Backyard chickens in West Lafayette, Indiana

Yes. Unlike its sister city Lafayette (which only adopted a specific hen ordinance in 2025), West Lafayette has no ordinance that specifically names or restricts chickens. City code enforcement has confirmed this directly: local reporting quotes West Lafayette's own code enforcement supervisor, Rick Walker, stating that the city has no ordinances restricting the ownership of chickens within city limits.

Chicken-keeping falls instead under the city's general animal/nuisance provision, historically found in Chapter 65 (now recodified as Chapter 4, 'Animals,' of the West Lafayette Code of Ordinances), which prohibits 'the maintenance or keeping of any farm animals, poultry, birds, dogs or cats in such a manner that the same are or may become injurious to the health or offensive to the inhabitants in the vicinity of the same.' In practical terms, as long as your flock does not become a health hazard or a nuisance to neighbors, keeping hens is legal.

Because there is no dedicated chicken chapter, there is also no published numeric hen cap, no permit process, and no codified setback distance in West Lafayette — a marked contrast to Lafayette across the river.

West Lafayette sits in the Midwest's humid continental climate zone, with cold, snowy winters (regularly below 20°F) and hot, humid summers that can push past 90°F. Coops should be insulated or at least draft-free for winter while still providing summer ventilation, and flocks benefit from wind-blocked, insulated housing during Indiana's winter storms.

Backyard flocks in the West Lafayette area should be secured against common regional predators including raccoons, red-tailed hawks, foxes, opossums, and coyotes, all of which are present in the Wabash River valley's mix of urban, campus, and wooded/riparian habitat. A fully enclosed, hardware-cloth-covered run is recommended even though it is not legally mandated.