Wisconsin Urban Chicken Cities

[purelypoultry]

I have not found a good list of cities that allow Urban chickens in Wisconsin. Please provide city name, region of the state, county, and a the text of the ordinance. Also when did they start allowing Urban chickens. If you have suggestions of other things you would want to know about let me know and I will edit this post.

 

[purelypoultry]

OSHKOSH, WI
North East Wisconsin
Winnebago County

It is illegal in Oshkosh so that is why I am doing this post. I also found that nearby Omro has identical wording.

SECTION 6-6 ANIMALS, FOWL, AND INSECTS NOT PERMITTED IN CITY
(A) No person shall bring into, keep, maintain, offer for sale or barter, or release to the wild, nor shall
any person permit such activities to occur on premises owned, controlled, rented or maintained by
that person, except as provided in section 6-19 (I) :
(1) Any fowl, chicken, turkeys, ducks, geese, cows, cattle, horses, sheep, swine, goats, potbellied
pigs, or any other domesticated livestock, unless part of an agricultural operation,
zoned AG Agricultural or AP Agricultural Preservation and authorized by the City of
Oshkosh Zoning Ordinance Chapter 30 of the Municipal Code.

 

[debnie]

Baraboo just recently passed an ordinance permitting chickens in the city. Not sure of the exact ordinance wording- the city gov't Web site does not yet list the revision- but here's a link to a news article about it. http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/458523 It is also notable that two teenage girls worked very hard to change the rules.

 

[purelypoultry]

Madison in 2004

7.29 RELATING TO KEEPING OF FOWL WITHIN THE CITY OF MADISON.
(1) No person shall keep any ducks, geese, pigeons, birds, or other fowl within the City of Madison
in any unsanitary condition or within such proximity of dwelling houses or in any manner so as to
be a nuisance.
(2) The Director of Public Health shall, upon complaint or on his own initiative, inspect, or order a
Public Health Sanitarian or a Humane Officer to inspect, premises upon which fowl are kept and
ascertain and determine whether the conditions are unsanitary or if for any reason a nuisance is
caused thereby. If the Director of Public Health determines that conditions are unsanitary, or if
for any reason a nuisance exists, he shall order the owner or occupant of the premises to abate the
nuisance and it shall thereupon be unlawful to keep such fowl on the premises. (Am. by ORD-08-
00120, 10-24-08)

9.52 KEEPING OF CHICKENS.
Any person who keeps chickens in the City of Madison shall obtain an annual license prior to January 1of
each year, or within 30 days of acquiring the chickens. The license year commences on January 1 and
ends on the following December 31.
Application shall be made to the City Treasurer and the fee for the license shall be ten dollars
($10.00).
The Treasurer or other authorized individual shall collect the fee and shall assess and collect a
late fee of five dollars ($5.00) from every owner of chickens, if the owner fails to obtain a license prior to
April 1 of each year, or fails to obtain a license within 30 days of acquiring the chickens. All late fees
received or collected shall be paid into the local Treasury.

 

[purelypoultry]

I have heard that Green Bay, Neenah, Waupaca, all have Urban Chicken ordinances. Any others?

 

[Westerlea]

I just read that the Janesville City Council voted (on 2/23/10) to not allow chickens.

I'm really interested in this topic because I just learned that my county doesn't allow me to keep chickens. I live in an unincorporated area of Portage County. Our lakeside neighborhood of a dozen or so homes is completely surrounded by farms, and the lots are between 3-5 acres. Our zoning is called "Rural and Urban Fringe" which the ordinance says is intended to allow more flexibility in use than a typical in-town residential neighborhood. For example, if a lot is at least 5 acres, you can have one horse for every 1.5 acres of land. But, no amount of land lets you keep a single chicken!

All I want is 3 hens, but it looks like I'm going to have to stage a campaign to change the ordinances in order to do so. Anyone out there willing to join forces?

 

[purelypoultry]

That is totally disapointing. I am saddened at the loss.

 

[eatfruit]

Racine is working at it. We had an article in the paper this weekend. I have a lot of education to do and it might be an uphill battle....

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_d7e6f650-242c-11df-8693-001cc4c03286.html

 

[purelypoultry]

Congrats to you on starting!

 

[gillian25]

I live in lake Geneva (como) exactly ,
I am very disappointed , I have some chickens , no one can see them they are in a pen and no one hears them ,
we have $ bars . yes that is right 4 bars on my road . you have drunks driving all night and on wrestling days the music shakes the house , but you cant have chickens ,,,, ? something here isn't right and something needs to change,