The City Council passed the backyard hen-keeping ordinance after nearly two years of discussion in an 8-0 vote Tuesday night. The ordinance, set to take effect November 1, will allow people within city limits to keep up to three hens in their backyard as long as the enclosure is 20 feet away from the nearest neighboring residence, and a license fee of $10 per household and permit fee of $15 per chicken is paid annually. To read the ordinance, click here. After 18 members of the community spoke in support of the council adopting the ordinance, and two in opposition, all members of the council voted in favor of adopting the ordinance except one, councilman Darrell Fong, who was not presen

City staff will draft an ordinance that, if passed, will allow up to three egg-laying hens to be kept in backyards within city limits. The Law and Legislation committee of the City Council gave the nod to city staff to draft the ordinance in a unanimous decision Tuesday. City Councilman Steve Cohn, who walked out of a previous meeting to prevent the issue being shot down in a 3-1 vote, called Tuesday’s decision a victory, and said the ordinance should come to the full council for a vote within one or two months, where he expects it will pass. “I was very pleased,” said Cohn, who has been advocating for allowing hens in city backyards for more than a year. “I don’t think we’ll have a pro

The fate of chicken keeping in Sacramento is still undecided after Tuesday’s Law and Legislation Committee meeting when Councilman Steve Cohn walked out and prevented Sandy Sheedy and Lauren Hammond from voting down the ordinance advocated by CLUCK (Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping). Cohn was the only supportive voice on the committee. “What I’d like to do,” he said, “is allow more work to be done and have an actual ordinance be drafted.” Hammond said, “I have never been enthusiastic about the idea.” Cohn replied, “If you wanna kill it, kill it, but I’ll bring it back when you’re gone.” This was a disappointing finale for CLUCK as supporters were left puzzled by Cohn’s abrupt

 Sacramento gardening activists want to take urban agriculture to the next level and legalize raising chickens in your back yard. "It's really been a hot topic lately," said Jaclyn Hopkins, volunteer coordinator for Environmental and Agricultural Taskforce Sacramento. "A lot of cities are changing their regulations to allow chicken-keeping, and Sacramento's on it's way." EAT Sacramento and its partner group Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping (CLUCK) were founded this year to advocate for more sustainable and organic gardening in the city. To promote the cause of backyard chicken coops, CLUCK will be hosting screenings of the indie documentary Mad City Chickens at the Guild Theatr