Nicholasville, KY Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 5 of the Nicholasville code regulates farm animals through a nuisance standard and an enclosure duty rather than a numeric cap. Sec. 5-1 defines livestock, without limitation, as any horses, cattle, oxen, mules, asses, goats, swine and sheep. Sec. 5-2 provides that the keeping of any yard or pen for livestock, chickens and other fowl in the city in such manner as to become offensive to any person residing in the vicinity, or annoying to the public, constitutes a nuisance and is prohibited. The test is the effect on a neighbor, not the number of birds: the quoted sections print no limit on flock size and no coop setback.

Sec. 5-29 requires every person who has or keeps poultry of any kind within the city to enclose them so they do not trespass upon the property or rights of any other person, and it authorizes the police to kill trespassing poultry on complaint. Sec. 5-3 makes it unlawful to keep swine within the city limits, with one exception: miniature varieties of pot bellied pigs maintained and kept for domestic and pet purposes. Those pigs cannot be used for commercial purposes and are subject to all leash laws applicable to dogs in the city. The swine provision dates to Ord. No. 046-1993, 8-10-93.

Livestock owners also face Sec. 5-26: no owner of any livestock can permit it to run at large upon any street, alley or commons of the city, or to enter the enclosed premises of any person within the city without permission. Under Sec. 5-28, it is the duty of any police officer to take possession of any animal found in violation of Article II and confine it in the pound. A nuisance condition is also subject to Sec. 1-10(b), under which the city can abate any violation or condition that constitutes a nuisance. Bees are handled separately in Sec. 5-4.