Erie County has no countywide chicken or livestock ordinance. Whether backyard hens, roosters, goats, or other livestock are allowed is decided by each town, city, or village zoning code, so rules differ across Buffalo, Amherst, Hamburg, Clarence, and other Erie County municipalities.
Keeping chickens and livestock is regulated through municipal zoning in New York, and Erie County imposes no county rule. Each town, city, and village decides through its zoning code whether backyard poultry and livestock are permitted, in which districts, how many are allowed, and what coop setbacks apply; some suburbs permit a few hens while barring roosters, and others confine livestock to larger lots. Buffalo addresses urban agriculture through its Unified Development Ordinance (Green Code), while rural towns such as Sardinia treat livestock as a farm use. Because there is no Erie County poultry section, residents must check the zoning code where the property sits. The Health Department's role is limited to sanitation, not whether livestock may be kept.
Keeping poultry or livestock in violation of the local zoning code is a municipal zoning violation enforced by the town, city, or village code enforcement office, subject to that municipality's fines and abatement orders, not a county penalty.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Erie County, NY
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Erie County, NY
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Erie County, NY
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Erie County, NY
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Erie County, NY
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Erie County, NY
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See how Erie County's chickens & livestock rules stack up against other locations.
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