Upper Darby, PA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Article III of Chapter 222, "Keeping of Certain Domestic and Wild or Semi-Wild Animals" (adopted October 2, 1996 under Ordinance No. 2843), defines DOMESTIC ANIMAL in Section 222-29 to include "any bird or fowl or lagomorph mammal or any equine animal or bovine animal, sheep, goat, pig or poultry or any wild or semi-wild animal held in captivity," a definition that squarely covers backyard chickens, ducks, rabbits kept as livestock, goats, pigs, and horses. " The section carves out only two exceptions, lots where SMALL ANIMALS as separately defined, meaning dogs, cats, lagomorphs, or domesticated rodents like guinea pigs and gerbils, are kept, or where birds are kept in an aviary; ordinary poultry and livestock get neither exception.

For anyone who does qualify on acreage, Section 222-31 layers on sanitation duties: every housing structure must be built to stay clean, fitted with a watertight, flytight, securely covered receptacle for manure that is emptied often enough to avoid becoming a nuisance, and screened against flies, with the standard of care set by veterinary and public-health authorities for the specific animal kept. The Director of the Department of Public Health can inspect any structure on a complaint under Section 222-33, and a violation is declared a public nuisance under Section 222-34, triggering a Board of Health abatement order with a right to a hearing and appeal to the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas under Section 222-35.