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

125 requires anyone who wants to keep horses, ponies, cattle, sheep, goats, swine or poultry, the category covering backyard chickens, on premises within Waterbury city limits to first obtain permission from the Board of Health. There is no as-of-right allowance: the ordinance flatly prohibits keeping any of these animals until the Board issues its permission, and the code sets no lot-size or setback threshold of its own for that approval, leaving the decision to the Board's discretion. 126 layers on sanitation duties: anyone owning or keeping more than three horses in a barnyard or stable must remove all manure from the premises at least once a week between May 1 and October 1 each year.

Every owner, lessee or occupier who keeps a horse, other draft or burden animal, or cattle must also provide a suitable manure and filth receptacle, built and covered so its contents cannot escape or soak into the ground or a building wall. These animal-keeping rules trace to the 1967 Code (Appendix A, §§ 56, 59-61) and remain in force as renumbered. 11, unless a state statute prescribes a different penalty for the same conduct, in which case the statutory penalty applies instead. Waterbury's Department of Health and Board of Health, not a zoning body, administer the animal-keeping approval, since this sits in the Health and Sanitation chapter rather than the separately adopted zoning regulations.