Six Hens

(KNSI) – Backyard chickens could soon be allowed in Cold Spring.

The Cold Spring City Council will vote on an ordinance Wednesday that would let homeowners keep up to six hens with a city permit. The meeting starts at 5:00 p.m. in Room 248 of the District Education Facility. City staff are recommending the council approve it.

City code currently bans chickens and other poultry inside city limits, even when they’re penned on private property. The new ordinance would carve out an exception for single-family homes in residential neighborhoods. Roosters would not be allowed, and homes along the water in the city’s shoreland district would not qualify.

The city would issue no more than 10 permits a year. Each permit would cost a one-time fee of $100, and the owner must live at the home. Permits would not transfer if the house is sold.

The ordinance also sets rules for coops and runs. They would have to sit in the backyard, at least 10 feet from property lines and 25 feet from any neighboring house. Coops would need to match the look of the home as closely as possible, and hens would have to be locked inside from sunset to sunrise. Butchering and breeding chickens would be banned.

City staff could inspect coops at any reasonable time, and the city could suspend or revoke a permit for violations. Keeping chickens without a permit would be a petty misdemeanor.

If approved, the ordinance would take effect once it’s passed and published.

St. Cloud has turned down backyard chickens twice in recent years. On December 2nd, 2024, the St. Cloud City Council voted 5-1 to reject an ordinance that would have allowed property owners to keep up to four hens on a single-family lot at least 6,000 square feet in size. Council President Jeff Goerger said the biggest concern for him was public health, pointing to bird flu. Then on February 9th of this year, the council voted 3-2 against reexamining the ordinance after Councilmember Scott Brodeen put the issue back on the agenda.

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