Titusville backyard chickens

Yes, Titusville allows up to four hens on a single-family property with a city permit, but no roosters or other fowl.

Section 5-86 of the Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals starts from a ban: keeping horses, hogs, sheep, goats, cattle, chickens or other farm animals inside Titusville is unlawful except in listed cases. Backyard chickens are one of those cases: the subsection permits them on single-family properties subject to the rules that follow, and the section's history note cites Ordinance 21-2017 on August 8, 2017 (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

The Titusville code defines a backyard chicken as a hen, a female chicken, only. Keeping ducks, geese, turkeys, peafowl, roosters or male chickens, or any other fowl, is unlawful under the backyard chicken rules, and no more than four chickens are permitted on any lot or parcel (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

Larger animals follow different rules. The city's annexation FAQ says Titusville permits certain animals, such as backyard chickens and horses, in certain zoning districts, while livestock is permitted only in the General Use (GU) zoning designation (Titusville annexation FAQ on livestock). Questions about a specific parcel's zoning go to the Planning Department at 321-567-3782 (Titusville annexation FAQ on livestock).

A Titusville chicken permit starts with an approved chicken care class, then an application, site sketch and filing fee at the City Clerk's office.

The Titusville Backyard Chickens page states that attendance at an approved class on the care of backyard chickens is required of all applicants before the permit application is submitted. The code names the class: a University of Florida/IFAS Backyard Chicken Training class, or an equivalent class approved by the city manager or a designee, with proof of successful completion attached to the application (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

Applications are filed with the city clerk's office together with a filing fee set by resolution of the Titusville City Council, and must include a site sketch that shows the setup meets every rule in the subsection (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals). The amount of the fee is not printed on the Backyard Chickens page or in the code section, so the clerk's office is the place to confirm it (Titusville Backyard Chickens page).

The Titusville City Clerk's Office is at 555 S Washington Avenue, phone 321-567-3686, open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm, excluding holidays (Titusville Backyard Chickens page). A permit is not permanent: the city manager or designee may revoke it if the property is no longer in compliance or is creating a public nuisance (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

A Titusville chicken coop must sit in the rear yard, at least 10 feet from the rear and side property lines, and be screened from the neighbors.

Every row in the table comes from the backyard chicken subsection of the Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals. The site sketch filed with a Titusville application has to demonstrate compliance with each of these rules (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

Screening and free-range time both depend on a fence. Chickens must stay in a coop or enclosure and may roam only inside the fenced rear yard, and coops must be screened with an opaque fence, landscaping or both (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals). For a single-family Titusville lot, the city's fence code allows up to 6 feet in the side and rear yard setbacks (Titusville fences and walls rules).

Titusville requires clean, dry coops, pest-proof feed storage and personal use only, with no slaughter on the property.

Under the Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals, all stored feed must be kept in a pest-proof container or inside a secured structure, and coops and enclosures must stay clean and sanitary with dry bedding material. Keeping chickens must not create a public nuisance such as odor, noise or the attraction of pests (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

The flock is for the household. Titusville chickens may be kept for personal use only; selling chickens, eggs, feathers or chicken manure, or breeding chickens for commercial purposes, is prohibited, and chickens may not be slaughtered on site (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

Noisy or smelly animals can be declared a nuisance under Titusville's animal chapter, which can lead to a civil penalty of up to $500.00 per violation and loss of the chicken permit.

Section 5-87 of the Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals declares any farm animal, chickens included, a nuisance if it causes frequent or long-continued noise that can be heard 500 feet from the fence enclosing it, or seriously annoys neighboring residents. Section 5-4 separately covers any animal or bird that frequently squawks or makes other sounds, disturbs a reasonable person across property lines, or creates obnoxious odors through the condition of its confinement (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

A violation of the Titusville animal chapter is a civil infraction, with a maximum civil penalty of $500.00 per violation, and a lower penalty when the citation is not contested (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals). Section 5-27 says the city has an agreement with Brevard County under which the chapter is enforced by the county animal control officer (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

Complaints about property conditions that break city codes can also go to Titusville Code Enforcement, which says that since July 1, 2021 Florida law no longer allows its officers to investigate anonymous complaints, so a complainant must give a verifiable name and address (Titusville Code Enforcement page). The office is at 1100 John Glenn Boulevard, phone 321-567-3770, open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm (Titusville Code Enforcement page). The Titusville code enforcement guide covers that complaint process in more detail.

Besides backyard hens, Titusville allows horses or ponies by separate permit, homing pigeons in residential districts, and farm animals in GU zoning.

The same Section 5-86 lets seamless banded homing pigeons kept for sporting or exhibition purposes be accessory uses in any residential district, and permits farm animals in other districts only when they are an incidental or necessary part of a licensed business such as a veterinarian or pet shop (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals). Horses and ponies need their own permit, filed with the city clerk with a $25.00 filing fee, and the city manager or a designee acts on the request within ten working days (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals).

Titusville horse permits carry their own design rules: one acre per horse or pony, no more than three on a parcel outside GU zoning, a fence at least four feet high, and no horse within fifty feet of any residence other than the owner's (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals). The GU cross reference in Section 5-86 cites section 65.11 of Volume II of the Land Development Regulations (Titusville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5, Animals), and the Titusville annexation FAQ sends GU and livestock questions to the Planning Department (Titusville annexation FAQ on livestock).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, against Titusville's livestock and fowl article, the City Clerk's backyard chickens page, the livestock annexation FAQ, the city fence rules and the Code Enforcement page (Titusville Backyard Chickens page).