Effective August 25, 2020 residents can keep backyard chickens in Prairie Village. The City Council spent several meetings in the summer of 2020 discussing chicken keeping, which the municipal code previously prohibited.

The City Council approved Ordinance No. 2421, allowing the keeping of chickens, July 6. The Council took final action on the matter at its meeting August 17 when it approved revisions to zoning regulations.

The approved ordinance states:

• Residents are allowed one clutch of (eight) chicks on any one lot, regardless of the number of dwellings on the lot.
• Residents are allowed six chickens ages 16 weeks or older on any one lot.
• No roosters, only female chickens (hens) are allowed.
• Chickens cannot be kept or sold for profit. Commercial chicken operations are prohibited.
• Chickens must be kept in a coop or chicken tractor at all times.
• Chicken coops and chicken tractors must have at least 12 square feet per chicken and not exceed 84 square feet total.
• Coops, runs and tractors may only be located in the back yard, must be located at least 10 feet from a lot’s property line and at least 25 feet from any dwelling, church, school or business structure on any other parcel.
• Chickens cannot be killed on residential lots, consistent with the Kansas animal cruelty statute.

The City does not require chickens to be registered. Residents interested in keeping chickens should check with their homes association first. While backyard hens are allowed in Prairie Village, some homes association’s deed restrictions prohibit the keeping of livestock or poultry, which would override a City ordinance.

More information regarding the keeping of chickens, can be found in Chapter 2 of the Municipal Code Much of the pertinent information is in Section 2-143.

Healthy Families and Flocks

Check out information from the CDC regarding safe and healthy handling of live poultry.