Burlington asks residents to weigh in on backyard chicken rules

Burlington residents got a fresh chance to shape city code on backyard chickens as the city reopened the question of whether fowl should be allowed inside Burlington city limits. The current ban remains in Burlington City Code Section 6-13, but the Burlington City Council has been reconsidering that restriction and asking residents to weigh in through a community survey.

The survey was offered in English and Spanish, and paper copies in both languages could be filled out at the Burlington Municipal Building, 425 South Lexington Avenue. That made the decision less about backyard novelty than about who would actually be allowed to keep chickens, what limits would apply and how the city would respond if coops turned into nuisances.

Burlington had already been down this road. In May 2021, the City Council rejected a backyard-chicken proposal by a 3-2 vote. That plan would have let residents obtain permits to keep up to four chickens in pens outside their homes, but city staff raised concerns about the manpower needed to inspect pens and investigate violations.

Those enforcement questions came back into focus as residents pressed the issue again in March 2025. Frank Poppa of Grand Oaks Boulevard urged council members to revisit backyard chickens and suggested a stricter version of the idea, with a limit of two chickens per household, a vaccine requirement, fencing and a $5 registration fee.

Any future change would also have to fit the city’s enforcement structure. Burlington Animal Services says it enforces city codes and North Carolina state laws related to animal issues, while Burlington Code Enforcement responds to complaints under the city’s ordinances. Animal Services also provides animal sheltering, pet adoption and low-cost spay/neuter services for all of Alamance County, underscoring that a chicken policy would not affect only a few backyards in Burlington. It would add another layer of responsibility for city staff already tasked with handling animal complaints across the county.

For now, no ordinance change had been adopted. But the question before city leaders was clear: keep the longstanding prohibition in place, or write new rules that would let some Burlington residents raise chickens under permit, limits and enforcement provisions that still had to be worked out.