Waukesha County, WI Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

02(13)(A) of the Basic Zoning Ordinance defines "Agricultural or Farm Use" to include, among listed activities, "Beekeeping," alongside crop or forage production, keeping livestock, horses and poultry, and several other farm activities. 21, with crop or forage production allowed only by a Zoning Administrator waiver, which effectively excludes ordinary beekeeping below three acres. 01(3)(B)-(D) opens up the full range of agricultural or farm uses, including beekeeping, with the size-tiered animal-keeping caps in those subsections governing livestock and poultry counts. 01(3)(D) treats agricultural or farm uses (other than hogs and fur-bearing animals, which need a conditional use) as fully permitted.

01 for the R-1, R-2 and R-3 Residential Districts each permit "any use as permitted in the A-1 Agricultural District," the same three-acre threshold and standards carry over to residential-zoned town parcels: a homeowner on a smaller residential lot cannot keep bees as an agricultural use under this framework, while a residential lot of three acres or more can, subject to the same conditions. 01(3) also requires anyone practicing an agricultural or farm use to provide adequate food, forage, water, pasture, shelter and fencing and to follow standard manure disposal practices under NR151 and ATCP50, and, if the Zoning Administrator requests it, to prepare and submit a manure management plan to the Department of Parks and Land Use.