Wauwatosa, WI Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

060, governing this Milwaukee County, Wisconsin city, requires anyone who wants to keep live chickens to obtain a city permit before acquiring a bird; the application needs a fee under the consolidated fee schedule, a site plan, and the written consent of the property owner plus every adjoining or diagonally abutting neighbor, including those across an alley, unless the development director waives the neighbor-consent requirement for unusual site conditions. Only one permit issues per residential parcel or household, the fee is nonrefundable and nontransferable, and the permit must be renewed annually with a late-payment penalty set in the fee schedule.

Once allowed, a household may keep up to four licensed chickens: no roosters and no slaughtering on site, chickens must have fresh water and regular feed, and they must be housed in a sanitary, moisture-resistant, workmanlike coop raised off the ground or set on a hard surface such as concrete or gravel. Coops and runs together must provide at least sixteen square feet per chicken, must be cleaned of droppings and waste daily, and cannot sit closer than twenty-five feet to a neighboring residential dwelling unless that neighbor consents, or anywhere in the front yard.

Eggs may not be sold, traded, or hatched for commercial purposes. The health department enforces the sanitary and disease-reporting requirements, including a duty to report any unusual chicken illness or death, while the development department issues permits and enforces the physical standards; the health officer can order testing, quarantine, vaccination or humane euthanasia of a sick bird.