Dearborn County, IN Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 90 of the Dearborn County Code is the animal control chapter adopted by the Board of Commissioners. Section 90.02 defines LIVESTOCK to include horses, cows, goats, pigs or any other four-legged animal, excluding dogs and cats, used for pleasure or profit, and then adds that fowl are expressly included. That one sentence is what puts backyard chickens, ducks and other birds into the livestock category.

The chapter does not print a maximum number of birds, a coop setback, a rooster ban or a keeping permit. Section 90.03(B) points elsewhere: owners of animals in Dearborn County must comply with this chapter and with additional county ordinances such as the Zoning Ordinance and the Subdivision Control Ordinance. Any lot-size or district rule for fowl therefore sits in the Zoning Ordinance, which is a separate document from Chapter 90.

What Chapter 90 does print is a set of care duties in § 90.03(A) that apply to every owner of every animal kept in Dearborn County. The animal must be kept clean, sanitary and healthy and not confined so that it must stand, sit or lie in its own excrement. The owner must give proper and adequate food that is nutritionally appropriate for the species, fresh potable drinking water, shelter and ventilation, including quarters protected from excessive heat and cold and large enough for the animal to exercise and move about freely. The owner must also protect the animal from abuse, cruelty, neglect, torment, overload and overwork, and must clean animal areas as often as necessary to prevent odor or health and sanitation problems.

The definition of HARBORING in § 90.02 says it is not intended to include bird feeders or other wildlife or livestock accommodations regulated by other state and Dearborn County agencies, so housing standards for livestock are left to those agencies. Section 90.04 states that the chapter is in force in both the incorporated and unincorporated parts of Dearborn County unless a municipality prohibits enforcement or passes a substantially similar ordinance of its own.