Southfield, MI Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 9.75 bans keeping live goats or swine anywhere in the city outside a slaughterhouse or adjacent yard, with one narrow exception: a single pot-bellied pig, defined as a domesticated Vietnamese, Chinese or other Asian pig no heavier than 100 pounds and no taller than 25 inches at the shoulder, may be kept as an indoor pet. That pig must be spayed or neutered and vaccinated for rabies, leptospirosis, erysipelas and brucellosis by four months old and annually after, registered and licensed yearly with documentation from a Michigan-licensed veterinarian, kept indoors except for waste elimination or exercise, and leashed to six feet or less whenever it leaves the property.

Backyard fowl are handled separately under § 9.76(2), layered on top of the § 9.76(1) general standards that ban housing animals in a front yard, within fifty feet of another dwelling, or within ten feet of a side or rear lot line. No roosters or other typically noisy fowl are allowed. A flock is capped at twelve birds, the coop can't exceed eighty square feet or eight feet in height, and feed must be kept in a sealed, vermin-resistant container. Keeping backyard fowl requires a permit filed with the city clerk's office and a fee set by council resolution; the keeper must then schedule a planning department inspection within thirty days of getting the permit, and skipping that step triggers an automatic suspension. A failed inspection gives the keeper fourteen days to fix the problem before the animal control officer can revoke the permit or issue a municipal civil infraction citation.