Burlington, NC Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 6-11 bans keeping livestock, defined in Section 6-2 as domesticated agricultural animals including equine, bovine, porcine, camelid, caprine and cervid animals, anywhere within Burlington's corporate limits. Any livestock already being kept as of the ordinance's 8-21-18 recodification could continue, but only until the use is discontinued for thirty days or more, after which resuming it is not allowed. Section 6-13 separately bans keeping fowl, defined in Section 6-2 as birds customarily raised for meat or eggs, specifically naming chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys among the larger domestic birds covered, with no backyard-flock or small-lot exception written into either section.

Livestock running loose is a further, separate violation under Section 6-12, which bans letting any livestock run at large in the city. Enforcement falls to the Burlington Animal Services Department, whose officers may inspect premises and issue civil citations under Section 6-5. Under the civil penalty fine schedule in Section 6-67, keeping fowl is a Level II violation, fined $75.00 for a first offense, $125.00 for a second, and $250.00 for a third or any later offense, while keeping livestock is likewise Level II and livestock running at large is the lighter Level I tier, fined $50.00 to $100.00. Fines escalate under Section 6-65 when the same violation recurs within a twenty-four-month period, and each day the animals remain constitutes a separate offense.