Yonkers, NY Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Added in 1990 by Local Law No. 6-1990, § 65-23 flatly bars keeping poultry, fowl or other birds on any premises in Yonkers, with only three narrow exceptions: live poultry sold at a poultry market, caged birds such as lovebirds, canaries and parakeets sold at mercantile establishments, and those same small caged birds kept as domestic pets, in both cases only if they do not create a health nuisance. There is no exception for a small backyard flock; the ban applies regardless of how many birds are kept.

Chapter 43, Zoning, backs this up independently: § 43-28's citywide list of prohibited uses includes 'Raising of livestock or fowl' as a use no land, building or structure may be put to in any zoning district, alongside industrial uses like abattoirs and fertilizer manufacture. Together the two chapters foreclose both the animal-control and land-use paths to legal backyard poultry or livestock keeping in Yonkers. A companion provision, § 65-24, separately bars keeping any type of animal that is or may become a health nuisance, which would also reach improperly kept livestock outside the poultry-specific ban.

Complaints go to the Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings for the zoning violation and to the Yonkers Animal Shelter or Police Department for the Chapter 65 violation.