10 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Weld County, Colorado.
Verified from official government sources
Weld County's animal code counts fowl as livestock. In the Agricultural zone a lot of at least ten acres (not in a subdivision) may keep up to 30 birds as household pets; larger flocks are governed by animal-unit limits, and agricultural poultry is protected by Colorado's Right to Farm Act.
Weld County Code § 23-3-70(D)
except that on a LOT of at least ten (10) acres and not in a SUBDIVISION or HISTORIC TOWNSITE the owner or occupant shall be permitted to keep or maintain up to eight (8) HOUSEHOLD PETS of one (1) species or sixteen (16) HOUSEHOLD PETS of two (2) or more species, and up to thirty (30) birds.
In unincorporated Weld County it is unlawful to fail to control a dog. "Control" means a leash or tether no more than 25 feet, a containing device, or a fully enclosed escape-proof area. A dog off the premises and not under immediate physical control is "running at large."
Weld County Code § 14-4-10
Control means physical restraint of a dog by use of a leash or similar tether, of no more than twenty-five (25) feet in length, by the use of a containing device or by means of confinement within a fully enclosed area such as a yard or dog run from which a dog cannot escape.
Weld County has no pit-bull or breed ban. Colorado state law, C.R.S. 18-9-204.5(5)(b), lets a county adopt dog-control resolutions but forbids any rule that regulates dangerous dogs specific to breed. The county regulates individual dogs by behavior, not breed.
C.R.S. § 18-9-204.5(5)(b)
Nothing in this section shall be construed to abrogate a county's authority under part 1 of article 15 of title 30, C.R.S., to adopt dog control and licensing resolutions and to impose the penalties set forth in section 30-15-102, C.R.S.; except that any such resolution shall not regulate dangerous dogs in a manner that is specific to breed.
Weld County's animal code and zoning set no beekeeping-specific standard, so hobby beekeeping is generally treated as a permitted agricultural use on rural and agricultural land. Apiaries are registered at the state level, and established agricultural operations are shielded from nuisance suits by Colorado's Right to Farm Act.
C.R.S. § 35-3.5-102(1)(a)
Except as provided in this section, an agricultural operation shall not be found to be a public or private nuisance if the agricultural operation alleged to be a nuisance employs methods or practices that are commonly or reasonably associated with agricultural production.
In the Agricultural zone of unincorporated Weld County, keeping, raising or boarding exotic animals is allowed only as a "use by special review" approved by the Board of County Commissioners. An exotic animal is any vertebrate other than a fish, amphibian, defined livestock, or household pet.
Weld County Code § 23-1-90
EXOTIC ANIMAL: Any vertebrate animal except fishes and amphibians that is not defined herein as LIVESTOCK or HOUSEHOLD PET.
Weld County has no general wildlife-feeding ordinance, but Colorado state law makes it unlawful to place food in the open to lure a wild bear. Along the Front Range edge of the county, residents should secure trash and avoid feeding deer, elk, or bears.
C.R.S. § 33-6-131(1)
Unless otherwise permitted by commission rule, it is unlawful for any person to place food or edible waste in the open with the intent of luring a wild bear to such food or edible waste.
Weld County zones livestock by "animal units." In the Agricultural zone, cattle and horses each count as one unit; smaller stock count fractionally. Colorado is a fence-out state: a landowner must maintain a lawful fence to recover for livestock trespass.
C.R.S. § 35-46-102(1)
Any person maintaining in good repair a lawful fence, as described in section 35-46-101, may recover damages for trespass and injury to grass, garden or vegetable products, or other crops of such person from the owner of any livestock which break through such fence.
Weld County has no ordinance using the word "hoarding," but pet-number limits and Colorado's animal-cruelty law act as a backstop. Keeping animals in a manner causing chronic serious harm, or exceeding the pet and dog limits, can be enforced; severe neglect is state animal cruelty.
C.R.S. § 18-9-202(1)(a)
A person commits cruelty to animals if he or she knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence overdrives, overloads, overworks, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, unnecessarily or cruelly beats, allows to be housed in a manner that results in chronic or repeated serious physical harm ... or otherwise mistreats or neglects any animal ... or abandons an animal.
In Weld County's Agricultural zone, household pets are limited to four of one species or seven of two-plus species per lot (eight or sixteen, plus 30 birds, on 10-plus acres). Keeping more than four dogs over six months old on ten acres or less is deemed failing to control them.
Weld County Code § 14-4-20(A)
Any owner having more than four (4) dogs which are over six (6) months of age on his or her premises, if said premises consists of ten (10) acres or less or lies within a recorded subdivision, recorded planned unit development or platted townsite ... shall be deemed to fail to control said dogs.
Weld County has no cat ordinance: the animal code (Chapter 14, Article IV) regulates dogs only, so cats need no county license or leash. Cats still count as household pets toward the zoning pet limit, and abandoning or neglecting a cat is animal cruelty under Colorado law.
C.R.S. § 18-9-202(1)(b)
Any person who intentionally abandons a dog or cat commits the offense of cruelty to animals.
1 cities in Weld County have their own animal ordinances rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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