Black Hawk County, IA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

010(A)(3), governing the "A-R" Agricultural-Residential District, permits specialized animal farms and livestock subject to a maximum density table tied to lot size. Large animals (horses, cattle, elk, deer and similar) are capped at one animal unit per 20,000 square feet, and a property needs a minimum lot area of at least 40,000 square feet before it may keep any large animals at all. Intermediate animals (sheep, swine, goats, llamas, emus and similar) are capped at one per 5,000 square feet. Small animals, which the ordinance defines to include poultry, fowl, rabbits, mink and chinchilla, are capped at one animal unit per 1,500 square feet of lot area, meaning a homeowner on a one-acre (43,560 square foot) A-R lot could keep roughly 29 animal units of poultry under the density formula alone, before layering in any combination limits.

Owners may mix large, intermediate and small animals on one property as long as the combined total does not exceed the animal unit limitations for each category. Animals under six months old are excluded from the density count entirely. The section further requires that these uses be operated to meet County Health Department standards and that they not create nuisance conditions for neighboring properties, and it notes that a private deed restriction more restrictive than the ordinance can still control. 010(A)(3) separately permits "specialized animal farms including but not limited to fowl, rabbits, mink, chinchilla, and bees" without this numeric density table. These rules apply only outside Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Evansdale, Hudson, La Porte City, Dunkerton, Gilbertville, Elk Run Heights and Raymond.