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

Section 4-1 makes it unlawful to maintain horses, sheep, mules, cattle, goats, or donkeys on any lot under two acres inside the city, and § 4-2 bans swine outright regardless of lot size. Chickens get their own, more permissive framework: § 4-5 lets a resident keep up to six female chickens for non-commercial purposes, but bars roosters and any other fowl, requires the birds stay on the owner's property rather than run at large, and limits keeping to the backyard of a lot zoned single-family detached residential by the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission, excluding apartments, multi-family, business, and industrial properties.

The coop itself must be covered, predator-proof, ventilated and odor-free, built to keep chickens from leaving the property, sized to give each bird at least three square feet, and easy to access and clean, with feed stored in rodent- and predator-proof containers. Chickens cannot be kept closer than ten feet to the nearest property line or forty feet from a neighboring residence or business the keeper does not own or occupy. Before any of that matters, § 4-8 requires a $25 permit from the Department of Public Works at 1410 West 5th Street, and the city will not issue one to an applicant with pending Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Board citations or liens; failing to follow § 4-5 is grounds for the City Manager to revoke the permit.

The Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Officer enforces the chicken rules under § 5-137 of the Code, and violations of Article I generally, including the livestock and swine bans, fall to the general penalty in § 1-11 unless § 4-7 or another specific section applies.