Surprise, AZ Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Sec. 10-114, rewritten by Ordinance 2024-42 effective December 17, 2024, splits fowl and rodent keeping by lot size. Residents of a single-family detached home on more than a half-acre may keep 25 fowl, 25 rodents, or a combination totaling 25. Residents on a half-acre or less may keep up to six fowl in the backyard, subject to conditions: the enclosure must sit in the rear or side yard at least 20 feet from a neighboring property, be no larger than 200 square feet with a maximum height of eight feet (and shorter than the fence line if the lot is under one acre in a residential community), have water sources with adequate overflow drainage, store feed in insect- and rodent-proof containers, have manure picked up and disposed of or composted at least twice weekly in a way that prevents insect migration, and be built to keep fowl and rodents from running at large.

Regardless of lot size, no single-family residence may keep male fowl, including roosters. Sec. 10-113 governs livestock separately, defined by the code as cattle, horses, sheep, goats, mules and asses, and allows it provided not less than one-half acre of lot area is set aside for each animal; that section was retitled from 'Livestock, fowl and rodents' by the same 2024 ordinance, which split the old combined section into today's Sec. 10-113 (livestock) and Sec. 10-114 (fowl and rodents). Swine remain banned outright under the separate Sec.

10-111. Sec. 10-115 layers on a sanitation duty for all these enclosures: no ongoing noxious smell that constitutes a public health nuisance, with manure removed and disposed of at least twice weekly and hauled off the property at least once a week.