Burlington, WI Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 104-2A, amended January 7, 2003, prohibits keeping any cattle, cows, horses, sheep, swine, goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, or other livestock within the City of Burlington, with no minimum-lot-size or coop-standards pathway to keep even a small backyard flock. Subsection B, amended November 18, 2003, carves out only two exceptions: land that is zoned agricultural in nature, and livestock brought into the City solely to be shipped back out. A former Subsection C giving the Health Officer independent enforcement powers was repealed December 7, 2021 (Ord.

No. 2074(10)) and is now reserved, folding that authority back into the Chapter 104 general-enforcement structure. Subsection D preserves a narrow, unrelated carve-out: the City can still issue a special permit, with a Common Council-set fee, for circus performances or other public exhibitions involving animals, and the exemptions already listed for public amusements under § 100-1 apply to that permit too. Related Chapter 104 sections reinforce the ban's reach: § 104-12 separately bars keeping a chicken coop, dove cote, dog kennel, rabbit warren or other commercial bird-or-animal operation in the City, and § 104-16 bars keeping any wild or vicious animal for display or exhibition. Together the sections leave no path to lawfully keep backyard chickens or other livestock on a residentially zoned lot in Burlington.