Missouri judge strikes down law protecting backyard chickens from HOAs
A Cole County judge wiped out Missouri’s HOA chicken law, putting backyard hen bans back in force. Flock owners now have to check their covenants.
Cole County Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe has struck down Missouri House Bill 2062, putting homeowner associations back in control of backyard-chicken bans in Mid-Missouri neighborhoods. For residents who counted on the 2024 law to protect a small flock, the practical answer is back to the subdivision covenant. If your HOA forbids hens, that ban can again be enforced.
HB 2062 had been signed by Governor Mike Parson on July 12, 2024, and was set to take effect Aug. 28, 2024. The law would have overridden HOA bans and, as described in reporting and legal summaries, allowed homeowners to keep up to six hens on lots of at least 0.2 acres, with the birds kept in a single coop.
The challenge was filed in August 2024 in a case identified by KRMS Radio as Four Seasons Lakesites Property Owners Association v. State of Missouri. The fight drew in the Community Associations Institute’s Heartland Chapter and the Missouri Legislative Action Committee, while legal commentary later tracked the dispute through the Cole County Circuit Court. Stumpe ruled the measure unconstitutional because it violated Missouri’s clear-title requirement and single-subject rule, and local coverage described the decision as invalidating the law in its entirety.
That leaves current and aspiring flock owners in HOA neighborhoods where they started: the state-level shield is gone, and any local restriction that was paused by HB 2062 can be enforced again. If a board has already been warning about chickens, the ruling strengthens its hand on compliance, whether the issue is an existing coop, a planned run, or a pending dispute over a small flock.
The political divide around the law was always sharp. Supporters framed backyard hens as a self-reliance issue, pointing to fresh eggs, compostable manure and family education. HOA leaders and opponents focused on noise, odor, pests and the pressure chickens can place on tightly packed subdivisions, alongside concerns about property values and neighborhood aesthetics. With the statute struck down on constitutional grounds rather than policy merits, the next move is likely to come back to Jefferson City, but for now the immediate authority rests with the associations that HB 2062 tried to limit.
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