It is best to check with local authorities about chicken laws in your area. The laws regarding hen keeping will vary from town to town.
Some laws only allow a certain number of hens and no roosters, make it mandatory that coops be a specific distance (fifty to a hundred feet is common) away from other structures, and more. Some areas prohibit poultry altogether unless you have a specified amount of land (often an acre or more).
A sampling of cities and their regulations governing chicken keeping are:
Dallas doesn’t allow roosters.
Coops in Austin must be 50 feet away from other buildings/properties.
Ft. Worth has a limit on the number of hens you can keep based on your property size, and they must be 50 feet away from any buildings.
In Houston you must have a special permit that gives the number of hens and their purpose, whether they are for personal use or commercial.
Los Angeles allows for chicken keeping with minimal interference.
Oakland, Ca allows hens but not roosters.
San Diego requires that chicken feed containers be rat proof, that droppings be cleaned weekly, and limits the number of birds to twenty-five.
Key West, FL gives specific guidelines for hen waste disposal, does not allow its use as a fertilizer, and requires that coops/cages be cleaned daily.
Charlotte, NC requires a $40 permit to keep hens, limits the number by property size, limits the size of coops/pens, etc.
Concord, NC does not allow chickens at all.
Columbus, Ohio requires you have at least 5 acres of property and that coops be a minimum of 100 feet away from roads or property lines.
Huntsville, Al allows chickens as long as you keep the one hundred and fifty feet away from neighboring homes.
Homewood, AL requires that hens be 300 feet away from neighboring buildings and one hundred feet away from any road.
Denver, CO has several requirements. You must place 2 signs in your yard for a month to find out if neighbors object, pay a 50 dollar application fee, 100 dollar permit fee, and a seventy dollar annual fee and be subject to periodic inspections of the sanitary conditions of your flock.
In Washington D.C. you have to get written permission from all your neighbors to keep chickens on your property. Chickens must be at least fifty feet from homes.
While some areas have no restrictions against hens, they do give citations for disturbing the peace if your birds become too loud.
Be sure you have checked local regulations before you begin your own flock.
Take a look at Chicken Laws for quite a bit more info on this subject. If your are thinking about building a chicken house coop, check out How to Build a Chicken Coop.