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

City Code § 2-1-11 makes it unlawful to keep, possess, or maintain any livestock or fowl within Odessa city limits. The code defines 'fowl' broadly under § 2-1-0 to include chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea hens, peafowl, and pigeons. Section 2-1-13's exceptions cover zoos, stock shows, licensed veterinary and commercial animal facilities, horses on lots of at least 20,000 square feet, ducks kept on government-owned property, and homing pigeons meeting § 2-1-6(d) standards: none of which reach an ordinary resident's backyard hens. There is no acreage or lot-size path around the ban for chickens: keeping even one hen on a residential lot violates the ordinance. The council discussed loosening this rule in 2023 and 2025 without amending the code.