Jacksonville Beach, FL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Livestock are banned citywide. Sec. 5-5 states that livestock, as defined in the chapter, are prohibited within the corporate limits, and the Sec. 5-2 definition lists horses, mules, cows, cattle, hogs, goats, sheep, swine, ducks, geese, turkeys, peafowl, doves, and roosters. Sec. 5-6 makes it unlawful for anyone owning or controlling livestock or poultry to let them run at large.

The one exception is Article IV, the hen regulation. A hen is a female chicken, and Sec. 5-81 caps any property at five. Hens must stay in an enclosed pen at all times, feed must be stored in rodent and predator-proof containers, and the hens are for personal use only, so selling hens, eggs, or manure and breeding chickens commercially are prohibited. Slaughter inside the city is prohibited, and unwanted hens cannot be abandoned, released, or taken to the city's animal control. The pen must be at least ten square feet per hen and well-drained. The coop must be at least three square feet per hen, covered, ventilated, and attached to or inside the pen. Coops and pens cannot exceed six feet in height or one hundred square feet in total area, must be secured from predators, and must be anchored against wind. Opaque fencing or comparable landscaping must screen them from neighbors.

A permit comes first. Under Sec. 5-82 the applicant submits the address, the maximum number of hens, owner authorization if needed, an oath about deed restrictions, a certificate from the backyard poultry seminar of the Duval County Agricultural Extension Office, and a twenty-five dollar ($25.00) fee. Sec. 5-83 limits hens to single-family parcels in RS-1, RS-2, and RS-3 with at least five thousand square feet, plus schools and community-garden nonprofits in RS-1 through RS-3, RM-1, and RM-2. Duplexes, townhouses, multiple-family, commercial, and industrial property are excluded, and coops belong in the rear yard at least five feet from side and rear lines. Sec. 5-7 declares odors from coops detectable by neighbors a public nuisance.