Brunswick County, NC Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

The UDO's Agricultural Uses category at § 5.1.1.A defines 'animal raising' to include 'horses, hogs, cows, sheep, goats, and swine, poultry, rabbits, and other small animals ... personal or commercial animal breeding and development.' Chickens fall under 'poultry' and 'other small animals'; the code never uses the word 'chicken.' The Use Table at § 5.2.3 permits the Agricultural use category by right ('P') in the RR, C-LD, C-I and I-G districts, and does not permit it in the R-7500, R-6000, SBR-6000 or MR-3200 residential districts, meaning platted-subdivision homeowners in those zones cannot raise poultry or livestock as of right.

Where horses or other livestock are kept as a 'Private Stables' use (permitted by right in RR, C-LD and N-C, and as a limited use in R-7500, R-6000 and SBR-6000), UDO § 5.3.2.D imposes three specific standards: a 100-foot separation between the outdoor animal-keeping area and any adjoining residential-district property line, site design that minimizes noise and odor impacts on neighbors, and adequate waste-disposal methods to maintain sanitary conditions. Bona fide farm operations meeting the state-law definition are exempt from all UDO zoning requirements under § 5.3.2.C, consistent with N.C.G.S. § 160D-903.

As with beekeeping, none of this applies inside Leland, Southport, Oak Island, Shallotte, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach, Calabash, Boiling Spring Lakes or the county's other municipalities, each of which regulates animal-keeping under its own code.