Rules
Backyard Chickens in Austin and Los Angeles: Coops and Limits
4 min · Updated 2026-09-28
What Austin's and Los Angeles's animal codes say about backyard chickens: whether they cap hens, LA's one-rooster rule and Austin's coop rules.
Neither Austin’s nor Los Angeles’s animal code, as this page searched and read them, sets how many hens a household may keep. Austin’s sets where and how the coop is built; Los Angeles’s limits roosters to one a lot and leaves how far the birds and their coop must be from homes and other buildings to its Department of Animal Services. This page did not read either city’s zoning code, deed restrictions or homeowners’ association rules, and Los Angeles’s rooster section says it does not affect zoning or land-use rules; ask the city’s zoning office, and check your deed and any association rules.
| Rule | Austin (City Code Title 3) | Los Angeles (LAMC Chapter V, Article 3) |
|---|---|---|
| How many hens | A search of Title 3 for fowl, chicken, poultry and rooster found no number; the enclosure must be adequately sized for the kind and number of birds. Ask the city | No number in the sections this page read; ask the city |
| Roosters | The search found no rule naming roosters; an owner may not keep an animal that makes frequent or long, continued noise disturbing to a person of normal sensibilities | No more than one on any lot, with exceptions for permitted businesses, educational facilities and exhibitions, and city filming permits |
| Coop or pen distance | At least 30 ft from an adjacent residence or business structure, 50 ft if the fowl or the enclosure creates a health hazard | Set by the Department of Animal Services’ rules, which this page could not find; ask the Department |
| The coop | Four secure sides with overhead cover; securely built, sanitary, and not over the height restrictions of a fence on the owner’s property | Not addressed in the sections this page read |
| Running loose | Fowl may not run at large | Not addressed in the sections this page read |
Austin
Austin’s code counts a chicken, turkey, goose, guinea hen or duck as fowl. Fowl must be kept in an enclosure with four secure sides and overhead cover, and a coop, pen or crate built that way counts as an enclosure. Every animal enclosure has to be securely built, adequately sized for the kind and number of animals in it, and kept sanitary, so that flies do not breed and no odor offends an adjacent residence or business. A fowl enclosure may not exceed the height restrictions of a fence on the owner’s property, in the code’s words, so ask the city what height that is for your lot. It has to stand at least 30 feet from an adjacent residence or business structure, not counting the owner’s own, or at least 50 feet if the fowl or the enclosure creates a health hazard. Fowl may not run at large, and an owner may not keep an animal that makes frequent or long, continued noise disturbing to a person of normal sensibilities (City Code §§ 3-1-1, 3-2-1, 3-2-2, 3-2-11, 3-2-16).
Los Angeles
Los Angeles limits roosters: no one may keep more than one on any lot, building or premises in the city (LAMC 53.71). The exceptions are a business, educational facility or lawful animal exhibition that has valid permits and licenses, operates in an appropriately zoned area and keeps roosters as an integral and otherwise lawful part of its business, and roosters on a city filming permit. A third exception, a Department permit to keep up to three pet roosters for the rest of their lives, took no new applications after December 31, 2009. The minimum distance that animals and their coops or other enclosures must keep from dwellings, churches, schools, office buildings, businesses and other occupancies is set by the Department of Animal Services’ rules (LAMC 53.59), which this page could not find published; ask the Department before you build.
The coop as a building
Whether a coop needs a building permit was outside what this page read. The shed permit brief gives the size lines under which each city exempts small sheds, and the shed setback guide covers where a small building may stand; ask the building department whether a coop falls under them.