Goodyear, AZ Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 7-1-4(A) draws a hard line: unless the city code or zoning regulations specifically permit it, keeping horses, mules, cattle, burros, goats, sheep, swine, pigs, other livestock, pigeons or poultry, which covers backyard chickens, anywhere within Goodyear's corporate limits is unlawful. That means chicken-keeping is not a citywide right; it depends entirely on what the zoning code allows for a given parcel, typically larger-lot or agricultural-zoned residential property rather than standard subdivisions. Subsection (B) then sets the household-pet cap that applies everywhere in the city: no more than four household pets per residential property, with a specific carve-out allowing exactly one potbellied pig weighing no more than 100 pounds within that four-pet limit; service animals defined by federal and state law don't count against the cap.

Subsection (C) layers a nuisance standard on top of whatever is otherwise permitted: any animal kept in the city, even a lawfully permitted one, loses that protection if it causes a public or private nuisance from noise, flies, mosquitoes, vermin, odors, dust or accumulated manure. Subsection (D) gets specific about sanitation, requiring manure and droppings to be removed from yards, pens, stables, cages and other enclosures at least twice weekly and hauled off the premises at least twice a week, or more often if weather or conditions demand it, with the same standard applied to spilled feed. Subsection (F) requires that any enclosure housing an animal be structurally sound enough to contain it safely.