Hutto, TX Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Article 4.04, "Fowl," at section 4.04.001, ties the number of fowl a property may keep to pen distance rather than lot size directly. A pen 100 feet or more from any building or dwelling occupied by someone other than the fowl's owner may hold up to ten fowl; a pen between 50 and 100 feet away is capped at five; the section authorizes no category for pens closer than 50 feet, so it is unlawful to keep fowl at all unless one of those two distance conditions is met.

"Fowl" is defined in section 4.01.003 to include geese, pheasants, chickens, prairie chickens, peacocks, guinea fowl, ducks, turkeys, and other undomesticated fowl, so the setback bands cover backyard poultry broadly, not chickens alone. Regardless of pen distance, section 4.04.001(c) separately bans keeping roosters anywhere within the corporate limits of the city. Article 4.03 governs true livestock, cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, llamas, swine, sheep, goats, emus, ostriches, and rheas, requiring a minimum one-acre parcel with no more than one "unit" of large livestock per acre, fractional units for swine and small stock, a 100-foot buffer from neighboring dwellings or businesses for grazing and housing structures, and secure fencing; both articles exempt land carrying a legal nonconforming agricultural tax exemption. Violations of either article fall under the general penalty in section 1.01.009, up to $500, with each day a separate offense.