Dig a Little on Regulations

[tomfarin]

I live in the Town of Verona, Wi, just outside the City of Madison. In fact, Madison is contiguous on three sides of my property. I'm aware of Madison's 4 chicken limit. But I don't live in the city. So I checked with the town of Verona and was told Dane County has a six chicken limit. They sent me a copy of the ordinance.

I thought, "There are a lot of farms in Dane County. Surely they can't be limited to six chickens." So I dug a bit deeper into zoning. It turns out the county's six chicken ordinance applies to properties zoned RESIDENTIAL. Mine is zoned RH-2 as in Rural Housing with a minimum of four acres. My property is 4 1/2 acres. So I pulled the RH-2 zoning sheet. It turns out I am allowed 1 animal unit per acre. An animal unit is a horse, a cow, a donkey, 4 pigs, 4 goats, 100 chickens ...

Yes, I am allowed 400 chickens on my 4 1/2 acre lot. I called county zoning to verify. Yes, I am interpreting it correctly. Also unlike the residential ordinance, there is no restriction on roosters.

Now I have no intention of having 400 chickens, and/or roosters. We were thinking 8-10 hens. I have a neighbor that is sure to shove that county ordinance in my face when he discovers I am keeping 8-10 chickens. A copy of my zoning restrictions is waiting for that day.

 

[BruceAZ]

it's great that you looked it up to see if it's allowed or not first

this is a great way to prevent any problem in the future

good luck with your chickens