Hialeah, FL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 10 of the Hialeah Code of Ordinances treats backyard chickens as livestock, not pets. Sec. 10-1 defines livestock as 'horses, cattle, sheep, llamas, goats, swine of any type including potbellied pigs, mules, donkeys, fowl, emus, rheas, or ostriches,' so a coop of hens falls squarely under the ban. Sec. or keep any livestock or wild, dangerous, undomesticated or vicious animals in the city,' with no exception for a handful of backyard hens. The only relief is Sec. 10-3(b), which lifts the prohibition on 'owning or harboring livestock or bees/apiaries on property lawfully zoned for agricultural use,' excluding mobile home parks, plus a carve-out for horses and flamingos kept at the Hialeah Race Track.

Even on qualifying agricultural land, Sec. 10-4 requires that any pen or coop sit at least 100 feet from any human dwelling, so a property owner cannot simply keep chickens against a shared fence line. Sec. ch. 372 (wildlife) may only be kept in the city after the owner presents a valid state license to the city, and only on agriculturally zoned property. Because Hialeah is almost entirely residential and commercial, in practice chickens, ducks, geese and other fowl are prohibited on ordinary single-family and townhouse lots citywide, not just discouraged.

Code enforcement can act on a neighbor complaint, and because the prohibition is chapter-wide rather than nuisance-based, proof of noise or odor is not required to cite a violation, only proof that livestock is being kept outside agricultural zoning.