Can you keep backyard chickens in Wyoming?
Wyoming cities and towns may zone and regulate animals running at large, and counties may zone unincorporated land (W.S. 15-1-601, 18-5-201), so check yours. Whether keepers must register wasn't established.
Read from 5 official sources25 passages quotedChecked October 26, 2026
At a glance
Registering your flock
Where hens can live
Bird-flu housing orders
Welfare rules
Who decides where hens can live
The state law we read gives a named local body its own powers over where hens can live. What the checked sources say:
- The governing body of any Wyoming city or town may, by ordinance, regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes, and may regulate or prohibit any animals running at large within city limits.
- To promote public health, safety, morals and general welfare, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict the use of land for residence, recreation, agriculture and other purposes in the county’s unincorporated area.
No statewide permission or ban on keeping chickens is established by this finding. Your city or town, or your county for unincorporated land, may zone, so check with it. This page doesn't cover city charters or local ordinances. Under the Right to Farm and Ranch Act, a farm or ranch operation (which includes poultry) is not a public or private nuisance if it follows generally accepted agricultural management practices and existed before a change in neighboring land use, where it would not have been a nuisance before that change. The Act defines “farm and ranch” by commercial production and sale, so whether a backyard flock is covered was not established.
Registration: not established in the state sources we read.
The law's own words are quoted under state rules on keeping poultry below.
How to check: Look up the local rules where you live (the ordinances, bylaws or zoning of the body named here), or ask that office, before you get hens.
A sourced reading of Wyoming's state law, not legal advice. Local ordinances and zoning, HOA rules, and any local rooster or coop limits aren't covered here yet: check your local code before you get hens.
Keeping your flock
These findings cover the national or state scope stated below. They do not determine whether chickens are allowed at a particular home. City zoning, property restrictions and other local rules are outside this research.
Registering as a poultry keeper
Not established from the sources checked
Jurisdiction: Wyoming
Applies to: Wyoming Statutes Title 11 chapters 18 (Livestock Board and state veterinarian), 19 (contagious and infectious diseases among livestock) and 32 (poultry), as checked on 26 October 2026.
Outside this finding's scope
- No registration duty for poultry keepers was found in those chapters. The Wyoming Livestock Board’s rules were not read, so this is not proof that no keeper duty exists.
What the checked sources say
- The poultry chapter covers live chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and game birds. Each container of poultry, baby poultry, hatching eggs or breeding stock sold within or brought into Wyoming (except poultry for immediate slaughter) must carry the shipper’s name and address and an official label or certificate.
Authority: Not established from the sources checked.
Fee: Not established from the sources checked.
The official wording
(iv) "Poultry" means live chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and game birds as defined by W.S. 23-1-101(a)(iv);
W.S. 11-32-101(a)(iv) · Checked
(a) Each container of poultry, baby poultry, hatching eggs or breeding stock sold within or imported into this state, except those containing poultry for immediate slaughter, shall bear the name and address of the shipper and an official label or certificate showing:
W.S. 11-32-103(a), opening · Checked
Bird-flu housing orders
Current status needs rechecking
Check the official current-status pageOrders can change between checks. A missed check or an expired order does not establish that no order applies.
Housing-order finding as checked on 2026-10-26
The scope and conditions below are a dated record, not confirmation of today's position.
Not established from the sources checked
Uses housing orders in this scope: Not established from the sources checked.
Jurisdiction: Wyoming
Applies to: The Wyoming state veterinarian’s quarantine power for infectious and contagious disease “among domestic animals” (Statutes 11-19-103), the Wyoming Livestock Board’s power to make rules to prevent the spread of disease among poultry (11-32-102), and the entry power over places used for livestock, including poultry (11-18-113).
Outside this finding's scope
- “Domestic animals” is not defined in the disease chapter read, so whether the premises quarantine power in 11-19-103 reaches poultry flocks is not established, and no source read for this finding settles the point. The Board’s rules were not read. This finding does not establish that any quarantine or order applies now, and these powers do not in terms require birds to be kept indoors.
What the checked sources say
- In all cases of infectious and contagious disease among domestic animals in Wyoming, the state veterinarian may order the infected premises quarantined, and may inspect and compel the treatment, testing, vaccination or quarantine of all such animals found infected or exposed. The Livestock Board may review, change or cancel the state veterinarian’s orders.
- The Livestock Board may adopt rules to prevent the spread of disease among poultry, and the state veterinarian or Board agents may enter any place used for keeping or moving livestock, including poultry, or where diseased or exposed livestock may be found. The Board’s page says avian influenza is a reportable disease to the Board.
- Current mandatory housing status remains unconfirmed; check the Wyoming Livestock Board’s avian influenza page.
- Checked
- Recheck due
Historical evidence, as checked
These quotations record what was checked on the dates shown. They do not confirm an order's current status.
(a) In all cases of infectious and contagious disease among domestic animals in this state, the state veterinarian may order the quarantine of the infected premises.
W.S. 11-19-103(a), first sentence · Checked
The state veterinarian may inspect and compel the treatment, testing, vaccination or quarantine of all such animals in Wyoming found to be infected or exposed to the disease or imported in violation of W.S. 11-19-111 or any rules promulgated thereunder, under such rules and regulations as he may adopt.
W.S. 11-19-103(b), second sentence · Checked
Any order or regulation made by the state veterinarian is subject to review, modification or annulment by the board at any subsequent meeting.
W.S. 11-19-103(b), last sentence · Checked
The board may adopt rules and regulations to carry out this act and to prevent the spread of disease among poultry.
W.S. 11-32-102 · Checked
(ii) "Board" means the Wyoming livestock board;
W.S. 11-32-101(a)(ii) · Checked
the state veterinarian or any agent or officer of the Wyoming livestock board may enter any place or vehicle used for the treatment, retention or transportation of livestock, including poultry, or where he has reason to believe any livestock affected with or exposed to infectious, contagious or communicable diseases may be found.
W.S. 11-18-113 · Checked
Avian Influenza is a reportable disease to the Wyoming Livestock Board.
Small-flock welfare minimums
Conditions apply to this finding
Jurisdiction: Wyoming
Applies to: Wyoming’s cruelty to animals law (Statutes 6-3-1002, where livestock includes poultry) and the feed-and-water duty for confined livestock animals, which include poultry (11-29-103 and 11-29-101).
Outside this finding's scope
- Neither law prohibits industry accepted agricultural and livestock practices on livestock or other animals used in agriculture (6-3-1008), or Wyoming industry accepted agricultural or livestock management practices and other commonly practiced animal husbandry procedures on livestock animals (11-29-115), among other listed exemptions. Whether a backyard flock falls under these was not established.
- The sections read set no numerical space standard for poultry.
What the checked sources say
- A person who has charge and custody of an animal commits cruelty to animals if, in circumstances showing extreme indifference to the animal’s safety, health or life, they fail to give it proper food, drink or protection from the weather adequate for the species, or fail to give appropriate care for an immediate, obvious, serious illness or injury.
- Every person who confines, or causes to be confined, a livestock animal under Wyoming law must give it enough wholesome food and water during confinement.
The official wording
(iii) "Livestock" means horses, mules and asses, rabbits, llamas, cattle, swine, sheep, goats, poultry, or other animal generally used for food or in the production of food or fiber,
W.S. 6-3-1001(a)(iii) · Checked
(iv) Has the charge and custody of any animal and under circumstances which manifest extreme indifference to the animal's safety, health or life: (A) Fails to provide it with proper food, drink or protection from the weather adequate for the species;
W.S. 6-3-1002(a)(iv)(A) · Checked
(C) In the case of immediate, obvious, serious illness or injury to the animal, fails to provide the animal with appropriate care; or
W.S. 6-3-1002(a)(iv)(C) · Checked
(a) Nothing in this article may be construed to prohibit:
W.S. 6-3-1008(a), opening · Checked
(ii) The use of industry accepted agricultural and livestock practices on livestock or another animal used in the practice of agriculture;
W.S. 6-3-1008(a)(ii) · Checked
(a) Every person who confines or causes to be confined any livestock animal under the laws of this state, shall supply to the livestock animal during confinement a sufficient quantity of wholesome food and water.
W.S. 11-29-103(a) · Checked
(A) Any bovine, including domestic bison, equine, swine, sheep, goat, domesticated camelid animal, ratite bird, rabbit or poultry; or
W.S. 11-29-101(a)(vi)(A) · Checked
(i) The use of Wyoming industry accepted agricultural or livestock management practices or any other commonly practiced animal husbandry procedure used on livestock animals, as defined by W.S. 11-29-101(a)(vi);
W.S. 11-29-115(a)(i) · Checked
National or state rules on keeping poultry
Conditions apply to this finding
Jurisdiction: Wyoming
Applies to: Wyoming city and town zoning and animal powers (Statutes 15-1-601 and 15-1-103) and county zoning of unincorporated areas (18-5-201), alongside the Wyoming Right to Farm and Ranch Act (11-44-102 and 11-44-103).
Outside this finding's scope
- Under the Right to Farm and Ranch Act, a farm or ranch operation (which includes poultry) is not a public or private nuisance if it follows generally accepted agricultural management practices and existed before a change in neighboring land use, where it would not have been a nuisance before that change. The Act defines “farm and ranch” by commercial production and sale, so whether a backyard flock is covered was not established.
- No statewide permission or ban on keeping chickens is established by this finding. Your city or town, or your county for unincorporated land, may zone, so check with it. This page doesn't cover city charters or local ordinances.
What the checked sources say
- The governing body of any Wyoming city or town may, by ordinance, regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes, and may regulate or prohibit any animals running at large within city limits.
- To promote public health, safety, morals and general welfare, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict the use of land for residence, recreation, agriculture and other purposes in the county’s unincorporated area.
The official wording
(a) The governing body of any city or town, by ordinance, may: (i) Regulate and restrict the:
W.S. 15-1-601(a)(i), opening · Checked
(E) Location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes.
W.S. 15-1-601(a)(i)(E) · Checked
(xiv) Regulate or prohibit the running at large within the city limits of any animals,
W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xiv) · Checked
To promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the county, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings and structures and the use, condition of use or occupancy of lands for residence, recreation, agriculture, industry, commerce, public use and other purposes in the unincorporated area of the county.
W.S. 18-5-201(a), first sentence · Checked
(i) "Farm and ranch" means the land, buildings, livestock and machinery used in the commercial production and sale of farm and ranch products;
W.S. 11-44-102(a)(i) · Checked
and includes horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, silviculture, dairy, livestock, poultry, bee and any and all forms of farm and ranch products and farm and ranch production;
W.S. 11-44-102(a)(ii) (end) · Checked
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a farm or ranch operation shall not be found to be a public or private nuisance by reason of that operation if that farm or ranch operation:
W.S. 11-44-103(a), opening · Checked
(i) Conforms to generally accepted agricultural management practices; and (ii) Existed before a change in the land use adjacent to the farm or ranch land and the farm or ranch operation would not have been a nuisance before the change in land use or occupancy occurred.
W.S. 11-44-103(a)(i)-(ii) · Checked
Bird flu right now? PoultryPal's bird-flu tracker for Wyoming has the latest we've checked.
Next door
- ColoradoRegistration: not establishedSet locally
- IdahoRegistration: conditions applyRegistration: conditions
- MontanaRegistration: requiredRegistration required
- NebraskaRegistration: not establishedSet locally
- South DakotaRegistration: conditions applyRegistration: conditions
- UtahRegistration: not establishedSet locally
Common questions
- Do I have to register backyard chickens in Wyoming?
- Registration: not established. The finding covers: Wyoming Statutes Title 11 chapters 18 (Livestock Board and state veterinarian), 19 (contagious and infectious diseases among livestock) and 32 (poultry), as checked on 26 October 2026. Outside this finding's scope: No registration duty for poultry keepers was found in those chapters. The Wyoming Livestock Board’s rules were not read, so this is not proof that no keeper duty exists.
- Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Wyoming?
- The state law we read gives a named local body its own powers over where hens can live. The governing body of any Wyoming city or town may, by ordinance, regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes, and may regulate or prohibit any animals running at large within city limits. To promote public health, safety, morals and general welfare, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict the use of land for residence, recreation, agriculture and other purposes in the county’s unincorporated area. No statewide permission or ban on keeping chickens is established by this finding. Your city or town, or your county for unincorporated land, may zone, so check with it. This page doesn't cover city charters or local ordinances. Under the Right to Farm and Ranch Act, a farm or ranch operation (which includes poultry) is not a public or private nuisance if it follows generally accepted agricultural management practices and existed before a change in neighboring land use, where it would not have been a nuisance before that change. The Act defines “farm and ranch” by commercial production and sale, so whether a backyard flock is covered was not established. Look up the local rules where you live (the ordinances, bylaws or zoning of the body named here), or ask that office, before you get hens.
- Do I have to keep my hens indoors for bird flu in Wyoming?
- Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. This page links the official status page to check today. PoultryPal's bird-flu tracker page for Wyoming has the latest we've checked.
Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.
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