Ankeny, IA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Ankeny handles livestock and backyard poultry as two different questions. Section 55.05, Livestock, is a flat prohibition: it is unlawful for any person to keep livestock within the city at all. Chickens get a specific carve-out from that ban, but only on owner-occupied, single-family properties that satisfy Chapter 58's Urban Chickens permit conditions, not as a matter of right. Section 58.03 sets the numeric ceiling once a permit issues: a maximum of six chickens per tract of land, and only female chickens, meaning no roosters are allowed under any circumstance.

Section 58.04 layers a lot-size and use floor on top of the six-hen cap: the City will grant a chicken permit only for a tract of at least one-quarter acre, or 10,890 square feet, holding a single single-family home in a residential zoning district on the City's Official Zoning Map. Section 58.06 then governs where the birds can actually live: henhouses, chicken tractors and chicken pens must sit in the rear yard, at least twenty-five feet from any property line, must be enclosed on all sides with a roof and lockable doors, and must give each bird at least four square feet of space.

Because chickens require an annual permit rather than simply meeting these numbers, a resident who buys six hens for a quarter-acre lot without first applying is still out of compliance until the Permitting Officer issues the permit.