Kankakee County, IL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Kankakee County treats keeping livestock and poultry as an ordinary part of agriculture rather than a separately licensed use. Sec. 121-3 defines Animals, farm/livestock/poultry as animals raised for food or product, and specifically counts horses and ponies as farm animals for zoning purposes. Sec. 121-99, governing the A1 Agriculture district, sets the district's baseline: a minimum five-acre lot for agricultural uses generally, and a 20-acre minimum before a single-family dwelling can be built on agricultural land. Within that framework, Sec. 121-99(b)(1) draws a firm line against new livestock feed lots: after the ordinance's effective date, no livestock feed lot may be established or enlarged nearer than 1,000 feet from a residence district boundary line, and land cannot be used for disposing of garbage, sewage, rubbish, or offal in connection with agricultural uses either.

The A2 Agriculture Estate district, a lower-density companion to A1, separately allows the keeping of horses on smaller estate lots as an accessory use, excluding other livestock, while treating exotic animals under the same 200-foot setback that governs A1 animal farms. Any operation that goes beyond ordinary keeping, such as an animal farm raising animals commercially and not accessory to agriculture, moves into the special use category under Sec. 121-99(c)(2) instead of the permitted-use rules described here.