Linn Supervisors approve chickens for residential properties in county

CEDAR RAPIDS ― People living in unincorporated areas of Linn County can now add chickens, rabbits and chinchillas to their home.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday officially approved an ordinance to allow for the keeping of chickens and other small animals in residential zoning districts.

The ordinance, for residents of unincorporated parts of the county, is expected to go into effect April 14.

The ordinance specifically allows for small animals including: domestic fowl (ducks, quail, pheasants and female chickens), rabbits, chinchillas and other similar-sized animals. Roosters are prohibited.

Residents are allowed only 12 small animals per acre. For people with less than one acre, they are allowed no more than 12 total, according to the ordinance.

Additionally geese, turkeys and peafowl have been added to the “intermediate-sized” animal list to be allowed on unincorporated Linn County residential property.

Linn County is not the first to allow chickens or similar animals.

Cedar Rapids has allowed “urban chickens” since 2010. The city’s ordinance allows residents to raise, harbor and keep up to six hens in single-family properties with a yearly permit.

Currently, the city has 84 active chicken permits, according to Cedar Rapids Communications Division Manager Maria Johnson.

Marion began approving chicken permits in 2014, according to Associate Planner Kesha Billings.

To obtain an “urban ducks and chickens” permit, one must first complete the urban chicken training workshop. Like Cedar Rapids, Marion also allows only six animals per land parcel.

Billings said the city does not verify the continuation of keeping chickens or ducks, but 74 applications have been approved since the ordinance began.

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