El Paso, TX Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 7.24 governs small livestock and fowl. Section 7.24.020(B) allows rabbits and fowl to be kept as household pets in quantities under six without a permit, but anyone keeping six or more, or keeping any number outside a farm-ranch or stockyard zoning district, must obtain a permit under §§ 7.04.090 and 7.24.050, and "where fowl are allowed, no person shall keep more than three roosters." Permit applications go through the veterinary officer, who under § 7.24.050 weighs the size of the lot, whether the neighborhood is residential, the zoning designation, and whether the birds will create odor, noise or a nuisance before approving, denying or conditioning the permit; permits renew annually and can be suspended or revoked for violations, with an appeal to the city manager under § 7.04.100.

Section 7.24.030(B) sets the coop setback: a fowl or rabbit pen must sit at least thirty feet from any private residence other than the keeper's own, or from a hotel, apartment house, tenement house, hospital, church or school, though that distance can shrink to twenty feet if a public alley and a six-foot solid fence or wall separate the pen from the buildings, and the veterinary officer may waive the distance requirement entirely if public health isn't endangered. Owners must clear manure from coops and pens at least twice weekly, keep feed in impervious containers, and prevent stagnant water from breeding flies or mosquitoes under § 7.24.030(D).

Separately, § 7.24.060 bars selling any baby chick, duckling or other fowl under three weeks old as a pet or novelty, and § 7.24.070 makes it unlawful to dye or color a chicken, duck or other fowl.