Tallahassee, FL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 4-5(a) of the Code of General Ordinances makes it unlawful for any person to keep livestock or fowl within the city, full stop, unless one of the section's own exceptions applies. Fowl is defined in Section 4-2 to include chickens, pheasants, guineas, turkeys, peacocks, ducks and geese, and livestock covers equine, bovine, ratite and swine animals, including goats, sheep, mules, horses, hogs, cattle and ostriches. The hen exception in Section 4-5(d)(2) lets a resident keep female chickens for non-commercial purposes as long as they stay confined in a securely enclosed yard or pen at all times and are kept no closer than 20 feet to any neighboring dwelling; a single rooster may live with the hens purely to sustain the flock, meaning one rooster is legal but a flock of roosters is not.

Section 4-5(d)(3) exempts any horse or fowl on a parcel of five or more contiguous acres, and any other livestock on 15 or more contiguous acres, from the ban entirely. Section 4-5(d)(1) exempts bona fide university research programs conducted on university property. Outside those carve-outs, the city commission can issue a special permit under Section 4-5(b) allowing livestock or fowl to be kept for exhibition and display purposes, subject to whatever sanitary rules the commission or city manager attaches. Anyone keeping livestock or fowl in violation of Section 4-5, or after a permit has been revoked, is guilty of a code violation, and Section 4-76(a)(8) separately authorizes animal control officers to impound any livestock held in violation of Section 4-5.