If you are worried about the chicken laws in your area, check with local authorities to find out what they are. The laws regarding chicken keeping will vary from town to town.
Some restrictions only allow a certain number of hens and no roosters, make it mandatory that coops be a specific distance (50 to 100 feet is common) away from other structures, and more. Still other restrictions state that you cannot keep poultry if you have less than an acre of property.
Here are a few of the restrictions about chicken keeping nationally:
Dallas prohibits roosters, but otherwise has no regulations.
Coops in Austin must be fifty feet away from other buildings/properties.
Ft. Worth has a limit on the number of hens you can keep based on your property size, and they must be fifty feet away from any buildings.
Houston requires that you register for a permit and declare the number of chickens and whether they are for commercial or personal use.
Los Angeles allows for hen keeping with minimal interference.
Oakland, CA prohibits roosters.
San Diego requires that hen feed containers be rat proof, that droppings be cleaned weekly, and limits the number of birds to 25.
Key West, FL gives specific guidelines for hen waste disposal, does not allow its use as a fertilizer, and requires that coops/cages be cleaned daily.
Charlotte, NC has a 40 dollar permit registration fee, limits the number of hens and size of the coop by property size, and requires that they be a specific number of feet from other buildings.
Concord, NC prohibits keeping chickens.
Columbus, OH requires a minimum of 5 acres to keep hens and they must be one hundred feet away from roads or other properties.
Huntsville, Al allows hens as long as you keep the one hundred and fifty feet away from neighboring homes.
Homewood, AL requires that chickens be 300′ away from neighboring buildings and 100 feet away from any road.
Denver, CO has several requirements. You must place two signs in your yard for a month to find out if neighbors object, pay a 50 dollar application fee, hundred dollar permit fee, and a seventy dollar annual fee and be subject to periodic inspections of the sanitary conditions of your flock.
Washington, DC requires you to get written permission from your neighbors and keep hens at least 50 feet from other homes.
Chicken regulations vary widely; some cities have no restrictions regarding chickens, but will give citations for disturbing the peace should your chickens become too loud.
Check your local hen regulations before starting a flock of your own.
For quite a bit more information on the topic, view Chicken Laws. If your are interested in building a hen house coop, visit Chicken Coop Plans.