California Bill Limiting Rooster Ownership Amended Following Assembly Hearing

State Assemblyman Chris Rogers introduced AB 928 in February, aiming to prevent roosters from being raised for cockfighting and to help control the avian flu.

A rooster rests on the limb of a tree in Key West, Fla., on Feb. 16, 2013. Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images

State lawmakers have amended a bill that sets guidelines for how California residents can raise roosters, following a hearing in the Assembly Judiciary Committee in which opponents to the proposal said it would have impacted people who breed roosters as a hobby or for conservation.

According to the April 9 revision of Assembly Bill 928, Californians who own more than three roosters per acre or more than 25 roosters total would be prohibited from keeping the birds in cages separate from each other or on tethers. Penalties include fines of up to $2,500 per day for each violation.

Assemblyman Chris Rogers introduced AB 928 in February, aiming to prevent roosters from being raised for cockfighting and to help control the avian flu.

A previous version of the bill sought to limit people to keeping no more than three roosters per acre or up to 25 roosters total, regardless of how they were caged. The change came as some farmers and poultry associations argued against the old version, with the Los Angeles Animal Defense League saying the bill should not “punish all roosters.”

Following the committee hearing, Rogers changed his bill “to focus more on the manner in which roosters are kept, rather than only the total number of roosters,” according to a bill analysis.

Cockfighting is the focus of the bill. Although the practice is illegal in California, AB 928 says that it “continues to persist” because of difficulties in determining whether certain birds are being raised and kept for the purpose of fighting them to the death.

“It is really difficult to prove intent,” Rogers said during the April 8 committee hearing. “This bill makes amendments to that law, to make it so that it’s more clear what the intent is.”

Roosters used for cockfighting are specially bred and trained to be aggressive toward other roosters, so they have to be caged or tethered separately from each other.

AB 928 provides exceptions for schools, animal shelters, animal welfare organizations, 4-H, Future Farmers of America (FFA), and people who raise roosters for food production, among other exceptions.

Opponents pushed for changes to the bill’s text during the hearing, expressing concern that the way it was worded at the time would impact people who rescue chickens as well as heritage poultry breeders who raise show chickens.

“In order to have a successful breeding program, with just one breed, multiple males and females are needed,” Donald Barger, a licensed contest judge for the Gold Coast Poultry Fanciers show, said at the hearing. “Many [heritage breeders] have more than one breed that they are trying to maintain.”

He added that independent breeders of show roosters not associated with 4-H or FFA could be impacted and “over 50 rare and endangered breeds of chickens will face statewide extinction; poultry shows will be severely impacted and could even disappear.”

Rogers said the environment for raising fowl as a hobby versus for fighting is different, and AB 928 seeks to provide law enforcement officers with a better way of measuring a person’s intention.

Over the past eight years, the three largest cockfighting seizures in the United States were in California, according to Rogers.

In what law enforcement called “the largest cache of fowl used in illegal cockfighting in US history,” about 100 law enforcement personnel worked to seize about 7,000 birds in Los Angeles County in 2017. Officers also found fighting rings, medication, and razor hooks that attach to the roosters’ claws.

In 2022, a man from Ceres, California, was sentenced to 16 months in prison after federal agents discovered 2,956 game fowl at his residence. The roosters were being shipped out for cockfighting in and outside the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Earlier this year, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department arrested two people after finding approximately 250 roosters, steel talons, a fighting ring, and a scoreboard. Similarly, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office in 2024 seized and euthanized roughly 350 roosters, hens, and chicks found on a residence with suspected connections to cockfighting activity.

“We’re addressing systemic issues before we get there,” Rogers said. “It is like saying that meth is illegal but then still allowing meth to be produced. That’s what we’re doing with cockfighting right now. We’re saying you can’t produce it, you can’t do it.”

The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed AB 928 on April 8 with 10 supporting votes and one opposition.

Rogers said the State Farm Bureau, American Poultry Association, and Humane Society have all worked closely with him and the committees to “refine the language” and advance the legislation.

The proposal has passed two assembly committees and is awaiting review for its potential fiscal impacts.