Rosalia council updates fowl and poultry code

The Rosalia Town Council voted April 11 to pass a new fowl and poultry ordinance. Town Clerk/Treasurer Jenna McDonald said the council added the new ordinance to an already existing ordinance that allows for chickens in town. This ordinance, she said, makes the first more clear.

“We had an ordinance for chickens, but this is a new one because it puts regulations on it,” said McDonald. “That one was more of a zoning ordinance. It was general.”

Rosalia already allows chickens in town, and the new ordinance continues to do so. The new ordinance makes clear the type of fowl not allowed in town.

“It's more specific,” said McDonald.

The types of fowl not allowed include roosters, turkeys, geese, ducks, peacocks, pigeons and game birds. This new ordinance also stipulates that a residence can have a maximum of 12 chickens, and each chicken must have 10 square feet of enclosed space.

“It's for the condition of the chickens, too,” commented McDonald.

The enclosure must also be predator-proof on all sides and top as well.

“Hawks will go in there and get the babies,” said McDonald. “There also needs to be reasonable shelter from the elements.”

Free range chickens are not allowed.

McDonald said the reason for the re-do of the ordinance was because of several complaints that town council members had received.

“Each council member got enough input from neighbors of some chicken owners,” said McDonald.

McDonald noted there are several people in town with chickens, and the town council wanted to continue to be able to allow this.

“We have a lot of people with chickens, and most are really good, very responsible chicken owners,” said McDonald. “We don't want to penalize everybody and say no chickens.”

The ordinance, McDonald said, is mostly about creating a standard for keeping the chickens contained.

The town's code enforcement officer researched the matter after the complaints were received and ended up finding Palouse's chicken ordinance.

“Ours is almost exactly like Palouse's,” said McDonald. “There's just a few things changed.”