Scranton, PA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Two separate provisions in Chapter 169 govern backyard fowl and larger livestock. Section 169-6, Proximity of fowl to dwellings, lets the Director of the Office of Public Health notify anyone keeping chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, turkeys, pigeons or other domestic fowl to remove them within 48 hours of notice, if the birds are confined or nesting within 15 feet of any dwelling. Before issuing that notice, the Director may first require a written complaint from the owner or occupant of the affected dwelling. Section 169-7, Permit to keep cows or bulls, requires anyone keeping a cow or bull in the City to first obtain a written permit from the Director of the Office of Public Health; the Director issues the permit only when keeping the animal would not, in the Director's opinion, be injurious or dangerous to neighborhood health, and can withhold or revoke a permit on that same judgment.

Related to these, Section 169-5 bars selling, offering for sale, bartering or displaying live baby chicks, ducklings or other fowl that have been dyed or artificially colored, and separately bars selling them in quantities under six, a rule aimed at Easter-season novelty chick sales. Chapter 169 as a whole was adopted September 26, 1979, as Chapter 6 of the 1979 Code, and none of these three sections has since been renumbered or amended.