West Jordan, UT Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 3, Article E of the West Jordan City Code permits chickens only under the conditions in section 6-3E-3. Chickens are not treated as household pets and may be kept only on a non-nuisance basis for familial egg production, with no sale of eggs and no income from keeping the birds. A lot may hold up to five egg-laying hens and up to five chicks, and roosters or crowing hens are prohibited outright. Enclosures, pens, and coops must sit in the rear yard or an interior side yard; a corner side yard is allowed only if it is screened with sight-obscuring fencing or vegetation.

Coops must be at least twenty feet from the nearest primary structure or habitable dwelling on an adjoining lot and at least five feet from the property line, tightening to ten feet from any structure whenever a heating device is used inside the coop; a portable wheeled coop may temporarily encroach on the five-foot line setback. Dead birds and unused eggs must be cleared within twenty-four hours, and any chicken that wanders onto a neighboring property can be seized by Animal Services. Keeping chickens requires an annual, non-transferable Fowl Keeping Permit issued under section 6-3E-5, tied to the resident applicant rather than the property, with the fee set by the city's uniform fee schedule and no grandfathered rights if the permit lapses.

Separately, section 6-3F-1 bans any livestock, including larger farm animals, from running at large anywhere in the city and holds the owner strictly liable regardless of precautions taken.