South Fulton, GA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Sec. 18-1004(a) makes it unlawful to keep any domestic animal or livestock, chickens and other fowl included, outside three conditions. First, housing must stay well-drained, free of accumulated excrement and objectionable odors, clean and sanitary, with excrement disposed of as the city manager, or its contracted animal control provider, approves. Second, except in agriculturally zoned areas, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, pigeons or similar fowl must be kept at least 100 feet from any occupied building other than the owner's own dwelling, the same 100-foot distance applied to horses, cows, sheep and goats, while hogs require 900 feet; licensed veterinary hospitals, commercial kennels, grooming parlors and public or commercial horse facilities are exempt from the distance rule.

Third, each bird in the enclosure needs a minimum of 4 square feet of floor or ground area, the same minimum set for rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, while larger livestock like horses, cows, sheep, goats and hogs require 150 square feet per animal. Sec. 18-1004(a)(4) caps the number kept on a single non-agricultural premises at 75 chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, pigeons or similar fowl, the same 75-animal cap set for rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, versus five horses, mules or cows, or ten sheep, goats, hogs, dogs or cats.

All these limits fall away in areas zoned for agriculture. Fowl kept outside these distance, space and headcount limits, or in unsanitary housing, violate the section regardless of zoning elsewhere in the city.