Spalding County, GA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Spalding County's zoning ordinance treats chicken-keeping as a residential accessory use, not a right that applies everywhere in the unincorporated area. Under Sec. 603 of the Zoning Ordinance (Appendix IV), governing the AR-2 Rural Residential district, a homeowner may raise and keep no more than four chickens on a lot of at least one acre. Roosters are barred outright, so the allowance covers hens only. The birds must be confined to a fenced area in the rear yard, set back at least 20 feet from every property line, and any coop is capped at six feet in height.

The code also requires coops and the surrounding run to be kept clean and the feed secured, specifically to head off rodents and pests becoming a nuisance for neighbors. Chickens may be kept only as pets or for egg production; the ordinance expressly forbids keeping them for slaughter, so a home butchering operation or meat-bird flock is not a permitted accessory use under this section. Because the standard sits inside the district's accessory-use list alongside garden sheds, tennis courts and swimming pools, it is enforced the same way: Community Development's building official can decline to process a building permit for a property that is out of compliance with the zoning ordinance until the violation is cured (Sec.

408). Smaller AR-2 lots under an acre do not qualify for any chickens under this clause, and if your parcel sits inside a city limit (Griffin, Orchard Hill or Sunny Side) this county rule does not apply at all; that municipality's own code controls instead.