Fayette County, GA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

5, added by Ordinance No. 2016-14 in 2016, sets the county's backyard-poultry standard. The base allowance is six chickens per principal dwelling unit on a lot of one acre; for every additional acre the lot adds, three more chickens are allowed, up to a hard ceiling of 12 birds regardless of lot size. The rule applies across a long list of residential and mixed districts named in the section, EST, C-S, R-85, R-80, R-78, R-75, R-72, R-70, R-55, R-50, R-45, R-40, R-20, DR-15, RMF, MHP, and the PUD, O-I, C-C, C-H, L-C, M-1, M-2 and BTP districts, but the roster does not include A-R, where Section 110-87 already lets landowners keep livestock and personal-use fowl without a numeric cap.

Roosters are prohibited without exception. A chicken house or coop is treated like a dog house or pen under Section 110-87: it belongs in the side or rear yard only and must be set back a minimum of 50 feet from every property line. The birds themselves must stay on the lot, confined to a containment area that is limited to the side or rear yard and cannot exceed 40 percent of the lot's total area. Planning and Zoning enforces the section on complaint, and a violation, whether exceeding the bird count, keeping a rooster, or placing an uncontained or under-setback coop, is punishable under the Code's general penalty in Section 1-7.