Berkeley, CA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Municipal Code Section 10.12.040 lets residents keep rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and other domestic fowl, but only in an enclosure no part of which sits within twenty-five feet of any dwelling house other than the keeper's own; a coop or run closer than that to a neighbor's house is unlawful no matter how few birds it holds. Section 10.12.060 requires those coops to be kept sanitary and regularly cleaned to prevent an accumulation of manure or offal.

Larger livestock face tighter limits. Section 10.12.070 caps female goats over one year old at two per property, and even that is allowed only outside Zones VI and VII, the city's industrial zoning classes; goats beyond the limit, or kept anywhere else, are unlawful. Section 10.12.080 bans sheep and male goats outright, in any number or in any manner, with no exception. Cattle fare little better: Section 10.12.120 caps cows, calves and steers at two total per property outside those same industrial districts and requires at least a quarter acre of enclosed or unenclosed land for each animal kept. Hog-keeping is addressed separately at Section 10.12.090, which bars keeping any live hog within one thousand feet of an occupied dwelling except for scientific research the City Council authorizes, a radius that reaches nearly every residential lot in Berkeley. Animals running at large in any public street, park or playground are separately unlawful under Section 10.12.020.