Sauk County, WI Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Sec. 7.047, titled Poultry and egg production, beekeeping residential Secondary standards, handles backyard bees in the same setback list it uses for coops, but at a different distance. Subsection (5) sets the location rules for both uses: subsection (5)(a) puts poultry-related structures no closer than 25 feet to a side or rear yard, while subsection (5)(b) requires beekeeping-related structures, hive stands, bee houses, and similar equipment, to sit no less than 100 feet from any side or rear yard, four times the poultry distance. Both setbacks share the same road right-of-way rule: the setback from the road right-of-way follows whatever Sec.

7.098 sets for the zoning district rather than a fixed number in Sec. 7.047 itself. The section's applicability sentence, addressed to poultry and egg production, places the standard in the single-family (SFR), multiple-family (MFR) and rural community (RUC) districts, and on exclusive agriculture (EA) or agriculture (AG) lots only where the lot already carries an occupied dwelling. Because the heading groups beekeeping into the same secondary standard as poultry, a beekeeper on one of those lots must still meet whichever other subsection requirements the Zoning Administrator applies to the structure, such as filing a description with the land use permit application before installing hives near a property line.