Santa Clara, CA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

010 makes it unlawful to keep any equine, bovine, sheep, hog, goat, rabbit, chicken, duck, turkey, goose, pigeon or other fowl in the city except as the chapter allows, and requires the premises to be fenced, or the animal staked, so it cannot run at large. 020 layers on a proximity rule: no fowl, hare, rabbit or exotic animal may be kept within fifty feet of any dwelling other than the owner's without a permit from the housing coordinator, who must find the animal can be kept without injury to its health or to neighboring residents' health and safety, and who can deny the permit if the applicant fails to submit written approval from every adult resident within that fifty-foot radius.

070(a) then sets the numeric ceiling: no more than six animals total, in any mix of the listed species, per premises, unless the operation is commercial and zoned for it. The City Manager can approve up to twenty-five animals after weighing lot size, noise, odor, screening from neighbors and sanitary housing, but only after mailing notice to every residential parcel within fifty feet and giving them ten days to object; the decision must issue within thirty days of the request, and any approval can later be revoked on ten days' notice if the animals become unsanitary or a nuisance.

025: none over four months old may be kept anywhere in the city unless the property operates commercially under existing zoning and state agricultural statutes. 060, with cleaning at least every fifteen days.