Le Sueur passes backyard chicken ordinance after three failed tries

Le Sueur moved its backyard chicken rules forward as Ordinance 620, turning a limited, confusing code section into a formal policy change after months of council and planning review. The city’s records show the push began with a March 23, 2026 first reading, then went through the Planning Commission on April 9 and again on May 14 before a July 27 second and final reading.

The key before-and-after shift was not a ban versus a free-for-all, but a cleanup of Chapter 153.103(C) and the city’s language around the limited keeping of chickens. In a March 23 council memo, Chief of Police Pilar Stier and City Administrator Joe Roby told the mayor and council that the Le Sueur Police Department had identified areas where the code should be modified to ensure consistency. At the March 23 council meeting, Stier said Ordinance 620 cleans up “some confusion” around the chicken rules.

That matters for residents trying to figure out whether backyard hens are feasible in Le Sueur, not just appealing in theory. A loosened ordinance can make the difference between waiting on the city and starting to plan a coop, but the practical limits still matter: how many hens are allowed, what setbacks apply, what kind of enclosure is required, and what happens if odor, noise or nuisance complaints start coming in. The city records available here show the ordinance was aimed at clarifying those rules, but they do not spell out the final text line by line.

The process itself shows how closely the issue was handled. The March 23 agenda listed Mayor Shawn Kirby and council members Mark Huntington, Kay Nelson, Scott Schlueter, Wendy Smith, Marvin Sullivan and Pam Williams. By July 27, the council packet named Stier again, along with Zoning Administrator and Building Official Justin Nielsen, and the agenda called the item “Second Reading Of Ordinance 620 - Keeping Of Backyard Chickens.”

The Planning Commission’s review in April and May also shows this was treated as a zoning and enforcement question, not just a hobby issue. On May 14, the commission agenda listed “Review of Ordinance 620 – Updates to §153.103(C) – Limited Keeping of Chickens,” reinforcing that the city was working through the details of how backyard hens would fit into the code.

For anyone in Le Sueur thinking about a flock, the headline change is real: the city has moved chicken keeping from a murky rule set into a cleaner ordinance framework. The remaining question is the one that always decides whether backyard hens are truly workable, or just a little less burdensome than before: what the final code actually allows on the ground.