Washington County, WI Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Washington County Code § 172-11 provides that no person having possession or control of any animal or fowl, a category that covers backyard chickens, ducks and other poultry as well as goats, horses and other livestock, may allow that animal to run at large anywhere in the county. The section defines "at large" broadly: an animal is at large when it is off its owner's premises and on a public street or alley, school grounds, a public park or other public grounds, or on private property without that property owner's permission.

The ordinance then lists the only three ways an animal escapes that definition. First, it may be attached to a leash no more than 10 feet long, strong enough to restrain it, held by someone capable of controlling it and keeping it from annoying or worrying passersby or trespassing. Second, it may be properly restrained inside a motor vehicle. Third, it may be actively engaged in hunting or in training for a show, field trial or obedience trial, under the control of its owner or a competent agent, without annoying pedestrians or trespassing.

Because Washington County has no general zoning ordinance of its own, this at-large rule, not a coop-setback or head-count standard, is the county's operative regulation on keeping poultry and livestock in the eleven towns; the cities of West Bend and Hartford and the six villages instead apply their own zoning to backyard chickens and livestock within their limits. Enforcement runs through the Sheriff's Office, and the general county penalty under § 1-5 applies since § 172-11 sets no separate forfeiture: $10 to $2,000 per violation, plus costs of prosecution.