10 rules for unincorporated Chesterfield County, Virginia.
Verified from official government sources
Up to six hens (no roosters) may be kept on a residentially zoned lot under Chesterfield's coop, setback and enclosure rules. All livestock and poultry must stay within the owner's property boundary or the owner faces a fine.
Chesterfield County Code Ch. 4 (livestock at large)
The boundary line of each lot or tract of land is the lawful limit for any domesticated livestock, including horse, mule, cattle, hog, sheep, goat and poultry.
Chesterfield prohibits dogs running at large countywide. A dog is at large whenever it is off the owner's property and not under immediate control. On county-owned land a physical leash is required unless in a posted off-leash dog area.
Chesterfield County Code § 4-23
No person shall permit any dog to run at large within the county at any time during the year. A dog shall be deemed to run at large while roaming or running off the property of its owner or custodian and not under its owner's or custodian's immediate control.
No. Virginia law forbids declaring any dog dangerous or vicious solely because of its breed, and bans prohibiting ownership of any particular breed. Chesterfield County has no breed-specific ban; dangerous-dog findings are behavior-based.
VA Code § 3.2-6540
No animal shall be found by the court to be a dangerous dog: Solely because it is a particular breed, nor is the ownership of a particular breed of canine or canine crossbreed prohibited.
Beekeeping is legal in Chesterfield County. Hives are governed by the county Zoning Ordinance and Virginia's state beekeeping law (Title 3.2, Ch. 44). Keep hives set back from property lines and follow recognized best-management practices.
Chesterfield County Code § 4-3 prohibits keeping wild or exotic animals as pets or for display. Banned animals include nonhuman primates, big cats, wolves, raccoons, skunks, foxes, venomous snakes, tarantulas, and crocodilians.
Chesterfield County Code § 4-3
No person shall keep or permit to be kept on his premises any wild or exotic animal as a pet, for display, or for exhibition purposes, whether gratuitously or for a fee.
Virginia bans feeding bear at any time and feeding that attracts nuisance wildlife. Deer feeding is prohibited statewide each September 1 through the first Saturday in January. Chesterfield is not on the year-round deer-feeding ban list.
4VAC15-40-286
It shall be unlawful for any person as defined in § 1-230 of the Code of Virginia to place, distribute, or allow the placement of food, minerals, carrion, trash, or similar substances when it attracts any species of wildlife in such numbers or circumstances to cause property damage, endanger any person or wildlife, or create a public health concern.
Livestock must be confined within the owner's property boundary. Virginia's right-to-farm law protects bona fide agricultural operations, and state law lets animal-control officers seize or kill dogs caught killing or injuring livestock or poultry.
VA Code § 3.2-6552(A)
It shall be the duty of any animal control officer or other officer who may find a dog in the act of killing or injuring livestock or poultry to seize or kill such dog forthwith whether such dog bears a tag or not.
Virginia sets no fixed numeric hoarding cap, but Code § 3.2-6503 requires every owner to give each companion animal adequate care, space, food, water and veterinary care. Chesterfield's three-dog residential limit also curbs overcrowding.
A maximum of three adult dogs (four months or older) may be kept on any residentially zoned property. Four or more requires a special exception permit from Planning, or a kennel license in an Agricultural district.
Chesterfield's running-at-large ordinance targets dogs, not cats, so there is no cat leash law. But Virginia Code § 3.2-6521 requires every cat four months or older to be currently vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian.
VA Code § 3.2-6521(A)
The owner or custodian of all dogs and cats four months of age and older shall have such animal currently vaccinated for rabies by a licensed veterinarian or licensed veterinary technician who is under the immediate and direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian on the premises unless otherwise provided by regulations.
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