City residents reminded about poultry laws

It’s baby chick season, but roosters need not apply for residency in any of Flathead County’s three incorporated cities. Only hens can be city dwellers.

The city of Columbia Falls issued an advisory Monday, reminding its residents about the no-rooster clause in the city zoning rules.

“Please be careful when selecting chicks that you do not have any roosters,” Columbia Falls City Manager Susan Nicosia advised. “Roosters are not permitted in any residential zoned area within the Columbia Falls Planning and Zoning jurisdiction.”

So how does one tell if they’re buying a boy or girl chick? An animal health technician at Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply said if a customer chooses chicks from the store’s pullet tank, there’s a 90 to 95 percent chance it will be female. But those buying a straight run of chicks have a 50-50 chance of getting a mix of sexes. It takes a couple of months until they’re fully feathered to further determine whether it’s a hen or rooster, he added.

If you are raising chickens in Columbia Falls and your property is less than one acre in size, you are limited to five hens and they must be kept in a fenced area or enclosure. Any buildings or structures for animals must be in the rear or side yard.

In Whitefish, residents are allowed to keep up to five hens in residential zones without permits. All hens — no roosters — must be kept in rear and side yards, inside fenced enclosures and coops which must be set back a minimum of 10 feet from the property lines of the subject tract or lot.

The rooster ban applies to Kalispell as well. Hens are allowed, and just how many a city resident can have depends on how much space is available.

Kalispell zoning code allows up to four hens for the first 3,000 square feet of a residential parcel. For each additional 1,000 square feet of any residential parcel, one additional hen up to a maximum of 15 is permitted.

Kalispell zoning rules have a long list of regulations “for the keeping of chickens,” and anyone interested in raising chickens in the city is well-advised to study the list.

In addition to obvious rules such as not allowing the fowl to run at large, Kalispell rules note that chicken coops can’t be closer than 20 feet from any other structure inhabited by someone other than the chicken owner, and not closer than 5 feet to any property line.

In Kalispell, noisy and smelly hens are not allowed, and chicken owners cannot slaughter their birds within public view.