La Plata County, CO Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 65-4.III of the La Plata County Code carries the Hermosa Creek Neighborhood Zoning District, and its use regulations hold the only size cap for poultry houses that the Land Use Code prints. The rule is district-specific: it binds land inside the Hermosa Creek district in unincorporated La Plata County, Colorado. The minimum lot area per single-family dwelling in that district is three (3) acres.

The use list is closed. Any use not specifically included in the list is excluded from use in the Hermosa Creek Zoning District. Livestock is on the list under three conditions. The type of animal, by its nature, must be able to be kept without undue detriment to neighboring uses. Animals must be housed and located on the property to minimize any obnoxious influence upon other properties, which the section spells out as three duties: the animals are fenced or otherwise constrained to the property, manure is managed to minimize the effect of smell and insects on adjacent properties, and animals are not kept in areas that could adversely affect domestic water systems. Poultry houses fall under item c: private poultry houses containing not more than four hundred (400) square feet of ground floor area. Private rabbit and chinchilla hutches are capped at one hundred (100) square feet of ground floor area. The same use list allows gardening and truck gardening but excludes stock raising or dairying except as the livestock paragraph provides.

Other parts of the county work differently. The Animas Valley residential districts in section 65-3 list commercial livestock and agriculture-related operations and their accessory structures as uses permitted by right in the fifteen-acre, ten-acre and five-acre districts. Section 66-3 says no land use permit is required for agriculture as defined in Chapter 62.

The coop or barn itself can trigger building rules. The chapter 18 building code amendments describe agricultural exempt structures as buildings used solely to shelter agricultural implements, farm products, livestock, or poultry. They cannot be used for any residential purpose, plumbing is limited to frost free water spigots, electrical is limited to simple lighting connections, and an agricultural exempt building permit with an accompanying affidavit is required before construction.