Can I keep chickens or bees at my home in Anderson?

Anderson's code: Yes. 1 hen per 800 square feet of lot area. (Noncommercial hens, no roosters, on an R-1 lot smaller than 8,000 square feet with a home on the same lot.) (§ 17.02.135); Yes, with a use permit. No more than 2 colonies or nuclei per acre. (Parcel of at least 5 acres. Bees at least 200 feet from public roads, streets, highways, and others' homes or occupied buildings.) (§ 17.02.135).

Pets, chickens and bees in Anderson: the local rules

Anderson code What Anderson's code adds
Bees	Yes, with a use permit. No more than 2 colonies or nuclei per acre. Applies: Parcel of at least 5 acres. Bees at least 200 feet from public roads, streets, highways, and others' homes or occupied buildings. § 17.02.135 · code text The number of colonies or nuclei shall not exceed two per acre;
Chickens	Yes. 1 hen per 800 square feet of lot area. Applies: Noncommercial hens, no roosters, on an R-1 lot smaller than 8,000 square feet with a home on the same lot. § 17.02.135 · code text One hen chicken per eight hundred square feet of lot area for lots smaller than eight thousand square feet. Yes. No more than 10 hens. Applies: Noncommercial hens, no roosters, on an R-1 lot of 8,000 square feet or larger with a home on the same lot. § 17.02.135 · code text A maximum of ten hen chickens for lot size of eight thousand square feet or larger. Yes. More than 10 hens need a use permit. Applies: Applies in the R-1 district. § 17.02.135 · code text A use permit will be required to increase the number of hen chickens to more than ten on any lot in the R-1 district.
Coop setback	At least 50 feet from a front property line. Applies: Applies to chicken enclosures. § 17.02.135 · code text No chicken enclosures will be permitted within fifty feet of a front property line. At least 35 feet from all structures used for human living. Applies: Applies to chicken enclosures. § 17.02.135 · code text A minimum setback of thirty-five feet will be maintained from all structures dedicated to human habitation. At least 100 feet from any school, hospital or similar institution. Applies: Applies to chicken enclosures. § 17.02.135 · code text A minimum setback of one hundred feet shall be maintained from any school, hospital or other similar institution.
Large animals	At least 50 feet from any home or occupied building. Applies: Swine, sheep, goats, horses, cows or bulls, only with a use permit; at most 1 per acre; lot of 15,000 square feet or more. § 17.02.135 · code text No permit shall be granted for the keeping of any swine, sheep, goat, horse, cow or bull within fifty feet of any residence or occupied building,
Permit	A use permit is required. Applies: Animals or fowl other than household pets and the allowed hen chickens, unless the RE or agricultural zoning district allows them. § 17.02.135 · code text No animal or fowl, except those commonly considered as domestic household pets, and hen chickens as indicated in Subsection 17.02.135.A.3., shall be permitted in any district in the city, except in a rural estate (RE) or agricultural zoning district where the provisions thereof allow such animals, unless authorized by a use permit;
Pet limit	No more than 6 dogs, 6 cats, or 6 in any combination. Applies: Dogs and cats over 4 months old kept in or around a home. More need a kennel license. § 17.02.135 · code text It shall be unlawful for any person to keep, harbor, or maintain in or about any dwelling, or the curtilage thereof, more than six dogs or six cats, or any combination thereof exceeding a total of six, each of which is over the age of four months, unless the owner has obtained a kennel license under the provisions of this section.

Pets, chickens and bees in Anderson

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