Wylie, TX Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Wylie Code of Ordinances § 18-8 prohibits keeping livestock within city limits except as the comprehensive zoning ordinance allows, but separately lets a person harbor up to eight backyard chickens on residential property after obtaining a fowl permit from the animal services department, with a fee set by the city council under § 18-4; the permit is issued per property, is non-transferable, and terminates if the holder moves out or stops keeping chickens there. Loud fowl, including roosters, ducks, turkeys, geese, peacocks and guineas, are prohibited within the corporate limits, with narrow exceptions for lakes, public parks, or as the zoning ordinance separately allows.

Chickens must be kept in an enclosure or fenced run providing at least ten square feet per hen, plus a coop shelter providing at least three square feet per hen, and both the coop and enclosure must sit no closer than 25 feet from the nearest inhabited dwelling other than the owner's, must be located within the rear yard no closer than five feet from any property line, and must not be visible from a public street. The structure must be secure enough to keep chickens from running at large.

The city may revoke a fowl permit at any time for noncompliance, and if surrounding development later brings another dwelling within 25 feet of an existing, compliant coop, the owner may have to relocate the enclosure or, if that is not possible, remove the chickens within one year. Animal services officers enforce § 18-8 along with any applicable state or federal animal laws, and the chapter's HOA disclaimer confirms the city permit does not override a homeowners association's own restrictions on keeping chickens.