West Bloomfield, MI Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Sec. 7-1 places a duty on every owner or custodian of cattle, horses, sheep, swine, poultry or other domestic animals, excluding dogs and cats, to confine those animals on the owner's own premises unless a person of sufficient age and discretion keeps the animal under reasonable control off the property. The Township Code does not set a minimum lot size, a maximum head count, or a coop setback for backyard chickens or other poultry here; those location and dimensional questions fall under the separate Zoning Ordinance that this Code chapter does not include.

Sec. 7-2 requires the owner of any stable, pen or enclosure housing livestock to keep it clean and sanitary at all times, removing manure or other excreta as often as needed to prevent it from becoming a nuisance to a neighbor. Sec. 7-3 separately requires that when an animal dies within the township, the owner or possessor must bury it, or have it removed or disposed of in a township-approved manner, within 12 hours. These three sections sit in Chapter 7, Article I, 'In General,' which cross-references the state's authority to adopt animal control ordinances under MCL 287.290 and the state's livestock-running-at-large prohibition under MCL 433.51 et seq.

Enforcement of the confinement and sanitation duties falls to the West Bloomfield Police Department and code enforcement staff responding to nuisance complaints from neighboring property owners, since the chapter does not create a separate licensing scheme for keeping livestock, only a duty to confine, sanitize and, on an animal's death, dispose of it promptly.