Hinds County, MS Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 501 of the Zoning Ordinance lists the uses permitted in the Agricultural (A) District, and subsection (c) covers pastureland and raising farm animals and poultry, excluding commercial feed lots or dealing operations covered elsewhere in the Ordinance. Paragraph (c)(3) specifically addresses fowl: breeding, raising, and feeding chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, or other fowl is a permitted use, but the moment more than two such birds are kept on a lot, they have to be kept at least 150 feet from every adjoining property line and at least 100 feet from an existing or proposed street right-of-way line.

Two or fewer birds are not subject to that setback under this paragraph's own terms. The same subsection (c) sets parallel setbacks for other animals: grazing livestock such as horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and mules require a tract of at least half an acre, with barns, pens, and corrals kept 150 feet from property lines and 100 feet from a right-of-way, and swine pens carry the identical 150-foot and 100-foot setbacks. This entire poultry and livestock allowance is specific to the Agricultural (A) District; the Ordinance's permitted-use lists for the residential districts (R-1 through R-6) do not include raising fowl or livestock among their permitted or conditional uses, so a resident on residentially zoned land in the unincorporated county cannot rely on § 501(c)(3) to keep chickens there. Larger-scale poultry operations, such as poultry farms or feed lots, require conditional-use approval under § 502(h) instead of falling under this by-right allowance.