Meriden, CT Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Under § 213-16C, keeping poultry is a noncommercial accessory use available by zoning permit, not a principal farming operation requiring the ZBA special exception that § 213-16B(2)(b) requires for larger agricultural operations. Flock size scales with lot area: no more than six birds on a lot smaller than 40,000 square feet, and up to 12 on a lot of 40,000 square feet or more. Roosters and toms are banned regardless of lot size. Every coop must sit at least 10 feet from any property line and provide a minimum of three square feet per bird, while the outdoor enclosure is capped at 200 square feet, must give at least 10 square feet of ground area per animal, sit in the rear yard, and keep the greater of 25 feet from any street line, 15 feet from any residential dwelling, or five feet from any property line.

Poultry may only be slaughtered inside a structure such as a home, barn, shed or garage; outdoor harvesting is banned outright. Separately, § 213-16C(4) lets residents keep horses, ponies and other equines strictly for the occupants' own use, requiring one acre of lot area for the first animal and an additional 1/3 acre for each further animal, capped at 10 animals total, with barns and waste storage kept at least 60 feet from any property line. These accessory-use rules run parallel across the R-R, S-R and R-1 districts (§§ 213-16C, 213-17C, 213-18C), each cross-referencing the same standards.