Chelan County, WA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

030 sets animal-keeping limits for every unincorporated parcel, split between lots inside a county urban growth area (Manson, Peshastin) and those outside. Inside a UGA, a lot under one acre may keep no livestock at all, just four poultry, rabbits or similarly sized animals (roosters excluded) and two pot-bellied pigs; a lot of one acre or more may keep one head of livestock (cattle, bison, sheep, goats, swine, horses, mules, llamas, ostriches and similar animals) per acre plus twelve poultry per acre. Outside a UGA the numbers loosen: a lot under one-half acre still gets no livestock but may keep twenty-four poultry (no roosters); a lot of one-half acre up to five acres may keep one head of livestock per half-acre and twenty-four poultry per half-acre, with roosters capped at one per half-acre; lots of five acres or more may keep four head of livestock per acre, with roosters capped at two per acre.

Every parcel keeping animals must maintain a fence adequate to contain them. Housing for small stock (chickens, rabbits and similarly sized animals) must sit at least fifteen feet from any property line; housing for all other livestock needs a twenty-five-foot setback. Waste cannot be stored within one hundred feet of an off-premises dwelling, surface water or a domestic/irrigation well; swine waste specifically must stay two hundred feet from surface water and wells. Pastures must carry a permanent, uniform vegetative cover and stay free of noxious weeds, and the operation must stay clean and odor-free enough to comply with Chelan-Douglas Health District rules.