ChickenMap · Ordinance lookup
Can I have chickens in Akron, OH?
Depends on your lot
Allowed, but only if no home — including your own — is too close to where you'd keep them
These are the City of Akron’s own rules, and they apply inside the city limits.
If your address is outside the city limits — a Akron mailing address on unincorporated county land is common — your county’s code governs instead, and it may reach a different answer, particularly about roosters. We have researched the township or county land around Akron — see the section below. Check your parcel’s jurisdiction to know which of the two applies to you.
Inside Akron city limits — residential zoning
Outside the city limits? See the township or county land around Akron ↓
- Hen limit
- Not specified
- Roosters
- Not specified
- Permit
- Not required
- Setback
- Not specified
Permit: There is no fowl permit in Akron. The code offers no variance or permit route for chickens, in contrast to hoofed animals, which the Director of Neighborhood Assistance may authorize by permit on lots of an acre or more.
Coop rules: A coop is an accessory structure under the zoning code, so the ordinary accessory-structure rules apply on top of the 100 ft distance. In a rear yard it must sit at least 3 ft from a lot line and at least 6 ft from any other structure, and it may not exceed 15 ft in height at its peak. Floor area is capped by lot size: 576 sq ft on a lot up to 6,000 sq ft, 672 sq ft from 6,001 to 8,000, and 900 sq ft above that — and all accessory structures together may not cover more than 40 percent of the rear yard.
Akron does not ban backyard chickens — but whether you can keep them comes down to the size and shape of your lot. Poultry may not be kept in any dwelling or within 100 feet of one, and "any dwelling" includes your own house, not just a neighbour's. That means you need a spot on your property more than 100 feet from your own home and from every neighbouring home. A typical Akron residential lot is nowhere near wide enough, so for most residents this rules chickens out in practice — but on a large parcel it is entirely legal. There is no permit, no variance route and no limit on how many birds you may keep; the distance is the whole test. Roosters are never mentioned — not in the animal chapter and not in the chapter on offences against public peace, which contains no animal-noise provision at all — so their status is unresolved rather than permitted. One related quirk: banded racing and show pigeons are expressly allowed in a proper loft, while common pigeons are not. Measure before you buy birds, and confirm with Akron's Division of Housing Appeals and Building Standards.
This is general information compiled from public ordinances, not legal advice. Rules change — confirm with the source and your local authority before keeping birds.
Outside the city limits — the township or county land around Akron
Different jurisdiction — the township or county land around Akron, not the City of Akron. This applies only if your property is outside Akron city limits. A mailing address in Akron does not settle that — the city and the county boundary are different lines. Confirm your parcel’s jurisdiction before relying on it.
Outside the city you are on township land or unincorporated county land, and Ohio law takes agriculture out of the reach of both boards: neither township nor county zoning may prohibit using land for agricultural purposes, and the statutory definition of agriculture names poultry husbandry and the production of poultry expressly. No zoning certificate is required for a building used for it. There is one exception, and it is the one most likely to apply to you. Inside a platted subdivision — or an area of fifteen or more approved contiguous lots — the board may regulate agriculture outright on lots of one acre or less, and may regulate poultry husbandry specifically on lots between one and five acres once at least 35 percent of the subdivision is built on. Above five acres it may not regulate poultry at all. So the practical test is whether your parcel is in a platted subdivision and how big it is.
Check your HOA before you buy a single chick.
Even where local ordinance allows backyard chickens, a homeowners association or deed restriction can prohibit them entirely — and HOA rules override a city’s “yes.” Read your HOA’s covenants (CC&Rs) in addition to the city/county rules on this page.
Poultry sellers near Akron, OH
F. EAGLE NEST POULTRY
Oceola, OH, 44860
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