Jim Bauermeister — and any Medford resident for that matter — can keep chickens after all.

Medford Municipal Judge Bill Haberlach ruled Tuesday that Medford's ordinance banning livestock in residential areas does not include a small number of hens for noncommercial use.

The ruling comes nearly two years after the City Council determined that the city code as written prohibits the poultry, and should stay the way it is.

Councilman Jason Anderson was among those who opposed residents keeping chickens.

"Apparently Judge Haberlach doesn't think a chicken is a farm animal and I respectfully disagree," said Anderson.

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The issue arose in 2004 after a Medford resident, Ingrid Edstrom, received formal warnings from the city for her six chickens, and she asked the council to clarify its code regulating chickens. Edstrom has since moved from Medford.

The council agreed the code did not clearly ban chickens and decided to consider an ordinance allowing a resident to keep a small number of the birds. Upon further investigation and discussion, the council voted 4-3 in May 2005 to reject an ordinance that would have allowed residents to keep up to six birds. The city attorney's office determined that the code as written prohibited the birds.

Bauermeister — whose name in German he says means "master of the farm" — got the birds about the time the city began working on an ordinance allowing chickens. He keeps his fowl in a pen in his backyard on Portland Avenue. He uses their eggs for food and their waste for compost for his gardens.

In July a resident filed a complaint with the city's code enforcement office about Bauermeister's chickens, and the code enforcement officer charged him with having livestock in a residential area.

Bauermeister said his wife, Louise Dix, neighborhood resources coordinator for the city of Medford, urged him to get rid of the birds after the complaint was filed.

But Bauermeister stood his ground, and after refusing to get rid of the birds or pay the $150 citation, the city took him to court.

That's when the judge deemed the chickens legal.

Anderson said the ruling doesn't leave offended neighbors without recourse.

"Regardless, there is a city ordinance on noise and offensive odors," he said. "So if a neighbor's pet of any nature makes an unreasonable amount of noise or emits an unreasonable amount of odor there are city codes to protect the livability of our city neighborhoods."

Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail mlanders@mailtribune.com.