Arlington County, VA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 2, Article I of the Arlington County Code addresses fowl and swine separately from the dog and cat rules in Article II. Section 2-1 defines "fowl" broadly to include chickens, hens, roosters, guineas, ducks, geese, turkeys, and poultry of all kinds, and defines "owner," "possessor," and "manager" as anyone who owns, has possession of, or manages and controls the birds. Section 2-2 then makes it unlawful for any of those persons to permit fowl to go upon and trespass on land in the County owned, occupied, or leased by someone else, meaning the County does not ban backyard chickens by species but does require the keeper to confine them to their own property; a bird that wanders onto a neighbor's yard puts the owner in violation.

There is no separate coop, setback, or flock-size limit written into this chapter, so containment on the owner's own land is the operative legal test. Section 2-3, by contrast, imposes a flat prohibition: it is unlawful for any person to keep or maintain, or to permit to be kept or maintained, any pig, shoat, sow, hog, or other porcine animal anywhere within the confines of the County, with no exceptions written into the text. Both provisions trace to a 1935 ordinance and remain in the current code.

Enforcement of Chapter 2 generally falls to Animal Control Officers and other County officers, as defined for Article II in § 2-4, and general Code violations default to the § 1-6 penalty of a fine up to $2,500 or up to 30 days in jail, or both, when the specific chapter does not state its own penalty.