Chicken ordinances in St. Louis Missouri?

[StarLover21]

We *might* be moving here, and I wanted to see what the chicken ordinances are. The main thing I came across was this:

"No person shall raise or keep chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl or rabbits within the City, and the raising or keeping thereof is declared a public nuisance; except that such animals may be raised or kept within biological laboratories, hospitals, pet shops, slaughter houses, stockyards, zoological gardens, or itinerant or temporary shows; and except that such animals may be raised or kept where not more than four in the aggregate of all animals, including domestic animals and a pot-bellied pig, are kept as pets within any one parcel of property unless the owner obtains a noncommercial kennel permit."

So I'm assuming this means I can keep chickens, as long as I don't have a number of animals over 4 on the property? We have a dog and a hedgehog, so would this mean I could have 2 chickens? That's a big drop down from seven Would the hedgehog count as he never goes outside?

Any other information on this would be great!

 

[EweSheep]

Got a friend that lives IN St Louis and no problems there! No roosters tho! It didn't bother her neighbors.

 

[lookyhereboy]

Don't know if you are moving into the city or St Louis county. I live in St Louis county and the ordinance allows us 4 hens as pets. No roosters. Check closely if you are moving to the county and avoid any neighborhood with an HOA. Ask up front before you buy or rent in one. If they mention anything about a yearly fee insist they tell you what it is for. If they say it is an HOA demand a copy of the agreement. We were threatened with one we didn't even know we had when we got our chickens. We investigated and found it to be defunct. You will like St Louis when you get here I am sure. I have heard that you can have 6 hens in the city limits but don't have a reference to a law on it for you. There are many surrounding cities you can check on before moving here as well . They are generally better than living in the actual city limits and I know some of them allow chickens. Maplewood has an annual chicken celebration and people take their chickens there on leashes to show them off and socialize. I think they even have competitions. I'm not into that but so you know there are areas accepting of your chickens here in the St Louis area. Good luck.

 

[Cotton42]

As others have stated above, it really depends on where in St. Louis you're planning on moving too. Some important things to know about St. Louis when researching ordinances is the city is not part of the county, so the laws are completely different in the city than they are in the county and just to complicate things further there are 91 municipalities in the county, many with their own ordinances. I don't live in the city, but I have heard that you are only allowed 4 pets total. I wouldn't include a hedgehog in that 4, but that's just me. Now if you chose to live somewhere like Affton, which is in the county and is unincorporated, there are no limits to the number of chickens you can have and you can have roosters. Here is a link to the county ordinance handbook:

http://www.stlouisco.com/Portals/8/...unty resources/Ordinance Guidebook 4.7.11.pdf

The chicken ordinance is on page 12. I highly recommend figuring out where you want to live in the area and then contacting that municipality directly to find out what the laws are there. There are many places in St. Louis that will not allow chickens at all and some with really stupid and complicated ordinances designed to keep people from having them. Hope this helps! St. Louis is a great place to live.

 

[overthetop]

I don't live in St. Louis anymore, but know the area pretty well, as I grew up in Illinois just outside of St.Louis, and lived in various parts of St. Louis County for a lot of years. It is a great place (except in the winter) - you must try Imo's.
As everyone has more or less said so far - "St. Louis" is a big place. If you are moving there for a job, (I would assume), the location of the job will (should) greatly impact which part of the city/county/metro area you decide to live in, as traffic is a big consideration.
If you can, tell us where you will be commuting to, and I'm sure you'll get a lot more advice on areas that are chicken friendly within a drivable distance of your place of employment so that you don't lose your mind in traffic!

 

[StarLover21]

I don't live in St. Louis anymore, but know the area pretty well, as I grew up in Illinois just outside of St.Louis, and lived in various parts of St. Louis County for a lot of years. It is a great place (except in the winter) - you must try Imo's.
As everyone has more or less said so far - "St. Louis" is a big place. If you are moving there for a job, (I would assume), the location of the job will (should) greatly impact which part of the city/county/metro area you decide to live in, as traffic is a big consideration.
If you can, tell us where you will be commuting to, and I'm sure you'll get a lot more advice on areas that are chicken friendly within a drivable distance of your place of employment so that you don't lose your mind in traffic!

Thanks for everybody's replies so far!

Yes we would be moving there for a job at St. Louis University. I'm assuming that's in the middle of the city, so we would probably be in a neighborhood somewhere around there. Of course nothing is solid yet- we don't really know anything for sure, so I don't know the exact area we would be moving to.

It seems like we should just make sure we know the laws of our neighborhood before moving there? I'd love to move more into the country but it would probably be to long of a drive...

 

[Pife]

I know this is kinda old but...... did you move to St Louis?

 

[slstew43]

Here's some information on ST Louis City ordinance on chickens, you have to submit a non-commercial kennel permit to the Health Dept, $40 annual fee. Here's some links to the ordinance and 2012 updates specific to chickens. Do a google search on st louis non-residential kennel permit and you can find this information if these links don't work. The pdf link has the most detailed information on chicken restrictions since 2012. http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/cco/ords/data/ord2853.htm
~~accstl.com/wp-content/.../Health-Commissioner-Order-Chickens.1.pdf

 

[TheEasyChicken]

A more detailed account of the ordinances for just St. Louis County municipalities, check here: http://www.urbanfarmliving.com/the-brief-on-chickens/st-louis-city-county-chicken-ordinances/

They also have a great detailed document to send to officials if you are trying to change ordinances!

edited by staff

 

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

i live south of STL in festus, 40 minute drive up 55 and 55 rarely has traffic