Gulfport, MS Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 7-78 sets the operative limit: no person may keep more than two fowl of these listed types unless the birds are kept in an enclosed area, which can include electronic fencing, situated at least three hundred feet away from any adjoining property line. The 300-foot buffer is measured from the enclosure to the neighboring property line, not from a structure, so a lot has to be unusually large or the enclosure has to sit deep in the interior for the buffer exception to apply on most residential parcels.

Anyone who cannot meet either the two-bird cap or the 300-foot separation can instead get a special permit issued at no cost by the chief of police and animal officer, giving Gulfport a genuine administrative path for backyard keepers rather than an outright ban. The section separately makes it unlawful for an owner or anyone in possession, charge, custody or control of the fowl to let them run at large or create a nuisance through noise or smell, with one carve-out for carrier pigeons that are actually on training or racing flights.

This regulation dates to Ordinance No. 2185, Section 12, adopted July 20, 1999, and sits in Chapter 7's animal article alongside the separate hog and pig provision at Section 7-75, which requires its own permit and setbacks for swine.