ChickenMap · Ordinance lookup

Can I have chickens in Houston, TX?

Yes, with conditions

Allowed, but with specific rules you must meet

These are the City of Houston’s own rules, and they apply inside the city limits.

If your address is outside the city limits — a Houston mailing address on unincorporated county land is common — your county’s code governs instead, and it may reach a different answer, particularly about roosters. We have researched the unincorporated county land surrounding Houston — see the section below. Check your parcel’s jurisdiction to know which of the two applies to you.

Inside Houston city limits — residential zoning

Outside the city limits? See the unincorporated county land surrounding Houston ↓

Hen limit: 40 hens
Roosters: Not allowed
Permit: Not required
Setback: 100 ft

Coop rules: Commercial keeping (fowl/rabbits/guinea pigs kept for sale) must use indoor batteries/coops kept sanitary, with daily droppings removal and daily disinfecting/deodorizing — animals cannot roam in open pens on the ground. All keeping (commercial or personal) requires daily cleaning/disinfecting, liming every 2 days, and flytight droppings storage hauled away at least weekly. Guinea fowl/guinea hens are banned outright, no exceptions (§6-37). Dyeing/staining the natural color of chickens, ducklings, goslings, or rabbits is prohibited unless for commercial/breeding/scientific/educational/governmental purposes.

Article II, §§6-31 through 6-39 (Ord. No. 2022-44, adopted 1/19/2022 — a fairly recent, comprehensive rewrite). Rooster/male chicken possession or SALE is flatly prohibited citywide (§6-38) — not just keeping — with a real enforcement mechanism: BARC animal services may seize and impound a rooster, the owner has 24 hours to redeem it upon paying fees and swearing to remove it from the city, and an unclaimed rooster becomes BARC's property. Narrow defenses exist for government/research/educational institutions and for legitimate public exhibition/showing (§6-34).

Keeping a rooster here? Houston does not allow them inside the city limits, so if you are within them, a complaint is usually all it takes to start a clock. Posting him is free, and there is no sign-up form — you confirm the post by email, and that link sets up a free account so you can edit or remove it later.

Rehome your rooster Compare rooster rules in other cities

View the source ordinanceLast verified July 21, 2026

This is general information compiled from public ordinances, not legal advice. Rules change — confirm with the source and your local authority before keeping birds.

Outside the city limits — the unincorporated county land surrounding Houston

Different jurisdiction — the unincorporated county land surrounding Houston, not the City of Houston. This applies only if your property is outside Houston city limits. A mailing address in Houston does not settle that — the city and the county boundary are different lines. Confirm your parcel’s jurisdiction before relying on it.

Texas counties have no general power to zone. A county may regulate only what the Legislature has specifically allowed it to regulate, and backyard poultry is not on that list — so outside a city's limits there is usually no county rule capping how many birds you may keep, and no county rule about roosters specifically. That is an absence of authority rather than a permission, and three other things can still reach you. A public nuisance can be abated in the unincorporated area, which is the provision most likely to apply to a crowing rooster, and it bites hardest near a platted subdivision or within 300 feet of one. A city can extend some regulation into the land just outside its limits. And a deed restriction or HOA covenant binds regardless of what any government allows. Confirm with your county before relying on this — several counties do hold narrower powers the Legislature granted them individually.

Montgomery, TX, 77356

Raises:

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