Milpitas, CA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Milpitas splits animal-husbandry rules between the Animal Regulation chapter and the Zoning Ordinance. Section V-210-7.02-2(a), added by Ordinance No. 38.858 in September 2025, allows up to six chickens to be kept outdoors in the backyard of a residential property for the occupants' personal use, but requires any outdoor coop or enclosure to meet the setbacks and other accessory-structure development standards of the applicable zoning district under Section XIII-C.2.020. The same subsection caps caged birds generally at 20, with chickens counted as part of that bird allowance.

Larger livestock is handled separately, as a land-use matter, under Section XIII-C.10.060 of the Zoning Ordinance's Chapter C.10 (Specific to Uses): keeping large livestock, defined elsewhere in the Zoning Ordinance to include horses, cattle, swine, goats, sheep and alpacas, requires a minimum one-acre lot, and horses specifically require one full acre per horse. Any building or enclosure housing that large livestock, other than the household pets already covered by Section V-210-7 of the Animal Regulation chapter, must sit at least 200 feet from any residential, mixed-use or commercial zoned lot, or from any school or institution for human care.

Because the acreage and setback rule lives in the zoning code rather than Chapter 210, it is enforced through the City's Planning and Neighborhood Services permitting process rather than through an animal-control citation.