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

Gardena Municipal Code § 18.42.020(B) states that it is unlawful to keep any animal within the city other than domesticated dogs, cats and adult fowl, including doves and pigeons; anything else needs a conditional use permit under Chapter 18.46. Once fowl are permitted, § 18.42.020(E) requires every enclosure to sit in the rear yard, at least five feet from the rear and side property lines, and at least twenty-five feet from any school, church, public building, hospital, group care facility, or any residence not on the property.

Because Gardena lots are typically narrow, that twenty-five-foot buffer from a neighboring house effectively pushes coops toward the center of larger rear yards or rules them out on tight parcels. Fowl are also capped under the same section's three-animal rule (see the pet-limits record for the numeric ceiling), so a household cannot simply add birds without regard to dogs and cats already kept. Section 18.42.020(F) layers on a public-nuisance standard: keeping, maintaining, feeding, or sustaining conditions for animals that create objectionable odors or noise unreasonably interfering with the comfortable and peaceful use of adjacent properties, or that constitute a health hazard, is unlawful.

If Community Development investigates and confirms a nuisance, the property owner has ten days from written notice to abate it. Community Development enforces these zoning provisions, while Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control handles animal-control matters under the city's separate contract. Roosters are not singled out for a crow-based ban here; the operative controls are the enclosure setbacks, the three-animal cap, and the nuisance-abatement clause.