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

04) governs keeping farm animals or fowl, beyond ordinary household pets, on unincorporated land in the county's Estate Areas. A keeper must first meet all applicable requirements of the McHenry County or local zoning ordinance rules and regulations before any farm animals or fowl can be kept on the property; this ties the health code directly to the county's separate Unified Development Ordinance zoning standards for the parcel's district. Beyond zoning compliance, the keeper must provide shelter and area sufficient to allow normal good husbandry practices, framed specifically to preclude both a public health nuisance and cruelty to the animals housed there.

The ordinance also requires fences, pens, shelters, corrals, or similar enclosures built to sufficient height and strength that the animals stay confined to the owner's own premises, so a hen house or coop cannot simply be a shed with no perimeter containment. Roofed shelters must additionally be structured so that roof run-off does not drain back into the shelter itself, a design requirement aimed at keeping bedding and housing dry and sanitary. 910. 920), which separately require sufficient food, water, veterinary care and protection from extreme weather for any animal kept in the county, so a farm-animal keeper answers to both sections at once.