Casper expands backyard poultry rules to allow chickens and quail

Casper residents can now keep more than just hens in the backyard, but the city did not open the door very wide. The new ordinance lets single-family properties keep up to six domesticated fowl total, including chickens and birds such as quail for egg production, giving small flocks a little more flexibility without changing the basic nuisance controls.

The key for backyard setups is that the same limits still follow every bird in the pen. Roosters remain prohibited in most residential areas, with an exception only in urban agriculture districts in Casper. The ordinance also bars butchering domesticated fowl inside city limits, so the new allowance is aimed at egg production and small-scale keeping, not on-site processing.

Housing rules matter just as much as the bird count. Casper now requires a covered, predator-resistant coop with at least 5 square feet per bird. Birds must be locked up from dusk until dawn, and any birds outside during the day have to stay in a secured area with a minimum 6-foot-high privacy fence. The coop must sit in the rear yard and be set back at least 6 feet from property lines, or 3 feet if it sits beside an alley. For anyone thinking about adding quail to an existing chicken run, that means the whole layout still has to work under chicken rules, even if the birds themselves are different.

The City Council approved the change on June 16, 2026, after the issue first advanced on March 3 and then got delayed on April 7 for more review. City Attorney Eric Nelson said a recent court case involving a dog attacking a resident’s birds helped prompt the city to re-examine its poultry rules. Police Chief Shane Chaney and Metro Animal Services Manager Jodi Decker also supported broadening the ordinance, saying quail are as clean as or cleaner than chickens and would not create new noise or nuisance problems under the city’s existing standards.

Casper’s move is a practical one for residents who want more egg options without crossing into a full-on farm setup. If the plan is a mixed flock, the real questions are simple: does every bird fit under the six-bird cap, does the coop meet the 5-square-foot and setback rules, and is the flock being kept for eggs rather than meat? In Casper, those answers now decide whether a backyard bird keeper can add quail, or whether the old chicken-only setup still makes more sense.