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

040 governs where residents may keep farm animals, poultry, and livestock. Subsection (A) states the keeping or maintaining of fowl, livestock, or other animals of any kind is barred in any subdivision except in compliance with the section, meaning a parcel must sit in a zoning district that allows the specific animal type before any coop, pen, or corral goes up. Subsection (E) confines poultry, rabbits, and other small furbearing animals, the category covering backyard chickens, to the R-R, R-A, and R-1-A residential districts. Even there, a commercial poultry coop, rabbitry, or fur-bearing animal pen cannot sit on a parcel under 24,000 square feet, must clear 25 feet from any property line, 100 feet from the front property line, and 40 feet from any window or door of an occupied structure.

Larger stock, bovine animals, goats, horses, and sheep, fall under subsection (C): limited to the R-A, R-1-AH, and R-R Districts, requiring a 24,000-square-foot minimum parcel, capping at four adult animals per 24,000 square feet (no more than two of a bovine or equine kind), with any barn, corral, pen, or stable set back 25 feet from a side or rear line, 40 feet from a window or door used for human habitation, and 100 feet from the front line. 513 layers on further conditions once animals are permitted: the premises must stay open to inspection by City or Fresno County health inspectors and any Animal Services Officer, the animals must be confined by a suitable fence strong enough to prevent escape, and farm animals cannot be kept inside a building used for human habitation. Chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys fall within the Code's definition of a regulated farm animal.