Backyard chickens in Yonkers, New York

Backyard chickens are not permitted in Yonkers, NY. Under the Code of the City of Yonkers, § 65-23, "Keeping of poultry or other birds" (Chapter 65, Animals and Dogs), the city imposes a blanket ban on keeping poultry, fowl, or other birds on any premises, subject only to narrow exceptions.

The ordinance states: "No person shall keep, cause or allow to be kept on, in or about any premises or property any poultry, fowl or other birds, except as hereinafter provided: A. It shall be lawful to keep for purposes of sale live poultry in a live poultry market." The only other carve-outs in § 65-23 cover selling or keeping "lovebirds, canaries, parakeets and other birds of similar variety" at mercantile establishments or as domestic pets — chickens are not included in that pet-bird exception, so keeping hens (or roosters) for eggs or as backyard pets is not a lawful use under the current code.

A secondary summary of the ordinance confirms this reading: "Permissible Purposes: Chickens can only be kept in Yonkers for the following purposes: For sale in a live poultry market. For sale at mercantile establishments." and that keeping them "As domestic pets" is only referenced in relation to the small cage-bird exception, not chickens specifically. The same source notes "the city's ordinances do not specify the maximum number of chickens allowed for pets, mercantile establishments, or live poultry markets" because keeping them as backyard pets is not an authorized category to begin with.

Note: In 2015 the Yonkers City Council debated a temporary pilot ordinance that would have let permit holders raise chickens; a news report from that debate stated "the City Council has made various changes to the proposed ordinance, including limiting residents to four bee hives and a maximum of six chickens" with permits capped at 24 citywide, and the pilot was slated to "expire in two years, with no additional permits handed out unless the City Council renews the plan" if approved. That temporary program does not appear in the current codified text of § 65-23, which still reflects only the original 1990 language, so residents should not rely on that 2015 proposal as current law.

Yonkers sits just north of New York City in the Hudson Valley and experiences a humid continental climate with four distinct seasons: cold, snowy winters (often dropping into the teens °F) and warm, humid summers. Coop insulation and draft-free ventilation are important for winter, while shade and airflow matter in summer humidity.

Yonkers' mix of dense residential neighborhoods, parkland, and Hudson River greenways supports populations of raccoons, opossums, red-tailed hawks, and increasingly foxes and coyotes that have adapted to suburban Westchester County. Secure, fully-enclosed runs with buried hardware cloth and covered tops are typically recommended wherever poultry-keeping is legal nearby, to deter digging and aerial predators.